1908 New Year

Pretty sure I have posted this letter previously in this blog but figured I'd do a repeat since it is about the same time of year as the letter was written.
In fact it is on the back of a post card showing Kelsale School where, judging by the text, my grandmother and her sisters went to school.
111 years later the card is still in excellent condition.

Alice, the writer, was my grandmother. Still in England for another 11 years before coming to Canada. Mary, her sister, was already in Canada on the homestead with husband Ernest and son Ernie Junior for a few years. No doubt it was exciting news to get a post card from "the old country".

Today In Bill's History

On his day off from working at the Fort San Bill Nevard walks the approximate 20 miles back to his farm home.
October 16, 1948
A miserable day. I walked most of the way home but Henry Meyer's two daughters overtook me with a car and gave me a lift for 3 miles. I had dinner with Uncle Arthur and afterwards went on up to Silver Birches where I saw Aunt Alice , Roy, Joy and Donald. Bud has gone to Calgary with little Eric. I collected a bag of stuff then headed back South. I had to walk all the way to Lipton getting there just in time to catch the bus. My first bus ride.
Oct. 17: Sunday. Got my first beets ready this morning. A messy job with beet juice all over the floor of the vegetable room making it look  like a slaughter house. At night Dick and walked down to the Fort to an Anglican service. Bill Levey gave us a lift in his car. It was a nice moonlight night.

Lipton main street in the late 1940s.

Narratives 14 to 1942

In 1937 the Reverend Thomas started taking services at Headlands. In June of 1937 I had my first goiter operation and the second one the following January.
In May of 1938 I saw three deer on NW13, something I had never seen before. Bill had seen them when I was quite young. I remember Bill coming home for dinner and asking Mother and I to guess what kind of an animal he had seen. I guessed lions, tigers, and various others not seen around our hemisphere. So you can guess how old I must have been. I might add that I was rather disappointed in his not seeing something more thrilling.
On October 18, 1938 John Leslie sold out and moved from the district. He had been our faithful mail man for over 20 years. People coming home to our district from Regina knew that if they came to Lipton on Friday's train they could get a ride home with Mr. Leslie. John Fleming took over the post office (Headlands) until it was closed in 1947. On November 25 Bill recorded the sad death of Drizzly Inkblot Dwump, which was one of our cats. I was rather amused over the odd name Bill gave this particular cat.
On October 10, 1940, cousin Joy was confirmed in the Anglican Church in Ituna.
In May of 1942 the Reverend Frank Turnbull came and took Church services at Headlands. Cousin Donald was confirmed November first of 1942, also at the Anglican Church in Ituna.
In the spring of 1942 I had my first experience of working away from home when I worked for the Norths for two weeks while Tom North was laid up with the mumps.

Picnic at Winstanley Grove about 1934. Left to right: Arthur Nevard, Alice Nevard, Uncle Eddie, Horace Nevard, Roy Nevard, Don Nevard, Dick Nevard, Joy Nevard, Bill Nevard, Mary Nevard, Unknown, possibly Mrs. Hammil.

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.