Cape Breton's Magazine

open letters to Norman, published in the Cape Breton Spectator of March 1849, John Munro gives his version of their brandy-smugghng from the French island of St. Pierre. "If any other people were, as your sons were, last summer, landing, on midday Sabbath, their casks of 'French stuff,' when one of them went to Polly to get an empty bottle to give some of the 'creature' to the creatures that helped them, which Polly refused, in considera? tion of the day, but the intrepid 'smug' was not to be so thwarted but snatched a tea-pot from her dresser and decamped! But to go on with my supposition • if Squire McLeod's sons, or any other of the opposition, had been so employed on a week day, putting Sabbath aside, good Lord, deliver us, you would have required a bandage round your head for fear of its cracking! But we must plead 'necessity which has no law' as well as it is 'the Two monuments to the ac? complishments of Norman IVIcLeod and his people • from St. Ann's Bay to New Zealand. Above: the granite millstones at the head of St. Ann's Harbour, on what was Nor? man's land, site of the present-day Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts. Right: in Waipu, New Zealand, the memorial to the six vessels that came from Cape Breton. On the Cape Breton monument, it reads: "Threoraich e a shiuagh 's an aite so 'n a linn fhein mar mhinistear, maighistir-sgoile, 's fear-lagha. Rugadh e an Rudha Storr, an Asaint, an Al- bainn. Thainig e gu Pictou 's a' bhiiadhna 1817, 's sheol e le a chuideachd gu St. Ann an 1820, mother of invention' in palUation for land- 'a"" a" d'fhuirich iad gu ruige 1851, 'n uair a dh' fhalbh iad an tolseach gu Australia, is mu ing 'the French stuff on the Lord's day as dheireadh gu New Zealand." the vessel was bound, perhaps, for another port and could not married in Cape Breton. It would seem that, even though they wait until Monday, or, being trained under the tuition of an 'old were indulged, they were also dominated so completely that a swaggering roguery was their only way of asserting their indi? viduality. They may have been as their father was forty years before, but now they were barred by his strength from finding their own. Penalized by his power, it was only natural that they should also use it to the limit. • ENDOF CHAPTER 9 • Seneca' they would know the benefit of the maxim, • 'Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today.' It is not known what a day may bring forth • and on Monday, for aught they knew, a 'Tom Cat' might be mewing at their heels!" Munro accuses Norman, too, of letting his family grow up as a bad example, "corrapting the youthful morals of those around them, without any restrictions, in direct opposition to your mode of discipline with regard to others.... It would have been better for you to have been grubbing out of them the symptoms of the debaucheries of the present day than panting to become a Cranmer or a Latimer." John Munro believed that he had been wronged and was speaking from his bitter indignation, but tradition supports his estimate of the McLeod boys. They were bright lads, they had been given all the available advantages of education and al? lowed to stay regularly in school long after most young men in the settlement, but there is no record of their making any dura? ble contribution to Cape Breton Ufe. Time was not lacking, since John was thirty-eight years old when they sailed to Aus? tralia. It may also be significant that none of Norman's sons Watchman Against the World by Flora McPherson ($12.95 plus GST plus shipping • ORDER FORM on page 67) Available now in stores, or order directly from: Breton Books & Music • Cape Breton's magazine Wreck Cove, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia BOC IHO Cedar House Bakery and Restaurant 674-2929 OPEN DAILY FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER bread • scones • oatcakes • cookies • pies TRANS-CANADA HWY NEAR SEAL ISLAND BRIDGE ~ 40 YEARS OF SERVICE TO CAPE BRETON ~ 'y ?i|e Cifilircna At6 Botitt' ai(Hape Breton A INTAKE HOME STUDIES PROTECTION FOSTER HOMES ADOPTION' probiem identification; referral support services; crisis intervention all ages, in permanent homes CHILDREN IN CARE j Suite 7, Provincial Building, 360 Prince Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 5L1 (562-5506) I SINGLE MOTHERS counselling; support I THE COMMUNITY'S RESPONSIBILITY IS TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN I counselling; support & "A UNITED WAY SERVICE AGENCY" Stores To Serve You CAPE BRETON SHOPPING PLAZA SYDNEY RIVER US' Featuring 'W?? Off ANTMiMT STONf S The Crossroads of Cape Breton' Sobeys & Shopper's Drug Mart "'''''''' *??"' = ii 10 p.m. PlMty Of FfM Parking