Cape Breton's Magazine

My mother was a very, very strong person. She was only a little bit taller than me. But she was as strong as any man you ever saw. And she taught us to do the same thing. And she was very capable. She lived to be 102 and 6 months. Farming, plowing, cutting wood--the whole responsibility was right there. She could lift a barrel as easy as I could lift a bucket of water-- 198 pounds. (Flour got where?) Grand Etang. There was a good rough road. They had mills. There were three sawmills right on the Big Intervale. They carried all their boards--lumber--over to Cheticamp, and that was shipped off by boat. I walked over to Grand Etang when I was 10 years old. That's where all the stores were--the Jersey stores. And we didn't think too much of it. It was great going; we'd call in at all the places. And we were friendly with all the French, because they had no lumber for their boats, sail? boats --and we had the lumber. We bartered, you know--they'd give us fish. Everybody was great givers in those times. Nobody went without anything if anybody else had anything. They shared everything. And helped. (With your father away so much, your moth? er must have done a lot of the work.) Yes. And the children.. There was just a cleared piece of land. And he cleared all the rest himself. My father and my mother. The first potatoes we had were planted where the trees were cut. They planted potatoes all around the trees. We had to enlarge the farm. Oh my father, you know--"There's lots of land there," you know, "make anoth- er field of hay, and have another cow." Things like that. Saw the tree off. We all learned to use (the crosscut saw). I was the best one. My father'd rather have me on the other end of the saw than any of them. I wasn't heavy on it. They'd cut the trees off. And he would bore holes in the stumps, and he'd fill it full of kerosene. Watch it carefully. He'd only do 2 or 3, that he could watch. That would bum out the roots. And made that charcoal. Then the next spring they'd plant potatoes there. Around that. And all the goodness of the soil, and the charcoal from the burning of the wood. And they'd be good potatoes. Then the next year, the roots are all pulled out, and it'd have to be plowed first and then harrowed. Then they planted, I believe, potatoes, and then the next year it'd be oats, and the next year it'd be timothy. And then he'd start another piece of land. My father made all our shoes, and that's how I learned the trade, was I was with my father, and he was my buddy. Mary had Wil? lie, Rachel had John, and Maggie was a ba? by. He made our lasts out of hardwood. We had to kill the calves, newborn calves. My father would take us to the woods. We had to get bark off the trees, and we had to shave it right small and soak it in water. Soak the calfskin in that, and that would take the hair out of it. Then they tacked it on a building, you know, stretched it, and it made beautiful pink leather. Well, that's the part that went in the shoes--he made shoes for us from that. He could buy copper things to go around the toes here, so you wouldn't scuff them in the stones and that. Of course, as we grew older, EXCELLENT DINING <> INDOOR OR PATIO r b o o o D 6 ft ri BBBBBBB'BBBBBBBBB D.J. 6 Nights a Week * Live Matinee Every Saturday * No Cover Charge * Imported European Drafts 458 CHARLOTTE STREET, DOWNTOWN SYDNEY Turnstone Pottery WHEELTHROWN Functional Stoneware & Custom Dinnerware ARICHAT, ISLE MADAME {226-3004} 53gi>?S??5 We made our name in hardware. dtetle building centre I Your Friendly Pittsburgh Paint Dealer Prefinish Paneling * Margaree & Lockwood Windows Brick & Wood Stoves * Shingles * Cement Blocks Patio Stones * Well Crocks * Culvert Pipe Lumber * Plywood * Mouldings LEVmiBLANC LTD. MARGAREE, NOVA SCOTIA OFFICE: 235-2022 The Violin Shop ' Johannes Sturm VioUnmaker/repairer Quality repairs to String instruments Custom work Bow rehairing New and used instruments Strings accessories For information or appointment, call (902)345-2883 R.R. 1, GRAND ANSE, RICHMOND CO., N.S. BOE IVO Railings Fire Escapes Room Dividers Spiral Staircases Wrought Iron Furniture 564-2075 Sydport Industrial Park The Iron Shop Ltd. (59)