Page 18 - Memories of Lillian Crewe Walsh

ISSUE : Issue 74

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1999/6/1

er. 'Cause everybody looked our way, natu? rally, you know.... Nelson BeatonI She looked different though, didn't she? Rutht She did. Very tall. Very tall. And no matter who she met, whether she just met them, or who, when • they were her friends. She probably took them down behind Commercial Street where she lived. Audrey: The only time I remember her sing? ing was the time Aunt Phenie was living with her, and she was cross at something. And so Aunt Lily--she worked in a jewel? lery story in Sydney then • Aunt Phenie did. And Aunt Lil set the table; she put a rose in a vase. And when Aunt Phenie came home, she was still cross with Aunt Lil for something. And Aunt Lily said (sing? ing), "Her neck was like the swan"--she started to sing. And Aunt Phenie couldn't take it any more, she just laughed. (I thought that Lillian wrote songs.) Ruth: No. Her poems were put to music. "The Ghost of Bras d'Or" eucid "Waters of lona" and.... You see, she patented the Cape Breton tar? tan, due to a verse that she wrote: "Gold for the golden sunsets," "Black for the wealth of our coal mines...." So she made the poetry. And Mrs. Wilson Grant, another 0) ''' 0 Lloyd IVlacDonald NISSAN {mm Our 39TH Year 124 KINGS ROAD SYDNEY RIVER Toll Free 1-800-565-9427 20 CAR SHOWROOM old lady, took this piece of poetry and she wove it into a tartan. And that's how the Cape Breton tartan. And Lil didn't ex? ploit that in any way. "Well, if they can make a living on it, all right...." Audrey: When she died we put in her memory the book that • the last book that came out {Calling Cape Breton: The Pride of the Mar? itimes) . I think we had three or four hun? dred dollars of a share of it, we got, and we put it into the books. And sold them. And put her picture into it and everything. Ruth: We had two thousand copies made. (She seems to have had more than just that one book.) Oh, yes. She would have them made up. And we went to Brodie's (a print shop in Glace Bay) one day. And she had four hundred books made up. But emyone that would go to her house, she'd say, "Here's a book for you." Then, she did sell them for one dol? lar. And she never ever sold for profit. It was just that she wanted for people to read her works. That 400 books.... Audrey: I bet you she gave 375 away. She would meet "Come on down, a book. somebody probably in town: ' First thing they'd go with 999 Pathfinder 4x4j'OWitiSTOCK Nelson: This poetry--not the poetry--when she'd tell you how she came to write it: It was about maybe a shipwreck, or it was about some old man she knew when she was a kid or something, and she'd put the whole thing. It was much more interesting then. You had the story, and then you got the piece. Too bad the stories weren't under? neath the piece of poetry. Audrey: And it wasn't that she was a good writer or anything. Ruth: She wasn't a good writer. Audrey: Anything, it could be in the back of a scribbler, or it could be on where she was keeping score for a game of cards. You know, there'd be little jot? ting down, dif- r While ir czArue's gifts 131 Commercial Street - Glace Bay - 849-1086 4535 Main Street - Louisbourg - 733-3100 Tourists and Visitors • You must come in • You'll be pleasantly surprised! Framed Art • Local Music • Nautical Gifts Souvenirs • Crafts • Leisure Clothing Books and Novels • Collectibles GIFTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS ''dlt''"?:..Patriot Cafe '??*"''"gcapebreton raiLiui Vjaic -Kate's Ice Crea A MADE ferent things she'd think of. Or if she gave you a gift. Or what she has known, herself. Like "The China Closet." And "The Boy Who Didn't Grade." "Aunt Martha's Washing Tub." It's things that she had lived. Ruth: And "The Little Alder Twig." Audrey: See, the first time that she was introduced to the 18

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