THE LOCAL BLACKSMITH My father, Alex Mooney , lived in Souris all his life. He was known as the local "Blacksmith". At an early age he apprenticed with his father and learned the blacksmith trade. His father died in 1925, and Alex inherited the business. Alex was a "Jack of all trades". His main occupation was shoeing horses, but at times, he had to make the shoes as well. Often the shoes did not fit the horses' feet properly, so Alex would measure and then renovate the shoe. He would heat the shoe in the fire, tap it with his own personal blacksmith hammer on the anvil, and then cool the shoe in a tub of water. He then placed it on the horse's foot. Nine times out often it would fit perfectly. People stood in awe and watched him perform this extraordinary achievement. The neighboring children often watched the performance from the doorway. They thought that he was hurting the horse's foot when they saw him nailing the shoe to the foot, but in fact he was not causing any suffering at all. He was driving the nail into the shoe through the outer part of the horse's foot, where there was no flesh. In this way, the horse would feel no discomfort. However, if the nail was driven in too deep, it would cause some anguish, and the horse would jump. In winter, a cork was added to the shoe to keep the horse from slipping on the ice. Alex made many items that the farmer needed, but could not buy. His list included anchors, sleighs, wagon wheels, carts, or any piece of iron that needed to be renovated to make an implement work. In other words, it included anything that could not be purchased ready-made. Alex had many customers and very few idle moments. The problem was that the customers did not have a monthly salary, so he would often have to wait for his money. Some accounts were never paid, because some customers seemed to have forgotten all about their debts. Other honest people who did not have the money gave him fish, vegetables, or other commodities to help defray the cost of their debts. It meant that he had very little capital to live on. His family had food, but it was difficult to pay the bills. Alex was a jolly man, who could tell many yarns and display his wit. Many of the local boys would drop into the shop to listen to his yarns, or to 29