Town and country homes
Hi, my name is Nicolas. I just moved into an apartment in Montreal with my family. My father got a job at the factory.
An apartment in the city
Our new apartment in the city is so modern that it even has electricity! In the kitchen you don’t need to need to pump to draw water from the well; you just turn on the tap! The kitchen is where people eat meals and spend their evenings. The wood stove is not only used for cooking, but also for heating the house.
But there doesn’t seem to be enough room here. The houses are very close together on our street and each one has several families. There’s a lot less privacy. You can even hear people talking through the walls. I still don’t know what I like more: living in town or in countryside. But I really hope we’ll get a telephone one day! One thing I do know is that everything is dirtier here and everyone seems to be in such a hurry all the time.
See French Video: Le Quebec vers 1905 La ville et la campagne at
http://primaire.recitus.qc.ca/sujets/10/vie-quotidienne/3779
A house in the countryside
We used to live in the country in a very different kind of house; only our family lived in it. Our house in the country was made of wood and was built on a foundation to protect it from the cold. There was also a second floor where we slept. My mother loved her garden and the big porch where she used to sit and knit. Through the windows we could see our neighbour’s house off in the distance. In the morning we went to the barn to milk the cows and feed the chickens. We had lots of space and spent our evenings by candlelight.
Yes indeed, in 1905, houses are very different depending on whether you live in town or in the countryside!
Author: Service national du Récit de l’univers social