Page 18 - Alma MacDonald - A War Bride in West Mabou

ISSUE : Issue 73

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1998/6/1

(Laughter.) I'm sure that you could get out and pick a bunch of daisies and get back on the train, and they'd be stopping to pick this fellow up at crossroads or somebody's wife would be there with the driver's lunch can. It was a riot. I remember we came over on a ferry to Port Hawkesbury. We got a meal on the train, and they heated a bottle for John. Anyway, we made it. It took us a full day to come from Halifax and it was night when we landed here in Mabou. Don and his brother John Willie were wait? ing in Mabou, and a crowd of people (were there) to have a look to see what I looked like. (Laughter.) Donald Angus Beaton, he had an old Model T and he was the one that drove us from Mabou to home. I remember he had pljrwood in one of his windows, and we didn't come up the road; we had to come up the side of the hill at Danny Camp? bell's (where Eddy MacNeil lives now). Mud and a lot of snow still then; roads were terrible, all mud. We made it, anyways. I didn't see much of Mabou Quality Cameras Building, corner George & Dorchester Streets. PEOPLE YOU CAN TALK TO. ??1x1' CAMERAS and COMPUTERS THE ONE-STOP MULTIMEDIA STORE le are committed to provide the highest quality I in cameras & computer equipment. Our products ??have the most features available for the best lvalue. The quality commitment also extends to |our photofinishing. Quality Cameras & Accessories • Quality Photo Finishiing • Quality Video Equipment & Supply ??Quality Computer Equipment ra iffififfifiTmarift X Corner of George & / Dorchester Streets 562-3600 at that time. It was late, and the kids were cranky, and Donald Angus was there to drive us down to West Mabou, so I didn't really see anything. We went over the next day to Mabou and we went on a horse-and- truck-wagon, it was. I'll never forget that day, how it rained. We went over to pick our trunks and things up, and Don took us into Mabou to the post office, and the last store on the right-hand side in Mabou, Joe Doyle had it, and Dr. MacNeil was across from there. Dr. MacNeil's wife sent their daughter over to take us over for tea, so we went over there for tea. Oh, the rain was coming down, and I wasn't dressed for it. So Mrs. Hunt, she gave us a raincoat to go home with; we were in to visit because her daughter, a lieutenant, was stationed with Don when he was sta? tioned in Middleton, St. George. It was quite the drive I'm telling you. I had never been on one of those wagons before. We stayed at (an old fellow's); we stayed with him pretty near a year. It was a change of life for him. He was around sev? enty-five years of age, his wife had died years before that. It was like an interfer? ence to his life, you could say. He wasn't used to having things scrubbed, having things clean, changing beds, bathing kids, doing all the things that you do. They had a nice party for me too when I came over--the people around. I got some nice gifts, table clothes, all kinds of things, and money from them. Not that I knew any of them, they were nice. Every? body spoke Gaelic then too. You didn't un? derstand it, but you knew they were talk? ing about you. (Laughter.) Oh yes, you always knew, and I'd be wild. I'd say to Don, "I wonder what they were saying." GILLIS mmeoire ?? BUILDING CENTREI yj'ioii' THAT NEW HOME CALL US FOR AN ESTIMATE FLOOR $ ROOF TRUSSES KINGS ROAD, SYDNEY RIVER 539-0738 IWGDD HOMES ' Complete Home Packages Cottages • Garages Contact Darren Wilcox: 539-0738

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