My first letter to Canada
As my oldest brother Ivan with his wife were already in Canada since 1903, so soon as I learned how to write my mother who was illiterate urged me to write a letter to my brother Ivan. I can’t recollect what else I wrote, but then I remember as it was winter so I wrote: We have winter time now, so there is snow ice and frosts and also frosts all over the world. His answer to my letter was: “It seems that Misha likes skating.” That much at that time Village children knew little about the world, until they read some geography at school. In childhood days it seemed to us there is end of earth at the horizon and the sky just like a tent over the earth.
My experiment with the bullet
“Curiosity has no limits” as the people’s wisdom says” so it was with me. As I strongly wished to see the gun powder, how it looks like and as our family had a revolver so I found one bullet in the drawer, and cut the lead flask at the end of the shell, but there was still some lead left inside of the shell. So I found nail and a hammer and placed the shell upright on the window sill and start hammering the nail inside of a shell. Suddenly there was ear deafening “boom” and my curiosity was rewarded by my two torn to the bone fingers, thumb and middle one, in which I held the nail. In due time it healed but the visible scars remained through the life. Luckily I didn’t lose my eyes, as I know one boy who in similar incident lost one eye, and the other was damaged to some extent.
Well the boys always will be the same at this stage of life, striving for something and eager to have or to know something.
Boys ardent wish for toy guns
The Village boys in the brackets of 7-11 years started to make their own toy guns, short ones like revolvers. They obtain used rifle bullets shells and carve the gun stock from wood and fasten to it these shells, one or two for single or double barrel gun, and make a cock on rubber string with a nail head that fits into the center of the shell and it is ready for use. As storekeepers were selling tiny inflammable paper shells of course I made one too, but sold mine , as one boy couldn’t make himself, came to me with his father wanting to buy from me, so I did. Can’t recollect now how many Kopecks I got for it.
Afterwards these toy guns became dangerous weapons, as the boys started to use gun powder and pellets in them. So elders of Village through their rules forbade store keepers to sell those tine shells, and they were unattainable any more.
Our family revolver is stolen
Speaking of toy guns, not every boy was satisfied with just a toy one. Some had dreamed of having sometimes a real one.
Such a boy was my cousin on my Mother’s side and though he was younger than myself was kind of a clever and subtle boy. Being a relative he was often coming to our place to play with me. In our two roomed house with porch we had a cupboard that was hanging on the wall, as there was no place for standing one, as underneath was davenport for sitting. In this cupboard besides other things, father had a money bag where he kept his gold and coins of ten rubles each (at that time gold money was in use) and a revolver which was kept in the top of this cupboard.
As most households had weapons for self defense. So at such times that he was coming to visit me, and he knew our house very well. So in his mind engendered evil thought to steal money, so he could buy a revolver. He succeeded in stealing 10 ruble golden coin from father’s cash box. Having money in his pocket now he wanted to buy revolver from my cousin on father’s side. For some reason had no success, so he decided to steal ours.
When he came to our place once again he told me: let us play hide and seek, I will be here in the house and you hide some place in the yard. I did hide myself and was watching for sometime, but he didn’t’ come to seek me. So all at once thought struck me; why he wanted to stay in the house. So I ran to the house and there was no trace of him I searched the top of a cupboard and there was no revolver.
I ran as fast as I could through the neighbor’s yard and garden straight to the lake, and I over took him. Once his coat was unbuttoned and I noticed the gun peeping from the inside of his pocket. He wanted to throw dust in my face (pull the wool over my eyes) by saying: “Can you skate like this? Showing me how he can skate. But as soon as I caught up with him I grabbed the gun and I can’t recollect, but later he told me that I hit him in the face with a hand. Later he was horribly punished by his parents for this evil trick he has played. It has come to light all his intentions and about stolen money previously before he stole the gun.
My home duties
When both my parents were working away from home in the fields, especially harvest time when men and women had to reap the grain by hand with a reap hook also called sickle or harvest hemp, pulling by hands. So at such times I had to be home to tend the home duties as feeding hogs and watching orchards etc.
To feed hogs I had to cut some potato tops and beet tops, and chop it into tiny bits mix it with a handful of flour and it is ready for their meal. As to watching the orchards it is a difficult task, as we had two. One by the house and the other is farther on another street. You can’t be at both at the same time. However who wants to steal some apples, he finds a way to do it even in your presence. When I went to another orchard, here comes to me a grown up lad and started to tell talk with me, and when he saw that his accomplice already had picked the apples and ready to get away, so he told me “look somebody stealing your apples.” So, but I ran to that spot where he jumped over the palisade and was gone, as was gone the lad who distracted me by his talk from my duty.
As not everybody in the Village has orchards, so the indigent were tempted to steal, especially the older boys and the “necessity is the mother of intention.” so the adage says. So one time a group of older boys cunningly came to me with such a proposition. Showing their necks they said “do you see this hollow at the back of our necks? We don’t have any apples, so that’s why we are thin. You bring us some apples to eat and you will see that the hollow will be filled. So I brought them full school bag of apples, and inspected the hollow and brought them second and third bag until their stomachs were filled, but the hollows at the back of their necks were still the same.
Other times I had to care for the sheep, taking them somewhere for grazing. Especially care should be taken at the spring when they are washed one by one in the lake for shearing wool. So I had to take a special care of them, so they won’t get dirty until they get dry.
Brother Paul, Sister Erfronsinia with their spouses leaving for Canada
On returning home from his three years term of military service brother Paul in course of a time got married to Anna Feseoyco. Later my sister was given in marriage to Alexander Llyenko. As our mother was from Llyenko’s house too so they were still close relatives, and the priest before officiating their marriage had to obtain permission from higher Hierarchy which of course was given and marriage performed.
Early in the spring of 1909 brother Paul and sister Erfrosinia with their spouses decided to leave their native village and their country, and to emigrate to unknown land of Canada
Departing Prayer
At the time of their leaving the house many relatives and friends came to bid them farewell, and the house was packed with the people. So I climbed and stood on back by the wall, and being only 11 years old, never forgot that prayer by which brother Paul prayed. He did not pray to cross that hanged in the corner neither by the table, nor by memorized prayers as we were taught to pray, nor making the sign of the cross by his hand or his forehead and chest but prayed straight to the God in the name of Jesus Christ, from the depth of his heart by the prayer of their need, to bless their and his unknown journey and bless the relatives and people they are leaving behind.
My summer activities of 1909
After their departure I was left alone with only father and mother, and I had to help my parents as much as I could and especially for the whole Summer, after the days work, whatever horses we had with 3or 4 with colt, every evening I had to take them for the night for grazing somewhere in the field or in a forest, and early in the morning you got to be home. This was the custom, or better to say necessity to do it. So mostly young people were doing it, but there were older men too, who had nobody to replace them.
It is a good thing when we are able in the evening to gather together with the bunch of others, so we know then where we will go, and if to open fields, we had to take firewood from home, besides other things as victuals and a big home made coat with a hood and horse fitters. It is all you have to carry on horseback.
But sometimes if you are late due to lateness of coming home from field wok, and the others are gone, so it is hard by yourself to find the others where they had gone for grazing. I remember one time I didn’t find them, so I decided to be alone. I thought it is dangerous, because of a timber wolves who love colts, so I had to keep them on a rope by the fire where all the boys sleep on the ground around the fire. So I fettered horse’s front legs with a rope hobble. It is a usual routine and put the halters for a pillow and just throw myself that big wool home made coat which serves both ways for mattress and cover and lay myself under the bush to sleep. But soon I found out that I had to move from there, as I was infested with the ants, as there was ant hill beside that bush, and in the dawn I did not see it.
The other time we were late with my cousin and hardly found the other boys, in the forest, by reflection of a fire. For this camp fire, everybody has to contribute fuel, and as there was already lots of wood and due to lateness of time, we didn’t go to pick some more wood for fuel. My cousin as he older and braver said; as we are not going for the wood, so we will not use your fire for our warmth and we will sleep further away from the fire. So we lay down ourselves under the young oak tree and of course as young boys were worn out from daily obligations, soon fell asleep, with a dead sleep. When we awoke in the morning, we found out that in the night, the older boys did a trick on us.
They untied my fast shoe laces which of course consisted of a long thin rope and tied my both legs together and as for my cousin, they bented down the young oak tree, and tied his legs to that tree, so they were hanging in mid air and this was our punishment. There were many more different incidents, but I think I will stop here, because there will be no end to it. One thing I want to mention is, I only liked the best Saturday evenings because when you take horses for grazing overnight you don’t have to come home in the morning but at noon; and after lunch you take horses for a swim in the lake and bathe yourself too, and here we go again until Monday morning.
So Sunday we had rest and fun with the many games. Also I want to state that forests were abundant with all kinds of birds, amongst them Coo-Coo bird and nightingale, which are lacking in Canada
As I mentioned above about the fast shoes, so though we had high up to knee leather boots and belt boots for winter, but in the summer used to wear this light, as so to say slipper, made of bark from young linden trees, with eyelet around it on top for rope laces, and we never saw or wear the socks but with a piece of old bed sheet wrap your foot and up to knee and tie around with these laces. men’s footwear and they make them themselves.
My attendance at Baptist’s Sunday school and Church Service.
As there was no Ukrainian Baptist service in town but in the vicinity on the farms as there were already believers who were gathering in farm dwellings for their worship services. So my brother Joan borrowed team of horses with wagon and one Sunday he and his wife and myself we drove to the farm where services was held that Sunday.
On the way there as we passed through the bush country a few times I jumped from the wagon to pick strawberries in a jiffy and to overtake them as they continued the trip. At last we arrived to the Kuziacks place where church service was held in his house and also Sunday school. This was my first attendance at Sunday school and church service of Evangelical Baptists.
I can’t recollect the lesson now, but the golden text was from Matthew 7:21, which I memorized then in Ukrainian language and which during my life never escaped my mind. “Not everyone that says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.
We had dinner at Mr. Gabora’s place where I was surprised to hear Gabora’s son, boy of my age praying at the table, before partaking the food I thought it was only the father’s duty to do it, and here father asked his son to ask God for blessings on food and he obediently and earnestly prayed coming from the heart and not by memorized prayer as I was taught.
Few more times I have been there and began to know more people like Mr. Tom Jevardowski, who was a missionary there at that time. I didn’t know at that time but much later I learned that the previous year of 1909, there was on the farms in this Mr. Pavolink’s place, first Russian-Galician Evangelical convention, initiated by my brother Joan, who invited from eastern Canada
My stay at brother’s place in Canora was about 3 or 4 months, and by staying here I was spared all the hardships that immigrants on their arrival to Lizard Lake
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