As well as our Ma and Pa, there were the four of us tow-headed boys and our golden-blond sister, each with a different personality and a distinctive physical entity, in the Muma Family.

It was quite natural, I suppose, that Papa wanted and expected all of us to be farmers. Mama, on the other hand, at no time ever expressed any hopes, other than that we would each find our own niche in the general scheme of things, and be the best that we were capable of being. To this end, the first-born, Earl, was carefully nurtured and trained to one day take over and run this, his father's farm. At a very early age, he was taught how to do the many simple farm chores, such as milking cows, slopping pigs, caring for free-range poultry, managing horses, as well as helping in the fields with the many farm activities to be found there. From then on, it became less and less necessary to engage hired help. This was well because hired men were not too reliable anyway.

It was most unfortunate that the demands of the farm work forced Earl to miss school classes, to the extent of having to become a school dropout, after he had successfully passed the entrance exams. Everything would have been different and better all around, if he had been able to go on at least through High school. Things were not to be. It seems that brother Earl had his life more or less planned for him. However, he accepted his lot cheerfully and seemed to enjoy the life of a farmer's son. He studied and applied himself and soon became proficient at the many farm skills. He learned how to plough a straight furrow behind a walking-plough, pulled by Maude and Nancy, making a neat, smooth sod as well. He took part in several local ploughing matches and enjoyed competing with the other young farmers.

My brother Bob was the second-born. He did not seem to be spiritually inclined or physically built for the rigors of farm life. He was born a child of Nature, with an artistic temperament, quiet, sensitive, soft-spoken, yet strong-willed. He thoroughly enjoyed the ever-abundant life of Nature around him. He easily made friends with the plants that grow and bloom, the birds that fly and nest and chirp and sing, and all of the little creatures who crawl and run and climb. In short, Bob was born a Naturalist and an Artist. He had an abundant opportunity to know nature in all her forms and was encouraged by several neighbours and friends. Ma always gave him encouragement in his artistic expressions as well.

At a very early age, Bob surprised and delighted his public school teacher with a pencil sketch of a photograph that appeared in the local press of that famous Polish pianist, Paderewski, who was to give a recital in London, Ontario. Among his many Nature hobbies, I can list pressed plant and weed seed collections, insect collection, taxidermy, and bird watching. He had among his pen correspondents, Roger Tory Peterson, and Ernest Thompson Seton. Credit must be given to a friend and neighbour, Allie Wood, who, among other things, taught him the principles and art of taxidermy.

Although he did help with the farm work at home, the first position he held was in connection with the insect world. He applied for and received a two-year position as a lab technician at the Dominion Entomological Lab, in Belleville. He helped to develop the science of natural insect pest-control. At this time he was given the opportunity to further his artistic talents by attendance at a summer course at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. A first cousin of Ma's offered him a gift of money to take advantage of this rare opportunity.

He eventually got himself another job in the city of Toronto. Although this line of work was not just the kind of work he would choose as ideal, nevertheless it did lead to other opportunities, as well as to the Girl of His Dreams, who eventually proved to be his ideal wife. Together, he and Dorothy opened the Mumart Leathercraft studio, specializing in art leather tooling done in natural colour, as well as bookbinding and restoration. In time, they gave classes, in order to pass on their skills to others.

Bob became interested in the roots of our family and the relationship to all the other families of Muma origin, and spent years compiling the Genealogy of the MUMAS as one of his hobbies.

The second born, Walter, was a somewhat independent spirit, quiet, mild-mannered and like his father, a lover of the free, wide-open spaces. He was quick to learn, a product of both of his parents, with a bent towards mathematics. He decided to make his life's contribution to the field of accounting. For sure, he will make his mark of approval, checking someone else's bookkeeping errors. However, Walter will not be satisfied with anything apart from our relationship to our natural environment and our society.

After Bob felt he had reached the peak of perfection in his field of activity, and had spread his talents to other capable hands, they sold the business to give more of his attention to his interest in Nature Study. With the continued help of his capable, understanding wife, Dorothy, he decided to learn more about the Moss families. Here he was able to make a significant contribution to our knowledge of this much trod-upon life form. Here again, his artistic talents cooperated. With the aid of a microscope, he made many outstanding colour illustrations of otherwise almost invisible life forms.

So, brother Bob not only retired to his Grass Roots, but still farther back to the Moss Roots.