[Additional Personal History Ovide Morin]: a machine readable transcription.

Morin, Ovide

Maine, Old Town, United States

1938

9

wpalh000588

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Document text

AD ilTzAL
HiOFT OF OVI
PREEN CANADIAN
Destro brotheriOvides said be cnie here in j1-:;1 althouEb he.
eane when David did: o wls nineteen than an4 is seveaty six now:
he set:, tbat be tout rizbt to vork in a luvelll at a laborer When
be et bere. The mill ens 41 XlIford. Be hasn't wotked anysiberc
since abut 1924. That lar,wes-4:0• years unaecounte0 or but I
think be did as Aoil a ic could in telling about that periled Be
said be worked in es tla, L. the woodz„,_ on tbe boom, and as a
brickimeon. lie w e continually Oblan-inc jobs meet' staybaz long
In no lace: :hat in itself cYmtituted a *armory P11 ask him if
be can milionbr any -tcrip but it seams most unlikely that be can*

11/2h0 fire t ttme a SOMOD
in that chnrarl he told the people III didn't build this aburch for
myself IP I could Eet alone with a piety small one. I built it
for you. It was YOU *7 that built it, an tt vii always he
your
*That d ct
the rklIromd, and it wse a wooden one. If it ovine oaucht fire
when a service was coda' on, same of the people might not hew" got
out. A wooden shurch is 1, et as dangerous as a wooden school."
°Some time* we had a bard L40 to et to church in the winter
time who we lived in Canada. No had to co throw:II drifts or else
eo on snowshoes. They always kept the ablawviks plowed here and
now they plow ts'ne roads tw›, People thkt lvi away out in the
c- can get Into a warm ear and drive as wl,m church and
they don't have to worry w -out snow or colds'
Zarin *lie sent all our child -on to the convent. Bearly
all the 1rnek children went there then, but now a lot of them co
to the i-utlis schools. Thor* is cuite a biro, one over hure• Of
course the child. ---en have to --4:0 to the ,7ublie school if they co to
lace d)mm the, by
the hi -h s hool lor thor no Catholic hill school herc. The c--,nvout
Nut not so big when ve Were Aarriod, and the aiatore lived in one
pa. t of It. They built a big ;loco on atvut forty years aio and
when tiey built the new ;;riest's house, they 1 -loved the 1/1 one up
for the sic.tors to live in. That civls a oiA twice at mph epee,
in the acaool.
*Mons of our children nt to coile•, but two of the boys we .t
to he b.:Jane's coillega, for a *nil*. °vide, Jr. worked in his uAlla's
store for a ,.aw yearn before he rted his own. TWo of the by.

work rith him asxl be hes two elerk.beeldes. They have 000d
trade because they raelly like people. rioary aremet friendly
at b&eauee they -hink -eople are on to i-uy to-
MVIRs. fastur. I think I made a :ood cane than I
cs to Old ousiik If I stayed in 3C• Appian* zly boys would have
bad to start Just wher.,e I- did.. .Itts glad they didn't have to co
thronch pith that. If tkøy bed Atayed on the oirm they uld never
halm riny money and no clothes to- 'ear. It vas plenty of hard work
not for it. Dowte ean dross well and. they On live in
ood house."
My oldet boy arms Let next to :le lae.:42, be lives
fld. its a good- one. Do yau know w1t I ;Bid Dor the first hose
I bmcbt here? to100: 00 Itm Jed we don't have to Ave In it now,
bone o: us ever went into olitios sore we never\.bad. tiao. If a
man attends to his enn bus nese riz;ht be don't:have Omeh time to
work at'anytbing'elee."
°I didn't work in the aiill
en the beam. worked out around
I fIrst cs hers I worked
in Pushaw (P:eneb, Settle..
ment) for nine monthe befo I worked nywheee else. That old man,
my fstherle cousin, lied to my father when be cane to Ombea.
ha t:)14 hl that the farm i; mohair WOC a _ood one end th.ct it was
bi enoutth for al of us. He wog cottint too old to work it and
be wanted us p kitm. The cround wa no 0)0d; it VOz all clay.
ome places on tbr.t farm hadn't been ,lowed thfltty years The bay
grew fmme nly al UlLha that (one foot). The next prtn
I wont u on the twva at Pea Cove and from them I le-:.nt to Argyle.'

Maine
LivInG Lore
old :own e 4
The lo es at Pea Cove were always fitted first. Then the crew
was tenneforred to Ar9tle, where •Leus fres the lart drives so umn.
:aLed while dWs work was p'orei tn at Pea Cove. iihen 4r Lorin
wo ked there the rafters had a lonE sermon. 4.4hey eLcrtcI late in
the spring. and worked until late ir the :C.. TIA) ra ting soaves
gr dually shortened as ttrland ap moiled exhaustion, and finally
work was stopped altozether aetJet fifteen yeerF aeol.
*When the work stopped on the boom I went to work In the see.
mill. I worked there just one year. I told you my father was a
mason. I wunt to rork with his af,er I levt the mIll and I never
went beck. Of course *One wIntere when there wtset -2;eh workf I
went u to the cods.
01 didn't know much a out laying brick before they built that
ehurb (St. Joseus)„ but I am a i„o,d stone ason. Onen they Lot
throtre;h wit:: the atones there, I rent inside on the brick I really
learns Jhe trade there ifth Valentine (the boss). My father end
I vat* a lot of jobs; a,t that all big ones. Ulm we at done
on one job we never weeted a day e we started lookin for the next
one. We never went out of the State, but we did work in Lewiston,
rortland„ and laces like thnt. Once ve went up to Van Buren on a
job. What really nade 0. Go Liorin war the Bangor Fire. We had wort
there lor five yearz. That iire pr y near ot the bu.4ness
section end they w uldn't let tbma build u_th anything that wann't
fireproof. It's hard for me eo remember Imere I worked any eertaie
year. It's not like worlkin' In a 1 7oufre chez
time. I can't remember rime t !jeer the Mager five ve
it ,was in la
0T couldn't tell many c
all the
I think
stories about layine brick. When
anybody's wor4int at that job, t.rey don't see mush of whet". coin'

ons end Vain they et throws at night tried and they lust
go home and sit around awhile and then co
bed.
•°People i;ot AO a month in the woods when I owes here, but
if they lost a day on account- of rain they'd cet the &Nue pay.
They cet moru money now, but if they lo* o any times they take it
out of their pay. People got tl.25 a day then in themille.
There wasn't much change in workine conditions with just berm"
the var. W. worked tuella Iturs a day In the saw mill* and just
Ware the war I think they had a nino hour day. They. kept Cutting
the hours down .-om tiAolve until they cot them down to nines but
the pay didn't go up very lineh untUthe war. ft never worked more
tha'l nine hourt, Leyte brick, and zunu,thy vc worked only
That's long, enough. They a -y a men will lay as many bricks in
el .ht houre. as he will in twelve and I bellevo it. They cot bottor
pay durinc.te wiry but it cost more to live. You could save money
thouh if you wevonot foolish•enouda to throw it away like a lot of
them did. Some Amoplo bou ht houses then or .u.t their nonoy in the
lanksp but some of them Lought a car and in five years they didet
have anytbinc. They thwucht roodt Imo would last former, but
bet they're sorry now.
*When I started tovork in the sarmilip- I ovsd ovr hers
(Broach Isliendi. We bad five roAms and c aid 040 a onth rant,
but of oorect the wait just stuck*"
Nralt)oriaL 'It vsma a abackt it vat a cood-i,ouso. It
IsJuld coat- ‘10.00 a month, now*
ank%orini maybe° it wuonft a shack, but it wasn't very
good Do you know, 4ter, the wOOMD used to ecuacrost the river

Living 142re
Old Teen 6
endflick up waste slabs fro a the eav miii to build houses. There
was a s smil1 richt acrosu there." (On the Old Ton side of the
riwer about opposite Mr. Morints home). *Tee air, they built thecke
with tiloss irpat eanbe ta live in. That of courst4 me before I
'came here is I just heard about it. The s&rmilAs don't throw divvy
,hoee rlabe aow they out thcm up into ,ov+r foot lengths and sell
them for wood leu us ,d to be able to cet -cord of cr,y birth
when I came here for IlaD.Is cord. It woOld cost G.OQ now,
III guess couditions Lev° c-smed a lot. In the firfA rent we
had hev,e e didn't have a table like this. We nad some boards
hinged to the wal for a'table just one le c• to h4d it up.
The children bad boxes to sit on.' I bell you. mln7er, I -rlIther be
dead tha: ee stek to tliose dela., It was forty nine years ago whet
we Eat. he water bore I cantt remember when -e.fot the ilehte.
They _ot,them the ther side (Old Town) f1 t. I Anink it was
abut 1908.*
band ;:yumpore hem. When there
w e.fire the Men in 'ofer wIth that little %kW:
t o them oud -ot &hold or the handles an start workInc
Aad down. I‘used :4o see men that ems down from the drive
thee
over there on the street it no shirts la. lhey wore those roll
flannel wdevelothes.'
r.Mpr4n; eemember that. They never ware a tie t a
handkerchief around the neck.
In those dAys the beat flour used to cost 43.50 or #4.00 a
barrel. .sometiz*s we bad twelve barrels In the house.'
Ws xvor;n4 "I cec remember when 1 paid 8 cents a down for
eg sip Milk wps tour and flAc ce%ta a ,tiarti, buttfLr was 15 cents a

Maine
Livinc Lore
Old TAD 4. 7
pound* mid lard was $1 *ante. That was forty years az*. Sugar
seemed to stay at *taut the same ;Awl*a all the time ex opt during
the writ an6 it was hard to get then. Once I had to .ay 40 tAlte
a -2.onnd for it Mlle the wr-r was -t,oine on. I used to cot the beat
cotton LodkvoA for five cents a yard. If you bought a whole
cut 50 yards you could cot it for $1. It le 21 cents a yard
*me e Aarl-led forty years Azov and Vs sixty five now*
Itve never been a'Lle to get my birth records
r. orin °Tou oucht to take a few years off :"jur age theme
41711), ftrin4 (Not minding the intormAion) sThere wasn't any
resident ;,riest in Old Town than A priest went around to four
differimt towns* Orono* Old TOwn*....__, and .7 (She named
the two other ;Aacesso but I have forgotten- **hen a cbild
wpn baptised the pa 'outs bad to take it to whordower-the priest was
at that time I don't know where they took me. It mlght heft been
in any one or those four places. I never ld ;Ind the records
anyway. I his* that priest was Irish. (Pather Ouellette said be
thoucht there 'ems sn Irish priest hero befor Trudel). He couldn't
rononnce the Pronchnsmmm very rel and they said -When be cot one
he laanst, pronounce at all, be baptised the child roasthing else.
*When r was aL:out two year. old they had black diptheria hero*
ma t i sixty*roe years azo. Doctor Norcrosm was the doctor then.
Thor 17-*,
and (I cnt rtammpe.' the name) ave;. re* lost clx. My
soother Lot Doctor Norcross one. nijat for one of =7 sisters. Ho put
some ',tits :Ander on the end at kw. and oured it down the
throat* but in the morninz she wo: dead. There wa'n't zuch sanita-
tion over h re Lhen* an a lot :74or% children used to die. It wasn't
a.uildron died in our ftmily (n t the Morin fanny)*

her.
black choler* that time vas bloke* diptheris, Tlis"s wbst the
doctor called it if they AldbliAt choler it was before my
tine It must have boon terrible to eee so navy chi_dren die*
LIMO*
ban I vas sin yes old I 1ot a sore th oat and my mother vs raid
it we diptheria She Lot Lioetor "propose and he asked tr I ever bad
bleu* diptheria anll my motLler told him I bad Mello he said,
'don't wory than this in taelt sore tizoat.'
*I lost ,1st one of y C 1.dora+ qy ittle in. She war
ciht yeerr old, and she was a dear* Or a time I hated everything
becAuse wh* w c taken fvo, ms*
*I us r,d to asAs drems* I ',would bo sitting her, the kitchen
and I ,.ould see her* $be vould walk by me er,r Tine that grept
bevy cress, and I couldn't hillp her&
*One day the priet.t aid to me, r** orin, you feel bad be+
cause yo hateyour bi dl Sha_is happy' inbsaven. and tr you real4
l'ved her, you ketu,.d be :led that that is
rbon you will be Liad that she is deadt Then
he I'
o.
A time will come
au will sally love
*It was atne year aftt-r that when I war; in that me001 the
utytn room) that I tol.n knees ,n nowt of her toturo and
looked u at her dea face and cried* I, "It Asd t4. t she rim
I know tin abs I. 13E4..14 rur Lap lore pnrhapia, than if she
stayed witu us* I know I will nee her oceans for we all must diO*
of her of ten, now, but I nevey feel hate because she w a
m me*Qrknows best end nlw I know that I m lly love
*A tray 1L of Uhe boys ubt over to dinner
once *t rit in that oho
told me wIth tears in his eyes how

bad losts 1 le toy. a• sold be bad kept e1 the dbilds
elotbee• 4 fat fto bed I lelt sorry r bin Bow _lath better
It would be to i'lve those clot bse to mom, poor bild t4lo had non*.
I knew that be didn't really love tile child, or be would have fat
Glad."