Book Senneville, "je me souviens", 1895-2020
chapter: Madame Skinner, Née Loulou Forget
This is an excerpt from the book Senneville, "je me souviens", 1895-2020. Pages 26, 27 and 28. The book is available at the town hall in Senneville. The interview with Loulou Skinner was done in the 1970s.
Madame Skinner, née Loulou Forget, fille de Sénateur Forget, est née en 1877. Elle est l'ainée de tous les citoyens de Senneville.
Mrs. Skinner, née Loulou Forget, was born in 1877. Her father was Senator Forget. She is Senneville's oldest citizen.
Could you tell me about when you were a little girl and you first came out to Senneville with your father?
- Oh! I thought we were going to the end of the world! We were living out here at Ste. Anne, you know. So, we had our own horses and our own cab. Our own carriages and that sort of thing.
And what was the road like?
- Up and down. Just up and down that way. Rough roads, rough roads.
Do you remember when your father built the chapel?
- I couldn't tell you the real date. But I know that it has been built for quite a little while. And it has been a godsend.
Did you have mass there every Sunday?
- Every Sunday we had mass and all the people belonging to us came to church. The coachman used to drive to Montreal to get the priest and bring him out here. Give him breakfast and have a little talk and smoke his cigar after breakfast. And then, when it was time for them to go, the coachman took them back again.
What did you used to do in the summer out here, when you were a little girl?
- Well, that is pretty hard to say, because I have passed the age of being a little girl!
Did you used to go down to the farm?
- Oh! Yes. I used to go down to the farm and watch them. I loved that. I loved seeing the animals and I loved seeing all that belonged to the farm.
And then, when you grew older, you had parties out here, didn't you?
- Oh! We had parties, of course. We had week-end parties always. Not during the winter. The house was closed.
How about Christmas time?
- At Christmas time it was open. And we spent Christmas out there. And we had a good time. We used to fool around in the snow and that sort of thing. We made snow-men. We built the men and the men built the women! We didn't ski at all. We used to toboggan.
Show-shoe?
- Snow-shoe. We used to do that quite a lot. Well, we used to go around the place here. I don't know, I couldn't tell you which way we went particularly. But we used to go around the place. Just a good time. We just had a good time.
And in summer, did you used to play tennis?
- Oh! Yes. We used to play tennis. Oh! My goodness, I should think so. And the Cloustons were great friends of ours. They were very nice and we were very fond of them. They stayed out here and had good times and they had lovely parties, which we enjoyed very much.
It amused us very much when Lady Clouston wanted to play tennis, because she insisted on playing with her high heels! And it didn't matter at all to her whether it was hurting the tennis court or not! It was lots of fun, and she loved it. She simply loved it and she won!
Un peu après le lunch, nous allions nous baigner. Pour le temps qu'il fallait. Pour deux, trois heures.
Et puis, mes sœurs nageaient très bien, beaucoup mieux que moi. Elles nageaient très bien et puis elles adoraient ça. Ma mère était très particulière pour nous faire rentrer. Pas rester trop longtemps dans l'eau. Il ne fallait pas ça.
Et alors, votre père s'en allait au travail tous les jours?
- Il partait toujours tous les jours. Il partait avec sa voiture. Il prenait le train tous les jours et revenait le soir. L'après-midi. Vers quatre heures. Le cocher allait le chercher à la gare.
Et pendant ce temps, que faisait votre mère?
- Elle raccommodait bien souvent. Elle faisait de l'ouvrage pour les pauvres. Elle faisait un tas d'affaires comme ça. Vous savez, elle s'amusait comme ça. Elle voyait à la maison naturellement beaucoup. Alors, nous nous amusions du mieux que nous pouvions. Oh! Une belle vie, je crois bien! La vie de Senneville me restera toujours!
Pensez-vous que Senneville a beaucoup changé?
- Ça a beaucoup changé comme ceci : ça a développé beaucoup. Mais pour changer - non- je ne trouve pas que ça a changé. Les Cloustons. Ça c'était ma famille favorite. Et puis qui encore? La famille Angus. Oh! Mon Dieu, oui. Parce que Peggy était une de mes bonnes amies.
Elle était, je crois, Madame Martin plus tard?
- Madame Martin, oui. Et il y avait Elsie, Madame Meredith. Et puis il y avait Madame Robbie Patterson. Et puis il y avait qui donc encore? Je ne me rappelle pas, pour le moment.
Vous vous amusiez avec elles?
- Plus ou moins, n'est-ce pas.
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