Here is a little history of my grandfather as written by him growing up in Nfld in the early 1900's .     I was born in St.Paul's in 1984 and when I was 10 years old I went to school and my teacher was old Mrs. Pittman. I went all that summer. She taught school in here house and after my mother learned me what she could. At the age 13 I  went fishing with my father. I fished 4 years till the age of 17.At 17 I went to work on the telegraph line. I worked three months for $1.50 a  day amount each month was $117.00 for three months. I came home and at the age of 18, 1911 ,I went to work on the bridge that was built across St.Paul's  tickle. I worked three months for $117.00.I came home and in October I went to Bonne Bay herring fishing. I fished three months and made $175.00.At the age of 20 I went to Millertown to work in the woods. I took my clothes bag on my back and walked to Deer Lake and when I got to Deer Lake the train wasn't in. There was  two  families in Deer Lake at that time. I lighted a fire and put on my kettle to have a lunch and just as I got the fire lighted the train blowed at the station. I throwed my water in the fire and ran to catch the train. When we got to Howley  I was hungry  and the train had to stop for another train to pass by. I asked the conductor how long he would be here and he said probably an hour. I  said I was hungry  and would like to have something to eat. He told me to go the the house nearby and buy some bread to have a lunch. I bought a bun of bread for 5 cents and went back to the train  and had a lunch. I was finshed my lunched ,the train we where waiting for passed by and we got into Millertown junction at dark. There was seven of us in company and we went to a boarding house and knocked on the door. The man came out and we asked him if he could take us in for the night. He told us he was filled up, that all is beds where full. So we said we would have to stay outdoors. He said no you won't stay out doors, you can come in the house and lay on the floor and I give you wood to keep you warm all night. We was only too glad to get the chance to do that. We were dressed in all our old clothes, where we traveled through the country and so I asked him if  I could go in room to have a wash and put on some clean clothes. At 12 o'clock the next day we was  hungry and didn't know where to go to get a lunch. There was a man there with a small business. He told us he had nothing to give us only bread and tea and he said if we could wait another hour, his wife would cook dinner for us. She cooked a  hot dinner and all we paid for our hot dinner 50 cents a man. Just as we finished dinner the company train came out from Millertown. We had a letter from the contractor saying we would get a job if we came to Millertown .There  was two hundred men waiting for the company train to go to Millertown to look for work and he said anyone who haven't got a letter from the contractor had to get off the train. So they all left the train except the seven of us and when we got in Millertown and went to the hotel there where two hundred men there waiting to go to work. We had to go to the office and show the manager the letter we had from the contractor to go to work in the woods. The contractors name was Baxter Waylon. We was the all night and there was no bunks so we had to sleep on the floor. The next morning the boat came down the lake to pick up the men that had there job guaranteed. We got on the boat and went seven miles up the lake. We got the boat and we had to walk 30 miles to get to the camp and that night we sighed on with the contractor and the next morning went to work. Our rate a month that he gave us was $22.00 a month. If we stayed six months we would get $28.00 and that's what we worked  six months and we got $28.00 a month when we got to the office in Millertown. I just had a letter from my mother telling me my father was very sick and I had to come home. Three of us left the camp and we had to walk 30 miles to get to Millertown. On our way out we met the walking boss and he asked us where we where going, we said we were going to  Millertown on our way home and he said its to late to go to Millertown at this time. You go to the camp nearby and tell him the walking boss sent you there for  the night. Next morning we left to walk to Millertown. We got to Millertown at 3:00 and we had to go to the office and pass in out time. He told us to come back the next morning at 9:30 and we would get our money. We got $168.00 for six months. We got on the company train and came to Millertown junction and when we got there, we was there two hours when the train came in. When we got in Deer Lake it was dark, the train blowed and passed out our clothes bags. There was two houses in Deer Lake and it was dark.We didn't know bur we'd have to stay all night outdoors. One of them houses was a boarding house, we said to each other we would go to the house and see if we could get in and lay on the floor.                                                                                    next page