Joe Nolan lived in Mt. Carmel, St. Mary's Bay all his life. He enjoys listening to the radio and talking about old times. He thinks it's a good thing for his children and grandchildren to remember the seniors and their way of life.

MY LIFE IN EARLY TIMES

I was the oldest of eight boys and four girls. We had a horse, cows, sheep and hens. That's how we lived in those days. We raised all our own vegetables. The boys took turns getting up to light the fire. We'd be putting it off on one another, you know. Father would say, "I don't care, it's somebody's morning. You'd better get up and light the fire." We never had a chance to sleep in. The animals would have to be fed and made ready for the day. My mother took my younger brother Freddy (who was five years old) to Mass and on one occasion the usher was going around with the collection plate. When he got home, his great Uncle Mike asked him what he had seen in the Church. He said, " saw a man taking money with a cap on a stick."

SCHOOL DAYS

My great grandmother was a Coady from St. John' s. She was a school teacher in her time. I can remember she used to teach me my prayers every morning and she had a lot of pencils left over from school days after raising up her youngsters. They didn't last long when she started sharing them out to me every day once I started school. In my school days we wrote on slates with chalk. We had spelling, grammar, geography, and a writing book with headlines that showed how to make the capital and small letters. We used to be on the stage in school. We would take part in concerts to help raise funds for our Parish. We'd stay behind after school to learn our parts. We had to bring the wood and when it was your turn, you'd go wherever the teacher was boarding and get the key, then go on down and put in the fire.