Page 57 - Donald Ross - A Poet in Baddeck

ISSUE : Issue 66

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/6/1

she was adopted by a Walker family in Boston. (For such a jolly fellow, you really did not have such great beginnings, as far as family.) And then, coming to a strange place when you're only nine years old. You know, no matter how good they are to you. You miss it. It bothers you. But once I was there a year or so, you know.... But Aunt Mary, she was a very special per? son. All the young people in around used to gather there, you know. Even stormy nights, they'd land over. She used to let them smoke, too! Chuckles. Oh, the tea al? ways went. (You have great feeling for her.) Oh, yes. Yes, I certainly do. She could have got married two or three times, but she had made that promise to her father that she'd look after her brother. And she only lived, I'd say, a year after he died. He lived till he was 62, which was quite old for that type of a person. But she died, oh, about a year later. Of course, she was 72. She was my father's aunt; she was my grand-aunt. I bid my house one last goodby and slowly closed the door. The final parting, it had come I'd see it nevermore; And as I went through the gate I looked for the last time The windows they seemed crying in that little house of mine.... This house that means so much to me I leave against my will; I seem to feel your heartbreak and I know I always will. Our way of life it ends today; the fates they are unkind. That's why the windows seem to cry in that little house of mine.... I went a summer to school at North Gut. But I went to school at South Haven. I Riverside Cleaners Cape Breton's Only Drive-Thru DryCleaning KINGS ROAD • SYDNEY Lowest Drycleaning Prices in Town! The Markland a coastal resort JKel kelax in our luxury log suites and dine on our gourmet food featuring local fish and lamb. JIhrill to the play of light and shadow as they dance over the northern seascape. For reservations m the Maritimes call 1-800-565-0000. Or ask the operator for your toll free Check Inn number. Local phone (902) 383-2246 Cabot Trail, Dingwall, Nova Scotia, BOC IGO, Canada quit school when I got to Fifth Grade. You know, you walked. You've got an idea of the distance from North Gut over to South Gut. Well, we had to walk. I had a friend, Gussie MacAulay--he died here a few years ago. We'd start out; we'd walk--must have been 3 miles, or 4. And it was on the old road. And once December had come, you were following the sleigh track, and the horse track. Well, you missed a lot of time in the wintertime. So, I went to work in the woods when I was 14, myself and my brother Norman. We went to the woods and we cut pulp and hauled it out to the shore. Took the bark off it and sawed it into 4- foot lengths. The Murray was working then-- 1925 and '26. (The Oxford Paper Company at the Murray Road.) They were buying wood along the shore. We took the bark off it and cut it into 4-foot lengths. And piled it 4 feet high and 8 feet long, for the scaler. He came along and he scaled it. Later on into the sum? mer or the fall, they took a boom up (to gather wood on the wa? ter) and you had to pitch that wood in the boom. Six dol? lars a cord. But, when you stop and think, oatmeal was 3 or 4 cents a pound. White beans was around 30 a pound, or 40. A pound of tea. it was either 15 or 20 cents--bulk tea. A gallon of molasses was around 200. You could buy the best of hard, sun-dried codfish for about 30. You could go to the store and get a hundred-pound bag of floor for $2.25. So that six dollars, you MIKE ~ A Variety of Entertainment - • Fiddlers • Bagpipes • Stepdancers • Folk Singers MacDOUGALL From All Over CAPE BRETON ISLAND • Food Concessions Souvenirs MEMORIAL SATURDAY JULY 9, 1994 1:00 P.M. until Dusk If it rains, the festival will be held on the following Saturday. FESTIVAL OUTDOORS! at the Cape Smokey Ski Lodge Ingonish Ferry On the Ski Slope Overlooking Beauti??ul Ingonish Harbour 57

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