Interview #43

Name: Adelia Morris

Sex: Female

Age: 73

Place and date of birth: St. Alban's, December 30, 1926

Education: Grade 3

Religion: Roman Catholic

Occupation: Housework

Number of children: 13

Names of children and where they live:

Cecil (Deceased) Damien (Deceased)

Jerome (Deceased) Tobias (Deceased)

Gerard (Deceased) Albert (St. Alban's)

Lorraine (St. Alban's) Bernard (St. Alban's)

Jenny Nugent (St. Alban's) Mary Kendell (Morrisville)

Lenore Short (Clarenville) Claude (Ontario)

Louis (St. John's)

Phone: 538-3864

Place of interview: Voyce Cove (St. Alban's)

Date of interview: March 10, 1999

Interviewers: Colin Pittman and Curtis Hoskins

Adelia Morris was born in St. Alban's on December 30, 1926. Her parents were Michael Snook from England and Lillian Kirby from St. George's. She was a member of a big family that had thirteen children. She has lived in St. Alban's all her life. She grew up on Bay View Drive where Martin Farrell lives today. She remembered that her house had old fashion beams with no water or toilets. In the winter time, the buckets would freeze up and the ice had to be beaten up with a stick of wood. Growing up for Adelia was rough because her family was very poor. She said, "We had half of nothing. Half enough to eat, half enough to wear." When her father killed a deer for food, the deer skin was used to make moccasins. Back then, there was lots of snow unlike today. Adelia remembered getting frost burn on her feet.

One chore that Adelia did was scrubbing. She washed with her hands at first, then she used the scrubbing board. Adelia said it was hard because her family was big and clothes had to be washed everyday. She was the second oldest in her family and her mom was not well, so she had to look after the younger kids. Her father was a logger at Bowaters and he went up to the camps cutting pulpwood for a mill in Corner Brook. Adelia also remembered cleaving wood.

As a child, Adelia recalled playing games. She and her friends went out on the road and played hopscotch, hiding blinding, and London bridges falling down. They would never get bored like children do today.

Adelia only went to grade three in school because she had to care for her younger siblings. She went to school where the old doctor's house was. It has since been renovated. School went from nine a.m. to noon, then a half hour for lunch, then back to school from 12:30 to 4:30. Adelia walked to school each day. There were two classes upstairs and two classes downstairs. She recalled bringing splits to school but in the winter, she had to leave her mitts on to do her work. Sometimes school was cancelled due to the weather but this did not happen very often. The students all sat in one seat all next to each other. She said students would copy off one another. Some subjects taught were Math, Reading and Cathacism (which involved studying religion and the ten commandments). Some teachers that Adelia had were Miss Singleton, Miss Sanction, and Mr. Richard MacDonald. It was stricter back then compared to today. The teacher had a wooden strap first, then a leather one. Students were placed on their knees in a corner for two or three hours straight. They were punished for bad behavior and if they did not go to Church.

The students had to go to Church in the morning before they attended school. Adelia said that the church service was good. Mass was in Latin and it was hard to understand. She did not know any Latin. She did not learn any of it in school and is not sure if the students were taught it after she left school. She was sure that the altar servers had to know it. The priests that Adelia recalled were Father St. Croix and Father Hayes. They were very strict and had a lot of control. Father Hayes would see who was out on the road. Church was a bit longer especially Lent. Father St. Croix made sure that the students went around to the stations of the cross after school. The Church was located where the firehall in St. Alban's is today. Adelia was married in that Church in 1946 to Albert Morris. In the morning, she and Albert had breakfast with the priest. They ate fried eggs. After this, they had tea and cake. It lasted all day long until the night. The rum for the wedding came from St. John's. Twelve bottles were sent and only three were drank. There were no invitations. People were told to come when they like. Everyone was invited. She said, "It was a good time."

Adelia remembered other good times as well. People celebrated the twelve days of Christmas by doing nothing only dance. Mummering was a big thing. Everyone went from house to house to have a drink with no mix, "a little sup each." It was passed around between twelve or thirteen people. They sang many songs which were good and more fun than it is today. Another event celebrated was Easter. There were square dances in the school and tea and biscuits were served. People had to be at least sixteen or seventeen to attend, but it was all the adults went too. Two other big days were August 15th and St. Anne's Day. People celebrated St. Anne's Day by going to Conne to see the schooners and going to Mass. It was a great day that ended with a dance in the school all night.

Some businesses around St. Alban's were Garland's Store, which was a branch in from Gaultois, Sam Collier's store, and after that, George Collier's clothing store. Adelia said that Garland's had clothing but mostly their family made their own clothing. Some sawmills were one owned by Jack Collier and Strickland's Mill at Morrisville. Her father sold logs and brought in the winter food for the fall. The logs were not payed for until they were towed and measured. After this, the bill would be paid up. There was no such thing as money.

When Adelia was growing up, there were no doctors. At the time, a nurse was working with Bowaters in Milltown. She came to Jack Collier's house at certain times but in case of an emergency, someone travelled by boat to pick her up. The nurse sent up supplies to Father Hayes. He was as good as a doctor. He spent four days and three nights with Adelia when she had her first baby.

Adelia felt there was a big change in Bay d'Espoir when they decided to widen up the roads. She said,"Before there were roads it was awful." There were only foot paths that were all mud, and people had to go through the woods to get to St. Joseph's Cove. The transportation modes before roads were horses and sleds and oxen were used for hauling logs. William Hartery was the first person to have a truck in St. Alban's. Adelia felt that getting roads was for the better because people could get their mail quicker. Before roads, a steamer brought in the mail to the post office. The steamer came in every week. If it got storm bound and could not get to the wharf, people would go off in dories to get the mail.

Another big change was Confederation. A lot of resettlement to Bay d'Espoir from Great Jarvis and Pushthrough occurred due to Confederation. Adelia was for Confederation. People went to Richard MacDonald's house to cast their vote. There were no arguments. When Joey Smallwood came in, all hands went in and voted for him. Joey came to Bay d'Espoir often. He came in when Camp Boggy was finished to cut the ribbon. She said, "Confederation was good then but not anymore."

When Hydro was developed at first, generators were placed at Path End. With electricity, there was no more need of lamps. The first house lit up with the generators was Jerome Hull's. The second was Bern Snook's, who took in all the borders from the Foundation Company. First, homes were lit, then homes were warmed. The people of Bay d'Espoir were given a letter written by Joey Smallwood that said that their power would not go up. Everyone threw the letter away and they had nothing to show for it. She concluded by saying, "What a change to Bay d'Espoir if even one letter was found today."