Cape Breton's Magazine

who settled in Louisiana after the Acadian expulsion and those who couldn't settle anywhere. My great-great-grandfather took one last look at the world from his deathbed and announced, "If you prac? tice ignorance long enough you will excel." He made moonshine for years and took his recipe to his grave. Our cousin Alfreda made a name for herself by inter? preting forerunners. I would have to mention the great dancers in the family, those that Grandmere believed set the world on fire un? der their feet. And having researched as far as I could, I went to work on my tree. I made the tree out of cardboard and set it up in a can. On little white pieces of paper I hung the names and occupations of my relatives. Then I filled out the tree with my own inventions. I turned my great-great-grandfather into a philosopher. I gave my uncle five or six greats back the title "music critic." All the moonshiners in the family became distil? lery inventors. I turned Rheal into a prophet. I went to school and placed my tree on the table set up at the front of the class. In the contest, I got fourth place. I wondered which of my ancestors would have set? ded for that. On the day of the judging, I looked out the window. Beyond the hill, in the graveyard, the headstones dart? ed in and out of the fog. END The Moonlight Skater 9 Cape Breton Stories d-The Dream by Beatrice MacNeil 2 Great New Books from Breton Books! WATCHMAN AGAINST THE WORLD by Flora McPherson "Children, children, look to yourselves, the world is mad...." I These dying words of Norman McLeod display the tenderness and tyr? anny by wliich he created his own people out of Scofland's exiles, bound them to himself and led them on one of the great pioneering adventures of the 19th Century • 'to settlement in Cape Breton Island and, 21 years lat? er, to breaking ground again m New 'aland. 37 years; 22,0(X) miles. As teacher, judge, minister and taskmaster • 'Norman aimed to "withdraw the faithful from the menace of the worldly community." In Watchman Against the World, Flora McPherson has brought Nor- I man McLeod's St. Ann's Bay alive as a bustling, integrated, religious and yet altogether down-to-earth community. While focused on Nor? man and his people, this book is also an excellent one-volume read through early Cape Breton history, giving us a well-researched and beautifully told Cape Breton Classic. 196 pages • 28 photographs • maps • $12.95 THE MOONLIGHT SKATER by Beatrice MacNeil 9 Cape Breton Stories ci'The Dream A first collection by Beatrice MacNeil, a writ? er who has already captured a following through powerful radio readings of her sto? ries, and acclaimed performances of her plays, both on Cape Breton and away. A mis? chievous blend of Scottish & Acadian, Bea? trice's stories seem relatively simple. Each one is a fairly brief performance, readable and accessible. You read them • and then they blossom, or explode softly, in your life. And then there is the play, "The Dream," which has felt like a Cape Breton classic since it was first performed. It is a rural Cape Breton play, with the humour and tenderness and sadness of a shared kitchen evening. Its appearance in this book gives people a chance to read it aloud in their own homes, and it is an encouragement to groups everywhere to perform this Cape Breton gem. 80 pages • $7.95 SUBSCRIBE! For Yourself & Friends Everywhere 74 /] PLUS • GREAT MUSIC! 1 ''' 1 lit; Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald J / -.U CLASSIC CUTS 'n 1 ''"''''W A NEW COMPILATION '''wilH ' FOR A NEW GENERATION! * 'MyMp' -' A new selection of some of the |WH|mHL '""Ti finest Cape Breton music ever 1 r'm'Y' '~m ' played • digitally remastered for l" M i ?? Compact Disc. Every effort has ---_?lli''ii??t 1 * -W = been made to get the best possi- ''*'"''"'*' • • P? ble reproduction. Winston has Wlllllilpj''' never sounded better! 22 medleys (49 tunes) from the man who set Compact Disc: $19.95 [' the standard for the fiddle in Cape Breton Cassette Tape: $11.95 4-ISSUE SUBSCRIPTION • in Canada $16.00 • outside Canada $21.00 us CURRENCY (or $24.50 CAN CURRENCY) Cape Breton's MAGAZINE HISTORY • ORAL HISTORY and FOLKLORE • Beautiful Photographs • and a 21-Year Devotion to Cape Breton Island CANADA'S AWARD-WINNING MAGAZINE