Cape Breton's Magazine

on this side then, and I had sore ones that evening because I hit every damn one of them about twice as often as I hit the nails. And the way he done it. when he drove a nail. he never give it a tap to start it. One clip took it right out of his fingers and sunk it home. One clip. Well, this was what I was trying to do. So. you can see why I ended up with a bunch of sore fingers. That very same man gave me a lot of tips while I was there to speed up my production so I could make a decent dollar. One of the things was. the foreman used to come around and gather up hammers in the evening at the end of the day, and put them in the storeroom I suppose. And this Bernie said. "Look, if you're going to make any money at making boxes, you can't have a dif? ferent hammer every day. You got to have the same hammer so you get used to the feel of it." He said that's very im? portant. So went and got a piece of board somewhere, and nailed it up --a two-by-four that was along underneath the front of my bench. So that I could put the hammer right onto it on the inside so that the foreman wouldn't take it and put it in the storeroom, see. So I'd have my ovm hammer each day, like, which I say, be? came very important. I realized that after a while because if I picked up another ham? mer, my God, I could tell the difference in the feel of the handle just the minute I put my hand on it.... I had parents up until '47. My mother died in November, and my father died a year af? ter that in January. (But when you were twelve years old they had no objection to your going off to work?) No, no. (Did you have any objection?) No. Back them days, young fellows then was anxious to get to work and get on your own, you know, rather than go to school. So I was dying to get out to work. (Did you ever get back to school?) No. I was through with school then. That ended it, yeah. (Do you feel you had any goal besides get a job?) Any vision in sight, you mean? Not really. I remember that I used to kind of wonder one time when I was a kid that I'd like to be a storekeeper sometime when I grew up, but I never did make it to that. I did many other things, but never to that. I've done everything from operating 'iBf* heavy equipment to driving *"" tractor trailers, and operating overhead cranes, and every damn thing imaginable just about. Donnie & Doris's wedding day (You haven't mentioned much about flying.) Well, I got in? terested in that back in--well, I was always interested in fly? ing. How else could I be? I was born on the day Lindbergh flew the Atlantic--1927, May 10, and he didn't wait for me. So that's what I use for an ex? cuse. It's not a very good one, but it makes a good joke anyway. So I had to learn to fly on my own. So of course I always had a desire for aircraft. Now I used to build models when I was a kid. I built dozens of them. Course, then back in 59' or so there was a bunch of us trying to get together--three, four, or five of us here--and decided that we'd like to learn to fly. And we were thinking that maybe we'd get together, we'd buy an airplane between us all, you know. Atlantic Canada Art, Crkfts, Pottery, Clothing Gourmet Coffee • Espresso Drinks ' 7553 Main Street, Louisbourg / CAPE BRETON BRACE LTD. 66 Cornwallis Street, Sydney, NS • 539-5100 • -10% Seniors- Custom Braces & Orthotics ?? Up'tO-Date stock of stylish Shoes 10% Off ORTHOPEDIC SHOES in Stock ' Only system in Atlantic Canada that gives you custom orthotics while you wait! ('CANES 'WALKERS ?CRUTCHES) COMPLETE LINE OF ORTHOPEDIC APPLIANCES /' LOUISBOURG HARBOUR INN isiuasua liiiiiffliiyniiyi m Delightful harbour-side inn with 8 cozy guestrooms, private baths, balconies, fine seafood dining, overlooking harbour & Fortress. 9 Warren Street., LOUISBOURG, N.S. BOA IMO Ph. (902) 733-3222 TOLL FREE RESERVATIONS 1-888-8888-INN