Page 19 - The Drowning of Murdoch MacDonald

ISSUE : Issue 71

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1996/12/1

remember she just put the bucket down on the table and stood there. Didn't say a word. She just stood there." That's what she told--the only thing she really told me about that. (Somehow I got in my mind that they were picnicking on the shore and had seen it go down. But that doesn't seem consistent with what you're saying.) No, not with what she told me. (Well, that makes more sense out of what other people were tell? ing me.) No, there was nothing about pic? nicking. They could have been out in the fields themselves, I don't know. But she didn't say anything about seeing it. I'm sure she didn't see it. She just remembered them coming and tell? ing her mother. And her putting the bucket on the table, just standing there and not saying a word. I don't know whether they'd have a funeral service. But there was no body to bury. I think that's quite common for people to have that fantasy and belief that they're coming back, if they haven't recovered their body. She didn't ever talk about her sisters dy? ing. The things she told me, quite often they're not consistent with the dates that we have, which--the dates may not be right, I don't know. She did tell me that her sis? ter, she'd been coughing. And her father took her to the doctor one day. And the doctor said she had galloping consumption and she wouldn't live two months. That was the sister that was close to her--Kitty-- one she liked. She was fourteen, I think. I think she died within that time. And then within six months the father drowned too. But somehow the dates don't seem to work out, when I saw them in the.... We have the dates from the book--perhaps I sent them to you. From the Bible, of the deaths. And they don't seem to work out with some of the things she told me. {Earlier in the same interview, Lois Thur? good mentioned "walking the shores," but in a different context. She is talking about Dolena (MacDonald) Thurgood.) But she did talk about the old people. When I asked her questions, she didn't like to answer them, and she didn't want to answer them. She seemed to be annoyed with me. And finally she said to me one day, "You're always asking me about them old people. You want me to tell you about them old people." That's what they used to call them: "them old people." "That's what you want me to tell you about --them old people." She said, "I don't like to think about it. They were such sad times." She said, "They were saints, them old people. But they had such a hard life. They worked all the time and they did noth? ing else." And she said, "I can always re? member them in the spring, walking up and down along the shores, looking for the bod? ies that were lost last winter, to come in--lost at sea, last winter." Our thanks to Marie and Donnie Williams, Westmount, for pro? viding the photograph of Murdoch MacDonald. And to Ranald Thurgood, Ph.D. candidate in Folklore at Memo? rial University of Newfoundland, for sharing part of his ongo? ing study of his family's history. Money is flat and meant to be pUed Scottish Proverb. I A simple message tliat in reality, can sometimes I be very difficult to follow. Tliat's where we can help. I We '11 build a comprehensive financial plan that's I right for you. From reducing your taxes, to wealtli I building mvestments, to retirement planning, a I financial plan to help build you wealtli is key. I Why? Because you're worth more. JInvestors j Group r YOU'RE Worth More. Brad Drover, BSc, RIT Chartered Financial Planner - 562-5000 CONGRATULATIONS TO THE STAFF OF CAPE BRETON'S MAGAZINE FOR 25 HISTORIC YEARS! i fa'Tastv-Tn Featuring... REAL QUALITY ICE CREAM! Variety of HOT FOODS Prepared on the Spot Clams • Haddock Fillets French Fries • Egg Rolls • Hamburgers • Pizza Burgers • • TASTY TREAT • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK: 10 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT 3 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU: Grand Lake Road • Keltic Drive • Sydney River

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