At 96, Mary Nickerson is a wonderful lady – her memory clear and accurate as she recounts the details of a very long and interesting life enjoyed in both Newfoundland and Boston.

Mrs. Nickerson died in February, 2002. We were fortunate to have her contribution to this book.

NEWFOUNDLAND TO BOSTON AND HOME AGAIN

I was born in St. Joseph's in 1905. I went to the two-room school there. Two of my teachers were Michael Gough and Mrs. May Ryan. It was good when we were growing up. It wasn't bad. My mother could sew and she always made dresses for me. I'll never forget the time I wanted a dress made. My mother used to give away my clothes to a needy family. One day this lady asked my mother for some material because she wanted to make a dress. Mom said, "I have material you can have." I said, "I want one too." My mother got upset and said, "you got one and you'll not get another for six months." Well, I yelled and screamed, but, by God, I didn't get the dress for six months. I was selfish you see. My mother made suits for men – pants, coat, vest and all. She charged $5.00.

When I finished going to school, I started teaching school, first in Harricott and then Colinet. I remember the school being very cold. The men would bring the wood in the morning to light the fire. I didn't get home often because of poor roads. I had to travel by horse and carriage or sleigh in the wintertime. We'd have a big party in Colinet the week after Lady Day. In St. Joseph's, the priest would only let you have the hall for a 'time' on Sunday night, not Saturday night, in case you couldn't get up for Mass in the morning. I remember a lot of fishing boats in St. Joseph's when I was growing up. They would go out Monday morning to fish on the banks and come in either Friday or Saturday evening. Mostly people worked fishing or cutting logs. My brother Dan built the boat, The Little Sisters. I remember World War I a small bit. I was only young at the time. I remember the post office and the telegraph office at McCormack's. Elsie used to get all the war news and then she would post it in the office. There was a waiting room outside where you went to pick up your mail. When you saw the mailman go down the road, you'd wait for it to be sorted and then you'd go over. I was too young to be affected much.