Page 8 - Hattie Carmichael of the Meadow Road

ISSUE : Issue 35

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1983/12/1

And you melted the fat, just to warm--you wouldn't have to let it get hot--just to melt it. You would put it in so much water. And mixed it until it was all melted. Sim? ple as anything. You poured it into a mold, a wooden box. And whenever it was cold, you'd cut it in blocks. And it was just lovely. Nobody makes it any more, and it's too bad. (What would you wash your face with, then?) Oh, you bought some soap. A big bar like you'd get today--Sunlight soap, you know, in two cakes--you'd get one of those for 5 cents apiece. I suppose that's what we used on our face, mostly. (And would a man do that work?) I don't know as if they'd try, but too many other things to do. (But it would be expected that a woman would do it, I suppose.) Oh, sure. The man was fixing the barrel, and putting the hole in it and the stick in it, that was all. Women did all the baking. All the cooking • And some with very poor stoves. If they had to bake today on the stoves that they used to bake with. Mercy on me, they were no good. Something like the Waterloo. Ter? rible, just terrible. But you didn't have any better, and there was no better to be gotten. Whatever the weather, you'd have to put on the fire to bake. Now, wasn't it something, the heat that stove would make? There was no such a thing as a hot plate or an electric stove. They could bake any day, whenever the food ran out, I guess. I don't think they had any particular day, any certain day that they had for baking. No, I don't think so. But Saturday they used to bake. Saturday there was a big bak? ing day, to go over Sunday. Couldn't bake on Sunday. (Were you allowed to do any work on Sun? day?) No. You could go and feed the ani- Counselling Assistance to Small Enterprises A BIGGER BUSINESS ISN'T ALWAYS A BETTER BUSINESS Expansion should be a step towards increasing your profits. It's a big step for a small business and careful planning is essential. If you need sound, practical advice on expansion call CASE* We can help! Our counsellors are experienced business people selected for their managennent skills. They can help you to review all phases of your operation and avoid any "growing pains" before they can start. So, if you're making your business bigger, make sure ifs going to be better. Call a CASE counsellor today! For more Desmond Harris, Co-ordinator, infor- Counselling Assistance mation to Small Enterprises (CASE) call: (902) 539-6910 mals and clean out and milk them and all this, but you weren't allowed to do any? thing else. They would say, that's the work of necessity, you had to do that. But on Saturday--goodness, when we were young, we never, never passed a Saturday but we prepared all the vegetables, all the meat, what was to be cooked on Sunday--every blessed thing. We were all ready there to put it in the pots and on the stove. And then at suppertime, we had supper, all right, but we were not allowed to wash the dishes. You wouldn't bake anything, but you had to cook your meat and potatoes, whatever you were going to have. But it was all ready to put in the pot. Washed and cleaned and pared. The water was put on the stove; you could do that. But don't do anything else. Supper dishes were never washed until Monday morning. I wonder was that good. I would say that it was religion in some shape or form, but I always think it went too far. We weren't supposed to pick an apple. If you were starving for an apple, you weren't sup? posed to take an apple off a tree. And you'd believe that. We thought about it every minute. I remember my sister and I going out one evening on a Sunday to take the cattle home in the pasture. And it was strawberry time. And oh, well, I saw a few strawberries, and they were so big and so tempting. I stooped down and I picked a couple of the strawberries and I ate them. And after we came home, she spilt the beans--she told Mother that I had picked strawberries and ate them. Well, she gave me such a going over. She wasn't mean, as punishing us, but oh well, the talking she'd give us. And she gave me such a talk? ing, that I really and truly believed that I had a terrible pain in my stomach. I was just dying with that pain in my stomach, and I knew it was from the berries. But I know very well now that it wasn't, I didn't have it at all. I didn't have the Bell Buoy Restaurant SEAFOOD ' "Fresh from the Shoreline" ' Steaks * Poultry * Sandwiches Luncheon Menu * Children's Menu Two Separate Dining Rooms * Fully Licensed Baddeck, N.S. 295-2581 (8) OavBtopment Bank THE HOME OF FINE SEAFOOD, we have a pickup booth at the SYDNEY AIRPORT. Call us. Coast To Cdast Air Shipping - Ask For Our Price Hist Phone: Plant (902) 849-5505, Night (902) 849-2705 Write: P. O. Box 160, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, B1A 5V2 Telex: 019-35241 CHARGEX - MASTER CHARGE - VISA

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