What I am most thankful for is that the fire didn’t hurt my Pikogan friends in the woods. They have lost so much already.
September–December 1915
Thursday, September 2, 1915
Dear Diary, it has been hard finding the time to write because we have been cleaning up after the fire. All of our blankets and clothing are smoke damaged and my hands are raw from washing them. A new bunkhouse is partly built, but in the meantime the men from that building are sleeping in the main camp and the women and children are scattered throughout the rest of our bunkhouses.
Saturday, September 4, 1915
Still cleaning up from the fire. Hands too sore to write more.
Wednesday, September 15, 1915
Dear Diary, do you remember Private Palmer and his camera? He came by today with some more photographs. One of them was of Lyalya before she got sick. He gave that one to Natalka so that she could remember her sister in better times. That was a very thoughtful thing for him to do. He is the nicest soldier here.
Thursday, September 23, 1915, after supper
We were given more newspapers for the outhouses and of course we saved the parts that were still readable before tearing them into strips. The news is bad yet again. I thought the war was no longer in Galicia, and it wasn’t, but now the Russians have pushed the Austrians back there and the war is raging right in Galicia again. I am sick with worry. How can anyone at home still be alive?
Tuesday, September 28, 1915, at dawn
Dear Diary, it has gone below freezing three nights in a row. At least the blackflies are gone. Mary and I need to think of something different to do with the children because we have run out of things to teach them. I think we should just let them run and play. After all, the weather is mild right now but it won’t be for long. If we had a ball and sticks, we could play street hockey.
Later
Mary thinks we should show the older children how to mend and knit. This isn’t a bad idea. They don’t have to do it for very long. Maybe an hour a day.
Monday, October 4, 1915
It never seems to rain just a little bit at Spirit Lake. It is dry forever and then it comes down in buckets. Everything is muddy and the children cannot play outside.
Tuesday, October 5, 1915
Dear Diary, my smart brother has made up a card game with his own handmade set of cards. You place all of the cards on the table, number down, and then each person gets to pick up two cards. If they add up to eight or less, you get to keep them. If it is more, then you have to put them down in the exact same place. Each person around the table keeps on getting a turn until all of the cards are gone. It is quite fun! What is even better is that some of the children who were bored with arithmetic are enjoying it and I think they are learning their numbers better.
Wednesday, October 13, 1915
When Tato came back from the woods today he looked very angry. He said that some of the men in his unit are refusing to work because they are just too tired. The soldiers put them into solitary confinement. Tato said that the rest of them had to cut down more trees to make up for the fact that there were fewer of them working. That doesn’t seem fair!
Thursday, October 21, 1915, at lunch
In the newspapers it sounds like the “enemy” is doing better than the Allies, but the fighting is in the Balkans, not Galicia. This is still not good news, but it is better than the worst news. Why can’t the war just end? How does a war end anyway?
Monday, October 25, 1915
I finally got another letter from Irena. I have been so worried about her. I can’t read the whole thing because there are black lines through some of it, but from what I could read, it sounds like her neighbour is still in an internment camp. At least her own father has not been arrested. The government has given their neighbour’s farm to a Canadian family because they said Mr. Feschuk had abandoned it.
Oy, Dear Diary, I am glad that Irena’s family is all together and that her father has not been arrested, but I do feel sorry for her neighbour! How can the government say he abandoned his farm when they have taken him away? It does not seem fair.
Sunday, November 7, 1915
Dear Diary, when we got the newspapers today, everyone gathered into one bunkhouse so we could read the articles together and talk about them. The war is still going strong, but there is no more mention of Galicia so I am hoping that is a good sign. Something that got me angry was a story about how Canada is getting lots of orders for ammunition. In fact, Canadian business will be selling nearly half a BILLION dollars worth of ammunition to Britain!!!!! It scares me to think of how many people will be killed with all of this ammunition.
Thursday, November 11, 1915
Mama got a letter from Mrs. Haggarty! Mama says I can paste it into my diary. Here it is:
23 Victoria Avenue,
Montreal, Quebec
November 2, 1915
Dear Mrs. Soloniuk,
I have been in discussion with the mayor and have expressed to him my displeasure with the circumstances of you and your family’s internment. He says that the matter is federal, not municipal, and is thus out of his hands. He did, however, make note of my complaint.
Please know that I have written the authorities on your behalf. I think it is scandalous what the government has done, not just to you and your family, but to all of those unfortunates of your race.
When you are finally released from prison, please let me know. I shall hire you back in an instant.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Albert Haggarty
Dear Diary, Mrs. Haggarty uses such big words that I hardly know what she is saying. Mary explained that she is contacting important people to see if she can get us out of here! I could understand the last part about Mama’s job. That is good news too. I think it is interesting that there were no black lines through Mrs. Haggarty’s letter. That’s probably because those censor people didn’t understand the big words either.
Saturday, November 20, 1915
We got a newspaper dated just a week ago and the Russians have taken whole armies of prisoners. It also says that the “enemy” wants the war to end but the Allies will keep on fighting so that they are the ones to win. If the Austrians don’t want to fight anymore, doesn’t that mean the Allies have already won?
Sunday, November 28, 1915
Dear Diary, I am very lonely and sad. It is cold and the wind whips through our bunkhouse walls. Even all my blankets are not enough to keep me warm.
I wish I knew where my Pikogan ladies went to. Did the government arrest them too?
I am thankful that our family is all here together. At least I know that we are all safe. It is also nice to have Mary close by. I think we are a good team, looking after the children together. I wish Stefan did not have to work so much. I hardly see him except for Sundays. I find that I like him much better than I used to.