There was little for me to do in the winter, no cattle to look after - I was like fish out of water so to pass time away I wrote patriotic songs but they did not get published. I wrote music for them as well, of course this was the air for them. I had a musician put the piano part for me. I had been to this man about the songs when I met with an accident.
It was partly mine own fault as well as the nasty temper of my horses. You see I used to come to town every Saturday with them, tie them up to the wagon on the vacant land near the market and would stay late feeding my horses there but this day was Monday, I had feed with me for the horses but I had got through my business just before six that evening. I said to my wife she being with me at the time, "I think we might as well go home and feed at home we had nothing more to do. "All right" she says. I hitched the horses up and started.
Just as we was coming from off the market both horses showed temper at not having been fed, it was now being their feeding time and they knew it. Well one of them gave a kick at the wagon, put one leg over the tongue and then away they went. I could not turn them quick enough without upsetting the wagon when my off front wheel struck the side walk which is very high above the level of the street and I was sent flying a good few yards letting upon my back, breaking four ribs, my wife falling the bottom of the wagon box.
I remained conscious long enough to see which way my horse went, lucky for my wife they made back on the market again and was stopped there. The ambulance came took me to St. Paul's Hospital, this was 6th day of May 1916.
Seeding time again and me in the hospital knocked out again. You may ask me how I felt this time. Well I will admit that I felt very blue until the next day they brought a Chinaman in the next bed to me screaming and crying with agony. Although I could not move an inch without the assistance of two nurses I thought Johnny was worse than me so I cheered up and thanked God that I had my limbs and while some of the nurses were very pleasant, others would be a little cross looking, enough to make one feel worse sick than they really was.
As I watched each nurse go about their duties I wrote the verse below which might apply to everyone as well as a nurse.
If I was a nurse I know about I would do
I would try to have a pleasant little smile,
I would smile and smile a simple smile
and try to get my patients to smile too.
A cheery work a little smile a little grace a Battle crown
A sick heart's healed, spirits raised with a little smile
So nurses smile your little smiles and I will smile too.
"R. Battersby"
So you see I could still smile at the storm. I was not a dead man yet. Well I could do no work for three months., I gave up the garden, let the land go back to the original owner as many others had to do. Again I was up against it. What must I do now for a living. I was in town, I saw an advertisement in a store window, a light dray for sale. I thought this over well, I try the dray business. I bought the dray, this was August.
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