Page 18 - John Hart of Port Hood - a Scrapbook

ISSUE : Issue 15

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1976/12/1

Perly W. Smith continued: and a female and we paid 1500 dollars for them. And we bought a third, a female. Came along some time in March when they were having their young, and my partner called me up by phone • said we got a fortune this morning and for me to come right down and have a look at them. And when I got there he had a bucket with 6 fox into it. They had died. And our fortune was gone. John Hart moved his home out from the centre of Port Hood and went into the fox business on a fairly large scale. I used to go out to the gro? cery store and joke with him, all the money he was making. But within a few years the silver fox business had dropped way down in value. I remember the riding rake and I've seen it. He had a track made and a carriage on it and controls so that if anything was to happen it would come to a stop. He used to demonstrate it before the public out there. Take it up to the top of the hill and he'd get onto ito He had a large hat on his head and a big red necktie flying in the wind • and down he'd come at 20-30 mile an hour • and throw a switch and the whole thing would come to a standstill. He was generous. People in want, he'd always help them out. He was honest, very reliable. And he always had a bright idea, looking for a bright future. Alfred Reynolds: He was a friendly typCo Kind of humourous. He got along great with the country people. They liked old Joe Hart and they liked John Hart* One time he bought a homemade violin from an old fellow in Mabou by the name of Sandy Boyle. He used to like to get people playing that*. And he could play a little bit himself. I remember one time in the late 20's, there was a Beaton girl from Mabou Coal Mines came in the store • and she was good at playing scotch music. He handed her the violin and she started playing. And there was another fellow in there • a MacMillan from out the rear. And his ancester was a dancing teacher, and he was called Allan the Dancer. And he started to step-dance. I was at the Post Office and I saw on the road a fellow by the name of John Finn. He'd been running a meat business • had an old meat apron on • and when he heard the music he started right for the store there and he jumped in and he started step-danc? ing. And I was there just taking it all in. Just something that happened right in the country store. And I have that violin today. He sold that store about 1928 and he moved the house from down there to the present site. About a mile. A fellow moved it for him, took the contract. And John Hart's wife was going to take all the dishes out of the cupboard • and the fellow said, "No, you needn't do that. They won't be dis? turbed." He had an old capstan and a team of horses and they laid a track of plank, heavy timbers. They'd anchor the capstan and the horse would walk around and pull; then they'd shift the capstan, make another anchor hole and that's how they took it out. He hauled the house with the dishes in the cupboard • and John Hart slept in it every night on the way out. It was a slow process. He started in December I think , and iso'me time in January the house landed on the foundation. I remember I used to be going to work, used to pass this house on the road. A light in it every night. Later when he had the store up here, some? times things'd be quiet and he'd get up on the counter and lie down • put a bundle of over-alls under his head. And there was a traveller from Antigonish. He was a Mac? Donald from Brook Village and his father moved to Antigonish. He used to call in .<''' .# NEWS '> VCi Q % ' V?? CBITTELEVISION Channels 2,5,7,8,10,12, and 13 in Cape Breton CBC HAS IT ALL CBI RADIO 1140on your Dial in Cape Breton

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