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- 36 REMINISCENCES OF OLD VICTORIA MY BOYHOOD DAYS IN VICTORIA 37
had to go to a distance for our vegetables. It took the best part of a day to go to Hillside Farm for a sac of assorted vegetables. Several boys would start to- gether for this trip into the country. It is astonishing how the absence of streets or roads lengthens this dis-tance, and so it was then. We started after breakfast and took our lunch, going across country by trail, each with a sack, which was filled by old Willie Pottinger the gardener, for a shilling. Very good and fresh they were, and very cheap this was considered. With our loads we started for home, and the further we got fro Hillside the heavier the vegetables got, and therefore the more stoppages we made to rest. At last Fort and Blanchard Streets were in sight, and we were home again, tired out and hungry as hunters,,
The last I remember of the Hudson's Bay fort w during the contest brought on by the burning question. of the day, namely Union and Tariff vs. Free Port. The mainland represented Tariff and the island Free Port Should we join with the mainland with a tariff or re-main Free Port? The hustings was erected in the fort, and the pros and cons were discussed by the rival candidates. I took part, although too young to vote, and worked day and night for my friend Amor De Cosmos, who was in favor of union and tariff, and we won the day, too.
Before I conclude I would again speak of the large stores in the fort, which supplied the colonists with all they required except meats. It was said at the time that you might get anything at the stores, from a needle to an anchor. This might well have been true, for it was the repository of all the Company's goods for sup-plying their servants with all their necessaries.
One of the first visits I paid was with my mother, asin San Francisco, and amongst various articles I carried away was a pair of Old Country boots. These boots I am not likely to forget, as I wore them so long. The soles were twice the usual thickness of even boys' boots, and, like a horseshoe, had a row of nails with projecting square heads a quarter inch thick. These boots left their mark wherever they went, and, as may be sup-posed, as I was a strong, healthy boy with a roving disposition, they travelled considerably. Wear them out I could not, kicking rocks and stubbing my toes against everything I came against, for I found them awkward and heavy to carry, and in fact everything gave way be-fore them. My poor mother often called out at the marks of the square-headed nails on her clean floors, which in those days were not covered with carpets or linoleum, as now. These boots were a feature of the store, and were, I think, $3.75 or $4 a pair?but enough of hobnailed boots.
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