Page 71 - Visit with Will Pringle, Richmond County

ISSUE : Issue 63

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/6/1

like in college and university, and in dif? ferent towns, like Riverport and Spring- hill --afterwards. They figured I was pretty good. And I used to say that I couldn't hold a patch to the ones like my brothers Jack and Weston. They were just--NHL material-- fast and powerful skaters. Jack didn't drink, didn't smoke. Talk about win! (Was it your father's goal to stay here and work the farm? Or did he have another goal, and just ended up with the farm?) Well, he used to say, "I was the only one that stayed home," with the parents. The rest all went to the States and here and there. He stayed home. But out of all those, he lived the longest. The ones that went here and there, they.... Uncle Robert, he was in the mines in Butte, Montana, and he got miner's consumption. He was home here for awhile; he had a nasty, dry cough. That was a surprising story. He was gone for, oh, about 45 or 46 years. Never heard from him, from the time he left. He didn't write or anything. And they thought he was dead. One day my mother was busy doing some housework. And there was a knock at the door. And this, as she said, "A cowboy was there." He had a cowboy hat and chaps. So he said, "Is this where Dan Pringle lives?" And she said, "Yes." He came in and he sat down and he said, "Is he a fer? ryman? Is he home now?" And my mother said, "No, he's over at the Marble with some passengers." "Well," he said, "I won? der, when he comes home, if he would take me across to the Marble." And she said, "Well, I don't know, you'll have to see. Oh," she said, "there he's coming now." The sloop was coming in the harbour. He said, "I'll go down and meet him." So he went down. And Mother looked out and CAPE CARE SERVICES Quality Personal Care ''d. '' ~ AT HOME OR IN HOSPITAL ~ • RN'S RN Supervised • CNA's • Screened • Bonded • Insured ~>v • Home Care Workers • Reasonable Rates FREE IN-HOME ASSESSMENT • ?>ii!Mii=fci.i,yA'gmj.yA'icf'MJd3:?a Q Serving All "N Cape Breton/ 282 George Street • Sydney • 562-2444 Your Sign of Quality DON'T ACCEPT LESS Let our experienced staff help you with all your printing needs SPECIALISTS IN PROCESS COLOR PRINTING 180 Townsend St.. Sydney ' oiyis' 564-8245 Fax:(902)539-2040 539-8666 they were meeting on Willie's Point. And then they came up together, and they had supper. And Uncle Robert asked Pop, "Will you take me across?" And my father said, "No, until I have supper. And you can stay for the night, and I'll take you across next day." But they were having supper, and this man said, "Well, Dan, you don't know your brother." And Mother looked over and they were standing up clasping each other, and holding each other. This is when he said who he was.... Oh, he worked different places. He was in every state of the un? ion, he said. And he married. We now hear from his grandson--Norman Pringle. (But why did he never send a note?) Well, well, well, that's the strange part. (Your father stay the night." Was it common for people to stay the night here?) Oh yes, yes, it was--they would come here. And the ferry to go to the Marble--it'd be too stormy and they'd be here for 2 or 3 days. They'd cut firewood. One fellow leaving, from River Bourgeois, he said, "Well, Mrs. Pringle, I'm sorry to be on you so long." An expression of "to stay."... (Did you charge them to stay the night?) No, no, they didn't charge them to stay the night. (But am I right, this was common that people would stay?) It was common, yes. I re- said to him, "Well, you'll FROM UCCB PRESS The Cape Breton Book of Days, by Pamela Newton. Illustrated by Ellison Robertson $16.00* The Island: New Perspectives on Cape Breton History, 1713-1990, edited by Kenneth Donovan Hardcover $37.45 Softcover $21.35 "And Now The Fields Are Green" A Collection of Coal Mining Songs in Canada, by John O'Donnell $26.70 Birds on a Rock, by Frank Robertson $ 16.00 Cape Breton, a Changing Scene: A Collection of Cape Breton Photographs, 1860-1935, by Owen Fitzgerald Hardcover $26.70 Softcover $16.00 La Fleur du Rosier: Acadian Folk Songs/Chansons folkloriques d'Acadie. Collected by Helen Creighton. Edited by Ronald Labelle $26.70 Cape Breton's Greatest Hits $10.60 Celtic Music of Cape Breton $10.60 TO ORDER DIRECT, PLEASE SEND CHEQUE OR MONEY ORDER TO: UCCB PRESS PO Box5300, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada B1P 6L2 Telephone: (902) 539-5300 Ext: 604 FAX: (902) 562-6949 * ALL TAXES INCLUDED

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