O/T TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 40's, 50's,

[Vince]

Born in 58'

I remember my grade school principle, Sister Anna Claire.....mean little lady when you got in trouble (like throwing a snow ball in the school yard during recess).......there was no such thing as Guidance Counsellers or Detentions...............JUST, the leather strap!!!!!

[dsr]

I got the strap at least once every year that I was in elementary school and I was one of the good kids--top boy in my grade 8 class. It sure taught us to listen up once in a while and to not get too mouthy.

I spent a lot of time swimming and fishing in the Trent River at #1 dam.I don't think that my friends and I stayed away all day straight. Usually we got a hunger on about noon and went home to eat.We put a lot of miles on those old Mary Poppins bikes.A real wheel was a guy that had a 3 speed--Raleigh was the big name.We'd head out to the dam with our swim suits and fishing poles--never caught a lot but had a great time any way. We did a lot of things that Mom would have worried about if she knew what we were up to but I don't recall any of my group that ever got hurt.An acquaintance of mine did drown as he was using an inner tube in the water,fell off and couldn't swim .

I retired 11 years ago and the freedom that I have reminds me of when I was 13 to 15. The freedom to come and go pretty much as I please-- I still enjoy that aspect of retirement.If I have several jobs that need doing and a good offer ( such as helping one of my sons with some little job or tooling off with one of them to the sports shop or going out for lunch with them) comes along it sure doesn't take any time to make up my mind. Jobs will wait but time with sons won't.I found that out for sure 2 weeks ago when my 42 yr.old had a heart attack--He's doing well now.I'm sure glad that I take any opportunity to spend time with them.

[hatchet jack]

boy digger you are right, i was born in 33 youngest of 5 children, 4 of us still living,,,,my mother lived to the age of 101 worked on the farm everyday milked cows butchered a hog & a cow every year canned everything we ate, ate all kinds of fats . my dad passed when he was 78 ,,,,never went to a doctor or a dentist,,, no airconditioner, drink water from a hand dug well,,i could go on & on . it is diffrent today,, work in the field all day go swimming in the river that evening. amazing


have a good day hatchet jack

[Maritimer]

JUST, the leather strap!!!!!

I can relate to that and how about the cod liver oil they use to force you to take during the winter months.

[dsr]

I didn't have to take much cod liver oil but I did get a dose or two of worm wood from my aunts. Do you remember pin worms? Worm wood was the cure.It tasted so awful that if you thought that you had pin worms you didn't let on or some one would be giving you a dose of worm wood.
I remember that my aunt had a quart sealer of this stuff in the cupboard.It was a plant that they collected and made an infusion as you would tea and waited for some poor kid to start scratching his ass because of pin worms.
Head lice were another fond memory. Get out the fine toothed comb (ftc) and a sheet of the want ads from a newspaper. As you combed your hair with the ftc over the ads the lice would drop onto the ads to be squashed. Not only poor dirty folks caught the lice--they were pretty well universal.They could go through a school like a sniffle. Some people tried to kill them by rubbing coal oil into their hair. It helped in preventing their spread because no one wanted to be near that stink.
I do remember the good old days and the not so good ones too.

[hatchet jack]

walked to school everyday( 3 miles up hill both ways )


h.j.

[A.W]

I got the strap at least once every year

You must have been an angel.!!!!

With me it was at leat twice a week. We had an art teacher by the name of Murdoch that used to soak his strap in vineger then dry it on the radiator. This strap would stand straight out like a 2x4. However when he swang (Scottish) the strap he was like a woos.

A math teacher we had, used to keep his strap over his shoulder and under his jacket. Thought he was "Dirty Harry" or something.

We had to stand in front of him with two hands, one on top of the other, and wait for him to "draw" his strap. On the way down we'd pull our hands to the sides and backwards. The belt usually whacked him on the shin.

No bad memories though. It was just the way it was.

[Digger]

walked to school everyday( 3 miles up hill both ways )
h.j.

And snow to your waist.