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. . .oral
histories
from Hot Stones and
Warm Logs
WEST WINDS
AND RABBIT TRACKS
We’re talking
about A.M.’s father, who had a mail route in the early 1900s.
A.M.: A lot of the people were waiting
for him when he came. They’d give him a hot bag that he
could put under his feet, because they knew he’d be cold.
. . .
B.M.: Yes, I remember before we had
the car, we had a horse and, I guess a sleigh, in winter you
have to have a sleigh, and Mother and Dad used to put a soapstone
at their feet and a bear rug over their knees and take the horse
and the buggy and come down here to East Blue Hill to Grange
every Saturday night. And Mother used to warm logs, birch logs,
in the oven and put them in the bottom of our bed, so the bed
was warm at night.
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D.G.: So for your beds they gave you
a log, not a stone?
B.M.:
A log, yeah, she'd
wrap it in newspaper and put it in the foot of our bed.
D.G.: But when you woke up, it was
freezing cold, right? You said there was ice on the chamber pots,
and you got dressed as quick as possible?
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B.M.: Yep, and we’d come downstairs
and Mother would have muffins on the stove top, you know, and
then she had the bacon all cooked and we had eggs, bacon and
muffins. She always baked her own bread but one night she didn’t
have time to bake bread and she sent me over to the store to
buy a loaf of bread, this was before dinner. And so she put it
on the table and Dad said, “Well, dear, what are we having
tonight, west winds and rabbit tracks?”
D.G: West winds and rabbit tracks!
B.M.: Yeah, there wasn’t any substance
to store bread, you know, and he said, “What are we having
tonight, west winds and rabbit tracks?”
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