Page 22 - Memories of Lillian Crewe Walsh

ISSUE : Issue 74

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1999/6/1

;''" -C pie, few people along there came and took them, bur? ied them in a com? mon grave or some? thing. Ruth and Audrey 'V*' I be? lieve she wrote a piece of poetry in connection with that story. And then there's the ship that went aflounder out at Gabazrus, where the men were freezing and dying. I think that prompted another poem of hers. There was this ship at Gabarus. Like, you know how rough Gabarus would be now. It came aground there, and it was in the winter? time, I guess drift ice. And fellows were getting washed overboard. And they started in over the ice. Well, all of them froze before they got to shore. But a few got to shore. And there were only a few log cabins along the shore there. And I cruess you wouldn't see a light, vmless it would be a lantern light would be around at that time. But the few that did get in, I think she wrote about that too • another piece of poetry. You could hear the moans and the groEuis. And some people said you could hear this groaning for years later, or they imagined they could hear it. You know, the pepple that were freezing to death on the ice out there. It was the stories I used to like. Ruth: Really, you know, I can picture go? ing down there and sitting in that front 9- 0 45 Motel Units • all with cable T.V. and phones [0 Award-winning kitchen specializing in seafood (Listed 1991-1995 • "Wiiere to eat in Canada") [t/l Children 12 and under stay free with parents %/ Guaranteed rates [0 Gift shop "Only one mile from Fortress Louisbourg" Call Toll Free: 1-800-565-0000 (Check-inn) or (902) 733-2844 Fax (902) 733-3203 Main St., Louisbourg, N.S. BOA iMO HOME OF I _|._ I _ The Best Seafood Menu in Town! Jake's room, and her telling stories one after the other, wouldn't she? She used to tell about an old lady. The war was on. And she used to tell us about this old lady used to say her prayers eve? ry night. And this is true, too. Nelson; This is Neil's Harbour, now. Ruth: She'd say, "God bless this one and that one," in her prayers. And Aunt Lilly would be tell? ing the prayer that this old lady would say. And of course she'd end it up with, "And Lord, you well know, look after those that's over there fighting, because you know as well as I know that they're in a terrible stir-up!" Aunt Lilly used to say that, and take this woman off so plain.... Practically on her deathbed, she recited a poem. The night before she died. And I said, "Aunt Lilly knows, she can recite." "No, I can't." I said, "Now, Aunt Lilly. 'Round the scenes of my childhood....' " And then I started it for her. And she went right through it. She died the next evening. Audrey: And, too, she never bored you with them. Never. She never thought that she was any better than anybody else because she could do this. Never. She was a very humble person. In 1997, at the East Coast Music Awards, Lillian Crewe Walsh's work was honoured with the Stompin' Tom Connors Award "for her exceptional contribution to the music tradition of Atlantic Canada." X' • /-Fortress of / ouisboura #' t National Historic Site CJ June and September 9:30 to 5:00 July and August 9:00 to 7:00 May & October - Limited access For general information: Phone 902-733-2280 or email: Louisbourgjnfo @ pch.gc.ca V i /, Fortress of Louisbourg Volunteers Les Volontaires de la Forteresse de Louisbourg

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