Name: Arnold TraskInterviewer: Karen TraskLife In Digby In The 1930'sI chose for the topic of my History paper this term life during the Depression of the 1930" in our area, and I asked Mr.Trask for an interview because he grew up in this period. He was about nine when the stock-market crashed on October 29,1929, and therefore he could tell of it from the point of view of a young boy, not too many years younger, and in the last part of the 30's, the same age as my classmates and I, which would make it all the more interesting. Neither Mr.Trask or myself were very anxious to tape the interview, and so we agreed on my writing down his replies to my question. Here are the results of our labours:Q: How old were you when the Depression started?A: I was about eight or nine when the Depression started.Q: What was it like to grow up during the Depression?A: I didn't realize then what it meant, I don't really remember that much about it. I do know that we had to do with out things we had before like we used to have bananas quite often- bananas and cream- it was a real treat to have them in the 1930's. People couldn't afford, couldn't earn money to buy the things they wanted. Grown men were getting a dollar a day. We made out a little better, we had our own cows, chickens, mom used to churn our butter. We sold milk, cream, eggs, raised our own pigs. We didn't have too much in the line of new clothes, the oldest would get new clothes, and as he outgrew them they would be passed down to the rest of us. Mine were made form old clothes Mom cut down and remade to fit me.Q: Did you have to find a job to "help ends meet" at home?A: Yes, I started work when I was ten for a florist- Mr.Harris at the Racquette Gardens- mainly hired to weed his garden. I helped him build a greenhouse- paid $0.50 a day, and worked form 8 o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock at night. I eared enough money the first summer I worked to buy all my new clothes for the next year-almost the first new clothes I'd ever had.Q: Did you mind having to work?A: Not really, it gave me something to do in the summer- I would have to work at home anyway and this way I got paid for it. I was lucky because I was allowed to keep this money for my own use, they kind of kept an eye on me to see that I didn't waste it. It was easy to save because there weren't things to buy. My first suit cost $9.95-two pains of pants, a vest and coat. It was almost 4 weeks pay. (I was getting three dollars a week).Q: Do you think you missed out on a lot of the fun and other things usual to childhood by growing up during the Depression?A: I don't know I did because when I was in school I had time to play with the boys- recess, noon hour and sometimes after school. Dad would take us fishing in the springtime when trout season opened, and in those days we did things we'd seen grownups do- tapping trees, we built a camp in the woods. I don't think I missed out on anything. I think the Depression taught me the value of money.Q: Do you think it would be good for Canada to have another Depression?A: No, don't ask me why, but no.Q: What about the young people to-day, do you think they could cope with life during a Depression, without all the luxuries they're been brought up with? Do you think they'd make it?A: Yes, sure they could. They'd find it hard but they could do it. Young people today are just as resourceful as we were when it comes to making and saving money, many more so. If they want to earn money they're not scared to work. They have ideas on how to earn money. Q: Did you mind growing up in the 30's? If you had a choice, when would you prefer to be a young boy growing up-during the depression or now?A: The 30's belonged to me. Now belongs to you. Right? I enjoyed growing up when I did.Q: Were the later years of depression as bad as the first? History books say that around 1934 was the time when things started getting better (slowly).A: It started getting better around 1934. Things didn't really get good until after the war really, although they weren't as bad.Although Mr. Trask didn't really say anything about it in the interview, there were a lot of good times in the depression, laughing times, incidents that weren't funny at the time, but are now. Like the time Dad had to tend the furnaces at the greenhouse one winter night- they had to be stoked at 9 p.m. and at about 3 in the morning. Well, he thought that if he put in a lot of coal, he wouldn't have to get up at 3 and put in more. So that's what he did. The furnace got red-hot and blew up. Then there was the time Dad's sister Marion was dancing on the barrel of salt mackerel pickled down, and she fell in. Or the time she decided to ride the black mare, who was quite fast and flighty. She got on bareback and was sitting too far back. Dad told her to move forward because she was sitting on the horse's kidneys, and Marion dug in her, leaving poor Aunt Marion in Mid-air, for a while, anyway!So as you can see, although the Depression was tragic, and hard to survive, it had its good times too. It brought people closer together, families were more of unit than they are today. People were pleased and amused by the little things- a neighbour giving you a bar of soap or some poataoes if you had non, and small incidents like those few mentioned above, helped ease the pain of having to do without the other, more costly things of before, and made those people appreciate those things a lot more.