Page 29 - Walter Dugas Revisited: Oxen & Wood

ISSUE : Issue 67

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/8/1

kill the animal for our next winter's meat. Or probably save one hindquar- ter for us. Like that one there, he was heavy for his size. And we'd sell the three other quarters. To help us have our meat and at the same time get a spare dollar to buy our grocer? ies for the winter. (So you'd use this animal for a number of years.) Not too many years. Like, that white-and-black one was about the .longest I kept. And probably I worked with him 5 years--5 or 6 years. And then put him in the pasture and get him good and fat. And in the fall--had to kill him in the fall. (You butchered him.) Yeah. (Did that both? er you at all?) Oh well, it did to a cer? tain extent. That one there, it seems to me I was looking through the window--not that window, because it was the old house that burned. I could see him in the field way out the other side of the arbor there. And I used to say to myself, "My poor ani? mal, you don't know that this is your last day." And I used to have to go, "Come here"--I used to call him Dick--"Come here, Dick." Come right to me right away. Put his halter on, and the reins. And I would take him home walking alongside of me, just like you'd train a little dog, like a dog, walk right alongside of me. Came here, there was a fellow waiting in the yard there between the house and the barn with a rifle. Hit him right here. He never knew what happened. (Just walked up and shot him?) Well, that's what the other guy (did)--the guy that I sold it to or that I hired to butcher. That one there, we didn't kill for ourselves. That white- and-black one there, it was sold. And the guy that bought it from me, he was ped? dling meat on the road. Selling meat. And he bought it. And he told me I'd have to make him good and fat. So I put him in a big pasture I had; the hay was about that long. He was rolling fat. And he was here waiting for me when I came with the ox. Warren Gordon A new pictorial cookbook with photographs by Warren Gordon and recipes collected by Cordon Bleu ChefYvonne LeVert $22.95 (plus taxes and shipping) Gordon Photographic Ltd. 367 Charlotte Street Sydney, Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia BIP lEl • (902) 564-5665 • CaDeBreton went and got him. I came back home, and when I came here, he was waiting for me with the rifle. Just put a bullet right in the front of the head. That was it. But I guess probably the tears came to my eyes, you know. When you're used to working with an animal.... (What made you stop using oxen?) Well, I suppose it's when I started to--I wasn't making any money. I was just barely living. I was living more on carpenter work than I was with the ox. But the ox was a help, you know. Planting potatoes, and doing.... Un? til the time got a little better after the war. And then I started getting jobs. The first job I had was looking after an old Co-op store that was behind the store that's there now. It's down now; it's been torn down. And it was ready to go bank? rupt. And I took it over, with Grade 8. And the reason why I did that is because, when the credit union was started in West Arichat, for awhile they had nobody to look after the books. And I took the books. And there was a MacNeil guy from Antigonish. He was an auditor. And he used to come and visit me every month, and he used to come and audit the books for me every year. And he showed me how to make all the entries in those books, right through for three years. So when they asked me to take the old Co? op- -I had no business education whatsoever. I figured, well, I might be able to do it if I can manage the books. So, to tell you Experience The Delta DiflFerence Sydney's First Class Accommodation At Affordable Rates A Waterfront location, in the heart of Downtown Sydney, adjacent to the City Hall, 3 blocks from Centre 200 Conference and Recreation Centre. '152 Harbourview Guest Rooms. I ' Indoor Pool & Fitness Centre. A Exciting 55' Water Slide. A Continental & Maritime Cuisine. A Children's Menus & Prices, Kids 6 & under EAT FREE. DellaSydney Delta Hotels & Resorts 300 Esplanade, Sydney, N.S. BIP 1A7 (902) 562-7500 ToU Free Reservations Canada 1 800-268-1133 U.SA. 1-800-877-1133

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