Interview #35

Name: Effie Willcott

Sex: Female

Age: 53

Place and date of birth: February 20, 1946

Education: Grade nine

Religion: Roman Catholic

Occupation: Homemaker

Number of children: Four

Names of children and where they live:

Glen - Ottawa

Vanessa - Ottawa

Karen - Conne River

Heather - St. Albans

Phone: 538-3766

Date of interview: March 1, 1999

Place of interview: St. Alban's

Interviewers : Leah Marshall and Dale Willcott

Alsey Macdonald and John Poulett were Effie's parents. Her mother was from St. Alban's and her father was born in Bay du Nord. He moved to Roti Bay for a few years then he settled in St. Albans.

Growing up was a bit rough sometimes. "You take the good with the bad. Every body had responsibilities. You get out of school and do your chores before you do your home work." Effie said. Some example of chores Effie used to do were make bread, wash clothes, and scrub floors. She started making bread when she was eleven years old. "Whatever needed to be done had to be completed every day." Effie said.

Some common games Effie used to play were Hop Scotch, Tiddly, and Horse Shoes. She enjoyed those games very much. She only played them when she had spare time.

Effie and her family would take part in many activities. Most of the time they would go on camping trips. They owned a cabin at Colin's Brook. When they went to other places such as Roti Bay and Arnold's Cove, they would stay in tents. Everyone in the family went and each child took a friend. There were nine children in her family. They used to travel by pop pop boat. It was big enough to take them all. "We went berry picking, swimming, and trouting." Effie said. Effie enjoyed those trips very much. There were enough children to play with because they all took a friend. There would also be other families camping in areas close by.

The house that Effie grew up in had one kitchen, a pantry and two bedrooms. All the girls were in one room and the boys were in the other. When the children were older her dad built a new house.

We asked Effie about some diseases that were quite common in the past. She recalled whooping cough, T.B. and measles. For whooping cough the doctor gave needles but there were side effects. It left one girl mute. She was one year old at the time. You did not know what kind of medication you were getting. There was no particular cure for the measles. "You would get an aspirin for the fever and that was it." Effie said. Once the fever broke out you had to suffer the remaining disease out.

Church was very important when Effie was growing up. "You were drilled to go. Every morning you went to mass. If there was mass in the afternoon you went as well. During lent you would go in the morning and in the afternoon for the reading of the stations. At home you would say the rosary before you went to bed. If you never went to church you probably got spanked. If Father Hayes saw you, he would watch to see which gate you were walking through. There were two gates leading to the church. If you did not go through either gate Father Hayes would make you go through one of the gates and make you go back to church. If you met Father Hayes walking, you had to kneel in front of him no matter if it was rain or snow. If you did not do this he would take you home by the ears and give you to your parents. Parents were held responsible for their children's actions. If he saw people courting, he would also bring them home to their parents. He saw everything. He was good you know because he served as a doctor and a dentist. It is not the same today." Effie said. Effie still attends church regularly but she enjoys it more because she is not forced to go. "You even had to write about the sermons he talked about during mass the next day in class. The church itself hasn't changed that much it is just the people's attitudes toward it." Effie said.

Effie liked school very much. Teachers were very strict. If you did your work there would be no problem. If you never brought your splits you would sit up cold. They changed it so that two people brought splits instead of one person. This way someone had splits, you did not have to be as cold. It was not always the boy's responsibility to keep the fire burning. Effie remembered shoveling coal for the stove. The girls had to stay behind after school and clean the chalk board, sweep the floor and the desks. School was over every day at 4:00 and it started at 9:00 in the morning after church at 8:00. The school was where the old elementary school used to be. Recess time was spent collecting rocks for the concrete for the new church. Effie said "There was always something to do, you were well occupied."

The first job Effie ever earned money at was baby sitting when she was fourteen. She received $14.00 a month. The first thing she bought for herself was a dress for St. Patrick's Day. She paid $7.00 for the dress.

Effie recalled some prices for items. For ten cents you could get a pound of sugar. For a can of milk it was five cents. This was in the 1950s. Also, for twenty-five cents you could buy a bottle of drink, a bag of chips and a bar.

We asked Effie what was the first movie she saw at the movie theater. She said it was probably a western movie. Wild Bill Hitchcock was the name of the movie she remembered. During lent you would get holy movies. The theater was run by Eddie Hoskins in 1954. It was twenty-five cents to see a movie. The seats were rough and the building was cold. Sometimes the equipment was not very good and it would take four hours to watch one movie.

Christmas time was a big celebration for Effie. There was no such thing as a turkey dinner. "You go and hunt for your dinner probably a duck, goose or rabbit. If you could not get that then you would have jigs dinner. The first time she ate a turkey was in 1969. For Christmas she never received many gifts, maybe an apple or on orange or a piece of bread. You would get a rag doll occasionally. Her grandmother would bake a cake and make her own icing with sugar, water and egg white. The tree was decorated with cards and balloons. Effie never received much for Christmas but it did not matter because everyone was happy. When asked about other events or holidays Effie mentioned how she never heard of Halloween until her children were older. For Valentine's Day she would make her own cards and deliver them. She would not put her name on her card and she would try not to get caught delivering them. Once she ran and brought up solid into someone's clothes line while trying to deliver cards. The line took her right off her feet but she never got caught. Pancake day is another occasion she remembered. "You never knew what you were going to get." Effie said. If you received a button it meant you were going to be a bachelor. A nail symbolized a carpenter. A medal meant you were going to lead a religious life. A needle meant you were going to be a seamstress.

Effie was asked about laundry day. She said it was always on a Monday. It was a whole day of work. She used sunlight soap for her detergent. She would bring the water from the well. Sometimes in the summer the well would run dry so you had to get the water from the brook closest to your home. Although the well went dry in the summer it never froze during the winter.

When Effie was asked about sharing some stories, she told us about a ghost story. She said that there was a ghost at Colin's Brook. There was a young woman who died at Colin's Brook. At a certain time of year you would hear the girl crying. This would continue for the whole night. People had to leave their campsite because they could not sleep.