IN THE EARLY DAYS.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17378, 14 April 1928, Page 9

IN THE EARLY DAYS.

LIFE ON A STATION. MR ISAAC COATES’ EXPERIENCES. My last letter appeared on Saturday, April 7, that day being my 88th birthday, and before I go any further with the account of my early rambler, I feel that I should here thank Almighty God for granting me such a long and happy life. I still retain all my faculties, moz’e especially my memory, sight and hearing. The only thing I suffer from is rheumatism, and I am to blame for that solely because t did not take proper care of myself in my early days. My wife, whom I married 55 years ago this month, is in .good health too, and all she has cost me in the way of doctors’ fees is 10s. Thus one can see that we have every reason to be thankful. In my last I told how my mate and I finished threshing a stack of oats in a week. We then by chance had a favourable wind, and the first day after threshing had the clean oats all ready in the sacks. One night after I had gone to bed Mrs Tetley and a daughter arrived at the station and stayed the night with Mr and Mrs Maddock. They were on their way to England, through Blenheim and Wellington, via Panama. I saw the good lady next morning, and had a short chat with her and wished her a successful trip; but it was not to be, as the news we got was that Mrs Tetley had died from fever in crossing the Isthmus of Panama. One can realise the sad blow it gave Mr Tetley, who shortly afterwards sailed for England, and as far as. I know stayed there until he died.

In my last I forgot to say that after being on the station three weeks I thought that I would wash my clothes. There was a boiler and fireplace there for the purpose, and I thought that I could easily do what I saw the other men doing. I put a Crimean shirt my mother had given me in the boiler, also a lump of washing soda. After boiling for awhile I tried to get the shirt out, but it came out in pieces.

The hot water and the soda had cooked it. That was my first experience of washing clothes. One Sunday evening at tea tw.o men turned’up with a few seabirds’ eggs, and they told us I hat close to the sea by the mouth of the Awatcro river a great many of the birds had their nests. We all went out the following Sunday and got as many eggs as we could carry. So we had eggs for every meal for the next few'days. Our usual diet, was mutton (never beef), lea per bucketful, bread, sugar, milk and sometimes butter, jam, or potatoes. We always had plenty, of course.