At the northeasterly corner of the kitchen there were three doors close together. The door to the left led to a room that was a bedroom when I was a young child, later it became sort of a playroom or den — like a forerunner of the “rumpus” room of more modern orientation. Directly ahead was the door to the bathroom and to the right was the door to the dining room. On the east wall of the kitchen there was first a small open space that was later occupied by a playpen constructed by my grandfather and which was used for Vincent when he was small. This playpen was more solidly constructed than playpens of the present day; it was also non-collapsible. The pen was perhaps 30" x 48" in floor area; the bottom was sort of a shallow box with sides maybe 8" high, constructed of 1" (nominal thickness) boards. Surmounting these sides was a railing maybe 18"–24" tall with spokes spaced about 4" apart with a connecting ring at the top of the spokes. I can recall my grandfather making the playpen, I think at the little wood shop he had in the outbuilding at his home. My great-grandfather Strand had some training or experience in carpentry and this skill had been taught to my grandfather. As I watched my grandfather making the playpen, my youthful impatience showed itself and I wanted him to proceed faster. His answer was that the spokes must be planed and smoothed (he was in the process of doing that) before the pen could be assembled. I can also recall him sharpening some of his tools on the sandstone he had for this purpose. The sandstone was a wheel about 2" wide, mounted on a horizontal axis and it could be caused to turn by a foot-pedal arrangement, while the operator held the tool edge to be sharpened against the rotating stone. Above the stone there was a small can with a little hole in the bottom to drip on the sandstone for lubrication. The carpentry skill my grandfather had was not transmitted to my father. Though my father did use a saw and hammer on occasion his work was nowhere of the quality that my grandfather was capable of.
Foot-powered sandstone grinder
The small nook where Vincent’s playpen stood was later converted into a low cupboard and still later on the top of this waist-high cupboard was used for a two- or three-burner gas plate. When I was perhaps 8 or 10 years old, natural gas service came to Gowrie and my mother had this gas plate installed. I think this was the only gas appliance installed — the cookstove remained a unit fired by corncobs and coal, as was the furnace also. Next to the playpen or gas plate area was the chimney and beyond the chimney was the stove, completing the circuit around the room. The cookstove was black with shiny (chrome) trim; the main structure was either cast iron or sheet iron. The firebox was on the left, the burning gas circulated from the firebox across the top of the oven (next to the firebox on the right), thence around the oven and from there to the vent to the chimney. The top of the stove had removable round plates so that cooking pots could have their bottoms directly in contact with the hot gases. Above the cooking area of the stove were two compartments in which food after being cooked could be kept warm (so-called warming ovens), The floor covering in the kitchen was linoleum, I think it was wall to wall but of this I am not certain.
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very intriguing
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