TRANSCRIPT

Lawrence: What are you studying in the [Arrowheads to Wheatfields] book, today?

Mabel: Well we're just talking about hauling grain and I said a lot of children learned to work early when they were your age.

Lawrence: Yes, I think Harold and I were hauling grain in 1927 or 8

Mabel: Not 20... 30

Lawrence: I quit school in [19]32.....

Mabel: [reads from 'Arrowheads to Wheatfields'] Here Harold's got, 'At the age of nine, along with my brother Lawrence and a neighbour-girl Margerite Thrower, I recall making two trips a day to Avonlea hauling grain. In [19]29, Dad and Grandma Watson bought a half-section of school land. In order to break the land, Dad bought a 15 Caterpillar Tractor. Lawrence and I sat on the seat; he drove the tractor and I tripped the plow.

Lawrence: Yes, we broke..., I'd be 12 years old, Harold and I broke a half section in 1929 and 1930. We were both small enough to sit in the seat of the Caterpillar Tractor, if you can imagine that.

Mabel: [reads from 'Arrowheads to Wheatfields'] Harold said, 'I took my high school in Avonlea, staying with my Grandma Miller. She boarded many of her grandchildren so they could further their education. I left school in [19]35 and I've farmed ever since. [19]37, due to the drought, the crops didn't germinate, so along with several others I went to Manitoba. We made two dollars per day just stooking and if we were lucky, two and a quarter to thresh.