Page 45 - A Visit with Clara Buffet, Glace Bay

ISSUE : Issue 68

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1995/6/1

part of it. (You say marching; there must have been other families that were....) Oh, yes, there were quite a few. I know there was D. N. Brodie, who was a print? er.... (D. N. Brodie was a ''''.td C.C.F. Member of the Legis- 4*:'|tr' lature, elected in 1942.) Oh yes, there were a lot of people. They were the mid? dle. They weren't the top. They weren't the clergy and they weren't the doctors and they weren't the lawyers and they weren't the merchants. And they weren't the miners, or the ones that cleaned the streets ror whatever, you see. They were halfway in- between. (And these were the people who had the idealism?) Yeah, the idealists. (Or at least expressed it.) Yeah. Now, there might have been oth? ers, but they didn't want to go against the trend that was. See, you were fighting the church. I don't mean one church--all churches. All churches were against this. This was the wrong thing. You knew--you were born into a certain class and you behaved yourself like that certain fclass. That was the English sys? tem. And to a certain extent--the Highland Scot, of course, didn't have that. He thought he was as good as anybody else-- and better, more than likely.... The Scot is--like the Irish--all the Celts, of course, have this marvellous way of talk? ing, and quoting poetry, and jokes, and all the other things--you think they have so many brains. And it can fool people-- but not necessarily so. Clara laughs. But they were sure they were the chosen peo? ple- -not like yours, not on religious lines, but just because they were so smart and all the rest of it! Oh, my. 'Agnes, Ross, Mother, Dad, Clara • the boy Is Douglas Cameron." (Tell me--you hinted at something, you be? gan to tell me something: one of their goals, that they believed that people could be uplifted through things like reading centres. What did that mean?) Well, they wanted to get, first--I think it was the Y.M.C.A. And have a place where they could come in and be quiet and read. Because they had the awful houses that the coal company built for them first, and most of them were just shacks. And have good reading for them, of whatever they were inter" ested in. And also, to play games, and get to know each other, and fellowship of this kind. And also to--I suppose-- now, I can't say this for sure--but they would have to form a party that was going to fight as far as Parliament was going to go. So then they would enact some laws, (such as) that the mines would be safe.... The amount of accidents in the mine, of course, was horrendous. Even when I went in for nursing, the broken backs that came out of the mine. We always had five or six broken backs in the one ward. Because no? body was really paying attention to (safe? ty) , you see. That wasn't the concern of administration, or even health. You'd feel sorry for them, yes. "It was too bad about Johnny" or "Too bad about Mr. So-and-so." But, you expected that. This is what you ' TAYLOR'S ' DENTURE CLINIC I DENTURES 1 CONSTRUCTED, RELINED & REPAIRED J. B. TAYLOR • LICENSED DENTURIST D.V.A. & Dental Plans Accepted SPECIAL DISCOUNTS FOR SENIORS Registered with "TAPS" (Services for Veterans) MONDAY-FRIDAY: 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. (AFTER HOURS ON REQUEST) 92 Charlotte St., Sydney 564-9111 OPEN 9 to 9 24 Flavours of Ice Cream! Fresh Fruit Sundaes 7 DAYS A WEEK Fresh Baked Goods WHYCOCOMAGH • 756-9042 ON TRANS-CANADA HIGHWAY, ROUTE 105 Gift Certificates I Available J| Nightingale Nursing Services {21 24 hours; 7 days a week service {2 R.N.'s - C.N.A.'s {21 Homemakers & babysitters X {21 Care provided in home or hospital {21 Bonded & insured {21 Reasonable rates FULL TIME R.N. NURSING SUPERVISION Local People Professionally 465-9777 '.'T'ai'''o 562-6274 DARTMOUTH PAX: 469-9250 SYDNEY SERVING ALL CAPE BRETON ISLAND Building Supplies ,,' Makita Power Tools Mason Windows Donat Flamand Windows All Types of Cedar Sidings CGC Gypsum Board Iko Roofing Plywood Peach Tree Steel Door Systems Vinyl Replacement Windows Stanley Entrance Systems Pressure Treated Lumber Cedar Lumber SICO Paints & Stains Kaycan Vinyl Siding Fibreglass Pink Insulation 199 Townsend Street, Sydney 564-5554 45

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