MOISE (SMOKEY) ALAIN

I was born in Delmas, Saskatchewan, on January 28, 1908, the eldest child of the Henri and Alma Alain family. Shortly after my birth we moved to Ruddell, Sask., where we lived with Uncle Alphonse and Aunt Josephine. He was Dad's brother who was married to Mother's sister.

Our home was a small sod shack which had a dirt floor and a couple of curtains which were used for partitions.

Dad and Uncle Alphonse freighted between Battleford and Saskatoon for a few years after which they worked on the grade for the bridge at Battleford before returning to Delmas where Dad built a much bigger house.

Our new home was indeed a much bigger house - in fact, it was a very large house - six bedrooms upstairs and one large one downstairs which was Mother and Dad's. The living room must have been twenty feet by twenty feet and off of it was a parlor which had two big glass doors. On the same floor was another room that was supposed to be an office but all it ever contained was an old rough desk, some flour, harness and junk like that. The kitchen was big but not too large. All of the neighbors had suggested they not build a big kitchen but Dad should not have listened to them as we really lived in our kitchen. We used to do our homework and play cards in there all the time. The parlor was only used when the boys came calling on the girls.

Dad had a half section of land which meant lots of work for all of us. Dad and Uncle Alphonse worked together for a while as they got along very well together. In fact, one never heard a word while they worked. Uncle Alphonse was a hard worker and Dad once said of his brother that Alphonse did twenty loads of hay by himself in one day. One would think he was a big man but he wasn't -- mind you, he was a jolly, easy-going guy. Everyone got along with him. Aunt Josephine could play the accordian to beat the band. I believe she was the only one of the L'Heureux children to play a musical instrument.

I went to school in Delmas where I started at the age of seven and, for a while, did not do well so Mother and Dad sent me to the French College in Gravelbourg for two years. After that things got much easier for me. I won a medal in French during my last year. I know I could have done much better if I had applied myself. It cost $28.00 a month to attend the college - this included everything. My brother, Louis, came to Gravelbourg during my last year. He found school difficult - mind you, it seemed he had his mind on other things as he was always in trouble!

My name is really Moise, named after my maternal grandfather, but I have been known as Smokey most of my life. Uncle Archie (Mother's brother) and I would play tennis and, when I missed the ball, Uncle Archie would teasingly say, "Missed again, eh Moise?" I'd get mad and call him all kinds of names. Later when Archie was at home, he would relate to the whole L'Heureux family how he had really gotten Moise that day: "I really got him smoking today" and, from then on, they called me "Smokey". Tennis is one sport I've enjoyed and, later on, I got to play fairly well.

I used to spend my summer holidays at Granddad L'Heureux's place at least for four or five years. One day Granddad was on his way to Battleford and he asked Louis and me what we'd like from town - a sleigh or candies? Louis said, "I want candies" and so I was left with the sleigh - which lasted a lot longer than Louis' candies!

Granddad L'Heureux liked candies and always had some on hand. Usually they were hid

in a big desk. Now, he did not hand them out easily. One had to perform first! He used to make us kids dance, jig or sing before we received our treats. My first cousins, Henry L'Heureux and Hervé Nolin, both remember this, too.

I just loved the horses and Granddad had lots of them! I was about twelve years old when Granddad gave me my last horse. Louis was staying at Uncle Alphonse's place one summer and Alphonse was going someplace so he dropped Louis off at Granddad's place where I was. Uncle Toni, Uncle Pete and I each had a saddle horse and, as there were only three horses, it meant one of us didn't get a horse. Pretty soon a fight started when one of the uncles would open the corral gate and I would close it. Then someone else would open the gate and close it while the other one would try to get a horse - my horse. This went on for some time and I was getting madder as I didn't want them to take my horse. Things settled down for awhile. Then Uncle Wilfrid and Uncle Pete got into a helluva drunk and they were coming over the hill, whooping and hollering. Granddad grabbed the old piss pot from upstairs and, when they got closer, he let them have it! Aunt Rose started to blame Louis and me for all the trouble so Louis yelled back at them, "Mange la...." and took off as fast as he could run!

Uncle Toni was five to six years older than I was and Uncle Wilfrid about eight older. They both had a bedroom upstairs and would offer me bribes to sleep with them. One offered me five dollars while the other offered me all of his pictures.

When my brothers, Louis and Rolland, and I got to the age of possibly settling down, Dad decided to go look for land. Someone had told him there was land up north so away Dad went to investigate. When he came back, he drove us to the land titles office in Prince Albert to take out our claims. Dad, Louis and I all got a half section for ten dollars with the only requirement that we make improvements by clearing the land and possibly build on it. In the fall of 1928, with all of our belongings including machinery loaded into boxcars, we made off for our new home at Veillardville. Dad settled across from White Poplar School and began clearing the land. Shortly afterwards, he operated a sawmill south of Veillardville.

The Cockwill family homesteaded north of Veillardville - right at the fireguard. They had a lovely daughter, Verna, who I wanted to take out but was too shy to ask! Anyhow, Rolland beat me to it. He took Verna to a dance at the school but Rolland couldn't dance. All he could do was square dance so I ended up with Verna! Later, she worked for me in my store and, in the fall of 1933, we were married in Flin Flon, Manitoba. Following our wedding, we boarded the train for Hudson Bay and arrived at 4:30 A.M. Verna and I had to walk out to Veillardville as the train didn't go any further at that time of night. A few nights later a number of our neighbors woke us up and shivareed us!

We lived in a small house north of the hall for approximately ten years. During this time our first child, Dawn, was born. I remember the night Verna and the baby arrived home from the Tisdale Hospital. It was a cold January mail

night and I was busy in the store filling grocery orders when the train pulled in. A good neighbor, George Laplante, helped Verna off the train. Years later we moved the house across the road, added on and renovated it. But I'll always remember our first house, as I had built it for $125.00 hard cash. I made the bricks for the chimney - in fact, they were too thin and when they dried they shrank quite a bit. I made doors and windows all out of rough lumber. The break-fast nook in our home was made out of rough lumber and sanded down.

Our family consisted of two daughters: Dawn, who was born in Tisdale January 25, 1936, and Lynn, born in Hudson Bay June 3, 1944. Both girls attended White Poplar School, mar-ried, have families and today reside in Birch Hills, Sask.

While we were farming, we had ten to twelve head of cattle and milked a cow or two. There was more work when we had cattle and slowly we got rid of them. We operated our store for thirty years and have many fond memories of hours spent visiting with those who came for groceries. I retired in 1963, then I went to work for McMillan Bloedel for four years, Macleods for five years and then to the Plywood Factory for three months. I took an active role in the affairs of the community: secretary of White Poplar School Board, treasurer of Veillardville Commu-nity Hall and was on the Board of the Hudson Bay Union Hospital.

Life in Veillardville was most interesting - the people made it that way. When times were hard, everyone pulled together and helped each other. I remember when Ed Block's dad died, I was asked by Ed to arrange for having the coffin made. Gus Vanderbilt built the coffin, Mrs. Rachel Strasser upholstered it on the inside and outside, while Bill Cockwill made the necessary handles.

Verna and I are enjoying our retirement. We lived in our home by the tracks until the fall of 1985, when we sold our farm and moved into Hudson Bay where we presently live in our new home on Churchill Street. We still enjoy garden-ing, picking berries, playing cards and reading.