Page 2 - Isabel Bartlett Remembers George

ISSUE : Issue 43

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1986/8/1

excommunicated him from the church, you know. I can't remember--was it a Munro or something like that--that didn't do things just the way Norman McLeod thought he shouldo (How do you know that?) Oh, just from hearing my father talking, and cousin. Anyhow, they looked out the window, and this man that was in dutch with Rev. Nor? man was drifting in a boat, something had happened. He'd lost his oars or something went wrong. So the Fergusons went out and got him, and (then) they were in dutch with the minister. He didn't think they should have. At least, that's the story as I was told. (The Fergusons) lived in what they call Big Hill, St. Ann's. That's where I was bom. My mother and father lived there when they were married first. It's all de? serted now. I didn't grow up there. We moved to Baddeck when I was quite young. My father worked over with Bell part of the time, with sheep and things like that. And my mother looked after--I guess it was one of Bell's children. And my aunt worked with Bell. She used to do stuff at the switchboard that he had from one building to the other. And she had to have her teeth out. You know, in those days there was no such thing as getting your teeth filled. And she had to have teeth out. So he made her come, and he watched her and made notes on how she spoke before and af? ter she had her teeth removed. And he'd ' r First There is margaree windows And now there's Little Brother WINDOWS What's the Difference? Margaree Windows I Lifetime Warranty I Heavy Duty I Competitively Priced I Custom Finish I Superb Quality with 50% More Wood More Information? Little Brother Windows I One Year Warranty I Lightweight I Lowest Price on Market I Custom Finish I Competes with any Window - except Margaree!! margaree p.o.b?xmi windows SytfMy, N.S. BIP 6H7 'J Sou Only Through L • make her read out loud to him, and watch her. (She was one of Dr. Bell's experi? ments.) Yeah. And he'd sort of laugh some? times . (So you grew up right here in Baddeck. Go to school here?) The old Academy. And there was no money. Actually, we were des? perately hard up. I didn't get to go to university or anything. But I had planned to go to be a lawyer--mainly, I suppose, because I liked to talk so much. And in those days we used to have debates, and I loved debating. So that was one thing I thought of. (That you'd be a lawyer. Did you think you'd stay in Baddeck?) I don't remember too much. I know my father didn't want me to go away. I remember him saying that--"You wouldn't leave your mother"-- and all this sort of stuff. So I didn't. Anyhow, there was no possible way I could have, that I know of, really. 'Cause there was no money whatever. Well, it was in the Dirty Thirties when I finished school. (What about working away?) No. Some were going away then. I didn't go. I wasn't en? couraged to; I was encouraged to stay home. My mother wasn't all that wonderfully well, anyhow. I can't remember really wanting very desperately to go. But I remember when I got engaged to George and I was go? ing to get married, my uncle in the States said, if I would put off getting married and go up there, he'd send me to college up there. But I wouldn't think of that then. (How does a woman from Baddeck meet George, a man from Sydney Mines?) Well, his mother and my' Aunt Kate were very good friends, r • ' Second Printing! THE WELL-WATERED GARDEN: The Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton, 1798-1860 by Laurie Stanley The Vtfell-Watered Garden is a thoroughly researched scholarly work, as well as a thoroughly readable account of 19th century Presbyterian Cape Breton. It tells the tale of the enigmatic Rev. Norman MacLeod and the elaborate spiritual drama of the settlers who gathered "to sing the Lord's song in a strange land." Available in local retail outlets. Also available from: University College of Cape Breton Press P.O. Box 5300 Sydney, N.S. B1P6L2 Phone 539-5300, Ext. 146

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