84 It Happened in Iona

never questioned and the priest’s word was quite faithfully obeyed. Families were generally large and marriages held to- gether almost without exception. Iona residents were for the most part optimistic and liked to laugh. Most of the men would not refuse a drink and a few were close friends of the bottle. Yet it would be difficult to recall an alcoholic or drunkard among them. Some were of the lazy type, but most worked hard at making a living mainly on the land where tractors were few or almost non existent. Nicknames among the Iona populace were extremely rare. On the other hand we grew up hearing all kinds of nicknames applied to the Scottish residents who lived on the outskirts of our community.

For a youngster growing up on the farm, the Iona of our day had more than most rural communities of similar size. In addition to the school and post office, ordinary fixtures in nearly every district, we had at least three streams, the railroad, train and station, the parish church, rectory and priest, hall, ceme- tery, forge, one or more stores and the illustration station. These institutions and the people made for a quite active community and a pleasant place to live.