Page 25 - Rose Schwartz of New Waterford

ISSUE : Issue 57

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1991/6/1

school. My daughter Ruth went to McGill. And my daughter Edna--she was the oldest daughter. She was a real wonderful busi? nesswoman. She went to Dalhousie, and she took a business course. And she came back and she said. "Mother. I'm not staying in the office. I'm going to get on the floor. Help you buy, and look after the store. We can get somebody in the office, somebody else." And she was a great, great busi? nesswoman- -great . Selling and buying. She used to go to Montreal, used to do the buying. She was great. I had 4 boys, and my oldest son, Joseph-- he's gone, too, you see. He hated busi? ness. He was so different from Irving, just like day and night. Joseph had noth? ing to do with business. He was just an intellectual. He read every book possible. So, he graduated and he wanted to become a medical man. (You were left a woman with 6 children to raise. Four of them were boys. And you knew that these boys were not going to have a father.) Right. (Did anybody else step in to sort of be their father?) No. Nobody. I wouldn't allow anybody to have anything to do with my children. And they were good children; they didn't give me any trouble. They knew that I had a big responsibility. And the ones that were business-wise, I got them to go for busi? ness. Like Harold, he went to Philadelphia.... (What I mean is, you wanted your boys to grow up as men. But they didn't have a male image.) Oh. You know, I knew that. And I didn't want to make sissies of them. Because I knew that there was no father, and I was the only one. I just sort of made--see that they would be men. (How did you do that?) I really don't know. I used to put them through.... For instance, they'd go and they'd work in the store for awhile, and all that. Isn't that right? Irving: We all slept in one room, the 4 of us, on the third floor. Two beds. And we never had clothing as good as even the miners' kids. We weren't dressed as good as a lot of the miners' kids. Rose: I'll tell you the reason for that was, I didn't want to have the miners' children jealous of the Jewish children, you know. IKE'S GOURMET DELICATESSEN ESTABUSHED SINCE 1950 Your Cheese & Gourmet Shop LARGE VARIETY OF DELI-SANDWICHES • IMPORTED FOODS • CANDY • CHEESES & SMOKED MEATS • FRUIT & CHEESE BASKETS 564-8421 413 Chariotte St. • Sydney It's a terrible thing among children to create the jealousy. And I knew that. So if they wore pit boots, my children wore pit boots. And they were dressed exactly like the miners' kids. And they were very good to me. They were very, very good--the miners were, they were very good people. (You had the boys all sleep together in one room.) On the third floor. When my husband passed away in 19-and-32. I lived in a small apartment. Well, the first few dollars that I made. I said I had to build a home for them. So I went, in 19-and-36. 4 years later. I built my home. Although I was very busy, and I couldn't look after the building or anything. But at that time they were building that first post office in New Waterford. And there was an archi? tect doing that for the government. So I got the same architect to make the speci? fications for the house. And he. as he'd come every day to see the post office that was built according to specifications, he'd come and he'd watch my house, too. at the same time. And he didn't cost me very much--I think it cost me $300. But I knew that my house was well-built. Because I couldn't tell the difference, if it was built one way or another. I remember, before I moved in--you see. he wrote up everything that they had to do. My windows were supposed to be cleaned before I moved into the house. And he went and he noticed that they were not cleaned. He made the carpenters come back and clean all the windows--and I had 36 windows there! (You put the boys up on the third floor. Why?) I had 3 floors. Well you see. the girls, I felt that each one should have a room. And my boys. I didn't want to make any sissies out of them. Just give them a rough time. I never had a soft mattress-- hard mattresses. Because I knew in their future lives, that they sometimes would have to put up with it, and they were able Hertz 24 HOUR SERVICE - 7 DAYS A WEEK 1430 George St. Sydney, N.S. Sydney Airport 539-1538 539-5623 • FAST FRIENDLY SERVICE • FEATURING LATEST MODEL CARS, TRUCKS, & 4'WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLES iMBftzk • LOCAL PICKUP and DELIVERY To Reserve a Car Anywhere In the World CALL TOLL FREE. 1-800-263-0600 The #1 way to rent a car. 25

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