14

We had several fruit trees at the back of the house. This is a picture of the August apple tree in bloom, and some of the family.

15

The Garden
1915
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

16

We had a large vegetable garden in what is now the church parking lot, and we had rows of currant bushes on either side.

17

The Robb and MacGowan children
1916
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

18

World War 1 had started soon after we arrived in Bedford, and the next year, in 1915, my uncle in Saint John, who was a Major in the Artillery, was sent overseas so my aunt, my father's sister, with her three children, the MacGowans, came to Bedford to live with us, and my mother's sister, who had been with us, returned, thankfully, I am sure, to her home in Halifax and later went overseas as a VAD. Suddenly we found that we had a household consisting of a grandmother, a father, an aunt and 6 children. Some of you will remember the William MacGowan Family who lived here until a few years ago. The oldest MacGowan was three years older than I, and she also was called Marion, so it was sometimes confusing, my sister and I were only 2 years apart, and the MacGowan boys, William and Edwin, were 19 months apart, and they were between my sister and me, so there were four of us all within two years of age. Then there was my younger brother.

19

Robb and Sullivan children
1915
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

20

Across the hill from us, in the house where Tony Edwards lives now, there were three Sullivans, Mary, now Mary Joudrey, Agatha, who was Agatha Edwards, Tony's mother, and Paul.

21

Sleeping on the front verandah, summer and winter.
1915
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

22

As I said we had six children as well as the adults, and the house was not elastic, and my Father was determined that we were to be healthy, so we all slept on the front verandah, summer and winter. Notice the stocking caps we wore. My sister and I were in the 1st bed, it was a double cot, one half pushed in under the other in the day time, my cousin Marion, was in the single cot, and it was folded up and put away in the barn in the day, and William and Edwin slept on a mattress and spring, which they also stowed away in the barn during the day. Imagine getting all that stuff out every evening and then putting it all away. My Father slept in the swing hammock, and later my brother was in a reclining chair at the other end, which doesn't show. Notice the canvas curtains. They went right around the front.

I remember one time when it snowed, and the snow drifted in all around us, my Father picked us up one after another and deposited us on the living room floor. That happened more than once, and I suppose that he felt that enough was enough, and that there might be too much of sleeping out of doors, so he had the verandah glassed in. The windows were like glass doors which closed in the center and bolted down into the railing.

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Front verandah glassed in.
1917
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

24

This was barely finished when the Halifax Explosion of 1917 blew everything in, the windows were smashed and the bolts burst right out of the wood. The front door, inside, was blown right up the stairs. There were many stories of seeming miracles at the time. My Grandmother had just come down the stairs, she might have had the door on top of her.

We were all in school, fortunately not in bed on the verandah, when the glass came in. In School the plaster came down and the windows came in, and Miss Roche, our teacher, yelled Germans, and pushed us all out the door. We stood around in the school yard wondering at the great cloud rising over the Basin, and probably shivering without our coats although it was a mild December day. Fortunately none of the children in the school was seriously hurt, no more than a scratch or two, although Mr. Hobin came rushing over from across the street, because one of his sons was what we called a bleeder, but he was unhurt.

When we got home we found our next door neighbour, Mrs. Guildford, in the kitchen. She said if she was going to die she was not going to die alone. A little later we heard that there was to be another explosion and my sister was sent over to Mrs. Sullivan's to warn her and she said, "I've got enough to worry about right now, so go on home and don't tell me any more." No wonder Mrs. Sullivan was worried for Mr. Sullivan had a business right in the North End and it was totally destroyed.

My Father had been in Halifax at the time and he got home unhurt. My cousin, Marion, who was old enough to be going to school in Halifax, Bedford School only went to grade 8, was in Grade 9 in Bloomfield School, in the north end where the damage was heaviest. She had a gash in her leg, and, in company with others from the school, walked all the way home to Bedford, as there were few drives and those who were more seriously hurt than she were picked up. Years later pieces of glass kept working out of her leg, a reminder of that terrifying day in 1917. That was a bad winter. We had terrible storms and a great deal of snow. I don't think that there was a pane of glass left in Bedford but shipments of glass were brought in as soon as possible and eventually the windows were replaced.

25

Snow Covered trees at Colmonell
1920
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

26

The Sullivans were always interested in animals and I remember when they kept foxes in large pens behind their house, up on what is now High Street. I think Mr. Fred Mitchell kept foxes at the same time. I remember going over to Sullivan's house and Mrs. Sullivan used to make large sheets of corn cake for the foxes and we thought it was great if we were given a piece. They also had mink, in their own cages, ducks in the brook, chickens and white mice. At one time they had two goats. (All we had was hens.)

They had a sheep called Nanny, and the first time my little brother saw snow he came running in crying Nanny in the tree, Nanny in the tree.(Laughing)

27

Sullivan's pony cart.
1916
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada