Q. What is your full name?

A. Olive Mabel Hayden.

Q. Mabel?

A. Umhm.

Q. Who were your parents?

A. Harold Trimper and Ethel Trimper.

Q. And what was your mother’s maiden name?

A. Buckler.

Q. O.K. And do you know who your grandparents were?

A. Yes, John Buckler and Mary Buckler and my other grandparents are Catherine Trimper and Charles Trimper.

Q. O.K. And when were you born?

A. Oh, a, June 30, 1918.

Q. And where were you born?

A. In Victory, Annapolis County.

Q. And how large was your family?

A. Gee, I think eleven.

Q. And where did you fit in, in the family?

A. I was the oldest.

Q. Were you?

A. Umm.

Q. And what did your father do for a living?

A. A farmin’.

Q. O.K. And what do you remember about your mother’s work day?

A. Oh, cookin’ for the kids. (laughter)

Q. O.K., what was a typical day like at school.

A. Oh it was rather interestin’. We all went to school from grade one to grade ten. One School, little school, in the country, and day in and day out.

Q. And what subjects did you do in school?

A. Everything, I mean you took everything. You didn’t have one day for nothing. We Just took like ‘rithmetic and algerba, history and geography.

Q. And who was your best friend at school?

A. I don’t know, they were all pretty good friends.

Q. O.K. What types of things would you do with your friends?

A. Oh we just, when we was little kids, we just go out and play and, and that’s about All there was to do then. (laughter)

Q. What is your best memory of school?

A. Oh, I don’t know, they’re all nice. Just to be home and you know, goin’ to school Was all we thought about.

Q. Do you have a least favorite memory of school?

A. No.

Q. O.K. What did you grow and raise yourselves? I’m talkin’ about vegetables and beef And cattle.

Oh ‘bout everything. All kinds of vegetables and . My father we had our own beef and pork and ham and all that stuff. He…they…they done it all.

Q. O.K., so how much of what you needed did you make yourselves. Now I mean like Your clothing and that kind of stuff.

Ya, just about everything. My mother made dresses and everything we wore, pretty Well. And little boys’ pants. And all that. We had to buy a dress already made up Just fer goin’ to church and all that, you know. But our school clothes, she made ‘em.

Q. Um, did you barter for anything, or did you trade with your neighbors, you know Like maybe some of the beets that you had for his cows or something like that?

Um, no, didn’t trade whenever.whenever they’d kill a beef or kill a pig they’d give some neighbors beef, when they killed it. Each one did the same, you know and that’s the way it’d go.

Q. How did electricity change things for you?

A. Oh.good in some ways and some ways not.

Q. Can you give me an example?

A. Well, let’s see.

Q. How did electricity change things for you?

A. Well, I think it’s because you had things. It was nice in some ways.

Q. When did you get running water?

A. Oh, I didn’t get it ‘til after I was married. When we was home we just had a pump, you know. After I was married, that’s the time I got running water.

Q. What was bath like night? What was bath night like

A. It was quite confusion with a crowd like ours. No bathroom (laughter) But we all managed to get it.

Q. So, would you have it like once a week, or twice a week?

A. Oh, we’d have it more than once a week. Mama was always after us bathin’. That’s what I hated about it.

Q. You didn’t like what Olive?

A. Bathin’.

Q. You didn’t?

A. No! You know you didn’t have no bathtub.

Q. So you had a big tub in the kitchen?

A. Ya.

Q. Ya? And wait your turn?

A. Yes. And that was a nuisance.

Q. How did you take care of your teeth?

A. Well we cleaned them. That’s the one thing. Went to the dentist once in a while, not very often, but once in a while. Had ‘em fixed up.

Q. Who delivered the babies in your community?

A. Ah, Doctor Campbell, most of them, in Bear River. Doctor delivered the first one, don’t know who delivered me.

Q. What personal memories do you have of childbirth? Do you remember like a sister or a brother being born at home? Or did you see somebody’s baby being delivered anything like that?

I never ever seen a baby delivered.

Q. No?

A. But I was home.I knew what was happenin’ and everything..but nothin’ to see. And the last one, he’s dead now, Shirley, and a, I was home and I took care of mama after the nurse left, and a but never seen, I never seen anything born.

Q. Do you remember the nurse’s name?

A. Well she wasn’t really a nurse, just a, come and delivered the baby with the doctor.

Q. Oh ya.

A. Ya, Mrs, Aptt, Flora Aptt.

Q. O.K. What were some home remedies that would have been common when you were growing up?

You mean medicine?

Q, Yup.

Well, my father used to go every morning and get us a drink of Epson ‘n Salts. Before breakfast you had that, and they’s a lot of things that we don’t have it now but like Boric Acid. You know stuff like that. They don’t have it now.

Q. So what would you do with the Boric Acid?

A. Well, that would be for washing your eyes out or something like that. It just…but a A lot of old things….you can’t get it now.

Q. O.K. So Olive, why would you have to drink Epson ‘n Salts?

A. Oh (chuckle) for your bowels.

Q. Oh.

A. And he…he was so determined, you know, that Epson ‘n Salts, he had to have it. That’s what you got.

Q. So how, how far away was the doctor?

A. About two miles.

Q. And when would you call the doctor?

A. When?

Q. Ya.

A. Well…

Q. Like I mean, did you try your home remedies first and if that didn’t work the doctor had to be called?

Ya, well, sometimes. You knew very well, when anybody got sick enough to have a

A doctor. We always…..and the doctor would come to the house then.

Q. When someone died, what was the "wake" like?

A. Well, it’s nothin’ like it is today. They just had a funeral…and buried ‘em and that was it.

Q. So, did you keep the body at home?

A. No.

Q. No.

A. Some people, I think, did. We had….I had a little baby brother that died. And they took him to the funeral parlor.

Q. How often did you leave your town?

A. Not very often. We didn’t go very far. We’d go to Bear River and Digby. I guess that’s the furtherest we come to.

Q. So, how would you get there?

A. Well after…..not when I was small….but my father got….had a car and when we was all little kids…and he’d bring us down….well we’d go down French Shore and picnics and things like that. We thought that was somethin’ great, you know, in them days.

Q. What were the roads like?

A. Kinna bumpy.

Q. Dirt roads?

A. Ya, no pave. Never seen a paved..but a..we didn’t know the difference.

Q. So who would look after the roads?

A. I guess.well a in shovelin’ ‘em out, the community. They all had to take turns and shovel the snow out. And I don’t know who graveled them or…..

Q. What do you remember about your teenage years?

A. Well, wasn’t too much to remember. We just ,I, I come to Digby when I was seventeen. And I got a job in the fish factory. And we got twelve (dollars) seventy-five (cents) a week. We thought we had somethin’. Paid two dollars and a quarter, board, a week. We was happy then. Had a little money, you know, ourselves, and buy things.

Q. Do you remember the name of the fish plant Olive?

A. Ya, the Maritime Fish Plant. And Halton’s father was the boss. And….with another friend of mine, and we come to Digby and…We hadn’t got a job but we just went down to……woman we knew from up home…..and her husband got us a job the next day. We went to work in at Casey’s. And I met Halton there. And two years later we were married. And then we lived, ta stayed ta Halton’s home, mother’s and father’s, ‘till, oh just two, three months, and then we moved down to Conway, and….we, that fall I had Lawrence, my eldest boy, and we moved to Marshalltown, to The Poor House. Took him down there. And I had no idea what a poor House or what it was or nothin’. But Halton’s told me all about it, and he…. He asked me if I’d like to go. I thought was goin’ be fun, and it really was. And we went down to look it over. Oh my….seein’ it scared me yet to death. But we still hung to it. We went.

Q. Do you remember what year you went to the Poor Farm, Olive?

A. It was….let’s see…..well it was…..sixty-one years ago.

Q. And how many years did you work there?

A. We worked five, the first time, and then we went back for three years again. When Mr. Thomas had to go to the hospital. So we went and took his place ‘til he come back.

Q. O.K. What were your duties there, at the Poor Farm?

A. Well, just like home. We had to look after these people. We had about sixty then. And some was "insane", some was good, they could work, but they wasn’t capable lookin’ after themselves. And Halton had the farm. He raised everything cause….there, vegtables and beef and everything we ate. And that’s the way we did it.

Q. O.K. And what was your husband’s job there?

A. A farmer. You know he raised….ya he raised. And besides he had to repair, after the the same men, he had to look after them. And bath them, which I couldn’t do. And, it was kinna nerve wreckin’, but still it was interestin’.

Q. And what did you call people who stayed there? Did you call them, like, residents or inmates or guests?

Inmates, we called them.

Q. And how many people could the Poor Farm accommodate? How many of the patients could be there?

I think we could of handled a, maybe eighty.

Q. And why did people live at the Poor Farm?

A. Oh, it’s free. There was no pensions then. And if a girl had a baby, she couldn’t look after it, the parents couldn’t, they were poor, they’d have to come there. But they couldn’t keep their kid, see? They’d have to take it somewhere to, take ‘em outside, to children’s home. And all the old people, they had a, didn’t get a pension. They all had to come there. And some weren’t all there, you know. They had to be looked after. There’s all kinds.

Q. O.K. So Olive, what would happen to the babies, to the unwed mothers?

A. Well the, they would, a, put them out for adoption, if they agreed. And sometimes they almost had to, ‘cause they couldn’t take ‘em themselves, and in orphan homes and…. I know we took, we had a color girl come with….She had six, I think six kids….babies…..children….and one little infant. And we had to, me and this welfare man, he was an old, old man, we took these six colored kids, to Halifax, to a home, him and I and these colored kids. And we had to stop, of course, to look after kids, go to the bathroom and all that. I don’t know what people thought. But anyway, we did it, and took them to this colored home. And the mother stayed there. And I used to feel so sorry for them because I knew what….how they felt when they had to part with their kids, you know? It was sad.

Q. O.K. What would it be like the day that somebody would arrive at the Poor Farm?

A. You mean an inmate?

Q. Yes.

A. Oh well that was alright. You just take ‘em right in. They just bring ‘em in, the constable would, and you look after….take ‘em right in….did. They all seemed to like it, down there.

Q. O.K. What did it look like inside the Poor Farm, Olive? First of all, I want to know about the sleeping accomodations.

They had four apartments. This side was….."Was you ever in there"?

As a young teenager, yes.

Q. It was a long time ago.

A. You know how it was laid out. The inmate men was……the insane men was on this side and down here was the insane women. And on this side was the men……the normal men and the women that could work, little bit. Then was a hall down through there and we lived on the front side. And the kitchen was back……in back. We had two stoves and they had the washroom, downstairs, just from these washers, not an automatic washer. And the girls worked down there. They all was good workers and liked to work. You just give ‘em a little praise, or somethin’, they were all good. They was all good to me and I liked ‘em all. And the insane, of course, didn’t work, do no work, but they come down in our dining room, and they’d come down stairs, and their dining room was right there. And the insane men would come out, their dining room there. And the other dining room was on both sides. So when we fed ‘em they all had their place. They knew where…..they come down….and the insane ones go back upstairs. You know the ones with the…..come out and do some work.

Q. Now, were there bathrooms in there?

A. Oh ya. There were bathrooms in, in the hall upstairs fer the insane women and, and the normal women. Then the insane men, theirs’ was in their own part, so the door was locked, of course. And we’d have ta, they would smoke. I wonder what that was? They would smoke….but in…..Halton go in, twice a day, and give ‘em a smoke, cigarette, and stay there ‘til it was through. And then he’d give ‘em a chew of tobacco, if they wanted. And that was their treat.

Q. Did they go to school there, Olive?

A. No.

Q. They never?

A. No, there was nobody young enough. They was all mostly old people, or older people.

Q. So, from what age are you saying, young?

A. Well, I don’t think we had anybody under thirty or…..like that.

Q. So even the unwed mothers they wouldn’t have been younger?

A. No, they wouldn’t be no younger.

Q. And how long would most people live there, the inmates?

A. "Til they died, unless somebody come and took ‘em out. We had a lot that died there.

Q. So how would they be able to leave? Could the family come and get them?

A. They could, if they take ‘em out, you know, if I’m around. Or anybody else, who wanted to take ‘em out, they could take ‘em.

Q. So what kind of work would the inmates do? Would they work in the garden?

A. Oh yes, ya, and a, in the kitchen too. But they couldn’t do no cookin’. I did the cookin’! And, but they mixed the bread. Three pans of bread a night, they’d mix. And, they’d do that. Anything you asked ‘em, they’d try. And they would scrub the floor, dust, do all that, each one take their turn. But it was real interestin’ to see ‘em, you know. They weren’t a bit homesick, and they was willin’ to do anything.

Q. O.K., Olive. What was the attitude of the people who didn’t live there about the Poor Farm?

You mean the outside people?

Q. Yes.

A. Well I guess all right. It was alright, you know. And it really was. They were used good and they didn’t know any different.

Q. What were your feelings about working there?

A. Well, after a while, it got on my nerves, you know, and another thing, I didn’t think was right fer the kids. I had…I had Lawrence. And then I got pregnant for Don, there. And I had……Don said, I told him you was comin’, don’t mention my name. But Don was born down there. And a…..so they took right over……they…. The inmates, the ones that was pretty good, took and looked after kids. But it wasn’t right, to have the kids in there.

Q. O.K….in….O.K. Do you remember any sad stories, that you remember about the inmates there?

Well, just the one, the insane ones. They’d get in a fight. They got…one feller got in a fight one day……….my husband was in town. And they got in a fight in there they was beatin’ each other up. I didn’t dare to go in. So I got a hold of him. And Webb Dunn and him, and a lot of the……head fellers, they come down. (cough) and they settled it. But the…. the fellow that was causin’ the fight, they got him and took him to Halifax. He was a new guy, they just brought in and he started trouble.

Q. So where would they have taken him to Halifax?

A. Ya.

Q. But where would he have gone in Halifax?

A. Well I ‘magine to the …….I don’t know where they took him.

Q. O.K. If someone died at the Poor Farm, and there was no family to claim him or her, what would happen to the body?

County would have to look after it.

Q. The who?

A. County.

Q. Cody?

A. County. The Digby County.

Q. Oh, The Digby County. Oh! O.K.

A. Like a welfare now, you know. Its…they’d have to bury ‘em. And that’s what usually happened. Wasn’t to many would, could claim the…..you know, claim the body and bury it.

Q. So, would there have been a funeral service for those people?

A. Umhm.

Q. And….there are stories, Olive, that there are people who are buried out back of the Poor Farm. Do you know if that was true or not?

Well there was one boy, was buried there I know. But that was the only one, I think, that died while we was there. No, it was Carrie Hatfield. And I think she was Catholic. She was buried in the Catholic Cemetery. But there was one boy buried back in the pasture.

Q. Do you know if there was a grave marked there for him?

A. Well yes, it was, at that time.

Q. So, what are some happy stories about the Poor Farm?

A. Well……I don’t know……it was just the (?) I there. And we used to play games and all that, the inmates and me. Course I was only twenty-two then and I was know…I didn’t….I couldn’t play ‘em now. But we played games. And at Christmas time we’d fix… . dress up and go Santie Clausin’. Dress ‘em all up. And a……we’d trim the place up. And it was fun then.

Q. Do you remember any funny stories, Olive?

A. No, no funny stories. They was all funny, I guess.

Q. O.K. So why did you leave the Poor Farm?

A. Well that’s why, ‘cause of the kids. We thought about the kids and I wasn’t feelin’ that good. (She’s referring to her own children)

Q. Do you remember how you felt, the day you walked out of the Poor Farm?

A. Yes.

Q. Can you describe it to me?

A. Well I felt like I just wanna go back. But I was goin’. I had to go. After….it was just like, well, walkin’ out your own home. And I can remember that place just as well as if I was there. And were everybody was and everything.

Q. And….and when did they shut down the Poor Farm?

A. Well now I can’t tell ya that. Forget.

Q. Now how….how well do you feel the Poor Farm achieved the goals it was intended for? Do you think the Poor Farm did the job of looking after the inmates that it should have done?

Yes, yes I do. Umhm.

Q. As a teenager, what kinds of things did you do for fun?

A. Well not too much, but a, it was fun fer us.

Q. O.K. now. Who were your screen idols? Your movie idols?

A. Oh, none.

Q. You didn’t have any?

A. No.

Q. Didn’t go to the movies?

A. Well every once in a while, but not that much. Wasn’t interested in that. But we’d……a bunch of us would go out nights maybe to a party or a…..nothin’ very interestin’ but was ta us. We’d go to Bear River and have fun and walk home.

Q. O.K. What kind of music did you like?

A. Country Music.

Q. What kind of sports did you enjoy?

A. Well, hockey was the best….the….I liked hockey.

Q. You played hockey?

A. No, I didn’t play hockey, but I like it, liked hockey. And that’s about all. And go and a…..ride on a sled, you know ride down hills. We’d all have a sled. We’d join together and we’d…..got oh…..and we’d go on these, goin’ down the hills, slidin’. Wasn’t too much, though, to it….to go to.

Q. What do you remember about dating?

A. Well to….wasn’t too much, because I didn’t date too much. I don’t think I had any more then a couple boyfriends and they got after me fer that, and had to quit. So when I met Halton, I thought that was it. I was getting’ tired of that stuff.(laughter)

Q. So what did you expect to do when you grew up?

A. I had nothin’ in mind.

Q. So how far did you go in school?

A. I went to grade ten.

Q. And why did you leave school?

A. Couldn’t afford to buy books, to tell the truth. So we have ta…went to Bear River School then, and we had to buy our own books, so of course, that meant this and that, you know. Couldn’t afford it.

Q. So how old were you when you left school?

A. Oh I must have been seventeen.

Q. And once you left school, what did you do?

A. I come to Digby.

Q. So how old were you when you got married?

A. I was nineteen.

Q. And how did you meet your husband?

A. At work. In the fish factory.

Q. And once you were married, where did you live?

A. To his place.

Q. How much did it cost for your first home, Olive?

A. I don’t know. I don’t think it’s any more that four or five hundred dollars. It..it wasn’t much of a home, but, it was a home. But we only lived there one winter. And then we moved down there.

Q. O.K. What was your salary, when you started your first job?

A. Twelve dollars and a quarter, a week.

Q. How much tax did you have to pay out of that?

A. You didn’t have to pay nothin’.

Q. So what was your typical work day like?

A. It was good. We worked hard. We….you picked fish…..bones out of fish. ‘Bout… with a crowd, you know, they’re all nice people. And who was….

Q. All you had to do was pick the bones…….?

A. Ya, pick bones out of the fish.

Q. What kind of fish? Do you remember?

A. Ah….well we….Chicken Haddie. We’d can ‘em too. It was Chicken Haddie then you know, we just….they don’t have that any more. But……run ‘em down and put ‘em in the can and then go through.

Q. How did your work change with the seasons?

A. Oh, in the winter we didn’t work.

Q. How dangerous was your work?

A. Not that dangerous. You had to work in hot fish, that’s the only thing.

Q. O.K. Did you have a company store, where you worked?

A. No.

Q. What do you remember about the depression?

A. Well, one thing was that airplane crashed down there.

Q. Where was that, Olive?

A. Seabrook.

Q. Down where we live?

A. Yes. Right on the hill.

Q. Right by your place? Where you used to live?

A. Ya. You know that hill wh.ere a…..just above us. It crashed right in the road.

Q. No way!

A. That was……when my boys was goin’ to school……in that fall. It was ‘fore we went to the Poor House. No…..it could be after, ‘cause I had the two boys then. Well it… I don’t know what happened to it, but it was goin’ to land in the…..down the school. But the….

Q. Where was the school, Olive?

A. Down in a, a….Rossway. Where Churchill’s got that mess of junk, you know. And… but they was kids out in …..the field, and he wouldn’t do that. So they come up father, and they was gonna land in my field, there back of the house. And we was livin’ down in, we just moved from the Poor House over there, I think, in this little shack. He had it fixed up as a house. It wasn’t where the house is now. We built that after. And Don was out on the doorstep and somethin’ went by the window. He said, "Mom an airplane commin"! And I looked out and I hauled him in and this plane crashed right, right in the road and there was a big truck, a loadin’ their truck with Christmas Trees. I think Christmas…..ya, it was Christmas Trees. On top of the hill, right in the road. And landed right onto that. The men run when they seen it. We never seen no more of that truck. That crushed that. And it was some five airforce fellas come down from Greenwood, and they moved into another building…..a shop we had out there. They stayed two weeks, takin’ that plane apart. And course that time, they could order stuff, whatever they wanted, groceries, which we couldn’t have sugar and stuff like that (?) And they would give us some, all this stuff what they didn’t need, and order some more. And they stayed and took the plane apart. And when they….people come from town. They’d go right by our door. They had to come in on the field, and come right through our door. Of course you wouldn’t be born then.

Q. So, Olive, were, was anybody hurt in the airplane?

A. It was one fella got his ankle broke. And when it landed, I run up to the plane, and I helped to get this guy out. And of course, word got around and they was right down there, and got ‘im. And then, other guys come down. And that was the only interestin’ thing I know.

Q. So how many were in the airplane?

A. It was three.

Q. But they were all right?

A. Ya. They was alright.

Q. What do you remember about war time?

A. Well we was down the Poor House then. It wasn’t much for us, you know. Halton was called in but he….he didn’t have to go because he was down there.

Q. O.K. How did the first or second world war affect your family?

A. It didn’t.

Q. It didn’t?

A. No.

Q. And what affect did the war have on your community?

A. None.

O.K. How did you plan for hard times or retirement?

Well we didn’t plan. Just took it as it come. (laughter) One day at a time.

Q. How did parents pass on their possessions to the next generation?

A. You mean my parents?

Q. Ummhmm.

A. Well they didn’t pass it on, they just……what they had they just left it to…fer the mother that….that….that looked after ‘em.

Q. O.K. How did people help each other out, in days gone by, that’s different from now? Did you find the people much more willing to help years ago?

A. Yes, yes, yes I do. And more so. They’d visit more and more friendly. If they seen… you wanted…needed somethin’, they’d run over, the neighbors would run over with it. And all that. It was so much different.

Q. What do you remember about elections?

A. Oh, I don’t remember nothin’ ‘bout them.

Q. What do you remember about the first time you voted?

A. I don’t….I don’t remember the first time I voted. But I guess must have been all right. (laughter)

Q. So what ghost stories do you remember from your younger years?

A. I never had any ghost…..I don’t believe in ghosts.

Q. What about superstitions?

A. No.

Q. And how did people know when to plant and when to harvest their vegetables?

A. Oh, when they run out of it, I guess. (laughter)

Q. What is the worst weather you can remember?

A. Well, I think was when we was down the Poor House. We had an awful thunder storm and it struck the upstairs, the meter. And it knocked a man down. He died after. And, that, that I think, was the worst one. That scared me. I was just about sick. Bad. And then we had quite a few ones, I can remember down home, but….

Q. O.K. was there any shipwrecks, do you know any thing about any shipwrecks in our area?

No.

Q. O.K. And what local stories or colorful characters can you remember?

A. None…I guess.

Q. O.K. Do you remember Maud Lewis?

A. Yes I do.

Q. So you would have had some contact with Maud when you were at the Poor Farm?

A. Yes. Yes I’d have her over to dinners. And I’d take her Christmas presents. And …. Oh she was a great guy, girl. And so was Everett. He…..he a….he was night watchman to the Poor House. And he got a dollar a night. And Halton wanted to get him a raise. No. He wasn’t worth any more. He wasn’t doin’ nothin’. He wouldn’t take it. Ya, Maud was a great lady.

Q. Tell me about her, Olive.

A. Well a….Did you ever see her?

Q. No.

A. No.

Q. I’ve seen pictures of her.

A. Ya, her hands all crippled up. And she was all humped over. And she was always a laughin’, smilin’. She had everything painted down there, even the dustpan. And we’d go in, and "Maud, what you gonna paint today"? "I don’t know." She’d say. She had everything painted. She didn’t know what she’s gonna paint. And she… the boys go over there. They’d like to go play. You know…she…they’d watch her paint and they thought that that was somethin’ wonderful. They’d want to go over there every day. "Well let ‘em go" a…Everett said. "She likes company. Let ‘em go over". I’d take ‘em over and go get ‘em. They’ve talked about it since how they enjoyed seein’ her paint.

Q. So, basically, Maud and Everett were very happy people?

A. Oh yes, yes. I found ‘em happy. And I seen ‘em more than anybody else. They’d come over and…"Everett, you comin’ over to supper tonight?" "Well you can’t have us all the time." And he’d laugh. But we liked to come and then…first thing you’d see ‘em comin’ arm and arm.

Q. So they were definitely in love?

A. As far as I could see, they were, ya….She was happy. She had what she wanted. They said he was mean, but…..He might’ve been mean, but…..in some ways, but he wasn’t to her. No, I think he really loved her, and she did him. And they had a little hole upstairs there…..they crawled up that ladder and….and, I guess, crawl on their hands and knees to their bed. Little, little place. It’s amazin’ to think back now, what they went through it, everything, and still was happy. That’s the way with everybody else. Poor things come out like they did, everybody was happy.

Q. Well you had to pull together.

A. Ummmm. It was a different way, a happier way.

Q. You’re right.

A. Ummhmm.

Q, O.K. Olive, you grew up in Bear River.

Ummhmm.

Q. O.K. So can you tell me about what Bear River looked like when you were a child?

A. "Bout the same as it does now. Maybe fixed up a little better. But same as it is now.

Q. Some of the stores that were there, you remember….?

A. Oh ya I remember all the stores. There’re fixed up….the drug store is different…..no drug store there now, or no bank. But they’re…..they’re there. And the school is gone but it’s, you know, the buildin’s there. And it’s about the same. And up in Greenland, that’s where I lived, it’s up above Bear River, a few new houses out in Greenland, but it’s the same old thing.

Q. So how did your community police itself?

A. What do you mean by that?

Q. Well, if somebody was acting up in the community, would the police come out and talk to them or…..?

No, I never ever seen the police. No, they….I guess they straightened…..the parents

Would straighten them up then. You could straighten your own kids up then, you know. You can’t now.

Q. O.K. Who was the largest commun…..the largest employer in your community?

A. I don’t know of any large ones in the…….just the normal……normal people.

Q. O.K. Did you belong to any organizations?

A. No.

Q. O.K. What can you tell me about tourists in days gone by? Where did they come from? How would they get here? Where would they stay?

Well….

Q. Do you remember tourists in your area?

A. No. Only in Bear River. They……I’d hear them say tourists. I wouldn’t know who they were. But they……there was a hotel. Two big hotels in Bear River they used to stay. They said…..these tourists, that I didn’t know what they was talkin’ ‘bout.

Q. But how would they get there, Olive?

A. I don’t know.

Q. By boat, or car…..?

A. I t’d have to be boat ‘cause not many cars. I remember the first car was up my way.

Q. Tell me about it?

A. Well….(laughter)…..that was in Bear River town. And the father had my brother and I, to…..in the horse and wagon to Bear River. And we was right by the bank when this car went by. I didn’t know what it was. It leaves me. And the horse jumped up on his hind feet and my father’s standin’ on the ground with his arm on the back of the seat, where we was. And when he……the horse jumped up, he went backwards and he still had a hold of the horse. And we all went over back over the wheel and over on the ground. And he got…..he was scared to death. He carried us up. And the car drawn in, so the horse cooled down. And even the horse was scared. So that was first time I ever…..

Q. What did it look like, Olive?

A. Oh, it was an old Ford, I guess. And it was a truck. And ‘course none of ‘em looked to Good then. And it rattled and made an awful noise. So it went through Bear River. I guess one of the "The High Muckies" had it.

Q. What color was it?

A. Black.

Q. Did it make a lot of noise?

A. Oh, I guess it did. It did that day, ‘cause, you know, well, I never seen one before. And the first airplane I seen was in Bear River. One carnival day, this plane landed on the water. Well I was so scared, I cried and crawled up on mama’s lap. I was only a little thing. Scared to death of it. Now that’s how bad it was.

Q. Ummmmm….That was O.K. How does your community now look, compared to when you were growing up? About the same?

About the same, yes. But when I was growin’ up, was people goin’…..neighbors

Would be runnin’ back and forth and the kids was at each other’s house. And…. And the kids is playin’ together. They don’t any more…..do that. You hardly ever see your neighbor.

Q. So how would you compare family values today, with those of days gone by?

A. Well, a…….I don’t just……..

Q. Do you think the kids of today, are brought up with the same values and morals, that you were brought up with?

No I don’t. They might have it better, but it ain’t as good fer ‘em. It’s not good fer ‘em, I don’t think. They might think so themselves but a ……They had too much.

That’s the trouble. And they don’t have to worry about nothin’. They know their parents will look after ‘em, and see ‘em through and they just go what they wanna do fer…..and have a good time. We had to work fer our good times. And the money we got, we had ta make it go to useful spots. I know the first paycheck I got, I got myself a….a skirt and a blouse. And I thought I done great. And I paid my board, which was two (dollars) fifty (cents) and I was free with a little extra money. Now what money would that do today? Even just…..

Q. O.K., Olive, that’s all the questions. Anything else you want to add?

A. No, I guess not.

Q. I certainly enjoyed it.

Q. Tell me some more about Everett.

A. I ferget what I was sayin’ now.

Q. He was night watchman.

A. Ya, he was night watchman there.

Q. He never…

A. He would…..he wouldn’t go to sleep. See, he thought, you know, he wasn’t doin’ his job, fer a dollar a night. He’d stay up….I know one night, was a rat come up this hole in the kitchen. And went ta…..and he got after it and started….It run down this hole and he caught it by the tail and he hauled the tail right off. And I said "Oh, Everett, you hauled that cats…that rat’s tail off." He said " Yes, I thought I could haul it out, again." Well that was alright. But every……any way, he was always givin’ the kids a little…..If he’d go to town, he’d buy a little piece of candy, for each of the kids, the two kids. He thought a lot of Lawrence and Don. And he’d give the kids, each, a piece of candy. And you know they thought more of that, than if I got ‘em a bag a candy. (cough)

Q. So, how many nights a week did Everett work?

A. He worked six nights a week. And any time we want ‘em to……we wanted to go away, he’d come over and look after the place, fer the day. He was always good like that. And we’d always give ‘im a chicken and……meat….we was buyin’ meat and vegetables. And we did it, and their’s too, they didn’t care, you know the county didn’t care. But we’d always keep him…..and then I’d make him a cake, a birthday cake. Well he was so pleased to that. He had no teeth you know, and he’d laugh and look so good, to see ‘im laugh. I always liked Everett. And I felt sorry fer ‘im ‘cause he did have a hard time. And he…..he used to peddle fish. And…..I don’t remember when he was married, but, he was married when we went there.

Q. Olive, do you remember how much money that you would have got paid to look after….a week, to look after the Poor Farm?

Well, we got three hundred and some dollars a month.

{ An alarm is going off, somewhere. Olive is telling me to pay no attention to it}

Ya, three hundred and some dollars a month. Of ‘course we got our board and our room and rent, you know, and…and our workin’ clothes. And that was a lot then. But a….ya….well things they’ve told about Everett, I didn’t like because I knew that wasn’t true ‘cause I ….I……I seen ‘im ‘bout everyday. And he….he wouldn’t have to put…..couldn’t put on that. (cough)

Q. So how many years did you tell me you had worked there?

A. Five years, the first time. And went back three years. And a……I think….I enjoyed it all. I felt bad when that place burnt. So that was Everett’s (laugh) and her.

Q. O.K. Olive, I think I’m done now.