Air Conditioning in the 1930's

On a day like today when the temperature headed into the 30's you wonder how people used to cope without air conditioning. In Lois' family home, a steep set of stairs out of the kitchen led to a small second floor landing. The bedroom on the right was for the boys; the one on the left was for the girls. The rooms were small with slanted ceilings. There was no attic to act as a barrier to the hot summer air. On nights such as the one we are presently experiencing, Lois' mother would fill a pail with cold water and dab the window sill in each bedroom with water. The movement of air across the cold water would create a cooling sensation. A primative form of air conditioning.

Address at Bob Hearn's 65th birthday

In rural Ontario the address was a traditional feature of many public presentations. While it could take the form of a narrative, the address was often a humorous poem, written in simple rhyme and filled with insider jokes and references which poked fun, in a gentle way, at the recipient. The address was intended to be read out loud with all the dramatic pauses and gestures needed to make the jokes work. When someone was leaving the community, or when there was an important birthday or other social occasion where a gift was being presented, someone had to write and to read the 'address'. The address, along with a gift was then presented to the person being honoured. Like the fiddle player, the address writer fulfilled a respected and essential role in the community. Aunie Aitcheson in Avonton, and George Kerr in Dickson's Corners were such people. Gordon was also a good address writer. When Lois' father Bob Hearn reached his 65th birthday, his children decided to have a celebration at the farm and to give him a watch as a present. Here is the address which was written and read by Gordon on the evening of January 11 1952. The address was saved, and after Bob died it was given to Roberta by Jean, who was Bob's second wife. The address is in Lois' handwriting but I have typed it out to make it easier to read. I have also added in italics a few explanatory notes. (Remember double click on the image to enlarge it.)

Saga of a Sourdough

There lived in Downie Township
A man named Bobby Hearn
Who, though not large in stature
Had energy to burn.

At all the rural dances
He'd cavort with all his might
Though often he was reinforced
By a shot of Black and White.
(Bob Hearn was known to enjoy a drink of whiskey)

But regardless of the weather
He'd sell his load of bread
His open sled being drawn
By fleet-footed Tops and Ted.
(Tops and Ted are names of his horses)

He was noted for being able
To buck the drifts of snow
And always brought his products
When other bakers feared to go.

So, not heeding the low temperatures
He was always on the job
Old Sam beside the fire would cry
Lil, My God, here's Bob.
(The Sam and Lil here are the Hermans. Bob Hearn stopped there for lunch)

One reason why this ball of fire
Had never hit the skids
Was that a home were waiting
A flock of seven kids
(He and Mae had seven children: Lyle, Lois, Kelly, Ivan, Don, Vic, Roberta)

Uncle Lyle the oldest
Was able without fail
To do extensive damage
To a bottle of ginger ale.
(Lyle, the slow-learning eldest son, loved ginger ale)

Lois, the older daughter
One of her father's joys
Was by coy looks and glances
A favourite of local boys

One of her early lovers
Was a chap named Jimmy Payton
But a few brief words from Bobby
And the couple quit their datin

The second boy little Kelly
Who was his daddy's dear
Was being groomed by all the relatives
To be an auctioneer
(Kelly was the businessman. Even as a child Lois remembers Kelly as always have something to sell or trade.)

Now Ivan was the tidy one
To work he was not lax
He thought he could boss the others
Till Lyle chased him with the axe
(There is a story in the family of the others teasing Lyle to the point where he took after Ivan with an axe)

Don and Maggie Hepburn
Used to dance around the table
Until one night our Maggie
Blew him half way to the stable
(After Mae died Maggie Hepburn came to look after the children. I believe this story is based on an incident in which flatulence was involved.)

Then our little Victor
With the Puschelbergs did chum
He never will be lonely
For he'll always have this thumb
(Vic sucked his thumb well into adulthood)

The wee-est child Roberta
Should have been a goodly lass
For Victor, systematically
Would spank her little _____ (hands)

To bolster the family budget
Bob sold the occasional car
And in his selling missions
He roamed both near and far

One day this smooth talking salesman
Received a red hot tip
And in his Ford product
To the Goderich road did whip
(Bob Hearn's second wife lived on the Goderich Road which runs between Stratford and Goderich through Sebringville and Mitchell.)

The customer was prone to buy
But she had poor Bobby guessin
For in her life she'd never had
A single driving lesson
(I believe that Jean who was in her 30's at this time, had inherited some money and decide to buy a car but she had never learned to drive.)

Twas then our Bob became enmeshed
For she had trouble with the wheel
To keep the car upon the road
Around her waist he'd steal --

His arm -- to steady her
But there he met his doom
For she was wearing just by chance
A subtle, sweet perfume.

Poor Bobby got a dreamy look
Towards Jean he began to hitch
But in the next split second
They were bouncing down the ditch
(Bob did meet Jean while giving her driving lessons)

Fence wires snapped before them
As Bob began to pray
But they ended up quite comfortably
In Jack Campbell's field of hay
(Jack Campbell was Jean's father with whom she lived)

Well Bobby sold the auto
But the transaction grew
Before he was finished
He had sold himself too

Bob and Jean were married
But Robert was not whipped
For Doug and Jack are proof you know
He had not completely slipped.

This is your celebration
So amid our shouts and cheers
We fondly hope that you may live
Another 100 years.

Now folks we wish to say to you
Myself and all the rest
It is our fondest hope that you
May have from life -- the best.

This token we do now present
From those assembled here
May it remind you of us all
Who hold you very dear.

Advertisement in the London Free Press

The spring of 1942 found Gordon and Lois living in the back of Houcke's General Store in St. Pauls. While they did have the luxury of being on their own, they and their two girls, both under the age of four, were living in three rooms with no toilet, no running water, no fridge and certainly no phone. As an added complication, Lois had recently realized -- against all doctor's orders -- that she was pregnant. In May when the various schools would begin advertising for teachers for the following September Gordon would go out into the store to read through the want ads. Here is the London Free Press from 30 May 1942. (Remember, if you double click on it, you can enlarge it.) I am sure that the idea of a house, a garden, and a garage as advertised by the trustees of SS#3 North Oxford was immensely appealing. Since they already needed to drive into London for a doctor's appointment Gordon said: "We will go early and take a look at the place." They knew that Highway 2 ran through Woodstock in Oxford County so they started their search for the school there. When Gordon enquired in Woodstock no one had heard of Erwood Kerr. However, in Ingersoll Gordon had better luck and was given precise directions to follow Highway 2 until Dickson's Corners where he would see the school and the house. He was to turn right and Erwood Kerr lived on the farm with the big red brick house on the left just past the second concession road. When Gordon knocked on Erwood's door Mrs. Kerr and the two boys were eating lunch. Erwood was absent. "You will likely find him in the barn having a sleep in the hay mound." Once roused, Erwood said they would have to drive up to talk to Walter Hutchison. While Gordon was introduced to Walt, Lois and the girls waited in the car. Walt's wife Bernice who still had her hair in curlers ran out to the car -- despite her daughter's protestations --- "to say hello because this may be the new teacher's wife." Jack Butterworth was the third trustee who would make the hiring decision and they agreed to meet with him at the school house. At the school Gordon told the trustees " I want a lot more than your last teacher got" and asked for a 200 dollar raise to $1200 per year. The trustees suggested that Gordon look over the cottage while they made a decision. Lois remembers the cottage as pretty dilapidated. The grass hadn't been cut for weeks because the last teacher had moved out in the early spring, the inside of the house was shabby, and of course the garden was nonexistent. However, it was a house, and it could be theirs! It even had a verandah. The trustees offered the job to Gordon, and hired Lois to be the caretaker at $200 per year. And that began 10 happy, happy years where there was little money but lots of good friends, deep relationships, and as Lois expresses it, "lots of fun and good laughs".

The Print of Summer Flowers

In the spring of 1942 Gordon saw an advertizement announcing that the trustees of SS#3 North Oxford were looking for a teacher for the one-room schoolhouse at Dickson's Corners. A teacherage came with the job. There are several stories to be told about how Gordon got that job and about the very different reactions of his wife Lois and his mother Beanie to the move from St. Pauls in Downie Township to Dickson's Corners which was 30 miles south in Oxford County .... but that is for another time. This story is about the picture that hung in the living room of the cottage that sat on the school grounds. The new house had to be furnished and Gordon and Lois carefully picked out brand new furniture for the living room at Hudson's store in Stratford. The furniture consisted of a couch and two chairs, all overstuffed in long-lasting dark green and maroon fabric. After spending more on the furniture than they thought they could afford, Lois realized that she had nothing for the walls of the new living room. She consulted with Gordon and together they decided that they could buy one picture for which they paid $2.95. That print of a bouquet of summer flowers hung on the wall in the cottage at Dickson's Corners for the next ten years. Here, in about 1951, are the four McEwan children sitting wide-eyed and excited (likely because they were having their picture taken with a "flash") in front of the $2.95 print.
When the McEwans moved back to Perth County in 1952, the picture of the summer flowers was relegated to the storeroom, and then, many years later, it was moved to Lou and John's house along with the overstuffed couch and chairs (which incidentally had never seen the light of day because they were always carefully covered with slips in a variety of exuberant flower patterns). The picture rested in Lou and John's attic until three years ago, when it was given to Bob and Jean as a Christmas gift. Now, 65 years after it was first purchased, the print of the summer flowers hangs in Bob's living room, a reminder of a different era in which young couples debated over whether they could afford $2.95 for a picture for their living room.