Long, flat·sleighs, drawn by a team of horses, hauling blocks of ice from the Bay to the icehouses.
Farmer’s sleighs with fresh killed pigs, five or six to a load, all cleaned, stiff and stark, also turkey, chickens and geese, plucked and ready for cooking.
The farmer’s wife or son bundled in furs and buffalo robes, and perhaps hot bricks wrapped in bags to keep the feet warm.
Sleigh bells.
Chimes of bells on a strap around the horse. Larger bells attached to the top harness of the horse. Bells fastened on the shafts of the sleigh.
High cutters, drawn by fast stepping horses, (single) with fancy silver-plated bells attached to the harness.
Jingle Bells” really had some meaning, and when a number of sleighs were on the street, it was music that is entirely unknown today.
Horse-drawn streetcars with pea straw on the floor, to keep the feet warm. The driver on an outside platform exposed to all weathers. A whip in one hand and the reins of the horse in the other. It was a hard life for both driver and horse. When the snow was very deep, the cars were transferred to sleighs.
Loads of cordwood on sleighs going to the coal and wood yards were a common sight. At the yard the wood, sometimes would be cut and split in sizes suitable for the ordinary cook stove.
Farmers’ flat box sleighs, filled with steaming grain from the Brewery, on the return trip home. The grain was used as feed for the cattle and pigs.
Smart delivery sleighs used by the merchants, and how easy it was to “hook a ride” from the tail board of these vehicles.
People from the farm and others, wore heavy coon-skin coats, that could be purchased at one time for about eighteen dollars each. Beaver, seal skin and Persian lamb caps were worn by the men. It was the real fur and not the processed kind as worn today. Long gauntlet fur mitts were favoured by the men for driving purposes.
Many butcher shops and especially stalls in and around the market in the late fall and early winter would have deer hanging outside–sometimes eight or nine of them, and perhaps a couple of black bears as well.
One store on King Street near the market had hundreds of ducks ranging from Canvas Backs to Blue Bills hung outside, on hooks arranged in a large curve, and it made a very impressive sight.
Good living was cheap. People today cannot buy the delicacies that were common at that time.
Most store windows, and especially butcher windows were coated heavily with frost on the inside during the winter, so an iron gas pipe, perforated with small holes a out two inches apart, was placed almost next to the glass and when this was lit it provided enough heat to melt the frost, so that the meats etc. could be seen from the outside.
High loads of hay on the way to the market or livery stables was something that cannot be seen to-day.
Leslieville Historical Society 