Cape Breton's Magazine

And they put it on between pieces of cot? ton. And they put it all over me, so I wouldn't get lockjaw. By the time the doctor got there--he had to drive in a wagon from Baddeck to Birch Plain. And he had powder, brown powder, that they put on. And I would just jump off the bed with the pain, when he put it on. So after he left, they had to show me their pockets, they had to show me everything that they were wearing, to see that they didn't have any of that powder. I don't know where they kept it yet, but I can still remember it. I wouldn't let them put the powder on me, if I knew they had it. But they got it on me somehow, 'cause that's what saved me. (You don't think your grandmother's cure saved you?) It might have saved the lockjaw, but it wouldn't heal the burn, I don't imagine. (It's an unusual medication, isn't it? Some people think of that as dirty.) Yes. (But your grandmother didn't. She saw that as pure.) Healing, yes. (Did she do other kinds of healing?) No. My Grandmother Urquhart did. She's the one that brought all the babies into the world --350 babies was it? And she never lost a case. Mary Urquhart--she never got paid for any of them, you know. She just went from house to house. She'd go from house to house. And there was one time she was at the 2 houses (at once). She was there for 3 days, back and forth. She stuck around for the third day. She'd go there every day to see that they were all right. (What would you call her in those days? Midwife?) That's it. Perhaps they didn't have a name for them then. She was the only one there that gave birth. And you know, when she'd give it--a breech birth--she used to sit them on two chairs. The pa? tient. Half on one chair and half on the other chair, and the baby would come down. (She would receive the baby underneath?) Right. (Do you have any idea how she got this role? How, out of the community, she became the midwife?) Well, in those days there were no doctors. And if somebody had to go out and deliver a baby, they did. I don't know, unless she read it in a book, or what to do. (But 350!) But she was gifted. She cured rickets--the jawbones here, they drop down in children. There was a boy in Boularderie--(the moth? er) was another cousin of mine--her son was walking, and then couldn't walk. He was 2 years old when they brought him to my grandmother. They were staying at my moth? er's house, because my mother was related to them. And she used to go in every morn? ing and every evening to my grandmother, across the way, with the boy. And (my grandmother would) lift him up, back of the teeth there, with her two thumbs. (Her thumbs in his mouth?) Yes. I think 3 or 4 times she'd lift him up. And she had some? thing that she said. That boy walked. He wasn't home any time when he walked. They get run down. They CHOOSE FRESH! CHOOSE WENDY'S HAMBURGERS * CHICKEN * CHILI SALAD BAR * BAKED POTATOES -All Prepared Fresh Daily- K-MART PLAZA 300 WELTON ST. SYDNEY TRAVEL AGENCY 288 Welton St., Sydney, N. S 562-3100 Based iri Sydney Serving All of Cape Breton Lifetime Cape Breton resident Gord Reynolds and his staff look forward to helping you with all your business and vacation travel needs. We are a member of a nationwide chain of full-service travel agencies. And our services are free! New in Cape Breton, Goliger's brings you 30 years experience in serving Canadian travellers. Our doors are open. Drop by for help with any travel need. Our winter hours are: Mon. to Sat. 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. * Fri. evening till 9 P.M. or by appointment serving travellers since 1955 (2)