Page 10 - With Katie Margaret Gillis, Mabou Coal Mines

ISSUE : Issue 38

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1985/1/1

(Did you ever have a home, the two of you?) Oh, not in Quebec. But in Rockingham (Hal? ifax) we lived for 21 years, Angus and his brother Neil were drillers there. (Were they looking for water mostly?) Yeah. He drilled in Canso. And then we drilled in New Brunswick for water, too, in Yorkton. And then we drilled for zinc and gold in that new mine in Bathurst, We stayed in camps there. We stayed together. That was in the '40s. Oh, Angus would never see me behind. That's one thing I say. And he did have a hard time, taking me all around. Be? cause I was only a nuisance to him, a lot. But never did he leave me behind. Well, it was beautiful. We were very happy together. As I say, it's something to look back on. We had this house (in Cape Breton) built the year we got married. Papa made us build it--Angus's father. And we never lived in it, only one winter in our life. My brother and the children lived here for 17 years. So we were only in here two years in our life. Angus loved it. Well, we always came home from Quebec in the sum? mer to fish. He had his gear all put away. But we never spent a winter here until the last two winters. That's all the fun he' had here. He was coming home, he was re? tired, he was going to have a ball, and that's what happened, dear. And he was looking forward to smelts. And he was look? ing forward to so many nice things when we'd come home. We both took all the walls down. And we put the insulation all through, as sick as he was, and the follow? ing year, Angus went. (Katie Margaret, you have no regrets at all about going to the States.) No. They put me on my feet. They put most all of us that left that year on our feet. What would we do down here--there was nothing here--10C an hour in a factory, and go out to work, maybe $5 a month. Well, of course. Centrallhist FULL SERVICE BANKING including: Estate Planning Mortgages Loans Safety Deposit Boxes Canadian and American Travellers' Cheques Daily Interest Savings Accounts RRSP Investment Management Real Estate Services VISA and a good deal more Central Trust means a friendly staff you can talk to about every banking need. 225 Charlotte St., Sydney 539-9210 we were very young, no experience. But still and all. Oh, only for the States, people would have starved here. (Were you able to keep up your Catholic re? ligion?) More so than home. I agree with that. I'll lift my hand and ask any of the girls. We were just talking about that-- Katherine was in the other night. And Kath? erine said, "When I think of what they were saying." And it wasn't the church. It's just how you live. It's the way you live and how you go about it. My God, I didn't think the devil was there, at all, at all. Beautiful people. More so than probably some of my own. I'll say that. (You didn't feel that you had lost from your religion at all.) No, no. It did me better. Where I'd be far away--what?--7 miles from the Coal Mines (to church). Where I was there was only two blocks. Well, it's my own fault if I can't make my own little time when I was off to go--well, goodbye, that's my own trouble. I wasn't pushed to go there, I didn't have to, but I loved it. And the people I worked for showed that to me. But you see, they called us "girls." We weren't maids, we were girls. We weren't maids at all. (And they themselves were not Catholic.) No, no. She was in the Eng? lish church, and I worked over there as waitress for her. And I'd go over and make the cookies when they had those big events there in the late '20s--we'd go over, serve the meal. To us, they were the same as our own.. When we were in the Children of Mary, she'd go to see us in our white, making the parade--she'd love to go. And, you see, the doctor was a minister's son. And he--"My girls, oh, my girls have got All deposits are insured under the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (10) Keltic/Cape Smokey January 4 - March 17,1985 The White Birch Inn, Motel Unit and The Atlantic Coffee Shop will be open to serve our guests this winter. Further information on rates and reservations may be obtained from: Keltic Lodge Check Inns 1-902-285-2880 Toll Free: 1-800-565-7105 Hfx/Dart 425-5781 Dept. of Tourism 1-902-424-5000 Department of Tourism Honourable R. Fisher Hudson, QX:.,

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