Cape Breton's Magazine

~ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 ~ Allan MacDougall of "Hughie & Allan" Allan MacDougall: I'll be 80 shortly, and I was driving, working for Mike Sul? livan when I was 16. You knew Roy Woodill no doubt. Roy was a teacher at the Academy. I got into Grade 9 and I wasn't doing very well. I often laugh at this, you know. Being a mickey, I was going to St. Joseph's School down there. It was where the church is now-- the school has been torn down since, you know, at the corner. And they had the boys and the girls so sep? arated, you never saw one. Because they were on the other side of the school. And you went in this side and you came out this side and you went home--and those old nuns would just lay it right on the line, you know. And then I got in the Academy and--sitting alongside of girls, one in front of you and one behind you. (That made a big difference?) Made a big differ? ence, in two ways. It made a big differ? ence as far as studying was concerned, and doing what you were supposed to be doing. And I didn't do so well in Grade 9. (Before that you were doing...?) All right. I graded every year--never missed a year that I didn't pass. (So that's not a joke--the girls really did have an effect on you.) I would say. Because--well, you started walking one of them home or some? thing. And then, you know, there was al? ways a party somewhere or something. So I was going on 16, I guess, when I was in the Academy. But I wasn't studying. Roy Woodill--oh, fine fellow. He was, you know, a real guy, and liked you to get out and play ball and hockey and all the rest. And after about 7 or 8 months, or just before the final exams, I was whispering to some dame across the--next seat to me. After awhile he came down and he said, "You're more interested in what's over there than you are in what you're doing here." He said, "I've been watching you." He said, "You're not going to make it out of here. You're not going to pass." And he said, "I don't think that you're interested any more in learning any more, are you?" I said, "Not really." I said, "I've got other ambi? tions, to get out, get a job, get a car, and all the rest of it." "That's just ex? actly what I figured," he said. "So," he said, "don't waste any more time. Any time you want to quit, just quit." The County Line Roadhouse FEATURING * Nightly Entertainment ' ' Daily Homemade Specials Sunday Dinner Theater ''' Open 11 AM to 2 AM • 7 Days a Week! 581 Grand Lake Road ' Between PetroCan and Robin's Donuts 83