The Mounce Mansions; as told by George Ralph Mounce (1916 - 2011)
Prologue
Any history story must have a starting point. The decision on a starting point depends on a number of important factors, one of which is the availability of data, not too much obscured by the passage of time. To recount the association of the Mounce family with Avondale, I have chosen to start with my Great Grandfather. He lived in Devon as a teenager but, probably with wanderlust, left home and went to Rhode Island in the New World. While in Rhode Island he became aware of an offer from the Province of Nova Scotia for settlers to fill the vacancies left by the expulsion of the Acadians. He took advantage of this offer, probably influenced by a desire to remain a British Subject. In any event, he came to Nova Scotia and found employment, operating a grist mill on the Annapolis River at Lawrencetown. We pick up the story at that point, continue at The Avondale Beginning.
The Avondale Beginning
As mentioned in the prologue, my great grandfather settled in Lawrencetown where he was involved in the operation of a grist mill. He married Lydia Mosher and they had three children, two boys and a girl. It is the boy, George my grandfather, with whom this history is concerned. When my great grandfather died, he left his wife and children practically penniless. They had no alternative but to go to live with her mother in Avondale, Hants County, area. George was not happy with the situation in which his mother was left so he ran away with all his worldly possessions tied up in a bandana handkerchief. He signed on as a cabin boy on a Nova Scotia vessel setting sail for England. He rose rapidly in the merchant marine to eventually become captain in his own right.
The Mounce houses in Avondale had their beginning when my grandfather, now Capt. Mounce, retired from his life as a sea captain and retired to Avondale, where he built a very ordinary house, see photo, just over the brow of the hill on the road leading to the Avondale wharf. It is probable that he chose Avondale as his place of residence because of the active shipbuilding industry there. He had already made arrangements with a shipping firm in Liverpool, England, to look after their interests in Nova Scotia. At his death in 1909, his property was inherited equally by his two sons, Thomas and Ralph. It was never considered by his siblings to live elsewhere than in Avondale. The only exception was when his uncle Tom and his wife, Annie (Mosher), lived for an extended period in Saranac Lake New York. Annie had TB and it was thought at that time that the climate at Saranac Lake was helpful to a person suffering Annie’s case. She died in nineteen fourteen. The only other time away was in 1930 when we, my father, my mother and myself spent nearly six months in Barbados on the advice of my father’s doctor, to help him recover from a severe case of pneumonia.
The Honeymoon House
My uncle, Thomas Henry Armstrong Mounce, married Annie Mosher of Avondale in 1909. They went on an extended honeymoon, which took them around the world and kept them away for two years. During that time my father supervised the building of a new house for them on the lot up the hill, next to where our house was situated. This was quite a house (see photo). On their visits to various countries, they bought items for their new house, including a baby grand piano, which was shipped from England in a lead lined crate. One can imagine the joy and excitement on their return to Avondale and moving into their new house.
There was one daughter born to them a year after their return but the child was born with a defect and lived less than a year. That was only the beginning of their trouble for Annie was diagnosed as having a serious case of tuberculosis. Uncle Tom and Annie moved to Saranac Lake, N.Y. where the climate was thought to be helpful in curing TB. It was all to no avail for Annie passed away in 1915. Uncle Tom returned to his residence where he lived until his death in 1963. (Further research has show this date is incorrect and was infact 1960)
The Avondale Connection
My father had a little bit of the competitive spirit. He considered that our house required some updating so it would not look out of place with Uncle Tom’s house. Therefore, a major restructuring was undertaken. A new roof was put in place above the existing roof. A small veranda was built at the front projecting from the third-floor. This veranda was supported by pillars from the ground level to the underside of this upper veranda. Several rooms were added as well. After these revisions, the house looked very much as it does today.
My grandmother, Annie Elizabeth (Armstrong) Mounce, was to live in my father’s house. A small kitchen was added on the ground floor and a bathroom on the second floor. In effect, the house then contained two living accommodations, one for our family and one for my grandmother. She had a kitchen, dining room, sitting room and parlor on the ground floor with three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. This arrangement worked very well since my grandmother had her independence without interfering with my mother and father.
I came into this world in 1916 in the Windsor hospital and shortly thereafter I arrived at my father’s house via a cruise down the Avon River on my uncle’s launch and a drive up the hill in my own wicker-work baby carriage. At this point in the history of the houses, my father, my mother, my grandmother, and I lived in the house built by my Grandfather. In the “Other House” as we always called it, lived Uncle Tom, Annie and Bertha Crossley, the housekeeper. Uncle Tom’s house is called the “Other House” to this very day. A word about Bertha Crossley is appropriate, she came to work when she was 18 to help my grandmother. When Annie was sick, help was needed in the “Other House” so she transferred there and was the housekeeper in Uncle Tom’s house until she died in 1956 and was buried in the Avondale Cemetery between the two Mounce lots.
Cottage
In the 1930’s Uncle Tom had a cottage built for a friend, Herb Allison. It was built at the edge of the orchard halfway up on the far side of the hill on the road leading to the Avondale Wharf. It was a nice cottage with a kitchen, dining room, living room and 3 bedrooms all on one floor with a full-size cellar under it in which there was a laundry room, cistern, water pump and hot air oil furnace. In the mid 1950’s, Bill Webb arrived and took up residence in the cottage. Bill’s main job was to look after the orchard but he rapidly became a majordomo looking after just about everything. After my mother died and my father was left alone in his house. Bill made it practice to sleep in my father’s house every night in order that had not be left alone at night. When Uncle Tom died and his house became vacant Bill was given a key in order that he could check that it was okay in the house. Bill was a very social person who made friends with anyone that came by to buy apples or on other business. For some reason, most people like to see inside a vacant house and Bill would oblige by taking them on a tour of the house. My father was not happy with this situation but did not want to dictate to Bill. Even today, I meet people who remember Bill and mention that they had a tour of Uncle Tom’s house. Bill died in 1976 and since then various people have lived in the cottage, because there was never any land assigned to the cottage it is not saleable, since some 7 acres of orchard would have to be sold with it and the orchard involved contains relatively young trees and, therefore, constitutes one of the best sections of the orchard.
Garages
In 1911 my father bought his first car. It was a Maxwell purchased through a dealer in Halifax. When the car was ready my father and Freddie Jim, a friend and distant relative, went to Halifax by train to bring the car home. In those days, the road between Halifax and Windsor was little better than a cattle trail. They started off from Halifax in the new car and everything went well until they reached the other side of Mount Uniacke. At that point they needed to relieve themselves. They stopped the car in the middle of the road and got out to look after their needs. After relieving themselves, they decided to have a smoke. It was an open car and the wind produced in the open car at Highway speed as much as 10 miles per hour made smoking hazardous. The operation of automobile gas engine was new to them so they did not realize that very often when an automobile engine was stopped after being in operation for some time, gasoline dripped from the engine. Having lit their pipes they threw the matches on the ground. There was a loud whoosh and the whole car burst into flames.
In a very short time all that was left on the road was a pile of twisted metal. They decided that, although the road was a poor thing, the wreck should not be left in the middle of it. They decided to walk back to Mount Uniacke for help. Eventually at Mount Uniacke they found a farmer who agreed to go back with them with his team of horses to tow the car away. The farmer was rather reluctant to do this job so they did not tell him that the car was several miles down the road. Anyhow, they started back and when the car did not appear they told the farmer that it was just beyond the next curve. Finally, they did get around the last curve and the car came into view. Among the things they had not told the farmer was that the car was a wreck. The farmer looked at the car in surprise and said “By Gosh she burned up while you were away.” So ended my father’s first experience in motoring.
My mother had a sister, Aunt Hilda, full name Hilda Matilda Bowed, the two sisters were very close. Aunt Hilda came to Avondale every year when she had a vacation from her job, which was office manager for the Brotherhood of Railway Employees. Usually her visits lasted only two weeks. On one occasion, however, she fell on our back steps and broke her ankle. Since there was no one to look after her in Ottawa, where she lived, she had to stay in Avondale until her ankle was completely recovered from the break. My mother never learned to drive a car and my father did not think that she had the right mentality to make a good driver. He was probably right. Aunt Hilda was a different proposition. She owned several flivers over the years in Ottawa and even drove from Ottawa to Avondale on at least one occasion. While staying here, she wanted to drive from Avondale to various places such as Windsor and Halifax. So, she wanted to borrow my father’s car to make the trips. My father hated to have anyone but himself operate his automobile but it was difficult for him to refuse to let Aunt Hilda have his car. He solved the problem by going to his favourite GM dealer in Windsor and buying a Vauxhall. I think this breed of automobile has disappeared from the market but it was a medium-size car with standard gear-shift. Aunt Hilda was delighted to have a car for her own exclusive use.
The addition of the Vauxhall to our fleet posed another problem. The big garage on the other side of Uncle Tom’s house was so full of cars and farm machinery that there was no room for another car. My father solved this problem by having a garage constructed on the site of the old barn, which had been previously moved across the lane. The new structure was a two car garage with a basement for storing garden equipment. It even had a sawdust burning furnace to heat the building in my recollection that was never used. My father kept the Vauxhall for a number of years. He even drove it himself for running errands within a fifty-mile radius.
In any event, we have a nice two-car garage thanks to Aunt Hilda.
Another New House
During the years following my resignation from Electronic Associates Ltd. we made a practice of coming to Avondale spring and fall. We did it, not only to see my father who was in his 90’s, but also to make sure everything was alright. We had a housekeeper who looked after my father. This lady’s name was Margaret Blois. My father had a stroke in 1971 and died a year later. After my father’s death we continued to come to Avondale spring and fall. Margaret continued living in and looking after the house. She complained of activities across the road. The property across the road consisted of a one acre lot with an old house directly opposite my father’s house with a barn behind it and another house of the downhill end of the property and with another barn behind it. In the early 1970’s the property was owned by a rather shiftless character with a wife and children who lived in the house opposite my father’s house. Eventually, the family moved away leaving the property empty. Margaret kept insisting that there was some activity going on in the vacant property. Eventually to satisfy her worries I went across the road and found the old house boarded up with apparently nothing wrong. I continued past the old house to the barn and opened the door near the rear of the building. Much to my surprise inside I find a furnished room equipped with an old chesterfield and several old chairs and, worst of all, a stove made from an oil drum with a stove pipe that went out the window in the back of the barn, immediately making a right-angle turn and continuing up part way to the eaves of the building. Obviously it was a real fire hazard.
I immediately tried to get in touch with the owner of the property to send him an offer to purchase. His eventual reply demanded a ridiculous price so I gave up. Six months later on our next biannual visit I saw across the road what appeared to be a salesman offering the property to a pair of prospective purchasers. The latter owner failed to make mortgage payments, foreclosure resulted, the property reverted to the lady who inherited the property. I immediately made an offer which I considered reasonable. The offer was accepted and I found myself suddenly the owner of a one-acre lot on which 2 houses and 2 barns were located.
The houses were in very poor condition and not worth trying to fix up so I did the safest thing and had them torn down. The barn behind the house opposite my father’s house, the one with the room at the back, was also torn down to avoid a fire threat. That left the barn at the lower end of the property as the only building on the lot. The owner of the property adjoining my lot on the downside was Brian Venot. He expressed an interest in the old barn, so I gave it to him on condition that he move it onto his own lot. This he did so after the old house having been torn down, I had a vacant one acre lot.
This lot was undoubtedly the best building lot in the whole of Newport Township. From the upper end of the lot it was possible to see the St. Croix River and Windsor to the South East and to look all the way across Minas Basin to Cape Blomidon in the Northern direction. I would go over and stand at the top end of the lot and say to myself, “There should be a house on this lot”. As a result, I got busy on my drafting board and designed a house to go on the lot. I then made arrangements with Claire Reddin, the best builder in the area and he proceeded to put up a house. Not only was Reddin a good builder, but he also knew the best subcontractors to do much of the actual work. I tried to design the house to be in keeping with my Father’s house and Uncle Tom’s house, which called for pillars at the front and a veranda across the front as well. One feature of the house, which was my idea, was what I called an “observation deck”. The observation deck was the only room on the second floor and it was about 20 square feet. It had big windows on all four sides giving an unrestricted view in all directions.
Once the house was finished I tried to sell it. Eventually at least 5 real estate agents had a contract to sell the house. My experience with real estate agents resulted in me having a very poor opinion of real estate agents. They were all eager for me to sign a contract for them to sell the property. Their attitude seemed to be “if the house is sold while under contract, we will get nice windfall profits, if we don’t spend any money trying to sell the property, we have lost nothing”. Finally, after the contract with the last real estate agent had run out, I sold the property to Ken and Daphne Greer. They seem to enjoy the property and we are glad to have good neighbors living across the road.
Electricity
In 1920 electricity for home use was not available in rural N.S. Even after I started school in 1921, I can remember studying by the light of an oil lamp. We also used gasoline lanterns, which gave a bright white light but were very fussy. The gas flame heated a mantle surrounding the flame. The mantle was very fragile and had to be replaced at frequent intervals. Our first electric plant was installed in Uncle Tom’s cellar. It consisted of a 1 cylinder diesel engine which was started by removing a ball from the cylinder, heating the ball red hot with a blowtorch, reinstalling the ball in the cylinder and turning over the engine with its flywheel. This flywheel was no little thing; it was about six feet in diametre. A wide leather ran from this flywheel to the pulley of a generator. The generator, of course, produced only direct current. A sudden short circuit or severe overload on the generator would cause the belt to fly off and chase itself around the cellar. This happened several times when appliances such as vacuum cleaners designed to operate on alternating current were inadvertently plugged into the system. When the installation was finished and the diesel engine started for the first time, even though it was turning the generator, no electricity was produced. A direct current generator produces electricity by spinning an armature winding in a magnetic field. The magnetic field is produced by a main winding, supplied with current from the output of the generator. Obviously, if there is no output from the generator there is no field to produce an output and the generator would never function.
A generator like the one installed in Uncle Tom’s cellar is equipped with a compound field winding, which means that there is a main winding fed with current from the output of the generator and a second winding through which the output from the generator flows. This series of winding increases the field in the generator as the current drawn from the generator increases, thus compensating for the falling off of voltage with increasing load on the generator. One of the tricks in getting of this type to produce an output if the residual field is insufficient is to momentarily short circuit the output of the generator. Often, while there is insufficient voltage produced for the main field winding to start generating power, there is enough residual field to start the voltage building up from the current through the series of winding. The expert installing out generator tried this method of getting it started. He took a length of copper wire, sat down in front of the generator and began momentarily connecting the wire across the output of the generator. Suddenly this method worked, the output of the generator rose to full output, the copper wire disappeared in a flash, the reaction of the expert sent him flying head over heels to a far corner of the cellar much to the amusement of all present except the expert.
It was soon obvious that the cellar of Uncle Tom’s house was not a good place to have a one-cylinder diesel banging away. Another building was, therefore, constructed South East of Uncle Tom’s house. This building was made of cement blocks and was about 25 feet wide by 35 feet long. The eastern portion was designated as the engine room and the diesel and generator were set up there. The generator was still cumbersome to start up but at least it got rid of the noise in Uncle Tom’s cellar. In the late 1920’s Kohler came out with a motor generator in one unit. The old diesel was therefore retired and the new Kohler unit installed in the engine room. At the same time, a bank of storage batteries was put in place. The batteries were discharged beyond a fixed value. The whole system was therefore automatic and required little attention except for routine maintenance. This system remained in place until the line from the government-owned power system arrived. The power line came into the far end of the big garage previously described. There was, of course, a watt-hour meter where the power line came into the garage. This meter read the total power consumed by the two houses because the power lines went through the garage to Uncle Tom’s house and then across the lane into my father’s house. A second meter was installed which read the power consumed in our house. When the power company read the meter at the input to the big garage, my father would then read the meter in our attic. Using the readings from the two meters, my father would calculate his portion of the power bill. This arrangement may not have been as stupid as it sounds, since the bill structure from the power company consisted of a base amount plus the charge for the power used. Obviously, since there was only one meter there was only one base amount. Eventually, the power company provided our own feed, making us independent of the other house for power.
Any history story must have a starting point. The decision on a starting point depends on a number of important factors, one of which is the availability of data, not too much obscured by the passage of time. To recount the association of the Mounce family with Avondale, I have chosen to start with my Great Grandfather. He lived in Devon as a teenager but, probably with wanderlust, left home and went to Rhode Island in the New World. While in Rhode Island he became aware of an offer from the Province of Nova Scotia for settlers to fill the vacancies left by the expulsion of the Acadians. He took advantage of this offer, probably influenced by a desire to remain a British Subject. In any event, he came to Nova Scotia and found employment, operating a grist mill on the Annapolis River at Lawrencetown. We pick up the story at that point, continue at The Avondale Beginning.
The Avondale Beginning
As mentioned in the prologue, my great grandfather settled in Lawrencetown where he was involved in the operation of a grist mill. He married Lydia Mosher and they had three children, two boys and a girl. It is the boy, George my grandfather, with whom this history is concerned. When my great grandfather died, he left his wife and children practically penniless. They had no alternative but to go to live with her mother in Avondale, Hants County, area. George was not happy with the situation in which his mother was left so he ran away with all his worldly possessions tied up in a bandana handkerchief. He signed on as a cabin boy on a Nova Scotia vessel setting sail for England. He rose rapidly in the merchant marine to eventually become captain in his own right.
The Mounce houses in Avondale had their beginning when my grandfather, now Capt. Mounce, retired from his life as a sea captain and retired to Avondale, where he built a very ordinary house, see photo, just over the brow of the hill on the road leading to the Avondale wharf. It is probable that he chose Avondale as his place of residence because of the active shipbuilding industry there. He had already made arrangements with a shipping firm in Liverpool, England, to look after their interests in Nova Scotia. At his death in 1909, his property was inherited equally by his two sons, Thomas and Ralph. It was never considered by his siblings to live elsewhere than in Avondale. The only exception was when his uncle Tom and his wife, Annie (Mosher), lived for an extended period in Saranac Lake New York. Annie had TB and it was thought at that time that the climate at Saranac Lake was helpful to a person suffering Annie’s case. She died in nineteen fourteen. The only other time away was in 1930 when we, my father, my mother and myself spent nearly six months in Barbados on the advice of my father’s doctor, to help him recover from a severe case of pneumonia.
The Honeymoon House
My uncle, Thomas Henry Armstrong Mounce, married Annie Mosher of Avondale in 1909. They went on an extended honeymoon, which took them around the world and kept them away for two years. During that time my father supervised the building of a new house for them on the lot up the hill, next to where our house was situated. This was quite a house (see photo). On their visits to various countries, they bought items for their new house, including a baby grand piano, which was shipped from England in a lead lined crate. One can imagine the joy and excitement on their return to Avondale and moving into their new house.
There was one daughter born to them a year after their return but the child was born with a defect and lived less than a year. That was only the beginning of their trouble for Annie was diagnosed as having a serious case of tuberculosis. Uncle Tom and Annie moved to Saranac Lake, N.Y. where the climate was thought to be helpful in curing TB. It was all to no avail for Annie passed away in 1915. Uncle Tom returned to his residence where he lived until his death in 1963. (Further research has show this date is incorrect and was infact 1960)
The Avondale Connection
My father had a little bit of the competitive spirit. He considered that our house required some updating so it would not look out of place with Uncle Tom’s house. Therefore, a major restructuring was undertaken. A new roof was put in place above the existing roof. A small veranda was built at the front projecting from the third-floor. This veranda was supported by pillars from the ground level to the underside of this upper veranda. Several rooms were added as well. After these revisions, the house looked very much as it does today.
My grandmother, Annie Elizabeth (Armstrong) Mounce, was to live in my father’s house. A small kitchen was added on the ground floor and a bathroom on the second floor. In effect, the house then contained two living accommodations, one for our family and one for my grandmother. She had a kitchen, dining room, sitting room and parlor on the ground floor with three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. This arrangement worked very well since my grandmother had her independence without interfering with my mother and father.
I came into this world in 1916 in the Windsor hospital and shortly thereafter I arrived at my father’s house via a cruise down the Avon River on my uncle’s launch and a drive up the hill in my own wicker-work baby carriage. At this point in the history of the houses, my father, my mother, my grandmother, and I lived in the house built by my Grandfather. In the “Other House” as we always called it, lived Uncle Tom, Annie and Bertha Crossley, the housekeeper. Uncle Tom’s house is called the “Other House” to this very day. A word about Bertha Crossley is appropriate, she came to work when she was 18 to help my grandmother. When Annie was sick, help was needed in the “Other House” so she transferred there and was the housekeeper in Uncle Tom’s house until she died in 1956 and was buried in the Avondale Cemetery between the two Mounce lots.
Cottage
In the 1930’s Uncle Tom had a cottage built for a friend, Herb Allison. It was built at the edge of the orchard halfway up on the far side of the hill on the road leading to the Avondale Wharf. It was a nice cottage with a kitchen, dining room, living room and 3 bedrooms all on one floor with a full-size cellar under it in which there was a laundry room, cistern, water pump and hot air oil furnace. In the mid 1950’s, Bill Webb arrived and took up residence in the cottage. Bill’s main job was to look after the orchard but he rapidly became a majordomo looking after just about everything. After my mother died and my father was left alone in his house. Bill made it practice to sleep in my father’s house every night in order that had not be left alone at night. When Uncle Tom died and his house became vacant Bill was given a key in order that he could check that it was okay in the house. Bill was a very social person who made friends with anyone that came by to buy apples or on other business. For some reason, most people like to see inside a vacant house and Bill would oblige by taking them on a tour of the house. My father was not happy with this situation but did not want to dictate to Bill. Even today, I meet people who remember Bill and mention that they had a tour of Uncle Tom’s house. Bill died in 1976 and since then various people have lived in the cottage, because there was never any land assigned to the cottage it is not saleable, since some 7 acres of orchard would have to be sold with it and the orchard involved contains relatively young trees and, therefore, constitutes one of the best sections of the orchard.
Garages
In 1911 my father bought his first car. It was a Maxwell purchased through a dealer in Halifax. When the car was ready my father and Freddie Jim, a friend and distant relative, went to Halifax by train to bring the car home. In those days, the road between Halifax and Windsor was little better than a cattle trail. They started off from Halifax in the new car and everything went well until they reached the other side of Mount Uniacke. At that point they needed to relieve themselves. They stopped the car in the middle of the road and got out to look after their needs. After relieving themselves, they decided to have a smoke. It was an open car and the wind produced in the open car at Highway speed as much as 10 miles per hour made smoking hazardous. The operation of automobile gas engine was new to them so they did not realize that very often when an automobile engine was stopped after being in operation for some time, gasoline dripped from the engine. Having lit their pipes they threw the matches on the ground. There was a loud whoosh and the whole car burst into flames.
In a very short time all that was left on the road was a pile of twisted metal. They decided that, although the road was a poor thing, the wreck should not be left in the middle of it. They decided to walk back to Mount Uniacke for help. Eventually at Mount Uniacke they found a farmer who agreed to go back with them with his team of horses to tow the car away. The farmer was rather reluctant to do this job so they did not tell him that the car was several miles down the road. Anyhow, they started back and when the car did not appear they told the farmer that it was just beyond the next curve. Finally, they did get around the last curve and the car came into view. Among the things they had not told the farmer was that the car was a wreck. The farmer looked at the car in surprise and said “By Gosh she burned up while you were away.” So ended my father’s first experience in motoring.
My mother had a sister, Aunt Hilda, full name Hilda Matilda Bowed, the two sisters were very close. Aunt Hilda came to Avondale every year when she had a vacation from her job, which was office manager for the Brotherhood of Railway Employees. Usually her visits lasted only two weeks. On one occasion, however, she fell on our back steps and broke her ankle. Since there was no one to look after her in Ottawa, where she lived, she had to stay in Avondale until her ankle was completely recovered from the break. My mother never learned to drive a car and my father did not think that she had the right mentality to make a good driver. He was probably right. Aunt Hilda was a different proposition. She owned several flivers over the years in Ottawa and even drove from Ottawa to Avondale on at least one occasion. While staying here, she wanted to drive from Avondale to various places such as Windsor and Halifax. So, she wanted to borrow my father’s car to make the trips. My father hated to have anyone but himself operate his automobile but it was difficult for him to refuse to let Aunt Hilda have his car. He solved the problem by going to his favourite GM dealer in Windsor and buying a Vauxhall. I think this breed of automobile has disappeared from the market but it was a medium-size car with standard gear-shift. Aunt Hilda was delighted to have a car for her own exclusive use.
The addition of the Vauxhall to our fleet posed another problem. The big garage on the other side of Uncle Tom’s house was so full of cars and farm machinery that there was no room for another car. My father solved this problem by having a garage constructed on the site of the old barn, which had been previously moved across the lane. The new structure was a two car garage with a basement for storing garden equipment. It even had a sawdust burning furnace to heat the building in my recollection that was never used. My father kept the Vauxhall for a number of years. He even drove it himself for running errands within a fifty-mile radius.
In any event, we have a nice two-car garage thanks to Aunt Hilda.
Another New House
During the years following my resignation from Electronic Associates Ltd. we made a practice of coming to Avondale spring and fall. We did it, not only to see my father who was in his 90’s, but also to make sure everything was alright. We had a housekeeper who looked after my father. This lady’s name was Margaret Blois. My father had a stroke in 1971 and died a year later. After my father’s death we continued to come to Avondale spring and fall. Margaret continued living in and looking after the house. She complained of activities across the road. The property across the road consisted of a one acre lot with an old house directly opposite my father’s house with a barn behind it and another house of the downhill end of the property and with another barn behind it. In the early 1970’s the property was owned by a rather shiftless character with a wife and children who lived in the house opposite my father’s house. Eventually, the family moved away leaving the property empty. Margaret kept insisting that there was some activity going on in the vacant property. Eventually to satisfy her worries I went across the road and found the old house boarded up with apparently nothing wrong. I continued past the old house to the barn and opened the door near the rear of the building. Much to my surprise inside I find a furnished room equipped with an old chesterfield and several old chairs and, worst of all, a stove made from an oil drum with a stove pipe that went out the window in the back of the barn, immediately making a right-angle turn and continuing up part way to the eaves of the building. Obviously it was a real fire hazard.
I immediately tried to get in touch with the owner of the property to send him an offer to purchase. His eventual reply demanded a ridiculous price so I gave up. Six months later on our next biannual visit I saw across the road what appeared to be a salesman offering the property to a pair of prospective purchasers. The latter owner failed to make mortgage payments, foreclosure resulted, the property reverted to the lady who inherited the property. I immediately made an offer which I considered reasonable. The offer was accepted and I found myself suddenly the owner of a one-acre lot on which 2 houses and 2 barns were located.
The houses were in very poor condition and not worth trying to fix up so I did the safest thing and had them torn down. The barn behind the house opposite my father’s house, the one with the room at the back, was also torn down to avoid a fire threat. That left the barn at the lower end of the property as the only building on the lot. The owner of the property adjoining my lot on the downside was Brian Venot. He expressed an interest in the old barn, so I gave it to him on condition that he move it onto his own lot. This he did so after the old house having been torn down, I had a vacant one acre lot.
This lot was undoubtedly the best building lot in the whole of Newport Township. From the upper end of the lot it was possible to see the St. Croix River and Windsor to the South East and to look all the way across Minas Basin to Cape Blomidon in the Northern direction. I would go over and stand at the top end of the lot and say to myself, “There should be a house on this lot”. As a result, I got busy on my drafting board and designed a house to go on the lot. I then made arrangements with Claire Reddin, the best builder in the area and he proceeded to put up a house. Not only was Reddin a good builder, but he also knew the best subcontractors to do much of the actual work. I tried to design the house to be in keeping with my Father’s house and Uncle Tom’s house, which called for pillars at the front and a veranda across the front as well. One feature of the house, which was my idea, was what I called an “observation deck”. The observation deck was the only room on the second floor and it was about 20 square feet. It had big windows on all four sides giving an unrestricted view in all directions.
Once the house was finished I tried to sell it. Eventually at least 5 real estate agents had a contract to sell the house. My experience with real estate agents resulted in me having a very poor opinion of real estate agents. They were all eager for me to sign a contract for them to sell the property. Their attitude seemed to be “if the house is sold while under contract, we will get nice windfall profits, if we don’t spend any money trying to sell the property, we have lost nothing”. Finally, after the contract with the last real estate agent had run out, I sold the property to Ken and Daphne Greer. They seem to enjoy the property and we are glad to have good neighbors living across the road.
Electricity
In 1920 electricity for home use was not available in rural N.S. Even after I started school in 1921, I can remember studying by the light of an oil lamp. We also used gasoline lanterns, which gave a bright white light but were very fussy. The gas flame heated a mantle surrounding the flame. The mantle was very fragile and had to be replaced at frequent intervals. Our first electric plant was installed in Uncle Tom’s cellar. It consisted of a 1 cylinder diesel engine which was started by removing a ball from the cylinder, heating the ball red hot with a blowtorch, reinstalling the ball in the cylinder and turning over the engine with its flywheel. This flywheel was no little thing; it was about six feet in diametre. A wide leather ran from this flywheel to the pulley of a generator. The generator, of course, produced only direct current. A sudden short circuit or severe overload on the generator would cause the belt to fly off and chase itself around the cellar. This happened several times when appliances such as vacuum cleaners designed to operate on alternating current were inadvertently plugged into the system. When the installation was finished and the diesel engine started for the first time, even though it was turning the generator, no electricity was produced. A direct current generator produces electricity by spinning an armature winding in a magnetic field. The magnetic field is produced by a main winding, supplied with current from the output of the generator. Obviously, if there is no output from the generator there is no field to produce an output and the generator would never function.
A generator like the one installed in Uncle Tom’s cellar is equipped with a compound field winding, which means that there is a main winding fed with current from the output of the generator and a second winding through which the output from the generator flows. This series of winding increases the field in the generator as the current drawn from the generator increases, thus compensating for the falling off of voltage with increasing load on the generator. One of the tricks in getting of this type to produce an output if the residual field is insufficient is to momentarily short circuit the output of the generator. Often, while there is insufficient voltage produced for the main field winding to start generating power, there is enough residual field to start the voltage building up from the current through the series of winding. The expert installing out generator tried this method of getting it started. He took a length of copper wire, sat down in front of the generator and began momentarily connecting the wire across the output of the generator. Suddenly this method worked, the output of the generator rose to full output, the copper wire disappeared in a flash, the reaction of the expert sent him flying head over heels to a far corner of the cellar much to the amusement of all present except the expert.
It was soon obvious that the cellar of Uncle Tom’s house was not a good place to have a one-cylinder diesel banging away. Another building was, therefore, constructed South East of Uncle Tom’s house. This building was made of cement blocks and was about 25 feet wide by 35 feet long. The eastern portion was designated as the engine room and the diesel and generator were set up there. The generator was still cumbersome to start up but at least it got rid of the noise in Uncle Tom’s cellar. In the late 1920’s Kohler came out with a motor generator in one unit. The old diesel was therefore retired and the new Kohler unit installed in the engine room. At the same time, a bank of storage batteries was put in place. The batteries were discharged beyond a fixed value. The whole system was therefore automatic and required little attention except for routine maintenance. This system remained in place until the line from the government-owned power system arrived. The power line came into the far end of the big garage previously described. There was, of course, a watt-hour meter where the power line came into the garage. This meter read the total power consumed by the two houses because the power lines went through the garage to Uncle Tom’s house and then across the lane into my father’s house. A second meter was installed which read the power consumed in our house. When the power company read the meter at the input to the big garage, my father would then read the meter in our attic. Using the readings from the two meters, my father would calculate his portion of the power bill. This arrangement may not have been as stupid as it sounds, since the bill structure from the power company consisted of a base amount plus the charge for the power used. Obviously, since there was only one meter there was only one base amount. Eventually, the power company provided our own feed, making us independent of the other house for power.
Prologue
Chaque histoire doit avoir un point de départ. La décision sur un point de départ se dépend sur un nombre de facteurs importants, un de lequel est la disponibilité des données, pas trop caché par du passage du temps. Pour raconter l’association de la famille Mounce avec Avondale, j’ai choisi de commencer avec mon arrière-grand-père. Il a vécu en Devon comme un adolescent mais, probablement avec l’envie de voyager, il est parti chez-soi et est allé au Rhode Island dans le Monde Nouveau. Pendant qu’il était au l’île du Rhode il a devient attentif d’une proposition de la province de la Nouvelle-Écosse pour les colons de remplit les places laissaient par l’expulsion des Acadiens. Il a profité de cette proposition, probablement influençait par un désir de rester un assujetti Britannique. Quoi qu’il arrive, il a vient à la Nouvelle-Écosse et a trouvé un emploi, en marchant un moulin de grain sur la Rivière Annapolis à Lawrencetown. Nous commençons l’histoire à ce point.
La Commençant d’Avondale
Comme mentionné dans le prologue, mon arrière-grand-père s’installé en Lawrencetown où il était impliqué dans la marche d’un moulin de grain. Il a marié Lydia Mosher et ils avaient trois enfants, deux garçons et une fille. C’était le garçon, George mon grand-père, avec qui cet histoire se concerne. Quand mon arrière-grand-père est mort, il a laissé son épouse et enfants pratiquement sans le sou. Ils n’avaient pas aucun choix sauf d’aller vivre avec sa mère en Avondale, Hants County, zone. George n’était pas heureux avec la situation que son mère était laissé avec alors il a s’enfuit avec tous ses possessions matériaux attaché dans un bandana mouchoir. Il a s’inscrit comme une mousse sur un vaisseau de la Nouvelle-Écosse prenant la mer vers Angleterre. Il a monté rapidement dans le marine marchande pour éventuellement devenir un capitaine à part entière.
Les maisons Mounce en Avondale avaient leurs commencements quand ma grand-père, maintenant Capitaine Mounce, a retraité de son vie comme un commandant de vaisseau et a retraité à l’Avondale, où il a construit une maison très ordinaire un peu dessus le sommet de la colline sur la route allant vers la quai d’Avondale. C’est probable qu’il a choisi Avondale comme son endroit de résidence à cause de l’industrie de la construction navale active là. Il a déjà fait les arrangements avec une firme du transport maritime en Liverpool, Angleterre, pour s’occuper leurs intérêts à la Nouvelle-Écosse. À son mort en 1909, son propriété était héritée également entre ses deux fils, Thomas et Ralph. Ce n’était jamais considéré par ses frères et sœurs de vivre quelque part d’autre que dans Avondale. La seule exception et quand son oncle Tom et son épouse, Annie (Mosher), vivaient pour un période de temps prolongé en Lac Saranac, New York. Annie avait tuberculose et c’était pensé à ces temps que le climat à Lac Saranac était utile à une personne souffrant le cas d’Annie. Elle est morte en mille-neuf-cent quatorze. Les seules autres temps parti étaient en 1930 quand nous, mon père, ma mère et moi ont passé six mois en Barbados sur les conseils de le docteur de mon père, pour lui aider à récupérer d’un cas sévère de pneumonie.
La Maison de la Lune de Miel
Mon oncle, Thomas Henry Armstrong Mounce, a marié Annie Mosher d’Avondale en 1909. Ils ont pris une lune de miel prolongé, qui les apportaient autour du monde pour deux ans. Pendant ses temps mon père a supervisé la construction d’une nouvelle maison pour eux sur la parcelle en haut de la colline, à côté d’où notre maison était situé. Elle était vraiment une maison. Pendant leurs visites aux plusieurs pays, ils ont acheté les articles pour leur nouvelle maison, incluant un piano quart de queue, qui était expédié d’Angleterre dans une caisse ligné en plomb. On peut imaginer la joie et excitation pendant leur retourne à l’Avondale et emménageant dans leur nouvelle maison.
Il y avait une fille née d’eux un an après leur retourne mais l’enfant était née avec un défaut et vivrait moins qu’un an. C’était seulement le commencement de leurs difficultés car Annie était diagnostiqué avec un cas sérieux de tuberculose. Oncle Tom et Annie ont déménagé à la Lac Saranac, N.Y. où le climat était pensé d’être utile en remédiant la tuberculose. C’étaient tous en vain car Annie est morte en 1915. Oncle Tom a retourné à son résidence où il a vécu jusqu’à son mort en 1963. (D'autres recherches ont montré que cette date est incorrecte et était en fait 1960)
La Connexion d’Avondale
Mon père avait un petit peu de l’esprit compétitif. Il a considéré que notre maison a requis des rénovations alors qu’elle ne va pas regardé comme elle n’est pas à sa place avec la maison d’Oncle Tom. Donc, une restructuration était entreprise. Une nouvelle toiture était mise en place dessus la toiture actuelle. Une petite terrasse couverte était construit au devant dépassant du troisième étage. Cette terrasse couverte était soutenu par les piliers du niveau du sol au dessous de cette terrasse couverte supérieur. Plusieurs pièces étaient ajoutées aussi. Après ces rénovations, la maison a regardé beaucoup comme aujourd’hui.
Ma grand-mère, Annie Elizabeth (Armstrong) Mounce vont vivre dans la maison de mon père. Une petite cuisine était ajoutée sur le rez-de-chaussée et une salle de bain sur le deuxième étage. En effet, la maison a ensuite contenu deux salons, un pour notre famille et un pour ma grand-mère. Elle avait une cuisine, une salle à manger, un salon et un petit salon sur le rez-de-chaussée avec trois chambres et une salle de bain sur le deuxième étage. Cet arrangement travaillait bien car ma grand-mère avait son indépendance sans interférant avec ma mère et mon père.
J’ai vient dans cette monde dans l’hôpital de Windsor et bientôt par la suite j’arrivais à la maison de mon père via une croisière par la Rivière Avon sur la bateau de mon oncle et une route dans mon propre landau fait en vannerie. À ce point en l’histoire des maisons, mon père, ma mère, ma grand-mère, et moi ont vécu dans la maison construit par mon grand-père. Dans « l’Autre Maison » comme nous avons toujours l’appelé, vivait Oncle Tom, Annie et Bertha Crossley, la gouvernante. La maison d’Oncle Tom est appelé « l’Autre Maison » encore aujourd’hui. Un mot à propos Bertha Crossley est approprié, elle a vient au travail quand elle avait 18 ans pour aider ma grand-mère. Quand Annie était malade, l’aide était nécessaire dans « l’Autre Maison » alors elle a transféré là et était la gouvernante dans la maison d’Oncle Tom jusqu’à sa mort en 1956 et était enterré dans le cimetière d’Avondale entre les deux parcelles de Mounce.
Cottage
Pendant les 1930’s Oncle Tom avait un cottage construit pour un ami, Herb Allison. C’était construit au bord du verger à mi-chemin en haut et sur la côté loin de la colline sur la route qui aller à la quai d’Avondale. C’était un beau cottage avec une cuisine, salle à manger et 3 chambres tous sur un étage avec un sous-sol gros le sous où il y avait une buanderie, citerne, pompe à eau, chaudière à mazout de l’air chaud. Pendant les mi-1950’s, Bill Webb est arrivé at a pris résidence dans le cottage. L’emploi principal de Bill était de prendre soin du verger mais rapidement il a devient un majordome prenant soin de presque tous. Après ma mère est mort et mon père était laissé seul dans sa maison. Bill a fait coutume de dormir dans la maison de mon père chaque nuit alors qu’il ne soit pas seul à nuit. Quand Oncle Tom est mort et sa maison a devenu vide Bill était donné une clé afin qu’il pouvait vérifier que c’était bien dans la maison. Bill était une personne très social qui se faisait des amis avec n’importe qui qui se passé pour acheter des pommes ou sur les autres affaires. Pour quelque raison, la plupart des personnes aimaient voir l’intérieur de la maison vide et Bill obligerait par leur prenant sur un visite de la maison. Mon père n’était pas heureux avec cette situation mais ne voulait pas de dicter contre Bill. Encore aujourd’hui, je rencontrais les personnes qui ont souvient Bill et mentionné qu’ils avaient un visite de la maison d’Oncle Tom. Bill est mort en 1976 et depuis lors plusieurs personnes a vécu dans le cottage, parce-ce qu’il n’avait aucun terre assigner au cottage il n’est pas vendable, car 7 hectares devait être vendre l’avec et le verger impliquer contenir les arbres relativement jeunes et, donc, constituer un des plus bons sections du verger.
Les Garages
En 1911 mon père a acheté sa première voiture. C’était un Maxwell acheté par un marchand en Halifax. Quand la voiture était prête mon père et Freddie Jim, un ami et relatif distant, ont allé à l’Halifax par train pour prendre la voiture chez-lui. Pendant ces jours, la route entre Halifax et Windsor était un peu meilleure qu’un sentier de bétail. Ils ont commencé d’Halifax dans la nouvelle voiture et tous était bon jusqu’à ils ont atteint l’autre côté de Mount Uniacke. À ce point ils ont eu besoin de leur soulager. Ils ont arrêté la voiture au milieu de la route et sont sorti pour prendre soin de leurs besoins. Après leur soulager, ils ont décidé de leur griller une. C’était une voiture ouverte et la vente produit dans la voiture ouverte à la vitesse de route nationale autant que 10 miles par heure a fait fumant dangereux. L’opération d’un moteur à gaz d’une automobile était nouvelle d’eux alors ils n’ont pas réalisé que très souvent quand un moteur d’automobile est arrêté après avoir été en opération pour quelque temps, l’essence goutait du moteur. Avant allumé leurs pipes ils ont lancé les allumettes sur le sol. Il y avait un souffle fort et la voiture entière a pris feu.
Bientôt tous qui reste sur la route était un tas de métaux tordu. Ils ont décidé que, bien que la route fût une pauvre chose, l’accident ne devrait pas être laissé au centre. Ils ont décidé de marcher arrière à Mount Uniacke pour l’aide. Éventuellement à Mount Uniacke ils ont trouvé un fermier qui a convenu de retourner avec eux avec son attelage de chevaux pour remorquer la voiture. Le fermier était plutôt réticent de faire ce travail alors ils n’ont pas lui dit que la voiture était plusieurs miles en bas de la route. En tout cas, ils ont commencé à retourner et quand la voiture n’apparaissait ils ont dit au fermier que c’était juste derrière la courbe suivant. Finalement, ils ont allé autour la dernière courbe et la voiture a devenu en vue. Parmi les choses qu’ils n’avaient pas dites au fermier était que la voiture était une épave. Le fermier a regardé à la voiture en surprise et a dit « ça alors elle a été brûlant quand vous étiez parti. » Donc fini la première expérience en conduite de mon père.
Ma mère a eu une sœur, Tante Hilda, nom complet Hilda Matilda Bowed, les deux sœurs étaient tares proche. Tante Hilda a vient à l’Avondale chaque année quand elle avait les vacances de son emploi, qui était chef de bureau pour le Brotherhood de Railway Employés. Usuellement ses séjours duraient pour seulement deux semaines. Une fois, cependant, elle est tombée sur notre marche arrière et a brisé sa cheville. Puisque il n’y avait aucunes personnes pour lui prendre soin en Ottawa, où elle habitait, elle a eu besoin de rester en Avondale jusqu’à sa cheville était complètement récupéré de la fracture. Ma mère n’avait jamais appris comment conduire une voiture et mon père ne pensait pas qu’elle avait la bonne mentalité pour être une bonne conductrice. Tante Hilda était une proposition différente. Elle a possédé plusieurs flivvers au fil des ans en Ottawa et même conduisait d’Ottawa à l’Avondale au moins une fois. Pendant restant ici, elle voulait conduit d’Avondale aux plusieurs endroits comme Windsor et Halifax. Alors, elle voulait emprunter la voiture de mon père pour faire les voyages. Mon père a détesté d’avoir quelqu’un autrement que lui-même de faire matcher son automobile mais c’était difficile pour lui de refuser de laisser Tante Hilda d’avoir sa voiture. Il a résolu le problème par allant à son GM marchand favori en Windsor et a acheté un Vauxhall. Je pense que cette race d’automobile a disparu du marché mais c’était une voiture de taille moyenne avec un levier de vitesse standard. Tante Hilda était ravi d’avoir une voiture pour son usage exclusif.
L’addition de la Vauxhall à notre série a posé un autre problème. Le grand garage sur l’autre côté de la maison d’Oncle Tom était tellement rempli de voitures et machinerie de ferme qu’il n’a avait pas la capacité pour une autre voiture. Mon père a résolu cette problème par avant un autre garage construit sur le site de la vielle grange, qui était auparavant se déplacer vers l’autre côté de la ruelle. Le nouveau immeuble était un deux voiture garage avec un sous-sol pour entreposant le matériel du jardin. Il même avait une sciure brulant fourneau pour chauffer le bâtiment que dans mon souvenir n’était pas utilisé. Mon père a gardé le Vauxhall pour plusieurs ans. Il même a conduit lui-même pour faire des courses dans un cinquante-mile rayon.
Quoi qu’il arrive, nous avons un joli deux-voiture garage grâce à Tante Hilda.
Une Autre Nouvelle Maison
Pendant les années suivant ma résignation d’Electronic Associates Ltd. nous avons fait une pratique de venant à l’Avondale les printemps et l’automne. Nous le fait, pas seulement pour voir mon père qui était dans ses 90’s, mais aussi pour s’assurer que tous était bien. Nous avions une gouvernante qui a pris soin de mon père. Le nom de cette femme était Margaret Blois. Mon père avait un accident vasculaire cérébral en 1971 et est mort un an plus tard. Après la mort de mon père nous avons continué de venir à l’Avondale les printemps et l’automne. Margaret a continué vivant et prenant soin de la maison. Elle a se plaint des activités à travers la route. La propriété à travers la route avait une parcelle d’un hectare avec une vielle maison directement opposé de la maison de mon père avec une grange à l’arrière et une autre maison à la fin en pente de la propriété et avec une autre grange à l’arrière. Pendant les 1970’s tôt la propriété était possédé par un individu plutôt apathique avec une épouse et les enfants qui ont vécu dans la maison opposé de la maison de mon père. Éventuellement, la famille a déménagé laissant la propriété vide. Margaret a continué d’insister qu’il y avait l’activité dans la propriété vide. Éventuellement pour satisfaire ses soucis j’ai allé à travers la route et a trouvé la vielle maison avec apparemment pas des problèmes. J’ai continué après la vielle maison à la grange et a ouvert la porte au arrière du bâtiment. De toute surprise dedans j’ai trouvé une pièce meublée avec un vieux canapé et plusieurs vieilles chaises, et le pire de tous, une cuisinière fait d’un baril de pétrole avec un tuyau de poêle qui allait dehors la fenêtre au arrière de la grange, immédiatement faisant un angle droit tourne et continuant un parti à les avant-toits du bâtiment. Évidement c’était un vrai risque d'incendie.
J’ai immédiatement essayé de contacter le propriétaire de la propriété pour s’envoyer une offre d’acheter. Son réponse finale demandait un prix ridicule donc j’ai s’abandonné. Six mois plus tard sur notre prochaine semestriel visite j’ai vu à l’autre côté de la route quoi se sembler d’être un vendeur offrant la propriété a un pair des acheteurs potentiels. Le dernier propriétaire a raté de faire ses mensualités de prêts immobiliers, et a résulté en saisie, la propriété est retombé a la femme qui a hérité la propriété. J’ai immédiatement a fait un offre que j’ai considéré raisonnable. L’offre était acceptée et je me suis trouvé soudainement la propriétaire d’une parcelle d’un-hectare avec 2 maisons et 2 granges.
Les maisons étaient en les conditions mauvaises et n’a mérité pas essayant de retaper alors j’ai fait la chose plus sûr et les avait démoli. La grange arrière de la maison oppose de la maison de mon père, l’un avec la pièce à l’arrière, était aussi démoli pour éviter le risqué d’incendie. Ça laisse la grange à la côté plus bas de la propriété comme la seule propriété de la parcelle. Le propriétaire de la propriété attenant ma parcelle sur l’inconvénient était Brian Venot. Il a exprimé un intérêt dans la vielle grange, alors je le donnais sur la condition qu’il le bougeait sur son parcelle lui-même. Ceci il a fait alors après la vielle maison était démoli, j’avais une parcelle d’un hectare vide.
Cette parcelle était indubitablement la meilleure parcelle pour la construction dans l’entier de Newport Township. De la côté plus haut de la parcelle c’était possible de voir la Rivière St. Croix et Windsor au Sud-Est et de voir tout su long de la Minas Basin à Cape Blomidon dans la direction du Nord. J’irais au le sommeil et me dirais, « Il devrait être une maison sur cette parcelle ». Par conséquent, j’ai devient occupé sur mon ardoise de brouillon et a dessiné une maison pour aller sur la parcelle. J’ai puis fait les arrangements avec Claire Reddin, le meilleur constructeur dans l’endroit et il a procédé de construit la maison. Pas seulement était Reddin un bon constructeur, mais il a aussi su les meilleurs sous-traitants pour faire beaucoup du vrai travail. J’ai essayé de dessiné la maison pour être similaire de la maison de mon père et la maison d’Oncle Tom, qui exigeait les piliers au-devant et une terrasse couverte au-devant aussi. Une caractéristique de la maison, qui était mon idée, était ce que j’ai appelé une « terrasse panoramique ». La terrasse panoramique était la seule chambre sur le deuxième étage et était environ 20 pieds carrés. Elle avait les fenêtres grandes sur tous 4 côtés donnant un vue illimité.
Une fois que la maison était fini j’ai essayé de la vendu. Éventuellement au moins 5 agents immobiliers avaient un contrat pour vendre la maison. Mon expérience avec les agents immobiliers a résulté avec moi avant un mal opinion des agents immobiliers. Ils étaient tous fervent pour moi de signer un contrat pour eux de vendre la propriété. Leurs attitude ont paru « si la maison est vendu pendant sous contrat, nous allons recevoir les profits d’aubaine biens, si nous ne dépensons aucun argent en essayant de vendre la propriété, nous avons perdu rien ». Finalement, après le contrat avec le dernier agent immobilier n’a plus resté, j’ai vendu la propriété à Ken et Daphne Greer. Ils ont eu l’air d’aimer la propriété et nous sommes content d’avoir les bons voisins vivant à l’autre côté de la route.
L’Électricité
En 1920 l’électricité pour l’usage à la maison n’était pas disponible en la Nouvelle-Écosse rural. Même après j’ai commencé l’école en 1921, je peux souvenir étudiant par la lumière d’une lampe à l’huile. Nous avons aussi utilisé les lanternes à essence, qui ont donné une lumière brillant blanche mais étaient très difficile. La flamme gazeuse a chauffé un manchon qui a entouré la flamme. Le manchon était très fragile et devrait être remplacé aux intervalles fréquents. Notre première centrale électrique était installée dans le sous-sol d’Oncle Tom. Elle a consisté d’un 1 cylindre moteur diesel qui était commencé par enlevant un balle du cylindre, chauffant le balle au rouge avec un chalumeau, réinstallant le balle dans le cylindre et retournant le moteur avec son volant. Ce volant n’était pas petit; il était environ six pieds en diamètre. Un large cuir allait de ce volant à une poulie d’un générateur. Le générateur, bien sûr, a produit seulement un courant direct. Un soudain court-circuit ou une surcharge sévère sur le générateur causerait la courroie de s’envolait et se chassait autour du sous-sol. Ça s’est passé plusieurs fois quand les appareils tel que les aspirateurs dessiné pour marcher sur les courants alternatif étaient par inadvertance branché dans le système. Quand l’installation était fini et le moteur diesel est commencé pour la première fois, bien qu’il était tournant le générateur, aucun électricité était produit. Un générateur à courant direct produit électricité par tournant une carapace dans un champ magnétique. Le champ magnétique est produit par un principal bobinage électrique, muni avec un courant de la puissance de sortie du générateur. Évidemment, s’il n’y a aucune puissance de sortie du générateur il n’y a aucun champ pour produire une puissance de sortie et le générateur ne jamais fonctionnerait.
Un générateur comme l’un installé dans la sous-sol d’Oncle Tom est équipé avec un bobinage électrique du champ composé, que signifie qu’il y a un bobinage électrique principal muni avec courant de la puissance de sortie du générateur et un second bobinage électrique à travers où la puissance de sorti du générateur se coulent. Ce séries de bobinage électrique augmente le champ dans le générateur à le même temps que le courant est tiré du générateur augmente, ainsi compensant pour la diminution voltage avec un charge croissant sur le générateur. Un des plis pour faire ce type de produire une puissance de sorti si le champ résiduel est insuffisant est de momentanément court-circuit la puissance de sorti du générateur. Souvent, quand il y a produit un montant de voltage insuffisant pour le bobinage électrique du champ principal pour commencer la génération d’électricité, il y a assez de champ résiduel pour commencer le voltage augmentant du courant à travers la série de bobinage électrique. L’expert installant le générateur a essayé cette méthode pour le commençant. Il a pris une longueur du fil de cuivre, s’asseyait devant le générateur et commençait de momentanément connectant le fil à travers la puissance de sorti du générateur. Soudainement cette méthode a marché, la puissance de sorti du générateur a augmenté a entier puissance de sorti, le fil de cuivre a disparu en un clin d'œil, la réaction du expert s’envoyait volant tomber la tête la première à un coin loin de le sous-sol au amusement de tous présent sauf l’expert.
C’était bientôt évident que le sous-sol de la maison d’Oncle Tom n’était pas un bon endroit pour avoir un un-cylindre diesel battant. Un autre bâtiment était, donc, construit Sud-Est de la maison d’Oncle Tom. Ce bâtiment était fait en blocs de ciment et était environ 25 pieds en largueur par 35 pieds en longueur. La portion d’est était désigné comme la salle des machines et le diesel et générateur était installé là. Le générateur était encore encombrant de commencer mais au moins ça a disparu le bruit dans le sous-sol d’Oncle Tom. Pendant les 1920’s tard Kohler a sorti avec un générateur motrice dans une unité. Le vieux diesel était donc retraité et la nouvelle unité Kohler dans la salle de machines. Au même temps, une banque des batteries de stockage était mise en place. Les batteries étaient déchargées au-delà d’une valeur fixée. Le système entier était donc automatique et a requis peu d’attention sauf l’entretien quotidienne. Le système a resté en place jusqu’à la ligne électrique la system d’électricité gouvernement-possédé a arrivé. La ligne électrique a venu dans la côté loin de la grand grange décrivait auparavant. Il y avait, bien sûr, un compteur de watt-heure où la ligne électrique a venu dans la grange. Ce compteur a indiqué l’électricité totale consommé par les deux maisons parce-que les lignes électriques ont venu à travers la grange à la maison d’Oncle Tom puis à travers la ruelle dedans la maison de mon père. Un deuxième compteur était installé qui a indiqué l’électricité consommé dans notre maison. Quand la compagnie électrique interprétait le compteur à l’alimentation de la grande grange, mon père ensuite aurait interprété le compteur dans notre grenier. Utilisant les interprétations des deux compteurs, mon père aurait calculé son portion de la facture électrique. Cet arrangement ne pourrait être assez stupide qu’il a l’air, car le structure de facture de la compagnie électrique a consisté d’une quantité base plus le prix pour l’électricité utilisé. Évidemment, car il y avait seulement un compteur il y avait seulement une quantité base. Finalement, la compagnie électrique nous fournissait avec un chargeur nous-même, nous faisant indépendant de l’autre maison pour électricité.