We Never Mind Any
Amount Of Coffee, But Wage War Against The Cocktails, Taken Before
Meals As Appetisers.
A cocktail is a horrid concoction of whisky,
bitters, sugar and water, which are all mixed together with a
"swidel" stick, which stick is always on the wander and for which
a search has to be made.
Nipping is too much in vogue in this
country, but we are told that a lot of support is wanted, the air
is so rarefied and the water has so much alkali in it, and
therefore not supposed to be healthy, but it is most beautifully
clear and delightfully cold to drink.
It certainly does disagree with the horses and cattle when first
imported into the district.
* * * * *
June 3rd.
If you happen to know of anybody coming out here, and so many do, and
you would like to give A - - a present, I wish you would kindly send
him a few table-cloths, dusters, towels, and pairs of sheets; in short
any linen would be most acceptable as we are so short. How these men
managed when the linen went into Winnipeg to be washed, and was
sometimes kept a month ere it came home, is a mystery. These extra men
living in the house have none. They facetiously describe their ideas
of dirt by saying, if the table-cloth, however filthy it might look,
when flung against the wall didn't stick, it went on for another week;
if it stuck, was then and there consigned to the dirty-linen bag.
Since we have been here we have instituted a weekly wash, every
Monday and Tuesday. E - - and Mrs. G - - preside at the tub all
day, and even then our sheets and towels often run short.
Every colonist ought to provide himself with two pairs of sheets,
half a dozen towels, two table-cloths, and a few dusters; and as
those things and his wearing apparel, if in use six months
previously, are allowed into the country free of duty, they might
as well bring them over as everything of that sort in Winnipeg is
so fearfully dear I do not like buying anything there. We sent for
some unbleached calico the other day, worth twopence-halfpenny;
was charged twelve cents or sixpence a yard. Besides the four
yards of calico there were ten of bed-ticking, also ten of
American cloth; and the bill was six dollars seventy cents, nearly
seven-and-twenty shillings. Everything is equally dear, the demand
is so much greater than the supply. Beef is tenpence to
thirteenpence a pound, mutton about the same, bacon tenpence, pork
tenpence, chickens four and twopence each. We use a good deal of
tinned corned beef; and very good it is, it makes into such
excellent hashes and curries and is so good for breakfast.
A - - also wants a pair of long porpoise-hide waterproof boots
sending out; they are quite an essential, as after the heavy rains
water stands inches deep in our yards, and he has so much walking
into the marshes.
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