Page 14 - Dr. Austin MacDonald, Down North

ISSUE : Issue 39

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1985/6/1

and so the bone had begun to heal in that position. In children those bones heal very rapidly. An5rway. Couldn't leave the little fellow like that. We had no hospital at that time. I sent the man up to the bam to get some shingles. And he pulled 2 or 3 shingles off the side of the barn and brought them back. Marie was with me. We made splints. I had to take that little fellow's arm a- cross my knee, and break the healing bone apart, straighten it out, splint it togeth? er, and set it up and put it in a sling. I told him to bring the boy out in a week's time till I'd see how things were going. And I never saw him again. I never saw that boy again for 20 years. And when I saw him again, he showed me the arm that I set when he was a little boy. You couldn't tell it had ever been broken. It was as straight and as useful as the other one. But I think there was a good deal of luck in that! (Did you use chloroform?) No. That kid nev? er batted an eye. You could hear the bone break again. And believe me, a breaking bone is not a pleasant thing. That kid nev? er batted an eye, he never changed expres? sion. This was almost a religion among that particular group of people. They re? garded themselves as being tough, and they were tough. And even the young children, they wouldn't admit to pain. Marie and I were inoculating them in the little school there one day, and there were 17 kids. And she had set up the syr? inges and needles with the right amount of antitoxin and stuff that we had to give them. And I ran out of stuff. They were coming in this direction, and each one would come with a big smile, and his arm out like that, and I'd inject him, and he'd keep going. Ran out of stuff. And I said, "Marie, I'll have to fill another syringe." "No," she said, "I have enough for 20." "Well," I said, "it's all gone." Here they were coming around for another shot! They didn't get outside people pay? ing that much attention to them ever be? fore. So they weren't going to miss the chance. And these little kids, coming a- round for a second shot. To me that's far? fetched. But it's not. That's what hap? pened. That's a true thing. That's the on? ly time I ever saw kids come back for a second shot. There were two little kids there who were well-known around the communities for be? ing very good at the Scottish stepdances. And the teacher asked them if they would dance for us before we'd leave. And the little boy said he couldn't, he didn't have his shoes. This was mid-May, and they were in bare feet. But an3rway, the teacher sent a bigger kid home to this fellow's house to get his shoes. When he came back with the shoes and a fiddler, the fiddler sat down at one of the desks, and the lit? tle fellow put his shoes on. The little girl already had shoes on. And they put on quite an entertainment for us before we left. But there was no crying in that school when they got inoculated. Another night, coming from Pleasant Bay with the dogs--it was a bright moonlight night. And coming down the north side of the North Mountain into Cape North--the QAMcome, ... for friends and lovers of tlie sea: Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax Waterfront FIsfieries Museum of the Atlantic Lunenburg Lawrence House, Maitland 1870 Fisherman's Life, Jeddore early 1900s ... some restored fiomes of famous Nova Scotians: Perkins House, Liverpool 1766 McCulloch House, Pictou 1806 Prescott House, Starrs Point 1814 Uniacke House, Mount Uniacke 1815 Haliburton House, Windsor 1836 ... some special collections: ... restored mills: Firefighters Museum, Yarmouth Wile Carding Mill, Bridgewater 1860 North Hills Museum, Granville Ferry Balmoral Grist Mill, Balmoral Mills Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax 1874 Barrington Woolen Mill, Barhngton 1882 Sutherland Steam Mill, Denmark .. .and still more interesting places: Ross Farm, New Ross 1817 Sherbrooke Village, Restoration Project, Sherbrooke, c. 1860-1914 Barrington Meeting House, Barrington 1765 Ross-Thomson House and Store, Shelburne 1785 Cossit House, Sydney 1787 tottiG 22 docaiwm aitomd ilm piiov'mc'. Nova Scotia Museum 1747 Summer Street Halifax, NovaScotia B3H 3A6 (902)429-4610 "''' Department Of Education Nova Scotia Museum Complex (14)

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