Freedom to Play: We Made Our Own Fun

GOOD TIMES AT OAKVILLE

Mount Roberts. The mountain is 6,500 feet above sea level, and I can tell you I was a little bit tired when I got home. There were patches of snow here and there, and in it I saw quite a few bear tracks, but did not see the grizzly. The altitude at the top is so high I could hardly breathe. Dad put a flag-pole up there on June 4, 1900, and nearly every holiday he goes up and hoists the flag. We can just barely see it down town when it is flying. The first flag he put up he left flying for a week, and when he went up to bring it down, it was torn to ribbons and the ends were braided tighter than any person could every braid—the wind’s work. I have two pets, a dog Rover, 11 years old and a kitten named Bedelia, after that popular Irish coon song. Will Vade Mecum please write to me when she has time, and also Kathleen from Ireland? With best wishes to the M.L.C. GOOD TIMES AT OAKVILLE Maple Leaf Club, Family Herald and Weekly Star September 14, 1904 Fanny Heeks Oakville, Ont. We play many games at school, but there is a branch of the Grand Trunk Railway near the school, and woods almost all the way around, it is more interesting to be outside the school yard than in. In the winter we slide down banks, in the summer we gather wild flowers, paddle in the creek or have picnics. One year we had a raft, which the boys made from drift-wood. Oh! what times we had on the raft. Many were the accidents and upsets which those near-by trees witnessed, if they could but tell you of them. One boy climbed out on a branch of a willow which hung over the pond. He had his feet over the branch, while he hung on with both hands. The limb was limber and tough, and behold! e’er George knew it, he was sitting on the surface. Another boy fell off the raft, and all that was visible was his head and right shoulder. 38 Freedom to Play One day—a bitter cold, winter day—seven girls besides myself went over to the woods. We got as far as the creek, when two girls stepped on the ice, but passed on no further. I jumped next while the rest followed. As the last stepped down the ice gave way. All tried to stay on the largest piece, but it broke, sending us in all directions. I got on the opposite side and pulled another girl after me. All except one girl got back again; but she was utterly helpless. Imagine her sitting on a piece of ice in the middle of the creek, and wringing her hands. However, she got out with the aid of two boys who came along. THE ABSOLUTE FREEDOM WE HAD The Clay boys spent most of their growing years on the southern end of Vancouver Island. Don, the eldest of the boys (born a year apart), looks back over seven decades. My earliest memories are of our three and a half acre place at Sooke. Our playmates were the younger members of the large Pontius family whose property was accessible through our back fence. The Pontius’ big barn with its loft and empty stalls, was one of our favorite places to play. Sooke Harbour was only a half hour’s walk away, and my mother used to take us down there to paddle when we were little. Two summers in particular stand out above all others. Because my dad worked for Sooke Harbour Fishing and Packing, he could arrange to take us camping on site when he worked the East Sooke traps. In front of our tent was a steep slope covered with dry grass, and Dad built little sleds for us to slide down. This really provided some hairy scary runs. How we didn’t break our necks is anybody’s guess! The beaches were a source of an endless variety of treasures including flotsam and agates. The following summer we went out to the Muir Creek traps, out towards Jordan River. That summer my Mother found an abandoned seal pup on the beach and made quite a pet of it. My dad fashioned a collar for it and strung a wire across the mouth of Muir Creek with a sliding...