Page 61 - Joe Neil MacNeil: A Talk About Tales

ISSUE : Issue 71

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1996/12/1

no. (But why do you give your energies to it? It's wonderful that you did.) Well, I suppose it was more or less to preserve it, I guess, so it wouldn't be lost. (That's why I started off by saying, what interests me is that you're not trying to put your own mark on these stories, and you're not trying to change the stories. You really seem to want to recapture, as you knew them.) That's why I wouldn't get some more stories down. That's why I couldn't get some more stories set down. Because I wouldn't make any changes. I'd have to remember, to remember as close to what I had heard as possible. There's a few stories that's just floating in the air, and I can't pick them out, but I know of them. I can't seem to find--there's a missing link there, and I can't find that. Without that I can't go. They all end up pretty much the same, any? way. They say the endings are usually the same. They usually start the same and end the same. But it's what's in between, dif? ferent parts that's in between. (What year were you born, Joe?) hearing (stories) around 1912 and '13, '14, around '14, 1914 and '15. Well, when I was 5 years old, of course I was hearing stories--when I was 4 or 5 years old, you can be sure I was hearing them then. (Can you remember being told stories then?) Oh, I can remember hearing stories then. I knew my story when I saw one. I saw stories in books that I remembered hear? ing them when I was only about 5 or 6 years old. (Who would tell you stories at that age?) Oh, the people would be visiting, you know, at that time, a lot of people would come to visit to a house, and they'd tell sto? ries. They were going in for folklore, you were always-- especially a person that couldn't sing. A person that wasn't good to sing wouldn't 1908. I was have songs, wouldn't be singing songs, but he'd be telling stories. While most of the time, the people that were good to sing, they didn't go so much for stories. Al? though some were good to sing, but didn't have many songs, that they wouldn't have but just two or three songs. And they'd go more for the stories. Especially if there was another (person) singing, they'd tell a story. But the Kennedys, now, those Kenne? dys, one of them was good enough to sing. But the rest of them, they weren't much for songs. This Kate, as far as I know, she wasn't anything for songs at all. And nei? ther was Archie, for songs. But all sto? ries. Well, see, they had to do their own. (And she was an older woman when you were 5 and 6 and 7 years old.) Yes, she was old. Of course, she was old before I got acquainted with her and to hear her tell? ing stories, she was getting up in years then. I suppose I was after starting to tell stories myself. The odd time I'd tell a story perhaps at the time, myself. I was breaking in. Well, I'd have to try and tell a story in exchange--I'd have to tell a story to try and get one. To tell a sto? ry, and try and have the benefit of get? ting another one would be useful. But, oh yes, I'm sure that I was only around 5 or Set Your Own Banking Hours with Scotiabanks Telephone Banking Service TeleScotia I • Pay Bills (from your Scotiabank accounts) • Transfer Funds (between your Scotiabank accounts) • Postdate Bill Payments/Funds Transfers • Check your Scotiabank Account Balances • Access Scotia? Excelsior* Funds INFOLINE Bank by phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Visit one of our 8 Cape Breton Scotiabank branches to find out more about TeleScotia. ? Registered Trade-marks of The Bank, of Nova Scotia. • Registered Trade-mark of Montreal Trust Company of Can; Scotia Securities is a licensed user of tliese trade-marks. Scotiabank Island Vinyl Siding Ltd. LeBlanc Siding Ltd. m''''' ', Authorized Dealer for fCAY/lTJ'/XF Aluminum & Vinyl Siding ' Aluminum Windows & Doors 'JCA YUAN Shutters / Softfit / Fascia / Awnings Heavy Duty Vinyl Replacement Windows 109 Reservoir Road SYDNEY Professional installation of Aluminum & Vinyl Siding in Cape Breton for over 22 years. FREE ESTIMATES, and any siding inquiries, Call Collect: BRUCE or SONNY MacPHERSON 539-3665 & 539-4626 61

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