Cape Breton's Magazine

so did I, The boy went with his father, but he usually went with me. My husband worked for General Motors--Commonwealth Chevrolet on Commonwealth Avenue--for 25 years. He rose from the lowest you could' start with to be new car sales manager. (Did you continue to work?) Yes, I did. I couldn't stay home doing nothing. So I worked. I had a restaurant in downtown Bos? ton for 8 years. It was named "The Pilgrim.' I bought it from people that were running it. (You worked there....) While I was mar? ried and before I was married and after I was married. Before I was married I worked there a little while. After we were mar? ried- -see, I was home all day, and I needed--we had an apartment, Frank was working, he went to work every morning. (And you went to "The Pilgrim" restaurant.) And I didn't think it was much of anything. There were sandwiches. I told the owner, the manager, "You'll never get any further this way." "Well," he said, "what should I do?" So I told him. And he said, "Well, will you take charge and manage it for me?" I said, "Yes. You'll have to give me full sway. I'll have to do all my own hiring." See, he was hiring young, pretty, pretty girls, thinking they'd be an attraction, you know. I said, "Those girls, all they do is stand and talk to the fellows. Cus? tomers are waiting. I'm going to hire girls that I know myself." These were wom? en that raised a family, were middle-aged, and knew a lot about cooking and things, and would love work, you know, a little bit more work than their husbands were mak? ing. So I let the pretty ones go, and I hired these. And they just worked like Troj ans. So we put in different stuff. Light lunches. And sausages and mashed potatoes, and cream cakes and a pie now and then. So it went big, big, big in no time. And it was gpin' so big that he was going to en? large it. It was situated so that Jordon Marsh's (a department store) wouldn't al? low it. So he took another place, and I took over "The Pilgrim." That was it. And it was great. The girls (working in stores around), you know, some of them wouldn't get a lunch break at all. And I went to work: they'd make me so much coffee in the morning, and so many sandwiches put up, and so many fruit cakes wrapped up--and to be there at 7 o'clock. And these were taken to the stores to be given to the girls that were denied a lunch break. Everybody was so busy, you know. The truck delivered the lunches to the stores. You know, the big stores--Jordan Marsh's, Gilchrist, R. H. White--all the big stores. About 300 pieces of cake, the urn of coffee. But they paid for it, you know. (And you were running this.) I got that up. I got up at 3 o'clock in the morning and I went in to the restaurant. And I did that every weekend after I took over. I lit the urns, all set up at 7 o'clock in the morn? ing. It was before 1936, before I went to the farm. And I met a lot of people; in a restaurant you meet all kinds of people. Nice people, really nice people. (Did you continue to raise Ra3nnond?) Oh yes. But when his father got married again, they took him. But he wouldn't stay home; he ran away and came to me. They finally said, "Let him come and go." CONTINUED NEXT PAGE ty&% QUALITY SOFT DRINKS SINCE 1905 AT THE PRICE THAT REFRESHES A COMPLETE LINE OF PARTY SUPPLIES Pop Factory iRon BTZGUJ McKinlay &Sons; Ltd. 849-6644 262 BROOKSIDE GLACE BAY Bell Buoy Restaurant yM'// SEAFOOD yA "Fresh from the Shoreline" Steaks * Poultry * Sandwiches Luncheon Menu * Children's Menu Two Separate Dining Rooms * Fully Licensed Baddeck, N. 8. 295-2581 IT'S YOUR UNIVERSITY TOO! Children learn the finer points of a baseball swing ... grandmothers learn to stepdance and housewives research their family history in the Archives of the Beaton Institute. All kinds of people enjoy concerts and plays in our Playhouse or withdraw books from our library. Famous paintings are exhibited in our Art Gallery and teachers make use of the Teachers' Resource Centre. Of course you can also study for a diploma or a degree here but you don't have to have one just to take advantage of our resources. For more information on activities, programs and services offered by University College of Cape Breton, contact the Public Relations Office, 539-5300. University College of Cape Breton, P.O. Box 5300, Sydney, N.S. BIP 6L2 (902) 539-5300. EXT 146 (3)