Page 32 - With Billy MacGillivray in Boston
Published by Ronald Caplan on 1990/1/1 (241 reads)
York. But some of them did well. They were out to get a home, get married, have a fam? ily, and live well. They turned out to be good mechanics, very good mechanics. None of them were bums. They all made a living. I can't think of anybody that lived on the city. They were good hard workers, they were strong, and they would last. They would last in the sun and the heat and the cold. A lot of the natives wouldn't take the job because they wouldn't last. And another thing about the downeasters, they'll work under any conditions. They're very loyal to the boss, and there's no grumbling or complaining. There were a lot of Jewish contractors and they liked the downeasters because they were good strong workers and they would never talk union or union regulation. They made money on them. Gary; Was there any resentment that some of the contractors preferre'd hiring Mari- timers to Americans? Billy: Yeah, the newspaper even came out with it. It was in the Tribune. an editorial about the Nova Scotians taking all the high- paying jobs. He said it was easy to tell Suppliers of Commercial Recreational Fencing P. O. Box 98, King St., North Sydney, N. S. B2A 3M1 794-4773 • HAVE OUR AUGER TRUCK DIG YOUR HOLES.' them when they came on the job--their dirty white shirts. They weren't cleaning their clothes. They'd wear it a week, according to the Tribune. It went on like that. And then, "Why the hell didn't you stay in your own country?"--I got that more than once. "Taking our jobs away from us." "Well, whose jobs did you take away?" I'd say. "When did you people come here?" "My people come over here 200 years ago." "Oh," I'd say, "the Indians. You're relat? ed to the Indians." And then, the Irish were jealous of the downeasters for some reason. They looked down on the downeasters. They thought that they were superior, so much better. This will give you an idea. There's a fel? low living right across the street from my daughter in Braintree. His name is Charlie MacGillivary. He was in the Second World War. He's from Prince Edward Island. He went in the American army and he lost an arm, and he got the Congressional Medal of Honor. So anyways, the St. Patrick's Day parade here, it's usually the Governor or the Senator or somebody of high standing that leads the parade. One year a couple of years after the War, the Governor wasn't available and there was nobody else. The handiest person they had was this Congres? sional Medal of Honor winner from Massachu? setts, and that was Charlie MacGillivary. It came out in the papers that Charlie was going to lead the parade and the Irish put up a hell of a kick about it. Oh, they wer- I
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