Page 81 - With Jessie Morrison of Cape North - A Cape Breton to Alberta Pioneer

ISSUE : Issue 66

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/6/1

house so that Mother could hear the wind whistling, rustling through the leaves. They were not long-lived, needless to say.... They lived, oh probably a month or six weeks .... But these were the be? ginnings . Understand there were no roads-- nothing, (How did your garden turn out?) Well, Father was so in? terested be? cause he planted po? tatoes. And he said. "No potato bugs in the west." Of course, they're a menace Down East. I re? member my grandfather (in Cape Breton) with it, and Cape Bretoners In Alberta • their "Little Grey Home In the West." Jessie: "And It was built of lumber all by team and wagon from Brooks. The main part was twelve by fourteen feet. And this was the kitchen, bathroom, the din? ing room, the living room. There was a lean-to the east side, ten by twelve. And this was the bedroom for the fa? ther and mother. The upstairs of the main room, of course, was an attic. Be? cause it was a pitch-roofed house, it would lead to the design I described. And this was my boudoir. The main part ??that Is, the twelve by fourteen area • the walls were sealed.... The bedroom was not sealed, and the spaces between (the) studding (was) covered with build? ing paper. In my boudoir, the shingled nails came through, and in the winter each protruding nail was covered with Ice. There were two windows. One on each end • north and south. A steep en? closed stair • like a ladder, really, like a stairway. It was my refuge." Right: Caliholme, Alberta: Neil Morrison built this house In 1929. L. to r.: Anna, Jessie, Wilfred, Mother, Father, Muriel. small pail with kerosene in stick, and hitting the potato bugs off the (plants) in Cape North. But in The West, there were no potato bugs at that time. (My father) planted carrots, probably. (Root vegetables.) That was all. It was very meager because it's new land. And he only had a team of horses. (And this is how he broke the land.) a walking plow. This is how, with Well, of course the great necessity was to get another team of horses. And horses were very expensive. They were in a sense a requirement--the power. Horses would cost around six hundred dollars a team. (That was a lot of money.) Yes, but it was just about average, or a little below av- IHjI'B'UTES Of LO'PE John D. Steele's Sons, Limited MONUMENT CENTRE & DISPLAY 32 William Street 794-2713 NORTH SYDNEY, N. S. (after hours: 794-4411 & 794-3171) • A CAPE BRETON INDUSTRY SINCE 1896 • Education in Your Community University College of Cape Breton Extension and Comniunity Affairs wiU offer a series of university credit courses in select communities in rural Cape Breton during the 1994-95 off-campus program. You can earn university credits in your community. For application and information, contact: University College of Cape Breton Extension and Community Affairs P.O. Box 5300, Sydney, N.S. BIP 6L2 Phone:(902)539-5300 Fax: (902)562-0119 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF CAPE BRETON Extension and Community Affairs

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