n sheaves. Indoors they hooked endless mats or thumped noisily at the loom, which they varied by heckling (pulling threads through combs) and carding wool. They dipped candles and made mincemeat and sausages and potted ham and beef. There was also endless sewing and mending and making of new garments. Knitting was for times of leisure when the light was poor and educated fingers counted automatically. Even recreation was serious and useful, as Ray Leard vividly describes it: "Can you visualize this?" he asks. "It is a winter morning in 1864. The sun has only one eye open on the horizon, the porridge has been hurriedly poked into the children, and the eldest has been told repeatedly what to warm for dinner and supper, and not to let little ones play with fire. Then down the road tramps the mother of the brood away to a spinning frolic. She picks her way gingerly through the holes left by plunging horses, her dark skirt and homespun jacket making a pleasant silhouette against the snow. Snug on her shoulder against a shawl- covered head is her spinning wheel, while deep in her heart is the anticipated joy of a day spent spinning yarns of wool, flax — and scandal and neighbourly news." Winter was the time for socializing. There was less work to do, and travel was easier because of what the % people called "providence bridges" — the frozen sur¬ faces of rivers and bays. The government road master paid to have the tracks across the ice bushed so that they would be marked, and, of course, the horses made better time hauling sleighs than they did in the summer season hitched to gigs and buggies travelling the rutted clay roads of the province. Summer time also had its delights. Tea parties were important events. In the 1860s the coastal packet Heather Belle brought merrymakers to the Souris Tea from as far away as Charlottetown . There were stalls with trinkets and oranges (a rare delicacy) for sale, leaf covered booths to eat and dance in, horse-drawn merry- go-rounds (while a fiddler played), a bowling alley, saloons selling apple cider, shrub, Santa, lemon syrup and gingerette, and three-tier cakes trimmed with pink tissue paper auctioned by Caleb Carlton . A Highland piper complete with kilt walked the grounds, followed by children fascinated by his bony knees. A special treat for the children was raspberry syrup. A barrel of this liquid diluted made five barrels of drink. Billy Whalen of Souris River claimed that it was in fact only coloured water, and that when the colour got faint the vendors restored it with red Under. Tea parties were advertised in the news- The Klondike Mill owned by Prowse Brothers of Charlottetown , was known locally as "Acorn Mill" from the name of its manager, St. Mary's Church is in the background.