A CANADIAN LETTER

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 25, Issue 3766, 8 June 1936, Page 5

A CANADIAN LETTER

LIFE IN THE MIDDLE WEST. LOVE OF IT LIGHTENS LABOUR Our relatives at home might like to know how we live In Middle West of Canada, writes an old friend who left this country a year or so ago. Here are my first impressions of this side:—

City life is the same world-wide; here one might say there are two large stores where you can buy everything, and the smaller shops or stores are passed by. Countless motor cars crowd the roads and must keep to the right, stop dead at all side streets, and keep oft street car tracks. The heavy trams are like the trains —built to last—and in winter it is an amazing sight to see the “stove" being fed with coke to keep people from freezing. One sees a few coloured people on the streets, and Indians badly dressed in European clothes. The small town's are wonderfulgood stores, cinema, dance halls, churches, Salvation Army, countless motor cars, cowboys here and there. THE REAL CANADA. The prairie, the farms, the "Home on the Range,” are the real Canadawork, a little play, little money, and great courage. In the small township or village you get the real life of the community. The principal store is also the post office, and you can buy everything there. The principal building is the skating and curling rink, which in winter is the centre of all life. Hockey is a life and death matter to young and old. Then there is the school, the centre of interest and also dispute, usually the school auditorium is available for concerts, plays, dances, and whist drives. Tnere is always something going on to cheer people up during the long frozen months —skiing, snow shoe hikes, toboganning, etc. In summer baseball is the national game. Church life is friendly. The minister often lives in another parish, running two or three services. The "Ladies’ Aid” keeps things going, and the American “chicken suppers" in the church hall are one way of raising money. Horses jog along in sleighs and the dogs seem to enjoy the snow. For six months or more there is little travelling, but the trains run, and the bus service is maintained as far as possible. The other six months cars and their owners face hazards. In dry weather the roads are treated with loose gravel, and if your car slips in that you may never get home again; or the heat may cause a blow-out. •NO PRIVACY. There is no privacy in Canadian homes. No matier how' you heat your house, all the doors (if there are doors) are wide open to allow hot auto circulate. There may be stoves fuelled with w'ood, or, if you are near a railroad, you can have a furnace and central nesting. These railroads seem everywhere and are a trial to a newcomer when in a car, as you must keep a look out for the Coast to Coast express—there are no “gates” or signals in Canada. When driving in the bush one must keep a look out for skunks.

It is amazing that in some small townships, while you will get electric light, electric cooking stoves and electric washing machines, there is no modern sanitation, and people carrywater from the well. The great plague of the country is the mosquito. All windows and doors have wire screens, these being replaced in winter with double storm windows and doors, which must be kept shut. During the summer months "barn" dances are held everywhere. No one walks in summer if a car or horse ean be had—it is too hot. This is a great country for "feeds.” Anyone going on a journey, getting married, etc., must have a tea or a “shower” — which includes gifts. Ice games or dancing calls for a "lunch” at 11 p.m. There are all kinds of church teas, school and office teas. In the country each housewife brings a cake and sandwiches. The European peasant element here has introduced many things strange to British people, and Old Country ideas are very out-of-date. THE PRAIRIE FARMER’S WIFE. A great deal has been said about the prairie farmer’s wife. She needs no pity, for her ups and downs are no worse than those of other people. She keeps the place going, must make and sell her own butter, or sell the cream. This entails daily work and cleanliness. All the bread and pies have to be made, and vegetables and fruit are grown, dug and cooked by the housewife. There are various wild fruits to be gathered and bottled in season. Preserved fruit, not jam, is always on the table and eaten as a sweet.

The men put up the house, but the nousewife has to make it a home, and very nice it is, too, when finished. Some sort of a flower garden is made in spare moments. The bush and prairie are lovely with flowers, and early green and late autumn tints; asters ■ grow everywhere. The life is hard, but whenever possible a car and a radio comes along and brightens the life. Visits are possible, life is never dull, and love lightens labour.