Chapter 9 - School House Burns, Farm Work, Sparking and Family Feasts

The next year our school was burned and the town hall was fitted up to continue under a new teacher who was in no way Mr Whyte's equal, so that spring brought my school days to an end and sent me to the hard drudgery of farm work only relieved by an occasional  Barn Raising or  Logging Bee 

Barn Raising

where all the men and big boys would be gathered to raise the frame of a new barn or to help someone to clear up a piece of land and the women would strive with each other as to who could provide the most sumptuous feast for such occasions and always ending up with a dance at night.

Needless to say the city or village girls did not attend these gatherings.

One Logging Bee made for a rather poor family in Craig, a concession north of ours - the fiddler who was to provide the music for the dance did not come so an old maid Scotch lady aged about 60 undertook to 'Lilt' for the dance which she did for the night keeping time with her foot to her Lilting which is neither singing or whistling but something a cross between the two, something that can be heard but not described.

Logging Bee

The Irish Wake

Adjoing our township of Lochaber was an Irish settlement - Connaught- which in customs was more old country Irish than was ours Scotch. A boy of about twelve in one of the families there named Cassidy died and according to customs a 'Wake' was held which Angus McLean and I went to. We got there about 8 pm and found about a dozen young folks gathered there for the wake- which consisted of first paying a visit to respect the body which was laid out in an inner room with lighted candles around it and watched over by the grand mothers, after which couples paired off to engage in what then was called 'sparking' in modern language 'petting'.  As there were more girls there than boys we were in luck as it was dangerous for us outsiders to try in ring in on any young man's friend.Cake and watered 'Whisky Blanc' was served several times during the night and as all the family had retired early an enjoyable time was spent interrupted every once in a while by the grandmother breaking out with the cry -"Oh Wirra - Wirra-for why did come for to go to die?" - and end up with a noise between a howl, a cry and a whine  When this break would occur the girls would shake their heads and say "she's Keening" altogether it was a weird combination of mourning and joviality.


New Year Celebrations
The first New Years after our return from California we had a family gathering at the old homestead of  grandfather McLean ( 1786-1879, grandfather of his mother ) and their eleven sons and daughters with their wives and husbands, but one son single and one daughter a widow, in addition to which was a brother and sister of grandmother's, a couple of her nephews and grandchildren by the score. Mothers and the girls counted up afterwards and found they had one hundred and seventeen(117) for dinner that day. A number of the family brought turkeys and dishes with them and mothers with two grown up nieces  to help spent nearly a week before baking and cooking for the occasion. There was enough left over to numbers of folks who stayed over for the next day.

These New Year's gatherings became a regular event until grandfather's death although never as many at a time as was this first one. As all had to come in sleighs, in the afternoon the young folks would take a number of the larger sleighs and go for a long drive from ten to twenty in a sleigh, plenty of buffalo robes and horses loaded down with bells making an hilarious crowd and a joyous outing. As the modern songs were unknown at that time hymns would be sung with a spirit and vigour that made the Valkyries ring. None who had part in these gatherings ever forgot the abundance of good cheer and warm welcome found there.


Family worship was the regular thing, morning after breakfast the head of the household would read a chapter from the Bible and then a prayer- same thing before retiring at night. When father would be away, which was frequent, grandfather would officiate- both reading and praying in Gaelic. In fact the old folks used Gaelic among themselves.