Cape Breton's Magazine

TOMMY PEGGY MACDONALD CONTINUES was quite simple. There was one great big white spruce or fir they're called--I al? ways called it white spruce--right near the corner where we built the camp. It was about 15 inches on the stump. And we cut it off at about 3 feet from the ground. And we stripped it. We left the stump about that high--and then the two of us would go at it with one of those long crosscut saws about 5 1/2 feet long. So we cut (the 3-foot stump) into inch-thick or 3/4-inch-thick boards. Then slit them across down at the bottom. Beautiful boards. Made a table, 3 or 4 shelves all around the place. Didn't take any time. It's easy to saw that white var or spruce as they call it. (What was the floor?) Just small white spruce poles. We edged them with the axe, flattened them. Of course, we had no car? pets or floor covering on it. And we had bunks on each side--something about the width of this cot--and the rest was clear space. I made a table. Put two hinges on it and hinged it to one of the logs, and when you'd be through eating, drop it down. Hamiaifi Honda Motorcycles & ATV's Honda Power Equipment Honda 3- and 4-Wheeled Vehicles for Year Round Use Accessories: Trailers, Snowplows, Mowers 480 GRAND LAKE RD. SYDNEY 539-7644 * 539-1730 HOMDALfVrir BidetteBoa'Chnmla' NAN MORRISON CONTINUES ring were boiling on the stove. Thank God they weren't overdone. And after we rested for awhile, we started back home. We were home at 6. (There was never a woman out there?) No. (Was it considered, like, not a good thing for you to do?) Well, it was a long trip for a person that wasn't used to going on snow. And I suppose, nobody ever thought of going out there. It was all men's work. (What would happen to the reputation of a girl who went out to a cabin with three men?) Well, with three men like that, they wouldn't think anything of it. Those were like brothers. But--we were just talking about that the other day. It seems to me you hear some schoolgirls say that boys don't want to go with you unless you go to bed with them. We used to go out coasting when we were 17 and 18. And we used to sit on the boys' laps going down on toboggans, down the hill. And those boys never--you know, there was noth? ing like that then, those years. They never thought of sex, I don't think, with their friends. It was a wonderful feeling, when you think of it today. I don't know, today --when they're 11 or 12, they know all about everything. (Did you not know about anything?) No. (16, 17--you did not know?) No, because we never went out with anybody that tried anything like that. My cousin used to walk me home from Christian Endeavour at night. We'd stop at the road and talk to one another, and, gosh, we never even used to hold hands or anything. We'd just talk. It was a great life. J. A. Young & Son ,son Maritime'"'iS'iS 539-4800 raifl IVIarlin ''V Travel OR TOLL FREE 1-800-565-1538 ovMVxete' , ?rtOX'" (12) still refreshing after 50 years. Cape Breton Dairymen Your local milk producers, working together with the dairy farmers of Cape Breton for the past 50 years to produce quality dairy products for the people of Cape Breton. FOR HOME DELIVERY, CALL THE DAIRY CENTRE: i 564-5581