prematurely due to a back injury sustained while threshing grain. Fred devoted his early years in farming to the improvement of the organic quality of the soil. With a double team of horses, standard bred, he’d find himself greeting the dawn on the Bedeque road on his way to Bedeque Bay for a load of mussel—mud. This was obtained from beds of pure shell, twelve feet deep, deposited from centuries of dying oysters. This, along with the organic material returned to the soil from a large herd of Holstein dairy cattle, made the farm, in time, a veritable garden growing lush crops of sweet-smelling, heavily-laden clover, alfalfa, and timothy hay along with turnips, mangolds, potatoes, grain, and corn.

Registered black and silver foxes, obtained from the John Dawson fur farm in Bedeque, were contained in pens surrounded with a high guard fence to the south of the homestead. This was when the farm received the name Centerbrook, because it had to appear on all registered documents. A registered Holstein-Friesian herd was established with the breeding stock coming from the farms of Walter M. Lea and William Lea in Victoria and the local experimental farm of John Clark in Rustico. Record of Performance sheets were also faithfully kept.

Fred A. was one of the promoters for a Farmers’ Institute in the Tryon area, and was, for many years, its secretary. He served as Trustee of the North Tryon School for a couple of decades and later, in his retirement years, as Secretary. He took a great interest in young people and was superintendent of the Tryon United Church Sunday School for twenty five years. He was a faithful mason of True Brothers’ Masonic Lodge in Crapaud and also a member of Scottish Rite in Summerside.

Hospitality was keynote at Centerbrook. Weekends always saw teach- ers, ministers, or kinfolk joining the family at the dining table! The Cove Road was the main tourist line during the late 19205 and early 19305. It was a mud road and the only one many of the tourists knew. Many of them landed at Centerbrook to inquire the way to Charlottetown. This was in the depression times and not only motoring tourists made their inquiries, but also what were termed tramps came to the door begging a meal or looking for work. These men were always put up in the spare room of the parlor in the best bed linens. Many of them remained to help with the farming operation— Svend Hansen, Tom Desbarough, Frank Baglow, Andy Munro, all talented in their own way. Sven Hansen, a Dane, could only communicate by playing on his violin Home Sweet Home while tears streamed down his face from home sickness. He remained several years at Centerbrook. The words of the author who penned the following lines proved true:

Open wide the door, what does it matter That his dusty clothes are all a—tatter? He carries moonlight on his shoulder...

Fred A. had no formal schooling. He had to quit school at an early

33