Monday December 31st

When two weeks ago I discovered that I had only three pages left in this book I decided to wait till now and make a summary of the principal events of the old year's last couple of weeks instead of making three line entries for each day. About a month ago I started to condense my entries to an average of half a page a day and if there had been as I counted on three hundred pages, I would have been alright but it was not till I got this near the end that I found it fell short. Frank and I have had the chores to do ever since I wrote last as Dad's finger is still very sore. For four nights it was so painful that he couldn't sleep a wink and on the 19th he went down to Dr. Cook who was out of town so he went over to the old Dr. Toole who has just come to town and he diagnosed it as a felon and lanced it. Since then he has not suffered such awful pain with it, but it has been very sore and has been discharging a little every day till yesterday. My arm is aparently alright again and except for a toothache which I had for a couple of days before Christmas the rest of us have been able to work & in fine shape. All our snow and good sleighing went off with a thaw we had about the 20th but it froze up right away again and the last week it has been very cold one night going down to 14° below zero. Before the sleighing went Frank and I got around on our two routes canvassing for the Short Course. I went down the third concession from our side road to the town line and back on the fourth and Frank had up the Gravel and Radical roads part way and in to the farms on the lake front. The day I we went on my beat it was a beautiful sunny day and the sleighing fine, we did up the morning chores before we left, stayed at Bruce's to dinner and got back in time to do the night chores. Dad. let the colts out and put the cows in at noon.We got one or two to promise they would come but the majority of them were too busy but said they would like to come in when they could. We went on Frank's beat the next fore noon and met with about the same success. That afternoon I drove Dad. Enah Aunty & the baby out to Mrs. Jim. Waddle's reception, in the bobsleighs. It was not such a nice day and the sleighing was going fast. Christmas day we all went down to church in the morning which was not the usual Christmas service The church was undecorated and the choir & congregation were small. Harry Moon seems to have dropped out