June 20, 1928 [Wruth and Potts Wedding]

They were married in the house at home. I was bridesmaid. Wes's cousin, Herb Curtis, was best man. There was a wedding supper served to about a dozen guests. They lived in Nottingham district and you may be sure that a French cream pie (the kind they fell in love over) was always a favorite with them.

I was not married for twelve years later after Beryl. Oliver and Russell came after that, so the boys and I spent a lot of time together at home.

Any opportunity to make a few cents was put into action by us. We drove miles with the old horse and buggy or cart hunting crows eggs. Crows nests were plentiful, averaging 8 - 10 to a quarter section. When a nest was spotted, up the tree went one of the boys. If there were young crows in the nest they were thrown down and killed. If there were eggs they were popped into their caps and caps put on their heads. They carefully descended the tree as broken eggs were no good to sell. Municipality paid 2 1/2 cents for each egg, 5 cents for a pair of young crows legs, 10 cents for a pair of old crows legs.

One summer we drove miles with a little old ford truck gathering tons of old animal dry bones. They sold for $7.00 a ton.

Of course at home a 22 rifle was standard equipment to be carried at all times. We shot rabbits for the cats and prairie chickens and wild ducks for the table. Gophers, skunks, crows, hawks, weasels, etc, because they were a menace. The gun was never used for sheer destruction. No female duck or prairie chicken was shot during laying or hatching season.

The only accident we ever had was one time Dad's hired man was cleaning a gun with the so-called safety catch on. The gun went off and hit Oliver in the chest. the bullet hit his rib and broke it - then split - part of the bullet lodged under his shoulder blade and the other piece close to this heart. He still carries the bullet.

It was probably the result of the early use of a gun that helped Russell win a Provincial Marksmanship Rifle Shooting Badge when he was stationed at Dundurn, Sask. in 1944. This achievement led to him winning the Dominion Marksmanship Badge. This event was held at Niagara On The Lake near St. Catherine's, Ontario and he was sponsored by the Canadian Army.

Mother was a wonderful shot with a rifle. One time she and the same hired man were coming home from the west farm with the horse and buggy. It was fall and plenty of ducks on the sloughs. The hired man took several good shots with no avail. Mother took the gun and got 2 ducks with the first shot. She hit the closest one in the eye. the bullet went through its head and killed another duck on the other side.

In those days with no fridges or cold storage, having fresh meat in summer was a problem. For years Thunder Creek had a beef ring. Every summer weekend members took turns having their beef butchered. It was cut up and each member got a fresh piece of beef. This rarely lasted all week so you ended up eating eggs.

Rather than eat a lot of eggs us kids would take the gun and go to the prairie chicken ground some 1 1/2 miles away and lie in wait for the chickens to come in for the night and go home with enough birds for a meal or two.

We always had a mode of transportation. Always horses to ride or drive in cart, buggy, wagon or sleigh. When gas was colored for tractors and farm work the gas was purple and sold cheaper. We always had some sort of car to drive. Clear gas must be used in cars. It was not unusual to see several gallon jugs sitting around the yard filled with purple gas and left in the sun to fade and get clear. This way we had cheap gas to use in the car.

Dad only drove a car once. Mother always drove and us kids as we came of age. The time Dad did drive was just after we got our first car. He drove it over a mile, ran off the road and into a telephone pole. He got out from behind the wheel and never drove again. Some of us always took him where he wanted to go. When we did he expected us to "step on the gas" so to speak. He said if he had wanted to loiter along the road he would have driven horses.

Mother was a lady who could turn her hand to help with anything and everything. She was a good seamstress and made most of her clothes. She could knit, sew, crochet, make quilts, hook and braid mats and do all necessary needle work required to keep a home and family going in those years. This ability was appreciated by Beryl and I in later years as she taught us all those arts. We have made good use of these arts all our lives.

For several years Mother hatched eggs and sold chickens. She had three incubators that held a total of 1000 eggs. She had an incubator hatching each week from March to July. Chickens sold for 10 cents each.

Several winters she carded wool and sold it for filling comforters. She also grew a big garden raised chickens and helped milk as well as keeping house and getting meals.

Mother had little sentimental feelings too. When the family left Ontario to come west two things she regretted most leaving behind. One was a doll house made by her Dad for the three girls to play in and their canary. The doll house was large enough for them as girls to stand up in. It had rooms and furniture like a house. The girls, being teenagers, never had another doll house. Not so with the canary. When Dad and Mother were married there were several trees growing across the road south of the house. Mother noticed wild canaries going in and out of these trees. She found the nest. When young canaries hatched, she took a homemade bird cage out and hung it in the tree. She shoved the nest of little birds into the cage. She left the door open so mother bird could feed them. When the canaries were just ready to leave the nest she brought the cage, little birds and all into the house. The way she spoke I think she had these canaries for quite some time as she mentioned them as being good singers.

In those days going to town on Saturday night was a "must". There you did most of the weekly shopping and saw all your neighbors and took in the picture show.

To give an idea of how much Saturday night in town was a must - one night we all went to town in the old car. To say the road was bad was putting it mild. It had rained a lot and the road was not gravelled. It was bad going in but to add insult to injury it rained while we were in town. All the way home it seemed the car might slip off the road into the ditch. All jumped out except the driver and pushed on the side of the car holding it on the road till it got over the bad spot only to have the same procedure repeated at the next bad grade.

As kids we got to the Brandon Fair a few times. We got up at five o'clock, milked the cows and away with team and buggy to Carnduff - 12 miles away to catch the excursion train at 9 a.m. We tramped all afternoon and evening on the fair grounds. The train left Brandon at 11 p.m. for home. After we got to Carnduff we still had the trip home with team and buggy, arriving home about 3 p.m.

The only first class professional players entertainment we saw was when the Chautauqua came to town. They set up a big tent for four days. they had a different show each day in the afternoon and evening. It was the lap of luxury to be able to take in some of these events.

We kids did a lot of hard work too. There were years we did our own threshing rather than hire help. Russell, Joe Moore and I drove stook teams. Oliver ran the outfit. The only difference in my work and the boys' was that Oliver threw off my load at the machine.

Rather than pay someone for sheep shearing in spring we kids did it for 10 cents for each sheep we sheared.

No job seemed quite as bad as having to put up Russian Thistle for winter cattle feed in the hard years. When the men brought in the hay rack filled with thistle you donned a heavy pair of men's coveralls. Hot and all as it was, you buttoned them up tight around the neck and tied them with string around wrists and ankles. Then put on heavy gloves and climbed into the loft to push back the thistle as they were being unloaded.

Christmas at Wruth's was always a big day. First one I remember was back before the east wing was built on the house. For days and maybe weeks we were informed that if we were not good Santa would not come.

One Christmas Mary McNally (Swayze) had stayed all night at our place. In the morning we came downstairs to see just a frozen fish sticking out of the top of each stocking. Dad had no sympathy for us, telling us we had been bad kids.

He told us to quit balling as Mother had breakfast ready in the kitchen and we better get dressed. When we went to the kitchen there was a tree decorated and presents hung from the branches. What a Christmas Eve Mother and Dad must have had fixing that tree after we went to bed?

As kids we went to Grandma Moore's for Christmas but later held it at home. There were always gifts for everyone even when some of us kids brought friends home. It might be only a white handkerchief for men or a box of candy for a lady.

Mother did all the Christmas shopping except a gift for Mother from Dad. It was always a practical gift and nothing that could not be used.

One time it was a linoleum rug for the front room. If he found pots and pans getting short there would be a collection of them under the tree.

To show how practical Dad was - instead of an engagement ring he gave her a gold watch instead as he thought it would be more useful.

We always tried to make the best of a bad circumstance. Once we started for a dance at Empire. It was late fall and a cool evening. The old car conked out so Oliver, Russell and I walked 7 miles back home. Mother had just taken a baking of bread out of the oven as we walked in. We were hungry and a lot of bread did the disappearing act.

There were silly and not so silly things we did. When corn was ready in the fall, Mother cooked a canner of corn because us kids had to eat our length in empty cobs before we finished the meal.

We lay down on the floor put the empty cobs end to end and laid down beside them. If not enough to reach from head to toe back we went and ate more. The one that could not eat the length of themselves was a loser.

In the Thirties when everything was so dry we carried water from the well and mixed a mud pond in front of the barn for swallows to use to make nests. Swallows really appreciated it as for as long as the mud stayed wet they really worked. Then we made another mud pond when we came home next night from school.

Dad had at least two dreams that he was never able to fulfil. He always thought he would like to go to the east coast, go aboard ship and sail south through the Panama Canal and back north up the west coast of U.S.A. to Canada and home by land.

The second dream concerned his herd of cattle. He had depleted his herd so much during hard years his hopes were - when times came back - to go to Winnipeg and buy a train car load of two year old heifers. this would be at least 20 head. This would give him a start on a nice herd.

Shortly after Dad passed away I married Ed Iles. Someone asked how we met. I said we never met, he just happened along. His folks lived in the district so we just attended the same dances, etc. We only lived a short time in the district after we were married.

It was not long before Russell and Ethel Campbell were married. They first met when both Wruths and Campbells were invited to Beryl and Wes Potts to spend Christmas Day. Ethel was 14 then and very shy. She spent most of the day in the bedroom playing with Velma and Earl. Russell never forgot that shy little girl. Three years later both attended a dance in Nottingham and love blossomed. They did not live long in Thunder Creek after they were married.

Not long after Russell and Ethel were married a young lady from Regina, Irene Lightfoot, came to teach at Thunder Creek. She chose that school because she imagined it to have a creek running by with lots of trees. One might say fate played a hand in sending her there because as soon as Oliver got his eyes on her the love bug bit. In less than a year they were married. They stayed in the district till 1964 and moved to Manitoba. In the meantime Mother had moved to Carievale and after 57 years the Wruth family were all gone from the district.

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