In late May of 1899, a month short of her sixteenth birthday, Alma Reid wrote this letter to her father, John Reid, who was away from home on a building construction job. Alma’s mother had been suffering from an illness that kept her from performing her usual household duties and so, as the eldest daughter, Alma was left in charge of her ailing mother, her 12 year old sister, Clara and her 19 year old brother Will, (who was then just beginning to make his incomparable photographic record of Waterdown and its environs) in their home on Margaret Street in Waterdown. Written over a period of three days, Alma’s letter reports in detail on her mother’s illness, but also gives a lively account of the daily activities in and around her home as well as in her community. The fields referred to may have been those between the creek (before it was moved west by the railway in 1912) and the cemetery. In 1899, John Reid had a turning mill on Grindstone Creek just below the cemetery, and the ploughed fields were part of the “home farm” established by his father in the 1860s.
In the interest of space, I have omitted some of the detailed accounts of mother’s illness as well as factual but otherwise unrevealing reports of visits from the many members of the family of Mrs. Reid (née Albion Edwards), most of whom lived in Hamilton. Spelling and grammar are unchanged except where clarity demanded correction.
Saturday Night
Dear Father,
Well Papa, Lou tried to plough that lot down there but he said he couldn’t do it because it is so hard. So Will asked Hoods again and they said they could do it on Monday they thought. I’ll tell you about it to-morrow before I finish. Bob Hood brought the wood on Thursday and a gay old time they had of it too. He did not make a big enough turn to get in the gate and tried to back the horses up and the one horse would back and the other one wouldn’t so at last Bob threw off a good bit of the wood at the gate then tried to back but they wouldn’t so he drove clean up to Kenyons barn and tried to turn there and they wouldn’t back it even down the hill. So he unhitched the horse and hitched them on to the back of the waggon and drew it down that little hill to Aunt M’s barn then turned and came down and he came so fast when they got started that they came tearing into the yard and the rack caught on both that little plum tree and the big lilac bush and barked the tree pretty bad and broke the lilac bush so I think he felt pretty sick and he took the horses up home and left the waggon, he came down and unloaded the wood after tea, then came after the waggon yesterday. Oh! you don’t know what sport you’re missing.
Mr. Brown was here yesterday and Will went down to the house with him. He told Will to get some other boy to help him and to clean out the 3 chimneys, sweep the house right through, clean out the wood shed, and clean the cellar all out, so Will got Arthur to help him and they did it yesterday afternoon, so Will says they are going to have 50 cents each (that is, if they get it). Chris Davis is there papering and white-washing to-day and Mrs. N. Arnold is there cleaning it all through, he is going to rent it to Jim Hopkinson. He is coming on Monday.
Well Papa the new school teacher moved into W. Ryckman’s house to-day so there is another bakers dozen to add to Waterdown’s numberless inhabitants. Mrs. Paul Arnold killed a milk snake to-day about 38 inches long. Will saw it and measured it himself. It was sitting on the top of the cistern when she went out and she grabbed up Paul’s spud [spade] and killed it. Mrs. Arnold is getting better now she is able to do her own work again. ………………..
So good-night from all. Alma.
Sunday afternoon.
Well Papa this is one of the horriblest lonesome days – it is dark and foggy as can be. We had a big rain and wind-storm here last night. It flattened the big lilac bush out. The branches are nearly on the ground. Well did you hear the rooster on the wood-pile this morning? I imagined I did. I didn’t know whether I was really awake this morning or not. I was listening for that critter banging away at the stove and making various peculiar noises. ALAS! I listened in vain. Mother seems a little better to-day. She isn’t eating hardly anything. Aunt Fanny brought up the jardineer for the fern and Will potted it for her and I tell you it did look lovely. Aunt Fanny thought she never saw such a nice one. She says she is going to get one for Lizzie Ewing and let the children give it to her for a wedding present and put it in a fancy Jardineer. She says that Lizzie’s intended is very fond of flowers in any way. She thinks you are foolish for not taking them to town. She says they are well worth 50 cents each and that you could easy get it.
Young Fred Crooker told Arthur Featherston that George Reid has got Stocks store and is going to move his shop goods into it on Monday and he is to have the Laundry and telephone with the store, he is doing too much business for the other little place.
There was a young fellow and his wife and their little girl came out to Mrs. F. Kings on Friday, and their little girl came in to get a swing. She is about Stella’s size, but she is a dear little thing and a regular little picture. When they were going away, they were admiring our big lilac bush and I gave her a big bunch, she was very pleased to get it. She said (the woman, I mean) that was something they didn’t get in town. They were going to come out here for the summer and live in W. Ryckmans house but Breckon was ahead of him I guess.
I just read Clara’s letter, I guess by what she says there, she must have been summing up her mosquito bites. I think it must surely be hives for no one else is bothered with so many as she has. I mixed her up a dose of Cream Tartar last night, and she took it. We thought maybe it would cool her blood a little if it is hives. Will said I had told you all there was to tell so he would not write this time.
Mr. O’Neil and Miss O’Neil seem as friendly as can be. I have been speaking to them different times. Mr. O’Neil comes over every day to bring something for the pig. When Bob Hood was trying to get in the other day with the wood, Miss O’Neil and Mr. was up at the fence watching. Mr. O’Neil went up to see if he could help them any. Miss O’Neil says “That fellow wants a town lot to turn in”, Mr. O’Neil says “he don’t, he wants a whole farm.” He seems comical. ………………..
Well Aunt Pattie, Bert, Arthur, Mabel and Jennie Orr came out this afternoon for all it was so nasty. Mother hadn’t got hardly on the bed when Uncle Bray and Earl and Stella came in and a few minutes after Aunt Pattie came and Earl and Stella went home. Aunt Pattie brought Mother a big 2 qt. bottle of Strawberries and some Lozenges, and Uncle Bray brought her 8 bananas and a bag of candy, so we ought to be pretty sweet. Uncle Jim and Bessie have gone up to Paris again. Clara went to the Methodist Church to-night with Ella King. It was Song service. She has just got home. Well Papa we had radishes to-night for the first time, it was neither Applesauce or berries.
Will is at his old trick to-night lying here beside the stove sleeping, before he goes to bed. He said Hoods were to plough the lot and go over it 4 times with the Disk Harrow (whatever that is) and leave it ready to plant the potatoes for $1.50. Ester Doyle is to be married on Thursday. Those people I had mentioned before that wanted Ryckmans house have rented Phil Davidsons house or rather Smiths house, so they must have some money. ………………..
Give my love to all and yourself, Alma.
Night – Monday. Mother is just about the same to-day. I’ve been washing to-day and want to iron to-morrow if I can. Hoods ploughed the lot to-day. Will can tell you about it on Friday. He is going now to pay the dues. ……………….. I send you these stamps and I want you to use the pretty ones first so I will get them when you write, I want to save them.
I will have to stop now as I have the dishes to do and will is waiting for this letter to take it to the office. I don’t think there is any more than ten pounds in it anyhow so surely it won’t go overweight. ……………….. So good-night with love from
Alma M. Reid
This charming and entertaining letter is revealing. We learn that Waterdown was used as a summer resort or refuge by families from the city, and also precisely when George Reid, a cousin of her father, moved his shop to the building on the north west corner of Mill and Dundas Streets, a building that subsequently housed the Royal Bank and then the Waterdown PUC. The letter also offers some puzzles. Did the term “bakers dozen” mean something other than 13 to Alma, or did the new schoolteacher have a wife and eleven children? And what critter bangs away at the stove in the early morning …. a racoon perhaps? Is there a special significance to hearing the rooster on the woodpile? Perhaps some of our readers can shed light on these puzzles.
While her mother regained her health and lived another 27 years, sadly, Alma M. Reid died in 1904 in her 21st year.
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The following “receipt” is from a hand-written book probably begun by Alma’s grandmother as the first recipe, or liniment, is dated 1852. It is not likely the same concoction that Alma mixed up for Clara, but it is a good example of the type of home-made remedy common in the nineteenth century.
Over these ingredients pour one quart of boiling water. Stir it up and let it stand 48 hours, then slice the lemon into it and let it stand one day. Pour off the liquid and add one pint of best Holland Gin.
Dose: One wine glass full for a grown up person, diminish according to age.
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 1990, 2021.
