Page 48 - From Breton Cove and Boston: Conversations with Josie Matheson Bredbury Part 2

ISSUE : Issue 57

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1991/6/1

to do. And splitting the wood--there was a lot--there were a lot of things that Josie had to do. So anyway, that was all right. And I really never hated him; I couldn't say that I hated him. He was my father, and that was it.... My sister Ann, she was sitting (in the outhouse).... We had pushed the knots out of all the holes, and made holes, peek- holes. So she was out there. Papa didn't know that she was smoking, you know. So they had to go outside to do it, you know --hide somewhere. Well anyway, she was having a smoke out in the government house. So Papa went outside. Of course, we had the verandah there at that time, and we used that door an awful lot. And he said, "Josie, Josie." I went out. He said, "Look." Here was poor Annie inside, having her smoke, and here was all this smoke coming out through the holes! Then she came out of there so innocent, you know. And she, walking towards us. That was one time I saw my father laughing real hard! Rhoda Deltwas. Josie's daughter: He was a good storyteller. Oh, he used to keep us with--our eyes would be big and our mouths would be wide open. He'd have to get up and excuse himself--get up and go out in the other room and laugh. Because we were so--you know, watching him. And he couldn't laugh in front of us 'cause these were all stories. Oh, but the tall tales. Belle: He'd line us up on that sofa before bedtime. He'd tell us a Bible story first. We had to have religion no matter what. And then he would tell us ghost stories, so that you would be scared to death. You'd take the lamp, and all the shadows from the lamp going up that stairs. Once your feet were off the floor, you didn't put them back down till daylight. He had method in his madness, you know. Oh, he was something else. Those ghost stories.... During the haymaking I was jumping in the barn and I broke my arm. And I'm coming, walking from the barn into the house. And I broke it here, so it was hanging--you know, it was dragging on the ground. Grandpa met me at the door. "Ah, Thighear- na," he says. He picked me up and he gave me a spanking. Josie: With your arm brok? en! Everybody laughing. Belle: First reac? tion, right? Then Rhoda Urquhart and my NOW AT 229 Kings Road o''r'ik-irrv Motor Cycle Shop 539-7644 • 539-1730 HONDA. Power Equipment WATER PUMPS LAWN I MOWERS GENERATORS • OUTBOAROS SNOWBLOWERS 48 FOURTRAX*300 • Full-time 4-wheel drive Ultra-low first gear for heavy loads • Wide-ratio S-speed transmission wth reverse 282cc single-cylinder air-cooled 4-stroke engine (rRX3004X4 dad rushed me to Baddeck to get a cast... Dr. MacMillan. (But first you got the spanking!) Josie: Yes, she got the spanking. That's the kind of a temper he had. He had a very quick temper, but it was gone. You know. Thank God! We used to jump in the hay, in the winter? time especially. We'd go across on the beams.... And this time we were--the hay was there. And the sheep pen was on the other side of this wall. So anyway--(we kids would) get in the barn. You know, we'd do things that we weren't supposed to do. We weren't supposed to jump in the hay, you know--we'd stamp it down. Well, anyway, we were. Annie disappeared. And we could hear her, muffled, you know. And, "Where in the heck is she?" And we looked all high and low. Well, anyway, we heard the knocking. Between the wall-- between the wall and the hay--she was fal? len down there. She was facing the wall, she wasn't facing the hay. Oh, my God. Well, we couldn't get her out of there. We tried to put a rope down. We tried to put the fork handle down. We tried everything. We couldn't get her up. So we had the good idea to go around and go in the sheep thing. And the sheep door was just a small thing like this for them to go in and out through. So we had to crawl in the sheep-- oh, my God, I'm telling you! And we found out where she was, you know. So we had to take that board out. We got her out of there--hammering. Then Papa was saying, "What was that hammering over in the barn?" Somebody had to come up with a good story! Oh, my God. It was incidents like that, you know, that were happening, and were funny, and scared. No, none of you--you (Belle), and my sister Rhoda are the only two that really got hurt Glace Bay Highway, Sydney, N. S. 'FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT Opening Race Day: May 26,1991 Final Race Day: End of September ( REGULAR RACING SCHEDULE EVERY WEEKENeT) SIX SPECIAL EVENTS: MASCAR Racing Tractor Pulls Monster Trucks Demolition Derbies Stunt Drivers Motorcycle Racing CALL 564-5464

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