Recreation

Antigonish Harbour

…There was always a bunch of boys and girls ready to go the Ladies’ Ducking Hole…The boys undressed on one side of the river and we girls on the other side. The boys had tied a long rope with a big knot on one end to a tree limb hanging over the water, and then let go. We girls didn’t do anything so risky… We picked wild strawberries along the railroad track, sometimes taking our lunch…

The Landing

We had so many games to play like cricket, prisoner’s base, hunk, rolling hoops, making and walking on stilts, marbles, hop scotch, jumping rope, dominos etc. We played statues where you twirled your partner round and round, then let go quickly, and he or she had to hold that position until everyone got a good look… Winter had its games: coasting, snow shoeing, skating, tobogganing, playing hockey with the boys near the town dump…

Once or twice a winter if sledding was good, Taylors and maybe Edgar Whidden would have a party. Each of us would be picked up at our homes for a hayride. It was fun to snuggle down under the blankets. Usually we sang good and loud, and after a long drive finish up at the home of the host for a baked bean feed with hot chocolate, or maybe sandwiches and cake before being driven home. Never were we allowed to go without two chaperones, either a teacher and her beau, or someone’s parents…

…Celtic Hall, our all-purpose theatre. Early on, silent films were shown, plays took play, many with local actors, and also traveling shows…We had singers, even an opera singer now and then, and lectures too. Saturday afternoon was for kids with cartoons and a long-running Western serial…Pictures were all black and white. When “talkies” came in, that was a miracle…