Page 8 - With Evelyn Smith, Wreck Cove

ISSUE : Issue 65

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/1/1

On the steps of the family home Sandy MacDermid renovated • the house that burned. told?) I remember the story Christy told about one family--a woman that you inter? viewed, I don't know if that woman told you that her father and mother were separ? ated? I guess not. They lived in the States, her father and mother, and the family. There were the three daughters. No sons. And apparently he was an alcoholic, I guess, or very heavy on the booze. So they came to the parting of ways. And I guess they were pretty destitute. (And this woman's mother) brought the three children home to Murray. And I be? lieve she moved in with her father at that 25% of the heat sneaked out of the basement. Then came True Wall. basement wall gypsum board true wall thermal-strap plywood floor concrete floor tnje wall thennal-strap wood strapping True Wall insulation covered tlie basement in one quick day and cut the heating bill overnight. You don't need costly studs to put it up, just nails and strapping. Put it on the walls, on the floor, all over. Don't be the victim of sneaky heat. '' Truefoam AVAIUBLE AT YOUR LOCAL BUILDING SUPPLY DEALER time--either her father or her uncle. And then the mother started the boarding house. And she ran the boarding house. And the children then were I don't know how old--oh, I guess maybe 8, 10, and 12--or, I don't know, really. But anyway, this day they were down there. There'd be boats coming in for the pulp. And this day they went down to the wharf, or wherever they were loading the pulp. And there was a boat in, and they looked, and who was on the deck but their father. And I think one of them knew the father--! think it was the oldest, maybe. But the others didn't. But anyway, he came. He came off the boat. He had intended to come. And he'd talked things over with the mother, I guess, and made an arrangement that they wouldn't go back together as a married couple, but he was allowed to stay there. And he became sort of a handyman or a janitor, in the boarding house. And I don't think he drank after that, at all. He was from down Cape North or somewhere. Bay St. Lawrence--he was from down there. But it seemed so strange after--I don't know how many years that they hadn't seen their father. That was one of the stories that Aunt Chris? ty used to tell us that we thought was quite exciting, too, you know--the girls going down to the wharf and seeing their father. (And these are not what we thing of as sgeu- lachd, or old tales.) No, no. They're actu? al stories. Oh yeah, they are. (Kind of his? tories, little histories.) Yeah. And she had another story about him, too. He was inclined to be lazy, I guess, the father was. The mother was a great worker-- but he was a little bit on the slow side. And Christy worked hard there. She'd get up at 5 o'clock in the morning, and set loaf bread. Because you had to bake all the bread then, for all those men, you know. I don't know how many cooks there were. But Christy, anjrway, used to get up at 5 in the morning and get a batch of bread going. And he'd be telling how hard, you know, how hard they were working, this fellow.... EVELYN SMITH CONTINUES ON PAGE 59 The first choice for fine food and lodging on the Cabot Trail The Normaway is proud to be able to share a part of Cape Breton's culture. Enjoy traditional music, nightly films, a choice selection of Cape Breton books and records, traditional Cape Breton entertainment most spring and fall weekends. You don't have to be a 'est of the Inn to enjoy a Normaway evening. Dinner served from 6 to 9 p.m., June 15 to October 15. Reservations suggested. THE NORMAWAY INN 902-248-2987 or 1-800-565-9463 P.O. Box 142, Margaree Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada BOE 2C0

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