l

The W.B. Leard store today is operated by Flay Lr,ead and little changed

in appearance.

papers and by hand bills. in Souris such events were proclaimed by posters and by promoters walking through the town ringing a hand bell. Every 20 yards or so they stopped, rang the bell, and cried in a loud voice (for example):

Ice cream and strawberry social in St. Patrick’s Hall tonight! Concert with sale of cakes and can- dy! Ten and twenty five cents! Come one come all!

After the railway reached Souris in 1875 these events grew even larger in scale.

Newspapers came from Charlottetown, and were mostly weeklies — although the Examiner published dai- ly after 1877. Mail was delivered from Charlottetown twice a week, driven by John Shannon with two horses and a covered carriage. He earned $3.50 a week for his double round trip which took four days. He also carried passengers, which in a good week brought him an ad- ditional $5.00. Mails were small; people were willing to pay for transportation for themselves, but they thought letters should go free. Often the mail driver carried more free letters than he did ones that were prepaid. The rate for letters addressed to points on the island was two pence; for those destined for mainland British North American colonies three pence; to the United States six pence, and to the United Kingdom, the West Indies and Newfoundland nine pence. The Souris Post Office in 1864 was kept in Robert Boswell's little store at Souris West. The two penny stamps were pink and had Queen Victoria's head in youthful profile on them.

Accounts were officially kept in pounds, shillings and pence, but everyone was familiar with dollars and cents. English sterling notes were seldom seen, and savings were likely kept in the form of ten dollar gold pieces or

. . ,» V ”I > ... ”V. "W‘XLA'H’ The dignified gentlemen holding the fish are Michael MacCormack and RC. MacLean.

gold sovereigns. Nova Scotia bank notes circulated free- ly, and Prince Edward Island treasury notes and bank notes, and even Spanish silver dollars, padded and jingled in the pockets of thrifty men. Some of the silver dollars looked like doughnuts, their centres cut out by government edict 50 years earlier. People avoided them because they looked as if they had lost value. Today these mutilated coins are worth large sums of money as collector’s items. Twenty cent pieces also circulated, and were easily confused with 25 cent pieces. There were also little 25 cent paper notes called plasters, and tiny five cent silver pieces not half as big as a dime. During the American Civil War the United States dollar dropped in value, and the enterprising John Knight bought all the American bank notes he could lay his hands on, at a 40% to 50% discount. After the Washington government won the war the dollar regained its value, and Mr. Knight had a nice profit.

Book stores stocked everything from ornate photograph albums, with little windows for tin type portraits of family and friends, to wall paper, then known as ”room paper.” Three quarters of the men could read, and two thirds of the women. The most popular book was an almanac. It contained farming and household hints, lists of government members, militia officers, school teachers, post masters, customs officers, clergy and the like, together with historical dates and weather forecasts for the whole year.

Politics rivalled the weather as a topic for conversation in Souris then as it does today. In the 18603, as in 1980, Souris representatives in parliament played leading roles. The eastern King’s members of the Legislative As- sembly of Prince Edward Island were Donald Beaton of Souris (who built the house now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Ray Leard), and Joseph Hensley, a Charlottetown