Page 7 - Isabel Bartlett Remembers George

ISSUE : Issue 43

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1986/8/1

to start a Reconstruction Party. This Nel' son MacDonald was the only one that I know of that ran in Nova Scotia. And George went and worked for him at the polls in Sydney Mines that day. And I got quite thrilled that I had met somebody who would do something like that. He was terribly frail, George, oh, terri? bly frail then. The doctor had told him if he didn't get out of the mine, in 3 months he'd be dead. He worked in Princess Mine. (What did he do there?) Is there such a thing as running a donkey engine? It comes to my'mind. That was his job. And he couldn't leave his job because his father had died, and he had to support his mother. There were 6 of them in the family, plus his mother. And at that time, sometimes, all the money he'd get to take home, when the deductions were taken off it, was less than $7 a week. So his one brother went to a farm in Leitches Creek with an uncle. And another brother went to another farm. So George didn't have to feed them. In fact, they helped feed the family, sending them stuff. Oh, he was desperately, desperately poor, when we met, and I was desperately poor. Desperately poor. Really poor. So that when I went to school, I hated to get up to answer a question, 'cause I had the same thing on all week. I only washed it on Friday night. No dryers and things then. Maybe if it was a nice day I could wash it through the week and get it dry for the next day. Oh, dear. Daddy had a store where the post office is *now. And he owned where Peter's shop is, and where Allister Fraser is, he owned all that. He had a store that went kaput in the Depression. You know, giving credit, and went completely out of it. Then he went cutting wood. We had lots of land in Big Hill, St. Ann's. My father ran a lum? ber camp in Big Hill • He was spoiling the men, he was giving them milk for breakfast with their porridge. We used to walk over a mile at night and get a pail of milk, and they had it for breakfast. We-didn't have it for lunch, for dinner or supper. My mother cooked for 30-some men. I washed the dishes. I was 14 then. And when that was over--it was a bad winter--there wasn't enough snow to get the wood out by sleigh, and float it down the brook in the springs So he used a truck--one of the first ones that used a truck. And he went in the hole up to his eyebrows that year, too. (In the mud, or in the money?) Both. It cost so much to get the wood out. But it was interesting. We had a real good time. Oh, a marvellous time. No money, but lots of fun. (Enough to eat?) We had plen? ty to eat when we were in the lumber camp. Probably not what they'd call a balanced diet. No electricity, no ice, nothing like that. Everything practically salt--fish, salt beef. Once in awhile we'd come to town. We were there two months, my sister and I--and my first cousin was helping my mother cooking. We were the only women with 30 men--and I was only 14, my sister was younger. But we got a lot of help with the dishes. (Did you and George marry while he worked in the mine?) No, Because he had all those to support. His father had died. We were going together. We would have been married about two years earlier, I suppose. I only saw him very occasionally, 'cause it was WE HAVE INFORIVIATION ON YOUR PROPERTY - AND YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT IT IS! We have over 20 pieces of information on every number you see on this map, and we have a number on every property in Cape Breton, Richmond, . Victoria, and Inverness Counties. That means we have a number on every property in Cape Breton Island. 15065337 1 15065329 I50653II 15065303 J "15065295 5065287 15065253 15065360 15065402 I5OS54I0 15565963 '5065444 1506 5469 15065477 5065493 15134406 A SERVICE WORTH INVESTIGATING - Land Registration / and Information Service ' Property Mapping and Records Division eyf 66 Wentworth Street, Sydney, N. S. BIP 6T4 CONTROL SYSTEM of concrete monuments for surveying BASE MAPS: Orthophoto for rural areas. Line Maps for cities, town, villages PROPERTY MAPS with boundary information and ownership information REGISTRY ASSISTANCE for government and private users Your Property Is Our Business • Ask Us About It TELEPHONE (902) 539-2011 or (902) 539-2622 An Af-ncy of the Council of. Maritime Premiers '''

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