Page 6 - With Ida Mauger of Cap La Ronde

ISSUE : Issue 71

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1996/12/1

that this was during World War Two.) Oh yes, there were a number of farms he'd have to take care of, besides our own, you know.... They paid him a very small wage, but every dollar counted at that time. Therefore, he planted the hundred barrels of seed. And it was I who cut them, at different periods of time. I cut all those seeds for all those people. And I knew, let me tell you, I knew how to cut them. And I could go pretty fast at it. And I would take a potato, and a sharp knife. And I would cut around that seed deep enough to allow it to grow the root. And to be sure not to make it like a cookie-- you know what I mean. It would be no good that way. It had to have a bit of the po? tato with it. Because there's where the root came from this eye, from the potato. And every one of that seed--they call them seed--put in the drills, when they opened the drills with the horse. They put them that far apart. And cover them--put the =<70= SUPERIOR OPTICAL LIMITED COMPLETE OPTICAL SERVICE Owned & Operated /' JAMES DEAN f' Optician Shirley Sparling Optician Wed-Thurs~Fri: 10 am • ?? d pm S64-8486 2nd Pair FREE "'dS" Until April, we're in the freestanding building beside KFC, above Zellers. After April, you'll find us in the Sydney Shopping Centre fertilizer under, cover them. Then they grew up. And in the fall of that year, they dug hundreds of barrels of potatoes. It was wonderful how they used to live. Off of the seed--all these little seed. Granted, there were others besides. But that is what I cut, in one spring, one hundred barrels of the big potato, you know. (And) we didn't throw the pieces away. We used to grow pigs and we used to feed (them)--cook them and feed them to the pigs. And we had all the pork and ham and everything we wanted for our winter. We used to get the ham smoked. They used to cut the sides to make the bacon. We lived then. We didn't have to pay, but we lived. And we lived pretty well. We would grow our own pork and ham. And we would raise our own veals. And we would raise our own cattle. And we would butcher our own stock in the fall. All on the farm. That's why it was so easy to live then. It wasn't easy to live, on your body--you had to work. Now you go and buy everything and don't work--you work for it, whatever you're doing, of course, that's for sure. But I mean manual labour, like we used to work. We worked hard. Sometimes I often wonder, how is it that I'm living today. I have worked up till two o'clock in the morning, working, helping my husband. We worked together. We worked hard together. I miss him so much. Ida weeps. (I'm sure you do, dear. And did yoxl work with your husband? Or did you work mostly in the house?) Well Your Ideas ... Our Programs Letts Get TbW3RK At Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation, we know chat you and your ideas are our best resources. We have the tools to help you put your ideas to work. Whether your interest lies in the traditional industries or in a high-tech related business, we can and will help. It is time to combine your ideas and desire to accomplish something here at home with the resources at ECBC. Make your move, and with our assis -tance, make your mark on our area. Let's become partners for progress! Enterprise ''' '''' *'''"- ''' '' ''''' help, contact.. . Cape Breton Corporation Sydney: Commerce Tower, 4th Floor, 15 Dorchester Street, Sydney, N.S. BIP ST7 Tel: (902) 564-3600 (Bilingual service available) • TTY: (902) 564-3962 (Tekcommunimtims Device for Port Hawkesbtay: 32 Paint Street, Port Hawkesbury Light Industrial Park, N.S. B0E2V0 TeL (902) 625-3111 TollFree in N.S. andP.E.1.1-800-705-3926 I worked, not exactly with my husband. I went to help out, when he needed a little.... Look, we used to have --when my husband used to have people working for him, by the day, he'd have as high as 5 or 6 people on. Some? body had to be in the house to cook for them, and feed them. Some of them would come before breakfast. They'd start at 7 o'clock in the morn? ing. They'd work till 7 o'clock at night, sometimes. And have a lunch in the after? noon, dinner at 11, lunch at 3, supper then at nighttime. But someone had to be in the house to cook for this crowd of people. A great big table, two tables sometimes.

Cape Breton's Magazine