The River Otonabee of My Boyhood
Vincent's story, as seen through the eyes of a boy, takes you into his youth during the hard times of the late 1920's and 1930's. He tells of his mother and father and their struggle to raise a large family during the Great Depression. Mother's first washing machine, their first telephone and electric lights, of the horse and sleighs, and the steam engines on the railroad.
The River became a most important part of his life as it gave him entertainment and good fishing. It is where, in his mind, great adventures happened. First in a house of spirits, and in the summer when the river teamed with fish, and where he learned to swim. The weather grew cold as winter came on and the river froze, sometimes to a depth of twelve inches. Skiing became a favorite pastime.
The frosted windowpanes, snow forts and igloos, of a snow tunnel and a roof of pure ice. How the children walked to school in the freezing cold. The time when the fields were ploughed with horses, the blacksmith shop that made shoes for the horses. Milk and bread were delivered to your door by horse and sleigh or wagon.
He tells of his first job at 13 years of age, in a bowling alley for $2.50 a week. Finding summer work at 75 cents a day, picking tomatoes and what a thrashing was. Because of poverty, began working in a carpet mill at 15 years of age, what it was like to watch the great looms working. At 16 years of age, what his older brother Len, thought he should know to be a man. He worked as steel fitter when he met a young lady. How his life changed from his youth to that of a young adult.
Press Release
A memorable journey into the past along the Otonabee River.
Vincent Barnes – just like the rest of us – yearns for the days gone by when life was more simple and perhaps more sweet. He is now 90 years old and the golden days of his childhood were set in the 1920s and '30s where he grew up alongside the Otonabee River in Peterborough in eastern Ontario. This is beautiful cottage and vacation country and it is the Otonabee that flows between Stoney Lake and Rice Lake.
Barnes grew up during a period when times were hard and good-paying jobs were even harder to come by. The family was a large one and for his mother and father, it was a constant, daily struggle to make ends meet. But there was love in the home and there was food on the table – and there was this marvellous Otonabee River just yards away. There was swimming and fishing in the summer; and there was skiing on the ice-packed river in the winter.
Those were the times when there were no computers, no television and when electrical power and telephone communications were still in their infancy. Those were the times when the horses ploughed the fields and when milk and bread were delivered to your door by horse and wagon. Those were the times when, at the age of 13, a young Mr. Barnes took a job in a bowling alley for $2.50 a week – or in the summer, he would take on the back-breaking job of picking tomatoes for 75 cents a day.
Barnes brings to life his vivid memories of those childhood years in his recently published book, The River Otonabee of My Boyhood. For those of us of a certain age, the book is a lovely, reminiscent journey into the past when times certainly were simpler, in some ways, but families still had to endure the hardship of the difficult economic times. And as life moved forward, there was war to contend with – and with war came death and tragedy and sacrifice and even greater struggle.
Vincent Barnes is a story-teller at heart. He wrote The River Otonabee of My Boyhood primarily as a legacy for his own offspring and for the generations to come to offer to them a snapshot of what the world was like so many decades ago. As the author himself puts it: "My world as a boy was less complicated than yours today. I hope to bring you some happiness in the knowledge of the world I lived in . . . Life is really what we make it."
Follow Vincent Barnes on his life's journey along the Otonabee River. It's a journey that will make you smile – and perhaps bring a few tears to your eyes.
Book Reviews
This book was really good! Everything you described was very easy to visualize. Your job at the bowling alley was really funny! And the French woman who gave you the Johnny Cake and called you little English sparrows.
Like you I was not able to go to school because of lack of money. Your book gives me hope for the future because even when things seemed very hard you always persevered and over came the obstacles. But I have to say my favourite part of the book was when you met Lillian. What you felt for her at the time was very touching especially when you left your parents in Peterborough to follow her to Lakeview. The way you described your mother and father sent chills up my spine because I felt like I was there.
Love Joseph, Lakehurst
I too grew up on Crawford Drive and have many great memories of that area. Thanks for explaining the meaning behind 'Yankee Bonnet'. That one always puzzled me. I too am a May 23rd baby. While we grew up in a little different era than you, I can fully relate to your many descriptions, locations and names. The South End was a great place to grow up - we were on the edge of the city but we were still country.
Small world! Anyway, enjoyed the book and will no doubt purchase your book on your war experiences.
All the best, Gary, Peterborough
I enjoyed reading your book. We really did have fun at the River. You brought back many memories Vince, for me. My 3 girls are all anxious to read it. Thanks.
Frances, Peterborough |
