Narratives Ten

That year Dad had a large steer butchered for beef. Charlie Gregory came to do the job. He shot Goliath (the steer) and the beast went down but did not stay down. Dad was standing close by and Charlie said , "jump on it". Dad was close enough but did not think they could have held down an animal that size. Goliath headed north for the bushes.  Charlie had a high powered rifle and used it. I think they used Tom, the horse, to drag the carcass back to the yard. Dad had the hide of Goliath tanned and lined and made into a robe.
That same fall we had a severe frost in early October and the potatoes were frozen in the ground.
In 1920 Uncle Horrie built his house and Dad helped. I was up there one day with Aunt Alice. The men were building the rafters when I asked, "Aunt Ack, is that where your children are going to play?"
That was the summer that the first plane flew over the district. Aunt Alice and Uncle Horrie were working on the house and were used to seeing planes fly over in England. Aunt Alice waved and called out, "have you any mail for us?"
Gordon Lawson came out and worked as hired man for Uncle Arthur. Dad had sciatica that year and was layed up for most of the summer. The sciatica never left him until he went to Regina and had all his teeth removed. He was never bothered with it after that. Dad never got dentures until many years later. He would cut the food up fine and was able to eat his meals faster than the rest of us.
Christmas day of 1920 the family gathering was at our house. The day after Christmas, boxing day, being Aunt Daisy's birthday, we all went to her house. Uncle Horrie and Aunt Alice stayed there.  On New Year's day of 1921 my cousin Roy was born. First child for Uncle Horrie and Aunt Alice. They got Dr. Hall from Fort Qu'appelle. Kelsey brought him up by car. Kelsey caught a coyote at our gate. Uncle Horrie held the coyote up to the window for Aunt Alice to see.
After a short stay at Winstanley Grove Uncle Horrie and family went to live in their new home which they called, "Silver Birches".

Alice and son, Roy Nevard in front of "Silver Birches"

In 1922 Dick Winstanley came out from England to work for Uncle Arthur. In the winter of 1922 there was a concert at Shawlands School. One item on the program was a play entitled "The Entomology of The Black Beetle". Thought up by Dick Winstanley. Bill watched them practicing and also saw it at the concert. I never saw the play but Bill related it all to me and it did not take long for me to have it memorized. The results, when Dick Winstanley came along I repeated the play to him. Mother said she did not think Dick was very pleased. He thought I was making fun of him, but such was not the case.
In the 1920s there was not the amount of entertainment that there is today. I remember hearing Aunt Daisy remarking to Mother that the Chautauqa had been in Lipton and May and and Annie Fox had gone to see it. She used a tone of voice that indicated this was a great society event.
One Sunday afternoon Harry Creaser came for a visit and entertained us with some of the popular music. He played some of them on my harmonica. "It Aint Goin To Rain No More" had sharps and flats and could not be played so he sang it instead.
In the fall of 1922 the Goffs and Nevards dissolved the partnership in the threshing outfit which had begun in 1910. We took over the portable engine and bought a smaller separator in 1923. That year we threshed for Bob Grainger and Syd Fox.
In the spring of 1924 cousin Bud (Sherwood Eric Holmden) came to make his home with Aunt Daisy and Uncle Arthur at Winstanley Grove.