14

'Farmer Brown had a pig. The pig it liked to roam.'
7 September 2003
Ashern Railway Station on Museum grounds

15

Farmer Brown had a pig
The pig, it liked to roam;
It wandered through the countryside
It never stayed at home.

Farmer Smith raised some chicks
To a healthy eight pound size;
Smith said, "They're all prize birds"
And Smith never lies.

The pig found Smith's henhouse
And caused Smith's chicks to die;
At least, that's what Smith says
And Smith doesn't lie.

Smith called the local Reeve
And said, "The will not go free
'Til every bird is paid for;
In all, there's twenty-three."

The Reeve, he tried to settle things
Without a great to do
But neither side would give an inch;
Both sides said they'll sue.

So the Reeve said, "Justice will be done
And it will be done in style;
Get yourselves a lawyer, boys
We'll put the pig to trial."

Teddy Fuchs took Smith's case
He knew the case was big;

While Brown brought in outside help
To represent the pig.

And now it was the council's turn
To choose the third and final man;
Ted Rudolph can settle this
If anybody can.

16

The trial began in earnest and lasted through the night!
7 September 2003
Ashern Railway Station on Museum grounds

17

So the trial began in earnest
And lasted through the night;
As all three brilliant legal minds
Took up their clients fight.

Judge: Who is representing the plaintiff?

Teddy: I am your Honor!

Judge: What is the charge?

Teddy: My client claims that three of Farmer Brown's pigs broke into my client's henhouse and ate 23 chickens. When he came home he saw the pigs running into the henhouse and my client locked it in. He is claiming payment for the chickens. Failing receipt of payment he will claim the pig as his and butcher it.

Judge: Who is representing the Defendant?

John: I am, you Honor!

Judge: How does he plead?

John: My client claims the pig is innocent. First of all, pigs don't eat chickens. If they did, how could one 200 pound sow eat 184 pounds of chicken?

Teddy: Your Honor, there were three pigs!

John: But there is only one on trial!

18

Reenactment of the trial of the pig, a true story that took place in the R.M. of Siglunes.
7 September 2003
Ashern Museum grounds

19

As the trial progressed and time wore on
Behind the courtroom door,
What seemed a simple clear cut case
Became a pig and chicken war.

John: There is no evidence that the chickens were eaten.

Judge: Get out of here and take that stuff with you!

But every trial must have an end
And every case a winner,
And every pig should pay a price
For every chicken dinner.

Although the pig seemed guilty
And shouldn't be set free,
His legal counsel got him off
On a technicality.

"The pig was only two years old,"
It said in the report,
"And you can not try a juvenile
In an adult court."

20

The Hoffman House, made from the wood of 3 deserted homes purchased by Gustave and Martha Hoffman.
1 September 2000
Located on the grounds at the Ashern Museum

21

Ted is the son of Gustav and Martha Hoffman. He and Adina have been married for 50 years. Here is a reenactment of what happened in the early 50's when Ted realized that a women's work is not only never done, it is difficult as well.

22

In the 'Forties and Fifties,' a woman's story.
2003
Reenactment of life in the forties and fifties

23

"In the Forties and Early Fifties"

Hydro was slow in coming to the farms and that meant coal oil lamps, washing clothes and a washboard, with water, heated on a wood stove and laundry hung out on a clothes line to dry or to freeze into stiff boards.
Like most men who never had to do laundry, my husband always believed that us women folk had it pretty easy in comparison with the hard work men had to do outside. They also chose to forget that along with the never ending housework chores, nine times out of ten, his wife was out there beside him helping with the milking, gardening and putting up hay etc.
Then something happened that made my friends husband learn very fast that keeping a household going was not so easy after all. Some men even bragged that they could do a women's work with one hand tied behind their back. My sister in the city called to ask me to come in and stay with her family while she was in the hospital having surgery. So the man of the house had to do his own washing during the two weeks that I was away. It so happened that I had sewed two work shirts for Ted out of sugar bags which I had dyed a dark green colour. Well he never thought that he should soak the white tea towels and his white underwear in the tub first but he put everything into the warm soapy water together to soak. Well everything turned out a dull ugly green but the hardest part was for Ted the scrubbing on the washboard, and trying to keep up with other household and outdoor chores.
He'd cooked a big pot of stew and finally didn't want to see stew again let alone eat it. This was in the winter and by the time he got in from chores, the fire in the wood stove was out, the house was cold and he finally had to admit that although a man worked from sun to sun, truly a women's work was never done.
A few months later he brought home a gas powered washer and my clothes washing was made much easier, and his conscience felt easier too.

24

Women are always there to help their husbands!
2000
Ashern Pioneer Museum grounds

25

The man of the house had to do his own washing during the two weeks his wife was away!
2003
In front of the Hoffman House on the Ashern Pioneer Museum site

26

Ted doing the laundry for Adina when she was called away to her sisters.
2000
Ashern Pioneer Museum grounds

27

'I think green is a lovely color for clothes, white does not make sense, gets dirty too fast!'
2000
Ashern Pioneer Museum grounds