Jim McConnell's Autobiography 1877 - 1957Canadian pioneer farmer in Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia |
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18. as suddenly as it began. This war had been fought by the Allies to end war and as a means of settling disagreements in the world. The struggle was over. The great problem now was to establish a peace to satisfy all people the world over so that no nation ever again would have need to resort to war to achieve what its people needed. A few months later, representatives of all the countries which had engaged in the war met around a peace table in Paris. President Wilson of the United States came and presented his Fourteen Points, so famous at that time, to the end that there be no more war but that all disputes be settled by negotiation. The President was to meet a great disappointment. That Conference from the start was moved by fear, jealousy and greed, with the result that the spoils of the war were divided between the great powers. And Germany, now in a condition of terrible depression, was loaded with war reparations, which in her condition and with all her colonies gone and her markets limited, would be impossible to repay. So the world's wisest men gathered to prepare a permanent peace in the world, but instead they set up conditions that engendered stife and war, which 21 years later, suddenly crashed the world again. And now let us get back to 1918. In the same month that the war ended, the Influenza began and rapidly spread everywhere. So many people were taken sick that all hospital space was immediately taken. All schools were closed and many of the school buildings were used as hospitals. Many others took sick and died in their homes. A peculiar feature of the disease was how some trappers, far away on their traplines and not in touch with any contagious germs, we re also stricken with the 'Flu.' Some were found dead in their cabins. It was said that the 'Flu' took as many or more lives as the four terrible years of war which had just passed. Our family, which now included four children, went for a visit to Ontario before Christmas. Fred stayed and looked after the stock at home on the farm. In the eight years that we had been away from Ontario, great changes had taken place. The machine age had arrived. Many had already bought cars, and the day of the horse and buggy was passing away. The Reeves and Counsellors in every district were planning through highways to speed the traffic along the roads. The 'flu' had carried away many of the friends we had known. The days passed quickly, as we drove about with father's horse and cutter visiting our friends. Early in February, we had to leave for home. Father was 72 then. We called one morning before daylight and bid him goodbye at his little house in Norwood. We did not know it then, but that was our last parting. Father passed away on October 19th 1922, and we were not to see old Ontario again until October 1950. 1919 was a year of drought and hot winds and almost a crop failure. I well remember having a guarter section of summer fallow all sown to wheat. On the last of July, it stood almost two feet high -- a nice even crop, but it needed rain. We went to the Saskatoon Exhibition two days away. The hot winds blew a melting heat, and when we returned, the wheat was bleached and turning white with the heat. In August I had a sick spell with acid and upset stomach and fever. The doctor thought it was Typhus Fever, and I was nearly three weeks in Hospital. It left me very weak and with pains like arthritis in my arms and legs. However, the crop was light, and we cut and thrashed it and did all the other jobs close to home. The winter came early. Snow fell on October 15th and stayed right on until about May 10th 1920. That long cold winter was too much for Fred. He developed a deep heavy cough and became too weak to do any outside work. The Spring was very late and cold, and it was May 10th before the land was dry enough to work.
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