Interview #37

Name: Hilda Collier

Sex: Female

Age: 69

Place and date of birth: June 30, 1930 at Bay du Nord

Education: Grade 3

Occupation: Homemaker

Religion: Roman Catholic

Number of Children: 4

Names of children and where they live: Simon - St. Alban's Anthony - St. Alban's Frank - St. Alban's Johnny - St. Alban's

Phone: 538-3366

Date of interview: March 4, 1999

Place of interview: St. Alban's

Interviewers: Dale Willcott and Leah Marshall

Hilda's parents were Stephen Poulett and Rose Benoit. Her mother's parents were Frank Benoit and Sarah Courtney. She never knew who her father's parents were. She was born in Bay du Nord and moved to Roti Point when she was three years old. She moved to St. Alban's when she was eleven years old to go to school. She had two brothers and one sister to play with because they the only family living out Bay du Nord and Roti Point. Her father worked with the postal service and looked after the lighthouse on Roti Point.

"We never had much to do. We did a bit of house work, played games, ball, cards, cribbage and 120's. We only had family for friends. When we moved to St. Alban's sometimes, we would steel apples for fun." Hilda said.

The only activities she did as a young child were fishing and berry picking. She would trade them for food and clothes. Mostly it was partridge berries because they were so plentiful in back then.

Most of Hilda's chores were house cleaning. "A lot different from today, no mops and cleaning solvents. Back then we had to walk along way just to get water. It was a lot of hard work. You were always very busy doing something or other." Hilda said.

Church was very important, every morning before you went to school you had to go to church. Father Hayes was the strictest priest Hilda ever had. Father St.Croix was the first priest when she came to St. Alban's. "A few changes in the church today but that is only because in the earlier days you were forced to go. Nowadays you have a choice." Hilda said.

Hilda said "School was all right, Ms. Inck's was a good teacher. Tellie Willcott was strict, she would give you a smack upside the head, and she would use a strap. Sometimes you would get strapped just for not doing your homework right or for being late for school. We had a long walk. We had to walk from the Hay Ground to the school which was in by where the Warehouse is now." The school was very cold, and students had to bring splits to school every morning. There were three rooms in the school, and Hilda had forty people in her classroom. "We used slates to do our work on in school but we usually did our homework on a piece of paper. I didn't like going to school because I felt out of place going to school with an older crowd and I was only young." Hilda said.

The first job Hilda had was doing house work and she made $5.00 a month. The first thing she ever bought was a pair of shoes for $6.00 or $7.00. "Things were very cheap back when I was younger. A bag of sugar was around 45 cents and 15 cents for a can of milk." Hilda said.

Hilda said Christmas was the best holiday, better than today because everybody mixed with each other. Everybody knew one another and they would have house parties. "You might get some raisons in you stocking. My dad played the accordion, and grandfather Benoit played the violin and he also played a tin whistle." Hilda said. The first gift she got was a chain that her brother gave to her when he was working. She never believed in Santa Claus. Hilda would go mummering after New Years Day and until Old Christmas Day. Old Christmas day was the biggest day of them all, people always had a drink or had a good old yarn. Pancake Day was always celebrated, sometimes you'd get a nail that meant you were going to be a carpenter, a ring meant you were going to be married, and a button meant you were going to be a bachelor. Valentine's Day you made your own cards and carry them around, you never put your name on it. She never got caught knocking on the door, the most she ever got was ten or eleven. St. Patrick's Day they always wore a green ribbon and had a dance at someone's house. St. Anne's Day they always went to Conne River. Some mornings they would leave and go down around ten o'clock and would have a lunch before you came home. There would always be a dance back home afterwards.

Hilda would go skating on the bay with her woodstocks. "Sometimes we'd go skating until one o'clock in the night with my sister. You could go skating everywhere in the old days because the ice was so thick, sometimes we would go out as far as Roti Point." Hilda said.

Hilda and her family would always have teatime. The first one would be at 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock, three o'clock, and at six o'clock. "We never had much to do so all we done was eat." Hilda said.

Hilda married Simon Collier in 1950. It was in the evening, they had a house party, that was how they celebrated weddings. "We had a small crowd, mostly family. Father Hayes was the priest." Hilda said.

"I'll tell you one thing I would not go and stay out Roti Point anymore. The house we lived in was haunted because late in the night you could hear something upstairs. We were frightened to death we thought there were kids up there. No one would go up there to see what it was. Dad was always gone so we never use to get much sleep." Hilda said.

Laundry day was usually monday, and you had to go get water for your scrub board. Her mother used sunlight soap to do her laundry. Hilda never had a washer until after she got married, and it was a gas washer.