Cape Breton's Magazine

stayed together, lived together.) Yeah. My grandfather, I think his first wife died, and he got another one. I think he put the moose to her after she was here a week or something. They didn't get along at all. You know, bedclothes and stuff were scarce, and he caught her giving those bedclothes out of the house to relatives she had. So he ordered her off. >lli'red chuckles. That's the way I heard it, anjn'ray. (Did he ever try again?) No, no, he was be? ginning to get old. He had his first wife's family--there were two girls and three boys. One of them went to the Banks and nev? er came back. Vessel was lost--(fishing on the) Grand Banks. There were a lot of people from here. In nearly every house there was a fellow lost. My father went too, and he al? most didn't get back. They'd be caught in storms. (And in nearly every house along here, there was someone who was....) Oh, yes. A lot of them. From the village of Mar? ble Mountain there were six that didn't come back. Vessels were lost. And there were fellows swept off--accidents, you know, in a storm. There were no engines of any kind then; it was all sails. I worked all my life, in the wintertime. I cut pulp every year of my life. We always cut it. I began first when it was $5.75 a cord. And that was peeled! It was the At? lantic Pulp Company, whatever that was. But when they came to scale it, they wouldn't scale it, till I'd take the knots out of it. Because you can knot the stuff as good as you like, with the bark on it, but when you peel it, then they're sticking out. So I had to take the knots off again.... There was an old Frenchman off a vessel and he picked them all up (the knots) and put them in a bag and he fired his vessel all summer. He said it was better than coke... You know, they'd dry up in the sun. (But you'd prefer working wintertime in the woods, no matter how cold it was.) Oh, they all did. I wasn't the only one. Every one of them went in the woods. And when it was frosty, that's the time they liked it. Because if it was a warm day, you know, and it'll get foggy and stuff like that, you're always soaking wet. Your pant legs, you know, the snow is wet. And the trees full of snow, when your axe head hit you'd have to brace yourself; it'd come down by the ton on your head, off the limbs, when you'd start to chop it. So the power' saws were a big help when that came. They'd cut the tree off the stump with? out shaking the snow off it. I'd be alone. Eve? rybody was alone. The neighbours here, they all--we didn't work together. A young Alfred MacKay. We used to count the blocks, you know. And there was a barnful of cows--had to look after, too. So I went to the morning and I'd cut off--I'd make 50 blocks. I'd cut 50 blocks, and I'd come home, dinner. And • SYDNEY'S FAVOURITE BAR & GRILL • PATIO OR INDOORS < • OPEN 11 AM - 2 AM / SUNDAY 5 PM - 2 AM • LIVE MATINEE EVERY SATURDAY AUTHENTIC 50'S AND 60'S ROCK AND ROLL CLUB JIVE THE NIGHT AWAY WITH THE CLASSIC DANCERS THURSDAY 9 PM - 2 AM • FRIDAY & SATURDAY 12 PM - 2 AM 2 GREAT ENTERTAINMENT CENTRES UNDER 1 ROOF! 456 CHARLOTTE STREET, SYDNEY DANIEL'S 562-8586 • CLASSICS 564-9234 "ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED" brake service drums & rotors resurfaced DISCO TIRE 95 Disco St. SYDNEY 539-4070 2&4 wheel alignment including 1-ton trucks and motor homes computerized engine analysis tune up and air conditioning GOODYEAR CERTIFIED AUTO SERVICE 225 Welton St. SYDNEY 539-5000