Cape Breton's Magazine

Audrey: She never ever cut her hair. Nev? er. Ruth: No, she had nice hair.... Never wore makeup.... She'd have a nice rhubarb pie made. She had nice cookies with caraway seeds in them and all this type of thing. Audrey: She was a good cook. (Did she think of herself as a poet? Was that how she thought of herself?) Ruth: Yes. I really think she did. I really think that Aunt Lilly thought of herself as a poetess, didn't she? Audrey: Yeah. Ruth: She loved to write. She always had a scribbler out on the dining room table. And whenever she would think of something • like the day she wrote (the poem that became) the Cape Breton Plaid ("The Lady of the Loom"). She was test? ing in a scuttle of coal from the bam. And on the way in, she thought about her poem, this poem. And right away she sat down and wrote that poem. "Black for the wealth of our coal mines." And she called me that day. She said, "Now, Ruth, I'm going to read this to 3'u. You tell me what you think of it." And she read just the verse: "Black for the wealth of our coal mines." And she told me she was coming in with the scuttle of coal to the house when she came in and wrote just the verse. Nelson: Did she write something for • remember the man that dug up his old girl friend out at Main-a-Dieu? Like, there was this man, he was going with this girl in England, back in 1850 or something. And him and her had a scrap, and he said, "Well, to heck with her," and he went down and got on one of the boats coming across to Louisbourg. And the boat went aground off of Main-a-Dieu, trying to get to Louisbourg in a bad storm. Now he came over, he landed over here all right. But two years later, he went down, this bad storm, and a boat coming over to Louisbourg. He went down to the shoreline. There were only two or three families liv? ing along in Main-a-Dieu at that time. And here was a number of dead bodies on the shoreline. He went along, "Oh, my"--dirty, after a very bad storm. And one of the bodies was the girl he had left in England two or three years previous, when he came over. And he was just living in a shack. Lillian on the Cabot Trail RMth PeatQn: We went on a picnic one day around the Cabot Trail. And this is her brother Franic, Uncle Frank. And there's Aunt | Lilly on top of a big rock, carry? ing on. And Un? cle Frank has a big dry cod. And ' he's making out he's playing the violin. And there's Aunt Lilly i dancing on top of the rock! Look | at them! {Laugh- ter.) Now there's Aunt Lilly, huh? And she was so • she would get up... thought what a funny picture that is.... So he took that particular body, and.he buried it. Because she was coming over to try to contact him and patch things up. But she lost her life with the shipwreck. I think Aunt Lil wrote a story of that. This man took that girl friend, and he buried her body in the ground somewhere out there. But the other bodies--the peo- Atlantic Canada Art, Crafts, Pottery, Clothing Gourmet Coffee • Espresso Drinks ' 7553 Main Street, Louisbourg / LOUISBOURG HARBOUR INN Delightful harbour'side inn widi 8 co' 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 M Maritime MarlinTravel We Know Travel Best. A meml>er of the Thomas Coolc Group Melanie MacLeod, Manager Mayflower Mall Call Toll-free: I -800-251 -1794 BL /??I*'r!'l ?,/? Jo*'" ou*" E-Travel Club. It*s Free! Visit our Website at www.maritimemarlin.ca Ph: (902) 564-0600 ??* Donn/ MacLellan, Manager IBS Charlotte Street Sydney Ph: (902) 539-4800