Five Pennies: A Prairie Boy's Story

David W. Leonard is the project historian (Northern Alberta) in the
Historic Sites and Archives Service, Alberta Community Development. He
is the author of Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909 and
co-author of The Lure of the Peace River Coun

Life on the homestead in central Alberta during the early part of the
20th century is the focus of this collection of short stories (two to
four pages each) by Irene Morck.

Descended from the Danish settlers who homesteaded in the
Dickson–Spruce View district southwest of Red Deer, Alberta, Morck
takes as her theme aspects of everyday life encountered by the children
of the pioneers. She draws on tales told to her by her father about his
encounters as a child, all of which reminds us that storytelling was
very much a form of entertainment and information dissemination on the
prairies prior to the age of radio and television.

The stories, set in chronological order between 1915 and 1939, are
presented in the form of recollection and dialogue, and deal with mainly
humorous circumstances on the homestead and in the small hamlets and
villages of the district. They reflect the perspective of Archie Morck,
who would go on to become a Lutheran minister and, with his wife,
Marion, raise a family of seven children.

As the author/editor of this work, his daughter Irene is amply
qualified, having published several works of fiction and outdoor life
earlier and herself residing on a farm amid the setting of these tales.