Page 4 - With Evelyn Smith, Wreck Cove

ISSUE : Issue 65

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/1/1

(Isn't that remarkable. She had raised, of course--how many children did she have in all?) Six. And I was the youngest. (Three girls.) And three boys. (Danny'd be the oldest.) Yeah. Kenny was next to Danny, and then Annie Mae. And then Eddie. And then Margaret, Yeah. But I remember--me being the youngest--the rest would go out, maybe. Say there was a milling frolic--and I remember this, espe? cially. There were no children at milling frolics in those days--no little children, you know. It was sort of a grown-up affair. The children that were in the home where the milling frolic was being held, they were there. But you didn't go as a child to a milling frolic at night. So, the rest would go, and I'd be home with Christy, and my mother and father. My father didn't go to milling frolics that much, I don't think, 'Cause he didn't sing,,.. But anjHA'ay, after the rest would leave for the milling, I'd get an old woolen jacket and I'd sit alongside of my mother, and I'd put a chair alongside of her chair, and we'd sing the Gaelic songs. Now she was, I think, singing, helping me with the chorus. And she'd have a lot of fun doing that with me, (And what would you be doing?) Singing the milling songs, and pretending we were having a milling frolic at home, you know. So I have good memories of her. But I still feel badly, that there wasn't more done for her. (You don't feel responsi? ble.) Yes, I do. (At 7 years old you felt responsible?) Not 7. But I was grown up, and she was still an invalid. I can see things today that I would have done much differently, and would have made life more enjoyable for her. (Aren't you hard on yourself,) Yeah, but--that's how it is. (What do you feel you did instead? If I can put it that way.) Oh, it's the things I didn't do, that I should have, that would have made life more pleasant for her. It was bad enough, you know, in those days, to be an invalid. But, because--like Danny said, now, he wanted you to go back, so that--he even felt a bit of that--that he didn't speak enough about our mother when ??you interviewed him that time. *T'****. TOGETHER WE MAKE THE DIFFERENCE Dreams are a part of us, bringing hope and inspiration to our lives. Working together and making responsible choices can help make your dreams a reality. * ? ?? Nova Scotia 'l?l' Department Of ''?'W Health Because our father went overseas (during World War One).,,, She was left with 5 children in a small cot? tage. Just where the hydro is now {No? va Scotia Power, up the Wreck Cove River)--and I don't know where they got this little bungalow or cottage. And she lived there with 5 children and he went overseas. And you know, it wasn't easy to be left with 5 children in those days, (When you say "a little bungalow," was it a house as big as we're in now?) No. No, I don't remem? ber it. But no, according to what I've been told, I don't know if there was an upstairs in it or not,,., I Annie Mae tells about--now, I didn't I know that this happened until our I daughter (Mary) was down last fall and I she said to me--talking about her j (grandmother)--she's now at the age (where she wants to find out more about ??her grandfather and grandmother. And For all your professional photographic needs... ?? Custom Black-and-White Printing • Photo Restoration • Copy Work • Hand Colouring • Print Toning PHOTOGRAPHER GRANT YOUNG 539-8654

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