Education years ago!

They had a one room school with kindergarten to grade eleven in the room. There was one teacher for all the grades. There was a big pot bellied stove in the centre of the room in which every pupil would bring in wood and take turns lighting the fire in the morning. On cold mornings everyone would gather around the stove until the school was heated up. The pupils would sit in long seats with desks attached to the back. There was no paper, they wrote on slates and had a soap stone for writing. There was a bottle of soapy water to wipe off what you wrote. There was no running water in the school and washroom facilities consisted of only one outdoor toilet built over a brook. The girls swept the floor every Friday while the parents scrubbed the floor once a month. If you did not know your lesson the teacher would strap you. If you were bad you would be sent to the corner for so many minutes and sometimes you would stay after school and write 100-500 lines.

Christmas years ago!

People did not decorate their houses what so ever. They had a Christmas tree with homemade decorations on it. Every Christmas there was a Christmas tree set up in the school and all the gifts were placed under and on the tree. On Christmas Eve night the pupils would have a Christmas  concert. After the concert Santa Claus would come in and the pupils would give Santa the gift to call out the name on the gift. The parents in the audience would come and pick up the gift. After the gifts were given, cake and syrup was served for 10 cents.
Healthcare years ago!

 When one needed medical attention they would need to go to Twillingate. In the summer they had to go by boat, a 20 mile ride which took three hours. In the winter they had to go by dog team or horse. Doctors would only visit the community in emergency cases. Many people made their own remedies including these:
 1. For colds they would use elder blossom.
 2. For bad appetite they would use bark on a cherry tree.
 3. Mur from a fur tree was used for cuts.
 4. Molasses and kerosine boiled together was used for soar throats.
 5. Juniper tress were used for kidney infections.
 6. The heart of an onion was used for an earache.
 7. Brown paper soaked in vinegar and placed on your forehead was used for headache and fever.

Work years ago!

 Work years ago was unlike today. You would cut your own fire wood and withou t plowed roads, you had to pull it out by horse or dogs. The only transportation was horse or dog team. You had to saw your own wood with an old fashioned saw. In order to earn money, you had to work with paper companies cutting pulp wood in Miller Town and Corner Brook etc. Your earnings would be very low.

Bonfire night years ago!

Most of the youth in the community would have their own fire. On the 5th of November everybody would light their bonfire. Some men would pick up old boats and set them on fire and drag them around the community. If something was old and not used it would usually get burnt that night.