Memories of Ellen Bush

Memories of Ellen Bush

As written February 16 1988

Our Furniture
Having gone From 38 Mary Street, Kitchener, our family, Grandma and Grandpa Taylor, Mother, Dad, Vern and I went to Grandma and Grandpa Thaler's house at 88 Allen Street West, Waterloo to wait for Bob Benzinger to come from Houseys' Rapids to get us in a car. 

It seemed an endless drive, but the crowded car full of people, tired and hungry arrived one April evening in 1934 over muddy, bumpy roads.

After Mr. Benzinger left and we stood outside, this eerie sound terrified me and I clung to Mother. She reassured me the noise was only frogs singing their spring songs in full chorus from the swamp. Bless the teacher in Kitchener who had taught me two songs about frogs. Mother reminded me that the noise I heard was what I'd been singing about.

The songs come back to me every spring.

I'm a little Frog
Just a pollywog

I live in a brook underneath a log
And because it's spring
Spring, spring, spring
I'm so happy that I have to sing, sing, sing.

Twenty froggies went to school
Down beside a shady pool
Twenty little coats of green
Twenty breasts so white and clean.

The next day I was at Benzingers' house  (near us) and was terrified of the cat, but soon learned that a cat is annoyed when its tail wags, and a dog's tail wags when it's happy. The Frogs and cats were foreign to a city child.

SCHOOL
Bill Fletcher's three children called for me and had to coax me to go all the way. I kept wanting to go home. Seems I spent a good deal of time at the beginning being afraid of something or another. Once there I soon fitted in and was put in a front seat with Wilma Kay who fell asleep, and the teacher didn't even seem to notice. Ostin, Ellen's Husband, says he remembered the first day I came to school --I carried a fancy school bag.

HOME
 I was given three jobs: 1. Getting water from the well between our store and Benzingers' for drinking, cleaning and washing clothes that small hill seemed like a mountain after a few pails. 2. Picking up what seemed like an endless amount of broken glass beside the storeroom and around the yard. 3. And picking up cow-flaps on the road in front of the store steps and putting them in the garden.

The cows went past our place every day eating along the roadside going to Kahshe Lake. Daddy finally got a "cow dog" --one who was instinctively good at chasing cows. We had gotten a dog, but he was useless at keeping the cows out of the yard. He died of distemper.

The puppy we had looked like a little brown bear in the shipping crate. We called him Chum, and could he chase cows! The neighbours were all mad at us because he chased them so much they wouldn't give any milk.