[nsroots] Merigomish Recollections Eastern Chron.1924 part 2

[R.A.(Dutch) Thompson]

from The Eastern Chronicle 1924 : MERIGOMISH   Part 2

"Recollections of Earlier Days:

" A mischievous youth, whose spititual welfare deeply concerned the good
relatives, had his finger passed through the flame of the candle  in order to
more fully impress on his mind what was in store for him in the next world if
he didn't mend his ways. Some time later, bidding a silent good-bye to
Merigomish, he arrived footsore and almost penniless in Pictou where he
boarded a schooner bound for Boston. On the way the ship got becalmed and he
could not resisit the temptation to throw a dipperful of cold water on the
naked breast of a sailor who was snoozing on deck- just to see results.  The
results came with surprising suddenness. The sailor got up in arage and
promptly threw him overboard. THis boy's photo and biography as an author, and
that of Holland the designer of the first practical American submarine, were
given equal prominence in the same issue of an American magazine some years
later.

     The principal newspaper at that time , as at present, was The Eastern
Chronicle. The Halifax Citizen and the Presbyterian Witness had one or two
subscribers each. The Eastern Chrinicle had two distributing offices-one at
the regular post office kept by Edward Finlayson and the other at the store of
R S Copeland.
    California was the great objective point of the young men and as soon as
grown up many of them  left for that distant state to seek their fortunes. A
number of "forty-niners" who had previously returned from the gold diggings
and settled down, infused new life and good citizenship into Church and State.

    The "old swimmin' hole"  previously referred to beneath the highway bridge
was anywhere from 20 to 25 feet deep, and in summer time was inhabited
practically night and day. The test of full-fledged boyhood was that of being
able to dive to  the bottom and return with a fistful of mud. Strange to say,
no one ever failed to return. Of the many frequenters of this public bathing
place and public nuisance to the Magistrates, a few may still be located. One
was not not long since heard of as an official of the NY, NH, & H. Ry (note:
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railway) and he runs the train out  of
Fresno, Cal.  One "reached" the schoolmaster's ribs as he passed through the
school house, stopped when he arrived at Oregon and never returned. Another
dared the perils of Death Valley and returned safely to his farm,  passing
away only a few days ago, the last of the name, a name that had been familar
to Merigomish for more than a 100 years (McEwen) .
    A Sask. farmer, a buyer for a dept. store in San Francisco, a retired
building contractor of the same place, and  the manager,  for many years, of a
hardware store in a city in Mass., account for four others. Five more are
residents of the neighbouring towns, three of whom are managing their own
lines of business, having snug bank balances, and no time to spare for the use
of either liquor or tobacco."

                                                                -30-     (end
of article )

cheers
Thompson in PEI
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