Then ploughing， fencing， sowing， and planting followed inquick succession. No hands could be spared. The children mustdrive the cows to and from pasture. They must also take a handat churning. It was a weary task， I remember， well to stand，perhaps for an hour， and drive the dasher up and down throughthe thick cream. How often did we examine the handle forevidence that the butter was forming， and what was the reliefwhen the monotonous task was at an end. As soon as my legswere long enough， I had to follow a team； indeed， I drove thehorses， mounted on the back of one of them， when my netherlimbs were scarcely sufficiently grown to give me a grip.
The instruments for the agricultural operations were few andrough. Iron ploughs with cast-iron mould-boards and shareswere commonly employed. Compared with our modern ploughs，they were clumsy things， but a vast improvement on the earlierwooden ploughs which， even at that date， had not wholly goneout of use. For drags， tree-tops were frequently used.
In June came sheep-washing. The sheep were driven to thebay shore and secured in a pen. One by one they were takenout， and the fleeces carefully washed. Within a day or two，shearing followed in the barn. The wool was sorted； some wasreserved to be carded by hand； the remainder was sent to themills to be turned into rolls. Then， day after day， for weeks，the noise of the spinning-wheel was heard， accompanied bythe steady beat of the girls’ feet， as they walked forward andbackward drawing out and twisting the thread and running iton the spindle. This was work that required some skill， for onthe fineness and evenness of the thread the character of thefabric largely depended. Finally， the yarn was carried to theweavers to be converted into cloth.
The women of the family found their hands very full in the“Thirties.” Besides the daily round of housewifely cares， everyseason brought its special duties. There were wild strawberriesand raspberries to be picked and prepared for daily consumption，or to be preserved for winter use. Besides milking， there was themaking both of butter and cheese. There was no nurse to takecare of the children， no cook to prepare the dinner. To be sure， inhouseholds when the work was beyond the powers of the family，the daughter of some neighbour might come as a helper. Thoughhired， she was treated in all respects as one of the family， and inreturn was likely to take the same sort of interest in the work， asif the tie that bound her to the family was closer than wages. Intruth， such help was regarded as a favour， and not as in any wayaffecting the girl’s social position.
The girls in those days were more at home in a kitchen thana drawing-room. They did better execution at a tub than at aspinet， and could handle a rolling-pin more satisfactorily thana sketch-book. At a pinch， they could even use a rake or forkto good purpose in field or barn. Their finishing education wasreceived at the country school along with their brothers. Offashion books and milliners， few of them had any experiences.
Country life in Canada was plodding in the “Thirties” andthere was no varied outlook. The girls’ training for future lifewas mainly at the hands of their mothers； the boys followedin the footsteps of their fathers. Neither sex felt that life wascramped or burdensome on that account. They were contentto live as their parents had done. And though we can see that，as compared with later conditions， there may be somethingwanting in such an existence， this at least we know， that，in such a school and by such masters， the foundations ofCanadian character and prosperity were laid.
