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r $ ele gr EAT : : 7 ex, MGR SR My Dear Grandchildren, As Christmas approaches again, I will be thinking of you, my little grandchildren, anxiously awaiting for and unwrapping the wonderful gifts that Santa is so sure to leave by your beautiful tree and I would like so # much to tell you about a Christmas long ago that # happened to me, your grandmother, the memories of : which will remain with me the rest of my life. When I was about your age, Julie, yes, just about eight years old, I lived with my parents and my three brothers (one was a wee baby) on a large farm, smack right in the middle of Saskatchewan. This was Prairie Country, and as far as you could see all around there was nothing but flat, flat country not even any big trees like we have here. Our closest neighbours lived many miles away and I didn't have any playmates nearby to play. with so there wasn't much to do when I got older but to go to school and come home again. Of course, that took lots of time because school was some distance away. v0 . Well, Dad had lots of land on his farm and he had 13 horses to help cultivate all this land, and we also had a flock of sheep and some chickens, a black and white dog and a cat. When I was quite small I took a liking to the biggest and friendliest old horse we had, a Percheron I think she was, and she was called Brownie. One day after pestering my parents for something to do or something to play with, Dad said to me, "Take old Brownie for a drink of water." Well, I untied Brownie from the stable and led her outside to the horse trough to get a drink and back to the stable again. This was lots of fun and I did this about every half hour all day long and day after day. I loved big old Brownie, she wouldn't step on me or hurt a fly. She was very dependable. From then on I called her "My Brownie". Of course, I was only three years old at that time. When I was old enough to start to school Dad put me way up on Brownie's back and off we went school, my Brownie and me. Our school had a stable out behind where us kids tied our horses up all day long until school was over at four o'clock. _ Well, Brownie, had been a good work horse all hel life and had picked up a few tricks here and there, and 1 guess she just thought taking me to school day after day was just a wee bit monotonous or something. Maybe she was just a wee bit lazy. -She was pretty smart too, and being sort of retired, as they would say nowadays, Dad had pretty much let her have the lighter jobs on the farm and she realized that. So one day about a half a mile from school, Brownie stopped dead in her tracks beside an old stonepile by the side of the road and just wouldn't go onto the stonepile and not get hurt. So I ended up walking the rest of the way to school leading Brownie behind me. Brownie seemed to enjoy this new trick of and it was very humiliating for me leading Brownie the rest of the way to school, instead of riding on her back like I was supposed to. Well one day one of the bigger boys who was very kind, saw my predicament and met us at the stone-pile. He picked up a big stick and gave poor Brownie such a scud over her rearend that Brownie, with me on her back, galloped all the rest of the way to school, and she never tried that trick again. I loved my old Brownie. She was so big and so beautiful, I thought. People would look at little me way up on Brownie's back and they seemed to thing that was kind of funny. Sometimes it was a bit of a problem getting on or off Brownie's back but I didn't care. Well, anyway along comes this Christmas morning and I was just eight years old. The wind was howling outside, the snow was deep, and it was 40 below, but we were snug in our warm little house. Somehow Santa had called through the night and had left a gift for me. My brothers and I were still looking around the tree to see if there was anything we had missed. I had got a of candy popcorn mother had made, a scarf and some warm mitts, too. When all of a sudden, the door opened and from the blustery outside, Dad came right in the door of our warm little kitchen leading some kind of a fuzzy, furry little animal on the end of a little rope. It was the cutest little thing you ever laid eyes on. It looked something like a little wee horse but it was no higher than a prairie jack rabbit and it was as furry and black as one of our little lambs. The tips of its cute little ears didn't reach any higher than the kitchen ~~ table. For a moment I couldn't think what it was and © then I knew. Why it was, yes it really was, the cutest most beautiful baby Shetland pony I had ever seen. Dad said "Here; Honey, this is for you. She's all yours. Take good care of her." Well it seems that while Dad had been reading the Winnipeg Free Press, he had seen an ad that read "Shetland Ponies for sale. Safe for children. Sixty dollars." He sent a money order to the prairie town and she had been shipped in a little crate by express and Dad had gone to town a few days before with the team and the sleighs, and had kept her in the barn till .: Christmas morning. A little note was pinned to her +. crate instructing the trainman to feed her three times a © day because she had come a long way. © Itsure did not take long to find a suitable name for my beautiful little pony. It was, or course, "Beauty"' suisasititndlaniane assed dont beat nd desivmitivkivensuleisvotuemorie A page from Grandma's Diary Grandma's Christmas Pony .share a tasty tidbit with me. Ww . . ' sdsnshmputidoo mint Solidi dsenindis id nindsn' ead Afi sa dmlvutitoss int cols parti lindasmsh dren dd Rutt J A014 Port Perry Star Christmas Edition - Wednesday, Dec. 21,1977 - 3 Dad said to be kind to her and that no one should ever be mean to or ever whip a-Shetland pony. Well, Beauty and I sort of grew up together and it wasn't long until she was big enough to carry me on her back and we were a common sight to be seen scurrying across the flat prairie me on her back, her mane and her tail flowing in the breeze, her nimble hooves skipping safely over the prairie dog dens that dotted the prairie, here and there. We were constant companions whether it was school days or later on when I left home for college, and on weekends she would eagerly be waiting my return by the fence for the sound of my whistle and to May a peaceful and cheery Yule be yours. Your loyalty is greatly appreciated. ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION BRANCH 419 -- PORT PERRY Beauty and I shared many happy times together on the prairie and later on when we moved to Ontario. By this time, of course, I had grown up to be a young lady and when I met your grandfather and we married and had children of our own, we would often set one of them on Beauty's back just like my father had set me on old Brownies back many years ago. Yes, Julie, one of those little children was your mother when she was small. The Christmas gift of that snowy morning on the prairie "My Beauty" lived until she was 37 years of age. Well, my grandchildren, I will tell you more of this story another time and in the meantime I would like to leave you this thought...Never let anyone tell you that animals are dumb. They are very intelligent but in a much different way than people. We people are not very smart sometimes when, and if, we do not understand animals and their ways. We thank you for your patronage and hope you will be surrounded by good fortune through this festive season. DON FORDER INSURANCE AGENCY 24 Water Street - Port Perry any farther. I guess she knew I could slide off her back heres and she did this every morning for several days little doll, an orange and some nuts in my stocking, lots v HOLIDAY Hearts soar in the crisp winter landscape reminding us of the glories of Nature and of Christmas. May all that brings meaning to this sacred celebration add to the special delight of your holiday. Our thanks. JOHN BALLARD LUMBER & STAFF