Page 16 - Memories of Lillian Crewe Walsh

ISSUE : Issue 74

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1999/6/1

The Lady of the Loom A lady sat beside her loom. With yams of every hue; To weave C')e Breton tartan She only chose a few. Gold {(X the golden sunsets Shining bright on the lakes of Bras d'Or, To show God's hand hath lingered To bless Cape Breton's shores. Bl!u;k for the wealth of our coal mines. As she watched the pattern grow. Grey for our Cape Bretcm steel. Then she could understand • Green for our lofty mountains. Her shuttle had been guided Our valleys and our fields. By the Master Weaver's hand. down on them." Imagine! things she'd say. Oh, the funny Audrev Wadman; In one way we adored her. And in another way, we would stop by • it was Thompson's warehouse at the time-- right next to the houses on Brodie Avenue. We would straighten our stockings and we would • "My hair okay?" and all this. We would go in. And she probably would eye a button: "Now you girls are old enough to sew a button on your clothes!" So we'd look at each other as if to say, "Oh, God, wouldn't you know!" But she was sweet; we loved her. WE CAN HELP YOU REALIZE YOUR DREAM OF HOMEOWNERSHIP! FOR A MORTGAGE TO BUY, BUILD OR RENOVATE, SEE THE LOCAL EXPERTS League Savings 8 Mortgage 235 Charlotte St., Sydney, N.S. BIP6H7 Phone:539-8222 'd a / She looked after so many people. She looked after her first husband's parents. And then he died (James Nash), and they died, emd then her first husband's brother lived with her for years and years. She looked after Grandfather and Grandmother (Elizabeth, died at 94, and James Crewe, died in his 70s) • her own parents. And then she looked after a sister. And you could walk in there anytime, and you were as welcome as the flowers in May. And she didn't seem to have euaything to do but sit and talk to you. You know, where most people, well, we'd be • probably have to do work, you know. (It isn't, then, that her house was sloppy. That's not what you're saying.) No. Oh no, no, no. By no meeuis. Everything was in its place. Oh no, no, no, by no means. But at the same time, probably she would say to us, "Well, probably you and Ruth would make a cup of tea for us." Well, before we'd do, we would wash, probably, the butter dish and the sugar dish, and make it nice look? ing, you know. Oh, Aunt Lil would kill me! No, I have no fault with her at all--she's just sweet. One time, she would make a verse on our Christmas present. And I re? member of giving her a pair of panties and making a rhyme of my own. And it said at the bottom, "See! Can't I do it?" And made it rhyme, you know. She would be 84 in July. She was 83 when she passed away. And I really believe it was January 4. It was in '67 that she died. I think one story Ruth likes to tell: she ' The Victorian Order of Nurses | provides a wide array of services VON CANADA which help people manage their health concerns so they can stay active and independent. Cape Breton Metro Area Branch Caring (902) 564-6479 f'' ire MEMBER AGENCY UNITED WAY Ml Water Parks OPEN MAY to SEPT. 12 mi. from Sydney on Hillside Rd. Cafe: Delicious Hot Meals Chicken Fingers * Hamburgers * Pizza Drinks * Light Groceries * Camp Supplies' LOVELY BEACH & DOCK • KIDS' GAMES ROOM TENTINGATRAILER SITES • LAUNDRY/SHOWERS ~ On the Beautiful Mira River ~ Available for Birthday Parties Special Events Special Rates for Groups

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