1930 - Annual Convention Report

              72 ALBERTA W O M E N ' S I N S T I T U T ES
oven high up at the back of the stove body and possessed a draft that was
tremendous; one of the neighbours used to say that, when the sliding front
damper was pulled out, their cat used to make a wide circle when crossing
in front of the big wood burner. Our stove, called the Graphic, had a front
door with mica windows, a decided novelty at the time, a built- in oven, and
a massive hot water reservoir; it was also furnished with accessories for
handling coal, only we had no coal.
As to furniture, the kitchen was always properly equipped with table,
cupboard and seating accommodation. I have an idea that the table, if in
existence today, is worth more than it was at that time; it was made of some
kind of hard, yellow wood, and sported the old- fashioned, square gate legs,
that swung out to support leaves on each side when it was time to set the
table. The cupboard reached almost to the ceiling, but left space enough for
storing a few odds and ends on the top; it had many shelves at varying dis­tances
apart, and it used to be a p a r t i a l ly accepted idea that some of us grew
t a l l from trying to reach the top shelf, where the cookies and doughnuts were
held in reserve. There were several sturdy chairs in the kitchen, one a small
rocker, and there was a long " settee" that held the overflow when some of
ihe neighbours dropped in ot an evening for a chat and smoke. For the rest
of the furniture, we had a sink in one corner and a capacious wood box along
the wall in front of the stove.
The kitchen was entered from out- doors by passing through a sort of
vestibule. In a compartment to the left were kept the churn, the flour barrel
and the corn meal barrel, and such utensils as the big wooden bowl for work­i
n g the butter over, also that stout tray in which we used to chop the mince
meat and the hash. On the opposite side of the vestibule we kept the washing
machine and such articles as broom and floor- mop; the washing machine was
quite modern for its time, and was worked b y pushing backward and forward
a sort of swinging pestle with wooden ribs underneath ' that rubbed the
clothes against a corrugated wooden bottom. There was an attached wringer
that, if it did not lead to vanity, did tend toward vexation of spirit. | O n the
wall for years hung the old candle moulds, called occasionally into ' service
quite a while after oil lamps were in common use.\
There were two accessories to the kitchen that might be mentioned briefly
— the water barrel and the swill barrel. The former was used to catch and
hold the rain water that ran off the roof; many will recall the myriads of
little wigglers ' that used to flourish in that water, before inquisitive scientists
ran them down as potential mosquitos. The other barrel, that stood outside
in the summer, or in the kitchen porch in the winter, was a sort of cosmo­politan
institution, maintained in the interests of hog raising. There is great
temptation to enlarge upon this, but perhaps we had better keep it covered.
Our dining room, so called, was really a general purpose room; almost
the only time it was used as a dining room was when we had visitors who
remained for a meal. There was a large table that was covered wi'th a red
table cloth that was fringed with tassels, and this was covered w i t h a linen
cloth when a meal was to the fore, the red cloth acting the pa ft of the modern
silencer. As for the table itself, I do not remember_ much about it, because
it was always hidden pretty well by the red cloth ; " probably it was that kind
of a table that was then deemed much more valuable than the gate- leg in
the kitchen, but would not be so considered today. The fact that this was a
dining room was the reason for the presence of a buffet that we called a
sideboard— a piece of furniture that served to hold the linen and the best
dishes, knives, forks and spoons; one remembers it best because of the mirror
that reflected such distorted faces of the visitors. This sideboard was a com­paratively
recent addition and did not just fit into its company.