Photo: Colleen and her father Sydney Large. On the left, her brother Harley, a dentist in Yorkton for many years, starting in the 1950s.
It was about 1936 when I was six years old. Our family lived in rural Springside and it was the dirty thirties during the drought. My dad was unhappy as it never rained and it was ruining his crops. Even at that young age I understood the importance of rain! My dad would be out working in the fields with his tractor and I waited at home for him. He was protective of me. He would hold me on his lap to protect me when my mother was mad at me. I remember that. I went out sometimes when I thought it was time for him to come home. And I knew he might have something for me to eat. He usually kept a couple things in his pocket for me. One day I went out to wait for him sitting on the road on the prairie. It was fine-grained dirt, black or grayish, in colour. I let it fall through my hands. I started putting it on my skin. Gradually I covered my arms and face with this fine dirt. My father didn’t come for a while. I guess he was still working, trying his best. I knew he was quite sad about it because there was no rain. I was just a little kid but I knew that he was sad that his family was suffering for the lack of rain. Soon, I heard the sound of his tractor, and I knew he was coming home. Plug-plug-plug-plug-plug-plug. He picked me up and shook some of the dirt off me, and took me in the house, where my mother was waiting for him, too. Later on, I could hear the raindrops falling in the night on the roof in my room on the second floor. It was amazing how heavily it was raining. It was flooding everything, a real prairie storm during the night! A prairie storm has lots of noise, too, and it was crashing and banging with thunder and lightning and that was what my Dad had so wanted! I went and looked out the window at the rain and I saw my Dad out there, walking around in the rain, just letting it wet his body. It hadn’t rained all summer, and we didn’t have the weather channel to tell us when it would rain again. My Dad just walked around out there, soaking in the rain. He walked toward the house and he started dancing around. I could hardly believe my eyes. I remember being a little embarrassed at first, to see my Dad doing something so unusual, so impossible. Holy Nellie! I could not even look. It was my Dad, acting crazy. He came in the house dripping wet, soaked, but he was happy, he was thrilled. Mother and Dad were laughing and kissing about it. I think they even got the hired man up and brought him into it. It gives you a thrill to see your mother and dad happy.
Article written by Colleen Large of Sydney, B.C.
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives,
Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
heritage@yorkton.ca
