Page 70 - With Archie Neil Chisholm or Margaree Forks

ISSUE : Issue 42

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1986/6/1

got out, one of the boys would come home and take the mare up, and I would get on her back and come home. Now this was great in the fall and the spring. But in the wintertime in those days there was no such thing as a snowplow. And you would have 5 feet in certain areas between here and Margaree Forks, and just a horse track. Sometimes she'd plunge. I got several tumbles off her back, but I managed to crawl back on. And that was for 5 years. I went till I got my Grade 11, like that, on a horse's back. (You were bom and you were fine. Did you learn to walk as a little boy?) Oh yes. In fact the day before I took polio, my broth? er Angus and I were out playing in the brook. Oh yes, I was walking when I was a- bout 10 or 11 months old. I was 4, going on 5, and we were out playing in a brook that was right back of our house. There were 3 or 4 in that summer who took polio?? See, it started in our spine. It's sup? posed to have started with spinal meningi? tis, and then developed into polio too. Playing one day in a brook, and then the next day I woke up, and my head was going back. The back of my head was almost touch? ing my spine. And I was in terrible pain. My mother didn't know--she thought I was dying. And there happened to be a nurse living next door to us--Belle MacDonald was her name. And my mother sent for her. In the meantime, they sent for the doctor. But the doctor would have to come by horse and buggy from Margaree Harbour, and that was 8 miles. But she no sooner looked at me, this nurse, when she told the folks that I had spinal meningitis, and to get ice. Now nobody had ice around Margaree at that time, with the exception of those who were running hotels. They would have big ice houses and they'd store ice in the winter, cover it and store it in sawdust, and then they would have ice all summer, because the ice wouldn't melt if they kept the doors closed. And they went to what is now the Margaree Lodge. It was owned then by a fellow by the name of Dougald Campbell. And Dougald sent down what ice they wanted, and they kept me in icepacks for I don't know how long. And how they discovered that I was para? lyzed was the fact that I attempted to get out of bed to get a glass of water that was on a little stand. And my mother was sound asleep. She had been up day and night with me, taking tums with my father. And when I went to stand up, they buckled. And that was when the real pain started. Bird Island Tours CAMPING and CABINS A 2 1/2 hour cruise fro. MOUNTAIN VIEW BY THE SEA 4 miles off Trans-Canada Highway at Big Bras d'Or (902)674-2384 OPEN JUNE 15 to SEPT 15 9 to 5 DAILY See life as it was in Cape Breton during the nineteenth century. Nova Scotia Highland Village The Highland Village shows examples of dwellings built in Scotland, the first homes built with ba? sic tools in Cape Breton, as well as buildings that exemplify the settlers firm foothold in the new land. More than half the plan-ned buildings are completed and work goes on. Come see us grow. St. Peters Drug Store Ltd. Don Stone, Ph. C., Proprietor Open 6 Days a Week Mon. to Fri. open xintil 8 p.m. Sat. until 5 p.m. 535-2203 StPfeters,N.S. Highland Village Day August 2 -- 25th year of this festival, featuring tradi? tional Scottish entertainment/ Highland Village is located lona on Route 223, which leaves the Trans-Canada about 7 miles east of Whycocomagh. It ' is a scenic alter? native paved route eastward to the Sydney ar? ea. Two short ferry rides pro? vide pleasant breaks in the drive Please Note: The Village wi IT be closed to the public on August 3 NEED A MUFFLER SHOCKS? BRAKES? FAST, QUALITY SERVICE BY EXRERTS FOR YOUR CAR, TRUCK OR VAN- NATIONALLY GUARANTEED FREE INSPECTION & ESTIMATES COMPETITIVE PRICES ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT PARTS FOR ALL DOMESTIC & FOREIGN VEHICLES MUFFLERS • SHOCKS • BRAKES I'S'I I il ?? 11| Mk I ~| I Master Muffler & Brake Centre PHONE 539-6691 349 GEORGE ST., DOWNTOWN SYDNEY, N.S. (70)

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