Cape Breton's Magazine

And brooks there dry--and try and cross that. They had to try and get the car across on sticks. You know, the brooks weren't deep, but no water down below. And you can see everything so plain. (Were they all outdoor kind of people?) No. I'd say this sister of mine that's living yet (Mary Ann)--she was 100 years old last October--! would say she was more timid. She was more timid than the other one. More home life and that. The other one (Miriam Ruth) was very brave, and she'd face something like that and she'd try and get through with it some way. (She grew up) right at North River, at MacRaes' home up on the hill. And she went to Boston when she was very young--I guess about 13--with my aunt. And she didn't like to work for my aunt--she thought she was working her too hard. And she had a friend out in California and she wrote to her, told her that that was the place for her, to come out with her. So she bundled up and went on the train by herself. So when she got out there and saw the sit? uation, she wrote to my other sister that was (still) in Boston working for my aunt. She said, "This is the place for you. You'd better come." And she told--ex? plained to her--how to get there. She said, "When you come on the train, I can't meet you--I'm working. But you'll see an old man with a horse and buggy. And he'll ask you, 'Are you Mary Ann MacRae?' And you tell him, 'Yes.' And you go with him, and he'll take you where I am." But Mary Ann told me, if she had the money in her HS %njoy superB dining in a rtlaTQng & luTQirious atmosphere SPECIALIZING IN CHINESE CUISINE Canadian Dishes also available FULLY LICENSED TAKE OUT & DELIVERY ORDERS Major Credit Cards Accepted 'king Restaurant 355 Charlotte Street Downtown Sydney Tel: 539-7775 Open daily 11:00 am ONE OF } 11 CAPE BRETON'S Si FINEST i • ? im IIIII IIIIIII purse--there were no purses those days--if she had the money then to take her back, she would have never gone in the buggy! She'd have gone on the train back to Bos? ton. (Why?) Well, everything was so new to her. But she really got along fine, and she liked it out there, made her home there after that. (Were you tempted to go out there as well?) No. It's funny. They were like the first-- the oldest--family--my mother and father's oldest family. And they went (away). I nev? er saw them until they came home in 1916. They went as soon as they were able to work--and that was very young. And I had never seen my two sisters. Those two sis? ters, I never saw them until they came home. On that trip in 1916. They wore out 35 tires. And he used to go to--D. J. Morrison had a forge. When any? thing was wrong with the car, he'd go to D. J. Morrison--A. J. Morrison's father-- he had a forge. They'd fix it in no time. And off he'd take again. He really enjoyed the trip. You know, no garages here then. The grass was growing from here to Bad- deck, out between the wagon wheels. There was no traffic. He was--they only used-- about the first car that was around here, when he came. You would see the horses go? ing wild when they'd see the car coming. He used to take us for drives. And one day he took us down the other side of the road, so narrow. He met a horse and buggy, and he went off the road. We rolled over there on the other side. But nobody got hurt. And it was the touring car. The sides were--you could roll them up and put them down if it was. raining. (Was everybody happy here to see cars here, or was there anyone who thought, this is bad?) Oh, everybody was happy to see a car. And when you'd be driving along, you'd see everybody running away off the road--scared blue of the car. It wasn't walking to one side, but they'd just run up the hill! Well, it was something! WE BUY AND WE SELL AND WERE AS NEAR AS YOUR TELEPHONE Sid*s Used Furniture Phone 564-6123 436 Charlotte Street, Sydney Midway Motors Ltd. Now with Two Locations: HEAD OFFICE '' NEW OFFICE Middle River wS Port Hastings 295-2290 "' 625-3641 We've Been CHRYSLER Since 1926