Page 57 - A Letter, 1922: Alexander Graham Bell Dies at Baddeck

ISSUE : Issue 40

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1985/8/1

The day before Mother, Mabel--representing you--and I went up to the top of the moun? tain and chose the place • under the tower between the one big spruce tree and the stairway leg of the tower. Mother wanted the tower taken down--it has demonstrated the principle and having been only put up as an experiment it doesn't seem fair to let it go to pieces and have people feel it was meant to be permanent. Casey climbed up and knocked off all the loose boards of the platform and stairs so that now it looks like lace work against the sky. They will cover the tree and the grave and pull it down sometime and Mother wants a permanent one erected. There is a Jean McDonald here who has been over several times this year and last to sing for Daddysan--Lilian may remember. She came to the house and played Chopin's funeral March while Casey and five of the men carried him down stairs and placed him at the foot of the stair way. The family-- including Uncle Charlie and Auntie, the Kers and Kerrs, Cousins Lena and Augusta, Jean Bell, Maud and her boys--the ser? vants --and all the men including old blind Hector P., Mr. Mclnnis and Duncan Buchan? an- -were there. Mother stepped forward and stood alone with her arm resting on the coffin--bare headed and in white with a soft white scarf around her neck while Mr, Mackinnon read a few of the verses of the 90th Psalm--just the beautiful ones--skip- . ping the others. Miss McDonald sang "There grew a bonnie briar bush, at our ha' door" and then played the Mendelssohn funeral march as they carried him out. John was there with the buckboard, the two back seats removed--and Mother, Mabel and I with the others behind us watched them a- round the curve. It was a very thrilling sight • Casey and Graham walking at the head of the twenty or thirty men--all bare? headed- -then John and the buckboard with its fir covered load. Catherine drove Mother, Mabel, David, Nan? cy Bell and me--and the others followed in other cars. Mother had wanted to walk up beside the buckboard but we persuaded her It was too dangerous up the steep part. At the top where the road emerges from the woods she got out and walked the rest of the way--David holding her arm. She walked on the right, her left hand on the coffin. Where the road leads straight to the cir? cle we all got out and followed on foot. There were a great many people there. The grave was blasted out of the rock and lined with fir boughs--and there was a steel vault--in case Mother feels later she wants Father to go back to America. On the right the American flag and on the left the British were at half mast on short poles. Miss McDonald sang the verses and we all joined in "Bringing in the Sheaves." Mother watched Miss McDonald's face and joined in first of all. Miss Mc? Donald's voice is beautiful and she sings so that every word is understood. She sang right to Mother. Then she sang Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar"--and then the first verse only of Stevenson's Requiem, "Under the wide and starry sky Dig the grave and let me lie. Gladly I lived and gladly I die And I lay me down with a will." The music of it is as beautiful as the words and we looked out as she sang over LeBlanc Siding Ltd. 'e estimates ** Professional installation of We Install Authorized Dealer for margaree windows Aluminum Windows & Doors - Shutters Softfit - Fascia - Awnings 109 Reservoir Road Sydney Professional installation of Aluminum & Vinyl Siding in Cape Breton County for over 10 years. Free Estimates for R.R.A.P., N.S.H.C, & C.M.H.C. Programs and all other siding inquiries. Call collect: SONNY MacPHERSON 539-4626 The Nova Scotia Commission on Drug Dependency, through its Employee Assistance Program Divi? sion, can offer help to management and labour in establishing an Employee Assistance Program at the wort'site to provide employees with a proven and effective method of getting assistance for their problem. FOR TROUBLED EMPLOYEES There is help available for your troubled em? ployee through an Employee Assistance Pro? gram. Some of the major personal problems that may affect job performance are: • Alcoholism and other drug dependencies; • Marital difficulties; • Financial/legal problems. Nova Scotia "'iir Scope of the Problem 5 to 10% of the workforce in any business or in? dustry have employees with health behavioral problems that adversely affect their job perfor? mance. These employees: • Have 3 to 4 times the number of accidents on and off the job. • Their absenteeism is above normal. • Their productivity is unpredictable. • AND at least 25% Is added to the cost of operations as a result of the above factors. Commission On Drug Dependency Honourable Gerald Sheehy, DVM Minister of Health Marvin M. Burke, RSW Executive Director (57)

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