Page 62 - With Evelyn Smith, Wreck Cove

ISSUE : Issue 65

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/1/1

log chain, you know, pulling in the logs. My two brothers and my father. And then maybe he'd have a man working with him, too--maybe there'd be four of them. And besides that, he'd build furniture in the wintertime, on stormy days. Over in what we called the garage, which was a garage with a workshop--he built that him? self. The garage for the car was on the first floor. Then you'd go up. and there was a workshop upstairs. And in those days, there was nothing electrical. There was no electricity here at all. And he worked with oak. And you know what oak is like. It's the hardest wood to work with. It's not like pine, it's not as soft. And he made beautiful furniture. I think he made six dining-room chairs for our dining room up home, with leather covers. I can still picture them--they were burned in the house. And he made china cabinets and he made writing desks and--you know, with what he had to work with. But he really enjoyed that. He loved to work with wood. So he was really a hard worker. - And he was a good father, too. Apart from Yo BUSINESS DREAM! ou provide the talent and we'll provide the tools. At ACOAIECBC, we have a variety of programs designed to help you build your business dream. If that dream is to: • start a new enterprise • expand an existing one • develop new markets, the Corporation's unique assistance programs and the Action Program of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) are ready to work in partnership with you to reach those goals. Whether you are in agriculture, forestry, small business, fisheries, tourism or craft development, we want to hear your ideas for our Island's future. Call our toll-free number or drop by our office. Let us put your talent to workl Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency ??' Cape Breton wster Street, Sydney, N. ??int Street. Port Hawkesbury Ug his drinking, you know. When he was drink? ing, he was a different person. Wasn't the kind of a person that was real happy when he was drinking. No, he could be the other way. But--and he was awfully good to my mother, all those years that she was an invalid. Never would he say anything to her but he--he was really good to her. And good to the family, too. And then, what's great about it, when he was in his--I suppose he was in his 60's before, all of a sudden, no more drinking. (Oh, it was that late?) I would say he was in his 60's. I would think. (What made the change? Any idea?) Well, he says himself, he got it from the Lord, that he--no crav? ing, nothing. He liked A.A.--he used to go to A.A. meetings. But he didn't continue, and he wasn't a member of A.A. But he agreed with what they were doing, and he really appreciated that. But once he quit--and he had told us so many times before that, you know, that he was going to quit, but.... But all of a sudden, that was it. It was all over. And he said he never craved, and he didn't want any credit for it, he said. It wasn't him but the Lord--that he just--prayed and prayed, I guess, that he would--would get over his drinking problem and he did. And most of--I'm afraid, all of us in the fam? ily, excepting Eddie. He told that story himself afterwards. I know that I think I had given up. I wasn't that old. And as a child, you know, after he'd go on one of his drinking bouts, he'd have me come up in his room, and he was sick and he was nervous. And I felt so bad, and he felt bad. And I don't know if he'd promise not to drink again, but I would think that he wasn't going to. And then he would. And it had come to the point where, I guess--he said himself that everyone but Eddie had giv? en up on him. And that Eddie said to him, "No, I'll nev? er give up on you. I think you're going to conquer it." Or words to that ef? fect. And he said that really helped a lot. You know, if you have one per? son that be? lieves in you. But we were thankful that , , he had those I BAR & EATERY I 233 Esplanade • 562-7646 An Historic Setting Overlooking the Harbour

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