What is your first name?

Marion.

Mostly I am just interested in your memories of growing up in this community and how things have changed over the years.

Like I told you, I grew up in Southville. I came out here when I was 13.

What year were you born?

1928.

And what were your parents names? Your Dad's name?

My mother was Annie Cromwell from Southville. She was a single mother when I was born.

And did you have brothers and sisters?

I had one brother, but he died when he was 17, and I had another sister. And when my mother got married, she had, I have 5 sister.

So were you your mother's first child, then?

No. I was her second.

And how old was your mother when you were born? Do you have any idea?

I don't know. She must have been in her early teens.

Very young, then.

Yes, very young.

Were there many black families in Southville?

Yes, there were quite a few families in Southville, they were mostly Cromwell's and Brights.

Did you tell me your Mom's full name?

Annie Cromwell.

And so you lived in Southville until you were 13 years old.

Yes, my Aunt Annie and Uncle Joe brought me up like from when I was 2. Cause my mother went to work.

So where did your Mother work?

She worked in Digby at the Myrtle House.

And were you aware that your Mom was your Mom, or did you grow up thinking that your Aunt and Uncle were your parents?

No, I was aware that my Mom was my Mom.

So you went to school in Southville?

Yes, I went to school in Danvers, until I graded to Grade 9.

What was that school like?

Oh, it was great.

Can you remember what it looked like, the school itself?

It was just a little wooden schoolhouse, just one room. And like, we had outside toilets, one for the boys and one for the girls. And it was really nice. We had good teachers, of course. Because I think they were all teachers that went to college.

Can you remember a favorite teacher?

Well, we had a teacher, I think her name was Nellie Lewis and another teacher, and I can't remember her name. But my last teacher was Bessie Sabean. And she is married to Dan Hankinson.

Is she still alive?

Yes, she lives here in Weymouth.

Ever see her at all?

Oh yes. I see her often, because we belong to the same garden club. Historical club.

You went to Grade 9?

I graded to Grade 9 in Danvers, then I came out to Weymouth Falls here to live with my mother. Then I went to Weymouth School, the school is tore down now. I think it was situated where the old recording office use to be, in that area. That was the school I went to. We called it Weymouth High School, I don't know just what they called it.

You were young to be in High School?

I turned 14, I was 13, because my birthday is in October, so I think I was 13 when I was in Grade 9, then I turned 14 in October.

You're a smart girl!

I was pretty smart.

What do you remember about school in Danvers? How would you get to your school from your home?

We walked.

How long a walk was that?

Oh, it was maybe about 15 minutes, because we use to come home to our lunch. Except in the winter. In the winter we took our lunch, of course.

And when you came home after school, did you have chores you had to do?

Yeh. We had chores. I use to have to wash the dishes, lug in wood. And she use to teach me how to make the beds. On Saturdays I use to dust and all that stuff, she taught me a lot.

And what kind of work did your Uncle do?

He had a farm. He had pigs, and oxen, and a cow. And he cut logs and pulpwood in the woods.

Did he have his own woodlot?

Yes, he had his own woodlot.

Do you remember who he would have sold that wood to?

I don't know way back then who they sold their wood to way back when I was just young.

Do you know if it was sold for pulp or for lumber?

No, I'm not sure.

In addition to his animals, did he grow things on this farm?

Yes. Vegetables. And Aunt Annie, she helped him.

How was Aunt Annie related to you. Was she your Mother's ………..

She was my Mother's mother's sister.

Ok. She was your Mother's aunt.

Yes, she was my mother's aunt, so she would be my great Aunt.

Was she an older woman when she was bringing you up?

Well, we thought she was.

Probably in her '40's!

Yes, probably in her '40's!

When you were a little girl, what was your favorite holiday?

Oh, probably Christmas. Probably Christmas and Easter.

What are your memories of Christmas?

Oh, it was great. We had lots of everything. It was great.

Would you get toys for Christmas.

You know, I can't remember too much about toys back in those days, but we must have gotten toys. I know we had lots of oranges, grapes and figs. I can remember figs, because you don't see figs now. And then she use to cook and we had all sorts of cakes and donuts.

All the treats.

Yes, all the treats.

How often would your mother get home from Digby to visit you when you were a little girl?

I'm not sure how often she got to visit me, but I remember her well.

And what were summers like for you?

Oh, the summers were great.

What would you do for fun?

Oh, go swimming and I use to go fishing with Aunt Annie down to the brook, and we use to catch fish called hornpotes. They were little fish with kind of like horns, and you'd have to skin them. You'd have to take the skin off them and we'd eat them.

What would you use for bait, just a worm or something?

Worm. Just a worm.

That was just like a little brook you fished from?

Yeh, it was a little brook down in back of the house. Yeh, summers were good.

Would your Aunt Annie do much in the way of preserving?

Yes, she preserved and pickled, salted cucumbers, and cabbage, and in the winter they had like a root cellar, and put turnips and everything would be in that cellar for winter. And then they use to be a peddler came by, I think his name was Luke something, and that's where they bought a lot of stuff off his big truck.

Really. What kind of things would they buy from him?

Well probably just food. Cause we'd always get the candy. I think he came once a week. And they must have bought bags of sugar and all that stuff out to Weymouth, cause we had all that stored up for winter.

But there wasn't a local store in Southville?

There was one store back there called Will Steel. Yeh, he had a store up in Southville.

What do you remember about that store? What did it look like?

I can remember going up there with Aunt Annie to that store. He had the store in the front and him and his wife use to live in the back. I think they sold everything in that store too.

Would your Aunt buy much from the catalogue?

I can't remember her buying too much from the catalogue. But that must have been where she got our shoes and stuff because we always got new shoes on Easter. But she must have bought things out of the catalogue.

What church did you go to when you grew up?

The Catholic Church.

In Southville?

Yes, but they didn't have a Catholic Church in there when I was just real little. We use to come to Weymouth, then they built the church back there. I just forget what year it was. But, when I was just a little tiny thing we use to come to Weymouth to church.

That's quite a ways.! Did you come every Sunday?

No, I don't think so.

So what do you remember about Sundays when you were growing up. I am wondering how important your religion was to you.

Oh well, when we got our church in Southville, we went to church every Sunday. Every Sunday we'd go to church.

I grew up a Catholic, and I went to a Catholic School and we had catechism classes in school, where did you learn about religious studies?

Oh, we had our Catechism , because it use to be the Comeau sisters, and one of them was a nun. I can't remember if we went up to their house or at the church. I can't remember now. But we use to go to Catechism. We were true Catholics.

What do you remember about your first Communion?

I can remember my first Communion too. I can't remember who the Priest was, though. But I can remember getting dressed all in white, having a veil and all that. And Confirmation, too.

So, when you moved to Weymouth, you were just starting high school, do you remember much about how you felt about moving from that community of Southville to here?

Yeh. Well, my Aunt Annie, she didn't want me to move, but my Mother's husband was in the service and he was over in Germany, and apparently she was getting some money for me, so she wanted me to come out and live with her so she could, whatever……………..But my Aunt Annie didn't want me to come because she loved me so dearly. But I did. It took awhile for me to get adjusted, living here. But it worked out o.k.

How often would you get back to see your Aunt Annie?

Oh, I'd go back every Sunday. Went back to church.

When you moved here to live with your mother, did your mother have other children?

Yes she did. She had three girls.

Did that mean a lot more work for you?

Yes, I use to babysit them while she went to work. She did housework down in Weymouth, so I was the big sister. But we got along good, they liked having an older sister.

How far did you go in school?

I went to Grade 10. I took Grade 9 and 10. My Aunt Annie got sick, and I had to leave school and go back and help her. Then I went back to school again. But I didn't grade from Grade 10 to Grade 11.

How did you feel about leaving school to go and look after your Aunt?

Oh, I wanted to go.

And did she get well?

Yes, she got well.

As a young girl, what were your expectations of what you wanted to do when you grew up?

Well, I wanted to be a school teacher. Some of the girls that was going to Weymouth school, we walked every morning.

From Weymouth Falls?

Yes. And I wanted to be a school teacher, but it didn't happen. Cause I left school and went to Bridgetown and went to work. You know how when you're young, you do silly things. I was sorry afterwards, but that's what I wanted to do and my mother just let me go.

When you moved to Weymouth Falls, where did you live?

Well, the house is there right now. Where you see the Church of England church over here, my mother's house is right there, right down the hill. She built that house. She had that house built while her husband was overseas. Because, before that she was just living in somebody elses house. So she built that.

So for you to walk from there to school, how long would that have taken you?

Well, it must have tooken us an hour, I would think. There was no cars then. There was just one person on this road that had a car and that was Venom Jarvis, and he has a daughter Vesta Jarvis that was going to school also. She was much older so she had her license to drive. Once in a while, once in a blue moon she'd get the car and we'd get a drive to school, and that would be a treat!

What was your favorite subject while you were at school?

Gee, what was my favorite subject. I can't remember. Use to teach us French, I liked French. I was pretty good at the French. I think I liked all my subjects.

When you were here as a young girl, was Weymouth Falls primarily a black community?

Yes.

When you went to school in Weymouth, I suppose it was a mixed class, was it?

Yeh.

Were you aware of racial differences as a young person?

No, I wasn't. We never was aware of that. We were just like one big family. And I wasn't aware of anything like that in my younger days.

Well that's good!

Yes, it is.

Do you remember why you decided to leave school, after you came back from taking care of Aunt Annie? Was it because you got offered a job or……..

No. I just wanted to go to work, I guess. Some of the girls were up in Bridgetown working in the apple factory and I just wanted to go. I thought I wanted to go too.

So how did you get from here to Bridgetown?

On the bus.

And you would have been about how old at that time?

I wasn't very old, I must have been 15. I wasn't very old.

What year would this have been? About '43 or so?

No it must have been more than '43, I'm 72 now, it must have been '44 when I came out here.

Anyway, it would be '43 or '44. And how did that work. You moved to Bridgetown and did you find a place to live?

Yes, there was boarding houses. I went to live with this little lady - we called her Aunt Lil and she had a husband named Amos. I had a good boarding place and I loved working in the factory.

What kind of work did you do?

We did apples. Like you put them on the machine, and the machine peeled them, then they came down, somebody else chopped them up. It was called the apple factory. Now what did they do with them apples? They must have canned them. And they probably made apple juice and all that stuff. Called Graves' Apple Factory.

Do you remember what your salary was?

I can't remember what the salary was, but I know that we paid $7.00 a week for our board.

Wow! That was a lot!

Yes. $7.00 a week board. But I can't remember how much they paid us to work.

Was that seasonal work?

Now I can't remember if that was seasonal work or not. Seems to me I worked there a long time.

Were there other girls from here staying with Aunt Lil and Uncle Amos?

No, there was somebody else boarding there, but I can't remember who it was. But they weren't from Weymouth. But some of the girls from Weymouth worked up there in the Factory before I went. Like Dorothy and these girls, because they are much older than me. They worked in Bridgetown factory before I ever went. So that's how I heard about the factory.

So your job would be standing in a line with other girls?

We had a machine. We put the apples on, you were sitting down, and you put the apples on, the machine peels them and they drop down and it records how many you do. So we got paid by how many we did. Then the girls at the table, they would clip the apples that had skins left on them or something. Our machine cored them and peeled them, then they'd have to take any skin that was left on them, they'd go on down the belt, and they must have got chopped up. I can't remember.

Was it like one of those little machines you see now - you clamp it to the table and you turn the little handle and the blade slices the skin off?

No. No. It was run by electricity. Cause we just put the apples in and the apples would go down and fall and the machine would come back again. You had to be pretty fast.

So how long did you do that job, you said you thought it was quite awhile.

I was up there a couple of years, I'm sure.

How often would you get home?

Oh, I didn't come home too often, but when I come home, like the trains were running then too.

And where would you get off the train?

Down in Weymouth.

So, you were a teenager then in Bridgetown. Do you remember what you would do for fun?

Oh, let me see now. We'd go to the movies and we'd go visit some houses, sit around the houses………….

Did you have a favorite screen star?

No, not really. And then we had concerts. There was a lady up there that use to have concerts. We'd get in the concerts and get on the stage and sing and all that stuff.

Would people pay to come to the concerts?]

Oh yes.

What kinds of things would you sing?

I remember singing 'You are my Sunshine' with another guy on the stage. He was just short like me and we sang that song.

You mentioned those machines being powered by electricity. I meant to ask you when you were a little girl, did your Aunt Annie have electricity at her house?

No. There was no electricity. They had these lamps, these big lamps. They had nice lights - and then oil lamps too. We had a pump to pump the water in the house. No, there was no electricity back then.

How would they heat the house?

Oh, they had a nice big stove in the livingroom and a woodstove in the kitchen and in the winter that stove just gave all kinds of heat. They'd put a big old block in it at night and bank it , like shut off the draft, and in the morning all you'd have to do is open it up, and out would come the heat. Because they had all kinds of wood.

Where would you sleep in that house?

Upstairs in the bedroom. And they had a little hole cut in the ceiling so the heat would go up.

So it wasn't too cold upstair.

No. All kinds of bedclothes you know. They made quilts and all that stuff.

Nice and cozy.

Yes, nice and cozy.

What would your Aunt Annie do in the course of her workday? What was her routine like as a woman in the '30's.

Oh, let me see. She sewed a lot. Made quilts and she use to make all my dresses. She was a beautiful dressmaker.

Did she have a sewing machine?

Yes, she had a sewing machine.

Would she sew for other people at all?

Yes, I think she did. I think she sewed for other people too.

And how much of the farm work would she have done?

Oh, she use to work on the farm too. I can remember like in October, when you have to dig the potatoes and stuff, she'd be out there helping. And I'd be out there helping too. I picked up the potatoes and put them in the bucket and put them in the bag. And then we use to tramp the hay. We use to cut the hay and put it in the big hay thing, and we'd get on there and tramp, me and some more of the children.

How much of what they grew was for their own use?

Oh, most of it.

So they wouldn't barter for their vegetables.

No. No.

Some people mentioned the fishermen from the Neck and Islands coming over here with dried and salted fish, and they would trade for vegetables. Were your Aunt and Uncle involved in any of that?

I can't remember that.

Maybe they were a little far back. So you grew up with the surname Cromwell. And now you're a Clements, which means that you got married at some point.

Yes, I met my husband in Bridgetown.

What do you remember about meeting him?

Oh, I met him. He was in the service so he came home on furlough and that's where I met him.

Was he overseas during the war?

No. Not the first war. He was over in Germany in '51. He was just young too.

Now what was his name?

His name was Lorne Clements.

And where was he from?

Bridgetown.

Do you remember the actual first time you met him?

Yes. At the factory, because his mother worked there too. Mrs. Clements. And he came to see his mother, and I saw him there.

And he caught your eye.

Or I caught his eye, or something.

So how old were you when you were married?

I was married when I was 17.

And where were you married?

Right here in Weymouth Falls. I was married in the Baptist Church. I didn't get married in the Catholic Church. But we got married over again in Halifax after he came back. He was in the service and we got married over again up there so I could go back to my church, and the children all could be Catholic. But we got married in the Baptist down here.

Who was there that day?

Oh, my gosh, the church was just full of people. You wouldn't believe it! All the people from Southville and all around.

Nice! Because you know, almost everybody we've talked to they just say oh, we had a very little wedding with just my parents and, I thought when did this tradition of larger weddings start? But you had a big wedding.

We had a big wedding and it was just about the time that everybody was coming back from overseas and we had the reception in the Baptist hall down here, next to Sam Langford's school. That's where we had the reception. And it was pretty good.

How old was Lorne when you got married?

He was two years older than I was. So he was 19.

And what year was that?

That was 1947. September.

So he went overseas after you were married?

Yes. When he first joined the service, he kind of lied about his age so he wasn't old enough to go overseas when he first got in the service, some kind ………But he went overseas in 1951.

And why didn't you go?

At that time they weren't sending the wives. He went over to Germany for a year, they weren't sending the wives then. But before that they were, because I knew some ladies that went.

How did you feel about that?

I didn't mind.

Where did you live when he was in Germany?

When he went to Germany, when he went in the service the second time, because he had got out and got back in again, I moved from Bridgetown and I was right here in this house. I built this house from scratch. I was living in this house when he went, but it wasn't finished.

Did you have children at that time?

Yes, I had - because we were married in '47, so he got out of the service and he got back in again after awhile, I had five children when he went in '51. Yes, I did, when he went in '51.

My goodness, you were busy and young to have a big family. What was Lorne's trade?

Well, when he got out the service, he went on the railroad because he had a brother that was on the railroad. Porter, he went Porter on the railroad.

On CNR?

Yes, on CNR.

So he travelled a fair bit then through most of your early married life.

Yes. When he came back from Germany, we went to Halifax and lived up there for three years in PMQ's, in the army, and then after awhile he decided to get out the service again and we moved back here and he worked for Nova Scotia Power for awhile when they were building the dam down here. And then he got a job on the railroad.

And did he do that for the most of the rest of his working life?

Yes. And we moved to Truro. We went to Truro in 1972, came home in 1978.

And what happened to the house while you were gone?

It just stayed here and kind of went down a little bit.

You didn't rent it or anything?

No.

So you have lived in various communities. Which was your favorite?

I loved Truro. I really did.

Now why did you like Truro?

I don't know. I just loved Truro.

It's right in the center of things, for one thing.

I loved Halifax too. We lived in Windsor Park down in the army barracks.

Certainly you were busy raising your family. Did you ever work outside the home after you were married?

I always had somebody with me when I was raising my family. I did work in Truro at a plastic plant. I worked there for awhile. I finally convinced my husband to agree for me to go to work. I liked it.

Why do you think he didn't want you to work? He didn't want me to go to work. He just thought that maybe I couldn't handle it. And when I first went I was sore. My legs were so sore, but I didn't let on. And after awhile, I got used to it.

Nice to have a little extra income. A little independence. At what point did electricity come to these communities?

Let me see. I can't remember when they put electricity through here. I probably was in Bridgetown living, because after I got married I went back to Bridgetown.

You went back to Bridgetown?

Yes, we went to Bridgetown.

Where did you live when you were first married?

When I got married, we went to Bridgetown.

And did you live with Lorne's parents?

No, Lorne's father built us a little house. Yeh, he built us a nice little house, like a little bungalow. They had electricity up there. But I think it must have been during that time that electricity came down here.

Do you remember, back to when you were a little girl. When you got sick, did your Aunt Annie have any home remedies that she would use?

Yes.

Do you remember some of those?

When we use to get colds, course she always gave us scotch emulsion and we always had to take this every morning for to keep us healthy and cod liver oil. And if we got sick we have to take ginger tea, and I remember that, cause I had some of that last week when I had a cold, I made some up. And Minards' Liniment with molasses on it, and she use to take children to look after them too, I remember putting something on their chest if they got a cold. Camphorated oil, I remember that.

How would you make ginger tea?

Well, you just put the ginger in the cup and put boiling hot water on it.

Powdered ginger?

Yes. And stir it and you sip it. It is suppose to be really good for a cold.

Well, you don't sound like you have a cold today!

I have a little cold. I had my flu shot but I got a little cold.

Where was the nearest doctor when you were in Southville.

Out in Weymouth. It was Dr. Melanson and Dr. Ferguson and Dr. Pothier. Those are the Doctors I can remember.

Do you remember them ever coming to your house or ever going to see them in Weymouth?

I can't remember them coming to the house, but I know they did. But I was never sick that much. I don't remember being sick to have a doctor.

Were children vaccinated when you were a little girl?

Yes. The Dr. use to come to the school and vaccinate the children. To the schoolhouse.

How often would you get to Digby or Weymouth when you were little, say before you were 10 years old?

I don't remember going to Digby, but I remember we always went to Bear River to the Cherry Carnival. Every year.

Describe that to me.

Well, we would go on the back of a truck.

Who would go?

Aunt Annie, all of Southville! And this guy, his name was Dan something, from over Corberrie way, he had a big truck and we'd all get on the truck and away we'd go to the Cherry Carnival.

It was a summer thing, right?

Yes, around cherry time. And then we'd go to these people had these cherries. We'd take a lunch and we'd go in a big field, and then they'd go up the trees and pick the cherries. They probably had to pay those people some money for the cherries.

So that was a one day outing, was it?

Yes.

And what else would you do at the Cherry Carnival? Would there be parades or anything?

No, wasn't any parade, just play around.

That would be something you'd look forward to every year?

Yes, and everybody would take a big lunch. I remember my Aunt Annie use to make potato salad, and it was so good the way they made it back in those days. And chicken, fried chicken and all that. We'd just have a big old feast.

They still have cherry carnival I guess, do they in Bear River?

Yes, they still ……….I've never been up there since I've grown up. But I guess they………….

How did people take care of their teeth when you were a little girl? Where there dentists around?

Yes, there must have been dentists. I'm not sure.

Do you remember if you brushed your teeth?

Oh, yes, we always had to brush our teeth. But I don't remember having to go to the dentist when I was little.

When someone died, what was the procedure?

When someone died, they took the body at the house. The body was in the livingroom at the house, it didn't stay at the undertaker. And everybody mourned at the house. I remember that. The Priest would come and everybody would come. And nobody went to bed. I guess they'd take turns at going to bed, but you'd just stay up all night. Nobody, in that house where that body was, people stayed there all night.

How many days would that body lay in that house?

I'm not sure, but it was called a 'wake' and it just stayed there.

Do you remember anybody particular in your family where that kind of a wake was held?

I remember my Uncle Oscar when he died.

Now who was Uncle Oscar?

That would be my Mother's brother in Southville. I remember going up and seeing him in the coffin and being at the wake.

Are you saying there was no embalming at all then?

Well, now I don't know. Because we had an undertaker here, the undertaker would take the body to the undertakers parlor, then the body would come back. I think that's the way it went.

What are the names of your children, Marion?

I have 13 children!

You do! I can't imagine!!

Actually, I had 14, I lost a little boy 5 weeks old. My children, my oldest one is William, Douglas, Ramona, Twila, Allan, Deborah, Wade, Angela, Heidi, Benjamin, Drew, and Julie.

And what is the spread of years between the oldest and the youngest?

Well my oldest one, he was born in 1947. And my youngest one was born in 1966.

I can't imagine having 13 children in one family. How did you even set up for meals. Where do you seat 13 children at once?

Well, by the time I got down to ……..some was gone.

Of course, so you never actually had 13 at one time.

Because when Julie was born, my daughters Ramona and Twila were pretty big girls. And Billy was already gone - he was in Toronto working. And Douglas I think he was in the service. So my oldest ones were about ready to go. But any way, I managed. It was just a full time job.

But even - you weren't working at this point, your husband was earning the whole income. How would you manage at Christmastime to provide gifts for all your kids?

Well, I had budgets. I had a budget at Eatons. I remember I use to get my children's clothes twice a year on my Eatons budget, and that was good. And he always had a job, which was good. We didn't have to worry about no money for food. He was a good provider. We had grocery bills then. You could get all the groceries you want, and then you pay for it when you get paid.

Did you have to buy them at a certain store?

Well, here at Weymouth, you didn't have too many grocery stores here. I think I can remember doing my groceries here at Riteways. Oh yes, and there was another person had a store here named Tom Comeau. We use to get groceries there. He's dead now. We had no problem with groceries.

It wasn't like a company store where you had to buy at a certain place.

No, no. We had no trouble with groceries. And then Christmas time we would get boxes of grapes. We always got our milk by the case. Can milk by the case. So we always had lots of food. And I use to make all my homemade bread. I use to make bread, I don't think we ever bought a loaf of bread like we do now. Bakers bread, I made our bread.

Would you make bread every day then?

No, about twice a week.

How many loaves at a time?

Well they use to have the 24 pound bags of flour then, so I'd just make that up. Oh the cupboard would just be full of bread. And we had a bread bin that would come out and we'd put the bread in there. Then I got a freezer, a big old freezer and we raised pigs and chickens.

You were pretty self sufficient.

Oh yeh. I learned all that from the way I was brought up.

If you don't mind my asking, what happened to your little boy? The five week old.

Well, you know, he just got sick in the morning. He just was having trouble breathing. And the nurse had been here the day before. Mrs. Tupper. And we took him down to the doctor and by the time we got him to Dr. Melanson, he was gone. Dr. Melanson thought it was his heart, so we had a taxi come and we didn't take him to the hospital, back then things were different, so the Dr. examined him and then the undertaker took him. But he was good the day before. Just something.

When you and Lorne were just starting out, I wonder how you planned ahead for your retirement or did you even think of it at that point?

No, we never thought about it.

The services must have had some kind of a pension plan even then, would they?

Well, they must have. But when he got out the service, he got a pension after awhile. But when he got out the service, he was healthy to work. But he developed arthritis in his knees and all that stuff, so he was getting a pension when he died.

How long ago did he die?

He died in 1978.

Oh, a long time ago. He was still a young man.

He was drowned. He drowned back in Southville.

What happened? Was he fishing?

No, we was just having a family reunion back there, and he just sneaked away from the crowd and went swimming in the lake. Nobody knew he was in the lake and when we saw him it was too late.

So you have had some shocks in your life. How did people help each other out in days gone by that's different from now. Maybe that isn't necessarily the case. How would you compare a sense of community let's say 40 years ago to now.

What do you mean?

Well, people say in the olden days people helped each other out more. If someone was in trouble the whole neighbourhood came, but maybe it's just as true now in small communities, do you think?

Well, people use to visit, go to houses more then. But now, people don't go like they use to.

Everybody's got a television.

Yes, I think that's probably it and they've got the telephones and all that. But I think they probably did help each other out, if someone was sick, they'd go help them and do all that.

I find, I live in Freeport, which is a small community, I find people are awfully good to each other there if they need something.

Yes, they're the same here.

Has the look of this community changed over the years?

Well, they have the paved roads here. They didn't have the paved roads back home, actually they still haven't got this road paved.

Where does this road end up?

This road takes you right back in Southville, in Corberrie, keep going right straight you go right through to Yarmouth. You can go right through to Shelburne too, now.

Who took care of the roads before they paved them?

Oh, they use to have the grader come grade them, then the men use to come and pick the rocks, and you know, work on the road like that. The big grader would come grade them, then you'd see all the men coming, maybe half a dozen of them, they'd rake the rocks away.

Would these be local men doing this?

Yes. Local men from the community.

For people living here in Weymouth Falls, what was the largest employer?

I can remember Jurgen Hatt, they use to sell wood to Jurgen Hatt, I can remember that, and George Wagner, they probably sold wood to him too. And then there was Taylors' mill, I can remember that. There wasn't any Lewis' mill then. I don't think so.

Most of the men made their living cutting wood?

Yes. Cutting wood and then boats use to come in and get the lumber and stuff. Use to work on the lumber boats and pulp boats.

Do you remember that yourself?

Yes, I can remember that.

So Weymouth was a busier spot then.

Yes.

Do you remember the fire in Weymouth in 1959, I think it was? There was a big one in '29, and then there was one again in the '50's.

I couldn't have been here when the one was in the '50's. I must have been in Bridgetown or Halifax. I was in Halifax when Deborah was born, and she was born in 1956.

Were any of your children born at home?

Yes, I had two children born at home.

Which ones?

Douglas, my second child, he was born back to my Aunt Annie's house. Cause I was in Bridgetown and she wanted me to come down and have my baby back there and I did. Cause she was kind of like a midwife or whatever, but we had the Dr. and everything. And then my son Wade was born right down to my mother's house.

And where was Wade in the line up?

Wade was born in 1952.

So he would have been your fourth or fifth child.

Wade would be my fifth.

And you chose to have him at home?

Yes, I asked the Doctor could I have the baby at home, and he said yes.

Was that unusual in those days?

No, and it was Dr. Lawley and him and his wife came and there was no problem.

What organizations did you belong to outside of the church? Was there Catholic Women's League or any of those things?

The only thing I belonged to back then, in 1963 we formed a Ladies Auxiliary here at the Royal Canadian Legion. I didn't belong to anything else. I was too busy, to tell you the truth. So that's all - I joined that in 1963.

And now you belong to a Garden Club, did you say?

I belong to the Garden Club here in Weymouth and the Historical Society.

So you know Bea, what is Bea's last name. She stayed at my B&B a couple of years ago and brought me a little African violet.

Yes, I know Beatrice. I didn't mention her name but she is my sister.

Did she grow up with Aunt Annie?

Yes. But I didn't mention her because I didn't…………….

I enjoyed her very much when she stayed at my B&B.

Yes, her and I are sisters. She calls me quite often.

She came down for the Senior Games, I think is what she was down on the Island for. How much contact would people here in Weymouth Falls have with the black people who lived in Jordantown. Were they two very separate communities?

I don't really know too much about Jordantown. I know some ladies there though. There is a - I knew Katherine Johnson and her brother Hubert Johnson. But I don't know too much about Jordantown. To the Baptist Associations now, they use to all come here. The Baptist church. I can remember coming out here to their Associations and seeing all the people. So probably was Jordantown and Halifax and all that.

George Elliott Clark is from here, is he not?

No, he's from up Halifax way.

He didn't grow up here though?

No. He was working down here one summer. He was working down here - I wasn't here. I think it was during our time in Truro. But I met George Elliott Clark through my daughter Heidi. But no, he's not from here.

I thought because he had written that book Whyla Falls………….

Yes, he did write that book.

He has done well.

Yes, he has.

Do you have any memories of the Poor House at all. Not directly, obviously, but do you remember being there as kind of a scary place?

I can remember the Poor House. I can remember that Poor House, yes.

Was it a place where people from this community would go to if they were destitute?

There was a family from here that lived in the Poor House. They are dead now. It was Annie - they use to call her Annie Collins, but her husband was Colin Langford and she lived there. She was in the Poor House. And she had a daughter named Marion, no she had a daughter Gussie, Gussie Simmons, and when Mrs. Simmons got out the poor house and came down here to work for Mr. Simmons, and they got married. And then she got her mother out. And her mother lived with her until she died.

That's a happier ending than some people had.

Yeh.

Do you remember any ghost stories at all, from this community?

I remember when I moved out there to Weymouth Falls I remember those fellas talking ghost stories. They use to believe in them ghost stories. I remember an old fella, Walter Langford, he was Sam Langford's brother. He use to come to my mother's house and visit with my mother's husband, my stepfather was Eric Langford and they use to talk about ghost stories. But I can't remember the stories.

How big a deal was Sam Langford in this community in days gone by. How much of a hero was he?

Well, years ago we never heard too much about Sam Langford, back then. We just heard them talk about Sam and he was a boxer over in the states, but that's all we knew.

He didn't really get recognized until later. I even forget when he died. You would never have met him, though. That must have been before your time, eh.

Yes.

What haven't I asked you about that you think the young people should know.

I remember when we went to school in Weymouth that we'd get a ride on an ox cart. Cause Howard Langford use to have an ox and a cart and he use to go to town and sometimes we'd get a ride. We'd sit on the back of the cart which was fun.

But I bet you it was slower than walking!

I use to sell the newspaper every Saturday. I had a paper route.

Which paper was that?

It must have been the Halifax paper. Cause they'd bring them down to the drugstore. And I think it was just a Saturday thing.

How would you carry them?

I must have had a little bookcase to carry them in, I guess.

Do you remember how much you made?

I can't remember how much them papers were, but it wouldn't be very much.

Do you remember what you were saving for?

I can't even remember what I did with my money.

No big purchase like a bicycle, or anything?