1930 - Annual Convention Report

              74 A L B E R T A W O M E N ' S I N S T I T U T ES
The window blinds just mentioned were made of some sort of semi- trans­parent
canvas that split awfully easy, and were rolled from the bottom, the
r o l l being held in place by a curtain cord that ended in two pretty tassels.
F r om the inner face of the window frame hung the lace curtains, so long
that they swept the floor even as the ladies' skirts then trailed the dust. The
dining room curtains were not so extreme as to length. The walls of the
parlor and dining room were always papered in patterns that caused one to
wonder what brain designed anything so fantastic. As a rule the parlor
paper was just a bit more refined or subdued than the paper on the walls of
the other rooms. I am sorry that I do not remember much about details of,
the pictures that hung on the walls, but I can at least say that there was no
Stag at Bay, and no Collection of Fruits, and only one family enlargement,
this latter a picture of an aunt who had died when but a young woman, and
who was declared to have been pretty, the picture to the contrary, notwith­standing.
1 remember the frames; two of shiny gilt, then quite a novelty,
one of wood, covered by clusters of grapes done in putty and painted, and
another made from the scales of spruce cones glued to a wooden base; as a
matter of fact these latter frames were homemade, but were rather fine
pieces of work. There was another picture that would be called a medallion
I suppose; it occupied a dark oval frame and was a picture of father and
mother, with the oldest boy seated between them— it is before me now, and
I can:: ot say who looks the proudest in the picture.
Tiie parlor chairs were pretty cane- bottomed affairs, and simple in con­struction,
and not so very uncomfortable to sit upon during the parlor ordeals.
The couch was furnished with some sort of springs, not hard to locate, and
was not long enough to stretch oneself upon, nor short enough to prevent the
attempt. Instead of a centre table, a fairly large top, supported upon a
massive three- footed pedestal, was pushed into one corner. It was covered
by some sort of crocheted contraption, and upon this was laid the family
Bible with its Doomsday record of Births, Marriages and Deaths, and its
vividly colored pictures: Entry into Jerusalem, Cleansing the Temple, The
Supplanting of Esau. Christ Blessing the Children, and many others. Beside
it there lay a smaller Bible for more familiar use. There were two other
books: Sacred Names, and the book I won by collecting so much money for
the Missiiiiiary Society. Occupying a prominent place on the table was the
family picture album, with its cover fortified by china knobs; this old album
was " Exhibit A " when visitors called; one thick leaf after another would be
thrown back to show big photos, small photos, and tin- types, of relatives
past and present, who generally stood or sat in single grandeur, but who
were sometimes in groups, with hands on shoulders and looking at the photo­grapher's
stock book of poems. / The tin- type was an early favourite, even if
the head brace at the photographers had come down from the days of the
Inquisition : some of those tin- types stand out in clear detail today, in a man­ner
to inspire respect for past methods.. The big parlor lamp should have
been mentioned first, because it always occupied the centre of the table, and
was no mean unit, with its bulging and gayly flowered stand, and its wide
white glass shade. This completes the details of the table- load, for we never
bought any of those congealed stereoscope views, that helped to put more
than one student through college.
There was another piece of furniture in the room, one that did not lack
in impressiveness— the What- Not. There were so many things on those
shelves that memory pretty nearly fails as to detail, but I remember a vase,
we did not call it " vozz." that stood on the top and was always filled with
dried flowers, and 1 remember a basket on the bottom shelf, that held the
photos for which there was no room in the album. It may be of interest to
state that there were no sea shells to hold to the ear, and no cherry coffin
plates to give tone to the collection.