Chapter
Twelve
In 1933, a quarter section nearer to town became vacant, and Charles
decided to buy it as it had good soil and a fine building site, a high knoll
surrounded by solid bush to the north and west, good shelter from the wind. We
already owned half a section, Charles’ homestead and one that had been settled
by a Dr. Zimmerman, a dentist from Toronto. When he left, Charles' sister,
Carrie Paterson, had bought it and the two quarters were worked as one. Charles
then took it over from Carrie, and we paid her a little at a time whenever we
could. Now with all these cattle, we needed more acreage for hay and green feed
— four hundred and eighty were none too many.
So the big trees were cleared from the
knoll, the logs peeled and seasoned, and a man hired to help Charles put up the
frame of a good-sized house. The walls were just raised when someone started a
fire which ran through our bush and killed all the trees. With the windbreak
gone, and coupled with the fact that he could not locate any promising spot for
a well on that place, Charles decided to abandon the idea of living there. The
walls were dismantled, and the logs brought down to a good building site not
far from the present home. Here they were put up again, plastered smoothly
inside and out by a Polish husband and wife team, then sided up outside with
good fir-siding, and painted white. Nice large windows facing south, [56] and a roomy basement
entered by a door and proper stairs, instead of a cellar-flap and rough ladder
as formerly. The rooms were all larger too with a fine long addition right
across the back which provided a bedroom for the hired man, and plenty of room
for the cream separator, washing machine, churn, and a table for storing meat
in Winter. This was our home for the second ten years of married life.
During this time, one of the young men who had served with my husband
all through World War I became our M.P. in the Federal Government, and later
served as reeve of R.M. of Invermay. He was the oldest son of some of the early
settlers, his name Gladstone Mansfield Ferrie. Through his efforts and
influence, the government paid for huge machines to come in and make dugouts
for storing the snow water in springtime, which otherwise just ran off and left
us without water for livestock. These man-made reservoirs were a great benefit
to the district after a11 the trials we had endured. The idea was to dig a well
at one corner deep enough for the stored water to seep into, then with a pump
in, the work would have been almost nil. However, we did not have the help or
the time to do this, so with a trough at one end, the water was carried up in
pails to the trough where the cows could come and drink. So it was still hard
work, but at least we had water.
One day, Charles went up to Margo by train to an auction sale to look
for a new horse. The sale was on a farm one mile from the town. He found it was
a fine, well-worked farm with rolling land and, best of all, a well which never
failed, but gave an ample supply of pure, soft water, right between the barn
and the house. The new owner of the farm was an ex-Rama farmer; he had just
purchased it, and was about to move in. Charles said to him, “I wish I had
known about this place. How I should like to have it.” A year or two later we
met this same man, George Auburn, at the Invermay Fair. He said, "Do you
still want to buy the place? If so, I will sell it to you." The [57] next
day we both went up by train to see it. Margo
was the next town west of Invermay. We came to an agreement, the Auburns
drove us down to Invermay, and the deal was closed in front of the Notary
Public, the druggist, Dougal MacDonald.
We had ten years in our first home at
Rama, ten years in the second one, and in October 1944, we loaded up four
wagons with our household goods and two collie dogs, and set out for our newest
home at Margo. I drove one wagon, Charles another, and two neighbor boys the
other two. We sold the half section to a neighbor, Ambrose Kalnicki, who had
worked for us for several years. The quarter nearer town was sold to the man
across from it, Kop Samchuk; and they are the ones who helped us load up and
move. It took us all day to go, with dinner in Invermay Cafe en route, and was
dark when we arrived. The Auburns were still there, but it was a big
nine-roomed house, plenty of room for us all. They held their auction sale the
next day, when the ladies of the Margo United Church came out and served lunch.
So I met many who became my good friends, and one I already knew as she had
taught south of us in Main Road School, also in Invermay, before being married
to Ford Jones of Margo. She is still my friend, now living in Vancouver.
Charles’ main reason for moving was, I know, to provide me with a
happier life, opportunities for social contacts, and church involvement. We had
never had a real church near enough to attend, just little gatherings in
schools or homes. Then too when horses had worked hard all the week, it seemed
wrong to drive them on Sunday. Here at Margo there was a nice church building,
a small congregation, and a resident minister whose wife became a very dear
friend. I soon became active in the W.M.S., the Ladies Aid, and the local Red
Cross branch. Then the United Church organist left, and, there being no one
else available, I had to take her place. Sometimes I was called on to fill in
for the Anglican organist, and even played for a funeral at the Lutheran
Church. It was a completely different life for me. I was the first woman
elected to the School Board of Trustees, and the first woman on the United
Church Board of Stewards, being also [58] secretary-treasurer for the church.
When the Legion arranged Remembrance Day services in the Community Hall, I was
asked to be soloist! It was a great honor for me, leading the
inter-denominational choir in the singing. I was also soloist for the Anglican
Church special events and the World Day of Prayer - this was because their
organist, dear Mrs. Jupe, was a good friend of mine.
After two years, we bought a house right in the town, and moved there
for the winter months, my husband going to the farm each day to see to the
animals, though sometimes we were able to rent the farm-house. We had five and
a half very happy years there, and made many good friends. But Charles seemed
to feel that this still was not the ultimate place. He dreamed of the Okanagan,
and at last set forth to see it, but it did not quite come up to his
expectations. He said that the mountains, though more like clay hills, seemed
to close in, the valley narrower than he had imagined. So he took the train
again, and on to Victoria. He was here for just one night and two days, went to
Butchart Gardens, looked over the city, and decided, “This is IT”. We both came
out for a month in 1949, went back and sold the town house, rented the farm,
and came back to Victoria for good. "Good" is the right word. We have
had a wonderfully happy time.
We settled on three big lots in the Mount Tolmie area, close to St.
Aidan’s Church. I joined the choir, became president of the W.M.S., was
appointed to the Presbyterial Board for the City, and many other activities.
Also, soon after settling here Charles bought me a typewriter, the first since
my little toy one, so I was able to send poems and articles out for
publication. I had a store of poems written through the years, and now began
writing more, sometimes two in one day. I was very fortunate in finding editors
who would accept my work, not only for Canadian publications, but also for
magazines in the United States and overseas. I did not refuse to submit to
those who were unable to pay, as some writers do, but did get my fair share of
remuneration and was richly rewarded [59] in other less tangible ways, having
received letters from all over the country, voicing their appreciation of poems
or articles. The daily devotional booklet, "The Upper Room",
published my submissions over a period of years until I ceased to send them.
The Western Producer of Saskatoon was my very best market. I shall always be
grateful to the editors, T. Melville-Ness arid Dorothy Hall. I will not try to
list the many other periodicals who encouraged me in this writing ministry. I
also wrote anthems which have been sung at various churches across Canada. This
has really enriched and blessed my life, and I hope and pray has been a
witness, and a blessing to others.
Charles had more than twenty-three years here before being called to yet
another "Home", the final one. It will soon be twenty-nine years
since we came. The friends made here have been kindness itself, and I cannot
begin to count them all. So many of the neighbors and friends of those first
few years on Kisber and Christmas Avenues have gone on to the Better Land.
Children who were born after we arrived, are married, and have children of
their own.
I am glad we came when we did, young enough and healthy enough to get
about, and really enjoy life. Charles was only sixty-two when we came. He built
a fine house on Christmas Avenue where we planted fruit-trees, and had a huge
garden — raspberries, strawberries and masses of flowers. But Charles was
always trying to better conditions for me, and decided that Oak Bay was the
most desirable part of the city to live so, once again, we moved, and soon made
still more friends on Pentland Road. Fifteen happy years
there; but when I lost my husband, it seemed too much bother to try and
care for the garden all alone. I was glad to find a nice apartment quite nearby
so that I had friends still near me. Each year, more dear ones slip away to the
Better Country, but God is good, and sends new people to befriend me, and care
for me. My brothers and sister have all departed, but left [60] behind them a
host of children and grandchildren – my very dear nieces and nephews — even to
a fourth generation.
In 1974, and again in 1977, I went to
England to see the relatives there, and to meet with my oldest sister for the
first time in sixty-one years! And ten days after saying "Good-bye"
to her, she passed on to meet her Lord, and be reunited with her parents and
all the rest. Since the 1977 trip, four English cousins have also gone to their
reward so it is improbable that I shall again go over there.
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