Signs of Spring – Peggy Feltmate

Antique Stencils and a Clay Pipe

As the long Easter weekend rolls around, I’ve been thinking about bunnies and chicks, and I remembered my set of old stencils.

They belonged to my Aunt Marion [Feltmate] Pike, who was born in 1917 in Whitehead, N.S. She had these stencils when she was little.

Marion was one of those favorite aunts who always understood what it was like to be a little kid. She had the best scrapbooks with funny pictures and old stories that she had clipped when she was young. She knew the importance of Cinnamon Bear who went with you everywhere, and she was always interested in the stones and seashells that you found on the beach and would happily help you sort them and re-sort them on the porch steps. Here are some photos of my Aunt Marion as she was growing up in Whitehead. I particularly love the 1932 photo with guitar. Marion is on the right and there is a cow wandering behind them and lobster traps piled along the shore of Doliver’s Cove, Lr. Whitehead.

On one visit when I was young, during a particularly rainy week, she brought out some paper and pencils and a small envelope. It was just a regular envelope, unmarked, and inside were these stencils. They are made of thin smooth cardstock of some kind, but fairly sturdy. After all, they survived her childhood AND mine! It seems to be treated in some way so that paint does not soak into them. They are 14 cm x 11 cm each. The only marking on them is the word “Front” embossed into an upper corner so that you know how to place them. And after we had played with them, she told me I could keep them.

I don’t know who gave them to her, but she told me she had always liked playing with them when she was a little girl. In the “children” stencil the little boy is blowing bubbles with a bubble pipe. Their clothing and the bubble pipe suggest a date from the early 1900s. The pipe would likely be made of clay at that time. I will tell you more about that in a minute. I do know that Whitehead residents often ordered goods from the Eaton’s Catalogue, but my reproduction of one of the earliest volumes does not have anything like these stencils among the toys. And I haven’t found anything like them online, either. Most likely the stencils were a gift from Marion’s elder cousin Essie who had moved to Lynn, Massachusetts on the north edge of Boston around 1910. Cousin Essie was fun-loving herself. Here is a photo of her with her friend Mamie Pellerin, taken in a Boston studio. Written on the bottom, it says “Come on up”.

And speaking of clay bubble pipes, here is one that was given to me by an elderly neighbour in Ontario in the 1990s. She had discovered that I like “old things”. She had used this for bubble-blowing when she was little. If you look closely, you will see “Germany” stamped on the stem. There is an image of an airplane embossed on the bowl.

Whether you are celebrating Easter or Passover or Holi or Nowruz, flowers, baby chicks, small rabbits and outdoor playtime are universal signs of Spring. Enjoy your holiday!