How long has it been since we've seen a garter snake, writer Evelyn Sangster Benson asks in her recently published book on days past in New Westminster.
In a story called Encroaching Urbanization - about how the development of the city has diminished once-plentiful bushlands and wildlife in the city - Benson recalls an amusing story about the slippery species.
"These harmless snakes were so plentiful in the 1940s that Buddy Greenall from Fifth Street collected a whole bagful of the slithery creatures and let them loose in the hallway at Spencer school one warm spring day," Benson writes. "You never heard such screaming."
Benson's book, A Century in a Small Town: One Family's Stories, chronicles her pioneer brood's story of life in the Royal City from 1895 to 1993. At the centre of the work - a collection of tales that were shared orally through the generations - is the city that Benson has called home her entire life.
"I'm 80 years old, so I've lived a long time," Benson laughs, explaining why she finally wrote down the stories she's told for years. "I grew up in a family that talked. You know, some people don't talk. We talked a lot."
Benson worked as a substitute teacher at New Westminster Secondary School for 27 years, and she often had classes where the teacher had neglected to leave anything for her to do with the students.
"So I would often talk to the kids. They're teenagers, and you've got to keep them busy for 45 minutes, so I'd just start talking, and I'd say to them, 'Well, how do you like going to a school that's right on top of a graveyard?' Well, the eyes opened up ... and I got their attention," she recalls, chuckling.
The old cemetery is covered in the book under the piece titled, Little Devils in the Graveyard. Benson writes about how her father, Lewie Sangster (who grew up to be mayor of the city) and her uncle George Sangster, used to tell young Evelyn about the "Chinese cemetery."
"Kids in those days made their own fun, and most parents were blissfully unaware of what their children were up to. When word went out on the kids' grapevine that a Chinese funeral was imminent, young boys from all over town headed to Chinatown at the foot of Royal Avenue to enjoy the spectacle and follow the procession," she writes.
There would be a colourful funeral procession with musicians leading the way up the hill "amid exploding strings of firecrackers intended to frighten away evil spirits."
"Once the burial ceremony was over, the mounded grave was heaped with cherished possessions of the deceased and a 'feast' to appease the spirits - bowls of rice and vegetables, and sometimes even a small roasted pig," Benson writes, adding that her dad and his friends would hide out at a safe distance until the mourners departed and then gather at the graveside to devour the feast, hence the "little devils" title.
"I'm sure my grandfather, Alexander Sangster, a deacon at the Baptist Church, would have taken a dim view of such disrespect for the dead and marched the boys to the woodshed, if he had known," she writes.
There are countless accounts of life through the years of the Sangster/Appleton/Benson clans. One funny anecdote is the story of a time when young Lewie, his brothers and pals bumped into infamous train robber Billy Miner in 1907. The boys were skinny-dipping in a creek near the old penitentiary ravine. Two men came climbing down the hill from the penitentiary, Benson says. The boys realized it was Billy Miner because every kid in town had seen him arrive by train in the city.
"They all went down to the train station to see the great Billy Miner in handcuffs, you know. And he said to the boys, 'Now boys, you haven't seen me, have you? And they said, 'No, sir,' (she mimics their nervous tone) and off he went with (Albert) McCluskey," Benson tells The Record. "And a little while later the gong started going at the penitentiary, and the boys said, 'Oh my God, it's a jail break, and they knew right away.' And they got into their clothes and they ran like heck and went home so that nobody would question them."
Benson, whose husband, Don Benson, is New Westminster's poet laureate emeritus, calls the stories "snapshots into real life over a period of 100 years." The book will appeal to local residents who want to know about the city's rich history, those who generally love to marvel and/or reminisce about days past and to those who love a funny tale.
For Benson, the tradition of oral storytelling for previous generations is precious, and it's something she fears is being lost.
"Our families are so fractured nowadays. So many families they are lucky if they've got two parents, and most either don't have any grandparents or their grandparents are living in Miami or Fort Saint John or something, and they don't get to see them. They don't get to hear the old stories, you see."
There is a book launch for Benson's work on Saturday, Nov. 30 from 2 to 4 p.m. at New Westminster Public Library Auditorium, 716 Sixth Ave.
