Chapter 5: A Doomed Trade

Home remedies were widely used in Newfoundland, even for serious illnesses. Often natural things were used. Moldow or old man's beard was boiled and used as an antibiotic salve. Juniper berries were used by women for menstrual and childbearing related medicines. Over-the-counter ointments and "tonics" were widely advertised in old newspapers.

Find some old recipes for cures in Newfoundland. Write them down. Share them and make a class booklet of old-time Newfoundland remedies. Try out a few of these cures on your own minor ills like colds or small cuts. How do they work? Report your findings to your class.

Chapter 6: William and Iris

Chapter six is a character sketch. It gives colour and feeling to William and Iris. It uses these kinds of information:

• How William and children got along.
• What neighbours thought of William and Iris.
• Physical details: height, clothes, colours, hair.
• Unanswered questions: Why did Iris marry William? Why did the red blossoms touch Lettie's heart?

Think of someone who interests you. Write a character sketch about that person. Use information like the four elements listed above. Use other information that you think of yourself.

Chapter 7: Spanish Garlands

Chapter seven is based on three sources:

An interview with an old barrel maker. He told about the following things:

• Swimming to Fort Amherst with girls in woolen swim suits.
• How the fish were cured.
• When the sealing started.

Old newspapers. These told about the following:

• Outport lads filling the boarding houses and fire halls at sealing time.
• The black stowaways.
• The unemployed march in London.

A thesis written by John Joy when he was studying history at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). He told how the Spanish shops had to keep a Newfoundland barrel in the middle of the fish displays.

Choose from these types of sources, and study a certain place and time in the past. When you have enough information to picture a scene from that time in your mind, write it down. You can start with a list, then move the parts of the list around until you like the order it is in. Or share your list with your group and make the scene together. Write it as if it is all happening now. Does it seem to come alive?