Walking Encyclopedia!

I grew up in a small little neighbourhood on a spot of land called Cat Island...(Glenwood, Argyle take your pick) in Yarmouth County. My dad bought my mom the house on his way home from fishing one day....she was a "Town" girl, but a house of your own is what everyone wanted in the 1970's so a pump on the sink and now indoor bathroom mattered little, a home is where you raised your family, and that they did and did it well. As a part of this raising is right, my parents put an emphasis on education...wanted us to obtain more than them and for us to have all the opportunities in the world, and it started with the purchasing of "The Merit Student Encyclopedia"....and although published in 1978, it is still a fixture in the house they own now...yes, it has been moved twice...oh and some of the books even ended up in the freezer on the first move, while the food thawed on the floor...talk about dedication to education!

I was in awe of these books when I was young, remember I was only about 6 when they bought them. The neighbourhood kids (I was 6-10 yrs younger then all of them)came to use them and I so wanted to do research too, I could not wait to read them all....and over time I read most of them and used them for my own studies as well. I knew facts about things that I just didn't need to know and my dad would read the children's books to me, those in the bottom right of the picture. The cream ones you could look up medical information and there was a 2 volume dictionary too. All any aspiring kid could want. They are fixture that truly show my parents dedication, although little did they know at the time that their little red head would be the one to use them the most, would be so nosy when others came to use them, or would go on to spend 7 plus years learning in a post-secondary environment. This would have been an expensive purchase at the time, remember, these were bought before an indoor bathroom or about the same time...thank goodness for those travelling encyclopedia salesmen and thank you Mom and Dad for seeing a bright future!