The old man (dad)
Hitler and my father had the same birthday, April 20, 1889. Like Hitler, my old man was at the top of his game in 1940. He was 51 years old , I was 5 and he did not play with kids. He did however, quite often allow me to accompany him on many of his off-farm trips that were usually not more than 5 or 10 miles from home. His education consisted of grade eight plus the school of hard knocks. It would not be stretching the truth to say that he knew EVERYBODY within 10 miles of our farm and most people up to twenty miles away.
In those days, children were to be seen, but not heard. This gave me plenty of time to listen while on our excusions and I soon learned that while the old man exhibited a friendly face to all we met, he was always gathering tidbits of information and watching out for any"deals" that could make him a buck. Example-- A farmer was spotted working in his field perhaps a quarter of a mile from the road. The old man stopped the car and we walked across the field "just to visit George". Within a few minutes we learned that George's two sows had produced so many piglets that he did not have enough feed left from last year to fatten them all to shipping weight. George wanted $6 a pair for the six pigs he couldn't feed. The oldman took them off his hands "just as a favour" for $4.25 a pair. Because the old man had on his "good clothes", George ran around and caught the pigs, put them two to a burlap bag, and loaded them into the rumble seat of our old car while dad and I watched. In 1940 many people that lived in town had a small pen in their large back yard where they raised a pair of pigs for slaughter in the fall for their own meat supply. The old man knew who would be buying piglets that spring and on the way home for lunch we stopped at three different houses and sold the pigs for $7 a Pair. Again because of the "good clothes" dad let the housewives get their own pigs out of the rumble seat. The pigs he bought a half hour ago for$12.75 sold for $21 resulting in a profit of$8.25. Now that may not sound like much money, but in 1940 a labourer worked his ass off for .50c an hour or $4 for an 8 hour day. The old man had had made over two days' wages without lifting a finger and was home for lunch!!
In addition to "deal making", the old man was the secretary/treasurer of the local public school. He was also the" road foreman". These two positions gave him considerable sway over (and some jealousy from) the local farmers who were always vieing for the part-time jobs he handed out doing road and/or school repairs. As foreman, he hired crews to cut brush along the road right of way, put up and take down snow fencing spring and fall etc. At the school there was the supply of cordwood to buy, re-finishing floors and painting each summer. All these jobs were meted out to the local farmers by the old man.I must say that he made very sure to spread the work around in a fair and equitable manner. ( He wanted to be re-elected to the positions and he always was). Naturally, since the foreman had to plan and supervise the work, he could not be expected to actually do any labour himself. To get to our community in was necessary to go up a steep hill no matter which route you took. Thus the largest amount of road money was spent sanding the hills in winter. The job took two men, one to drive truck and the other to shovel sand onto the road. The old man kept this job "in house" and it was performed by him and my older brother. You guess who drove the truck.
Politicly, the Conservatives were, and still are in power in our area, naturally the old man was a card carrying member,never missing a political meeting, yet never attempting to run for any office. As you might guess, he always made money on elections. He had the jobs of locating polling locations, hire of election workers, delivery and pick up of ballot boxes etc. for federal, provincial and municipal elections.
He used to tell a story about attending a convention at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto when a horse was brought in by way of the elevator and was ridden at full gallop around the second floor balcony over looking the main floor ballroom. At the same convention a grand piano was thrown out a third floor window onto Front St. below.
Next-Potatoes
---------------
May you be
in heaven
Half an hour
Before the devil
Knows you're dead.
In those days, children were to be seen, but not heard. This gave me plenty of time to listen while on our excusions and I soon learned that while the old man exhibited a friendly face to all we met, he was always gathering tidbits of information and watching out for any"deals" that could make him a buck. Example-- A farmer was spotted working in his field perhaps a quarter of a mile from the road. The old man stopped the car and we walked across the field "just to visit George". Within a few minutes we learned that George's two sows had produced so many piglets that he did not have enough feed left from last year to fatten them all to shipping weight. George wanted $6 a pair for the six pigs he couldn't feed. The oldman took them off his hands "just as a favour" for $4.25 a pair. Because the old man had on his "good clothes", George ran around and caught the pigs, put them two to a burlap bag, and loaded them into the rumble seat of our old car while dad and I watched. In 1940 many people that lived in town had a small pen in their large back yard where they raised a pair of pigs for slaughter in the fall for their own meat supply. The old man knew who would be buying piglets that spring and on the way home for lunch we stopped at three different houses and sold the pigs for $7 a Pair. Again because of the "good clothes" dad let the housewives get their own pigs out of the rumble seat. The pigs he bought a half hour ago for$12.75 sold for $21 resulting in a profit of$8.25. Now that may not sound like much money, but in 1940 a labourer worked his ass off for .50c an hour or $4 for an 8 hour day. The old man had had made over two days' wages without lifting a finger and was home for lunch!!
In addition to "deal making", the old man was the secretary/treasurer of the local public school. He was also the" road foreman". These two positions gave him considerable sway over (and some jealousy from) the local farmers who were always vieing for the part-time jobs he handed out doing road and/or school repairs. As foreman, he hired crews to cut brush along the road right of way, put up and take down snow fencing spring and fall etc. At the school there was the supply of cordwood to buy, re-finishing floors and painting each summer. All these jobs were meted out to the local farmers by the old man.I must say that he made very sure to spread the work around in a fair and equitable manner. ( He wanted to be re-elected to the positions and he always was). Naturally, since the foreman had to plan and supervise the work, he could not be expected to actually do any labour himself. To get to our community in was necessary to go up a steep hill no matter which route you took. Thus the largest amount of road money was spent sanding the hills in winter. The job took two men, one to drive truck and the other to shovel sand onto the road. The old man kept this job "in house" and it was performed by him and my older brother. You guess who drove the truck.
Politicly, the Conservatives were, and still are in power in our area, naturally the old man was a card carrying member,never missing a political meeting, yet never attempting to run for any office. As you might guess, he always made money on elections. He had the jobs of locating polling locations, hire of election workers, delivery and pick up of ballot boxes etc. for federal, provincial and municipal elections.
He used to tell a story about attending a convention at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto when a horse was brought in by way of the elevator and was ridden at full gallop around the second floor balcony over looking the main floor ballroom. At the same convention a grand piano was thrown out a third floor window onto Front St. below.
Next-Potatoes
---------------
May you be
in heaven
Half an hour
Before the devil
Knows you're dead.
posted by Farmboy in the City @ 8:45 PM
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