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The Huron Expositor, 1994-03-23, Page 5• Local Canadian In 1926 having been in Canada for two years I got a notion to see the Old Country again but having found out that the streets were not paved with gold, as I was led to believe in England, I had not made enough money to 'pay my passage. I was friendly with a cattle buyer from Dublin, Ontario. I think he was Joe Sullivan. He told me he thought he could get me a job on a cattle boat to work my way over to England. So I went down to Toronto with him and he introduced me to one of the foreman at the stockyards who was gathering up a load of cattle to send to Eng- land. He gave me a job starting that day - no pay, just my trip to England and back if I wanted it. So we spent a whole week buy- ing cattle at the sales and stock- ing them away in pens till we got a boat -load. It's kind of hazy now but I don't think there was anybody helping us, only employees of the stockyard. One day we had enough so we loaded them on the train and took them to St. John, New Brunswick where there was a boat waiting for us. This was February and when I saw the boat it was completely covered with about two inches of ice. By this time there were about 25 men with us. Where they came from I don't know. They had never= done any work and very few of them ever did. They had just joined in like swallows flying south. However they lined us up along the sides of the chute going on to the boat and gave us a bunch of short rope with a loop on the end which we put round their (cattle) horns. Then we went down before where the cattle were milling about in the hold. We chased them into box stalls. They had five to a stall and tied them with the ropes they had round their horns to a steel ttifs along the manger. While we were doing this some of the men started to get sick and I noticed the boat was rolling. We were already on own streets not paved with gold UDll'1 by Harry Palin, World War I veteran way. I was a good sailor so it did not bother me, thank good- ness. When we got them all tied up we started to feed them. First we gave them water, then a pail of oats and finished up with hay. There was very few of us work- ing then, the others down with sea -sickness - some bad and some put-on, and it was the same all through the trip. They had only come along for the ride and were pretty tough customers too. I had about $250 in my pocketbook at the time. I took it all out leaving four or five dol- lars in and pinned the rest in my undershirt next to my skin which stayed on all the time. I think the only things I took off when I went to bed was my boots. I never washed my face till the day before we landed in Eng- land. I had no beard - I wasn't shaving much in those days. After finishing up they took us down to our cabin. It was right at the stem of the boat. There was a table down the middle and two rows of bunks round it. I was lucky I grabbed a lower bunk. l was interested to see the table was not only bolted to the floor but was also pinned to the ceiling by posts. Then they gave us our supper. It was a very "I would not play cards for money..." good supper. Our meals were very good all through but we had a dyspeptic Scotsman at our table who found fault with everything, even the porridge. It was either Wo thick or too thin, too hot or too cold. Next morning we started our work. at least some of us did. We fed the cattle - twice a day, morning and evening. I was glad to see the ice was all melted off the boat. I suppose we had gone through the Gulf Stream. Things went along pretty steady for about five days, then the Captain came along. I think he had word there was a storm coming and there was a lot of hay piled on the deck and this had all to be carried down below. We had been using the hay in the hold so we had room for it now. It was quite a job. The boat was rocking pity good making it a little difficult. I think the storm started the next day and our troubles started. We lived in the back of the boat and the cattle were in the front. And to get to them we had to cross the waist of the ship out in the open. The waves were washing over pretty good so we had to watch our chance and dive across between them. At the height of the storm we could not see how high the waves were as there seemed to be as much water in the air above as there was in the sea. Our cabin was right in the stern and we were running with the storm. The waves were follow- ing and every so often one would come down on the top of our cabin with a noise like thun- der. We had a stove in with us and I think the chimney must have blown off because every time a wave hit us a bucket of water came out of the stove and there was an inch of water on the floor all the time. The storm kept getting worse all the time and at last it was taking so much steam to keep the boat 4oing that they had to cut the air conditioning off. It didn't bother us in the cabin much but it did where the cattle were. When we first went in we had to wait a few minutes at the door to persuade our stomachs to stay down where they are sup- posed to be. In spite of the storm our meals were still good although how they did I don't know with the boat standing on end half the time. I suppose to cheer us up the cook gave us pink rice some- times and pink potatoes. I won- dered what our dyspeptic Scots- man would say if the porridge came pink. And sure enough one morning it did. He turned it over looking disgusted. "Who's going to eat this damned stuff?," then looking at me he said "I'll bet that bloody Christian will." I got the name of Christian because I would not play cards for money, I ate my meals with- out grumbling, and I was about the only one who worked. Well the storm ended at last and the sun shone so we really could see the size of the waves. They were 50 feet high and we were running into them. It was the only thing we could do. If we had got broadsided onto them they would have rolled us over and that would have been it. I used to stand for hours when I could on the bow of the boat watching us climb them feeling like a fly on the wall. Meantime we were just crawl- ing along now. We were running out of coal. We had such a fight with the storm and the journey was taking us longer and we were eating mouldy bread. How- ever we had got within about 200 miles of Ireland, so they radioed ahead for them to send a boat -load of coal out to us. When they reached us they unloaded the coal all on one side and tipped us over nearly 45 degrees. I thought "I hope no storm strikes us now." But the sea was as calm as a mill pond and we were soon in the Irish Sea and landed at Birkenhead with no more trouble. Agricultural society to meet in March The Hensall South Huron Agri- cultural Society will hold its regular meeting on Monday, March 28 in Hensall Council Chambers at 8 p.m. At Hensall United Church, Jayne Fragiskatos and Ann Armen joined • the church this past Sunday. March break Bible School will be held this week. On March 27 the children will have a Palm Sunday parade. The children will also take part in the service sharing some of the knowledge they learned at the March break school. A special Maunday service will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Hensall United. Marg Hewitt, a former resident of Hensall, now residing in Goderich, visited Sunday with Leonard and Minnie Noakes. Marg was accom- panied by her daughter and son-in- law, Barb and Bill Ervine. The P.C.W. of Carmel Presby- terian, conducted the morning wor- ship, Sunday. President Jan Baker Book for future readers continued from page four Let us also expose as many names as possible of former resi- dents. The lot without its resident would be lifeless. Take St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, and pen some immortal lines that will hold your place in the memory of Hibbertans, forever. Write something about those dear ones whose family names no longer occur on our rolls. They deserve a place of honor. As well, let us have those up to date happenings that will paint a picture of 1994 for readers in the next century. Thank you, Mr. Editor, you have helped us greatly! Sincerely, Margaret Kemp, Hibbert History Committee. CONGRATULATIONS BILL on your 15th year as a successful GM Dealer Celebrate our Anniversary with a si 7.95 oil change McLaughlin Chev Olds 13 Main St. N., Seaforth 527-1140 THURSDAY MAR. 24 SAVE 5 on all GROCERIES AT SEAFORTH GROCERY on minimum 1)0 purchase conducted the service assisted by Cathy Bell, Helen McKay and Janeth Sangster. The congregation were reminded of the Communion service on March 27 at which time Rev. 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