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Lan i Tomasi
Sectiori
A STO3ECITTER IS LOLIDAY
On the other side of the lake, cottage after cottage lined
the beach. here were only ledges, grey and jagged. A man sat
on one of the smoother boulders, in a tangle of reels and lines.
Ee wore a khaki shirt, and cotton pants tucked into knee length
boots. There was no sun but he wore a battered, wide -brimmed
felt hat a stonecutter out for a holiday.
"My camp?" his lips moved around the stem of a corncob
pipe. "Over there, see? By the spruces. That woman is my
wife. The girls are my kids. They/re both married now. This
is the first time they come to camp this summer, to /open it
up/ they say. They like the water only when it's warm. But
me, even in the winter I come. For bunting. Good hunting in
those bill/ back there. Rabbit, partridge, deer. Mostly two
men from the shed cow. with me, They like the sport, too.
In winter we sleep downstair/, near the stove. My wife, she
get mad. She think I will catch cold. That is what happen
to a neighbor -friend. Already his lungs are pretty full of
dust; the cold, it just finish/ him.
"Many stonecutter/ come to this pond, it take just half-
hour to ride here from :Arra. I like it because always it is
cool. The girls complain the only time they can swim is on
the real hot day, an/ those are few. Me, I don't care. I
live/ near a lake in the old country, an/ I never learn to
swim. I guess maybe I don't learn now.
2,
"I am at camp now in the middle of the week because the
stone shed where I work was burnt down Uonday, no I get ready
my fishpole to have fun for a few day, then next week I look
for work. Mositly I come here lust on the Saturday ant unday.
Never I stay more than one week, an, then only when I get the
lay-off. Our camp' are not good like a real home. We don't
care, No different they are from the other camp, here. Very
rich people don't build here, only people like us who got to
work hard to live. Vost of us we build our own camp. That
small place next to mine belong to Italo ?renal:). Well, one
year he buy the land. Next year be buy the lumber. Then 'every
naturday ant Sunday, ant every time there is no work at the
shed, he come up here ant build. Mei I do the same thing,
but I got a cousin to help me no the camp go up in one summer.
"Fah, that fire Londayt Only ashes left. Ant the shed
next to it is two -third, gone. Together they put 65 men out
of work. Some, they won't find work right away. The stone
business is slow now for a month ant a half. Vs, I don't worry
for work. All the abed bosses, they know me, They know the
good work I do.
"lot much granite is lost in that fire. The insurance is
enough to cover it. 'Bout C50,000 for each shed. Lucky for
the boss that business is slow right now, he got only a little
unfiniaht work in the shed. When business is good he got 'bout
2.000,00,0 worth of granite. If the fire come then, well --too
bad, ?ire will spoil granite so it is good for nothing. The
blocks of stone get crack!, they chip. A square atone will
look almost round.
3*
"In this shed the profit is split three way'. Three bosses.
Two of them I am good friends with. The old boss ant his boy.
The boy is married to a fine girl, but the old boss is plenty
mad when he get married to her. Because she is French an, poor,
ant her old man a drunk bum.
"They will build again. With ;160,000 you can start a
damn good shed. When tile fire happen', we are lino' up for
three month' work* Three month' work, but not -too -fast work.
Ye, I feel bad 'bout the fire. Alr7ost finith, I am on a fine
memorial, one of the beat I ever make. The old boss is after
me all month to hurry up. But I take it easy. rlow, good
work. I know there is no rush. Ant I figure I am worth more
than what they pay, anyway. All us good workers, we figure
that way... This memorial, it is a rough tree trunk, with a
scroll an' lilies* The order come from Texas.
"The fire alarm begin to ring Monday night 'bout nine
o'clock. Right away I know it is a,shed fire. I get there
fast, but one shed is already half burn'. The fire light up
the sky. You can see the hill' an' the river just like in
the daytime. This shed is like a then, dry old wood. When
it start to burn you might as sell let it go. The firemen
work' hard, but what they oan do?
"Three, four of us, we try to save some pieces of granite
that are in the yard. We go so near the fire as the firemen
will let us. We try, but we save nothing. The old boss is
there. :4 say, 'Never mind, never mind. Go on home, all of
you'.' Well, I am hot an, wet ant tired, ant I go up the hill
to sit in the grass ant watch that good granite get lid(' by
4.
the fire. A bunch of Montpelier office men are stand' behind
me. They don't sit in the grass. Oh, no. They don't want
to dirty the summer stripe' pants* All the time they talk an,
talk. You think they say how sorry they are, that so many men
are out of work, that so much good work is lost? Oh, no. All
the time, I bet, they hope the next shed will catch fire, an'
the next one. They like to see the whole row of shed' burn
up. They want something to talk 'bout in the office tomorrow.
"I been here in Barre 'bout fifteen year. Before that I
am in Calincy, in the stone shed', too. I am lay' off when work
is slack, so I come up here ant find work. Bare I like it
better. It is smaller, you make more friend'
"Viuggi„ Italy, in the Como district, is where ,I am born.
A good granite center, Viugti. I am raise' to feel granite,
to smell ant know it. My fatler an, his brother, they work'
the stone, too. Plenty of shed' there, but small ones. In
the open, the men work, under a roof. There is fresh air
around you all the time you work, so there is less sickness
for the stonecutter. Ant the owner, he make more profit, he
don't have to buy the expensive dust remove' equipment. Sure,
sometira' it is cold to work out, but when it is too cold,
well you don't work. I learn the granite trade in Viuggie
I am already a good cutter when I come to -411.incy. Funny, here
in Barre we got 'bout couple dozen people from my town of Viuggi.
Over there in the north if a father has maL!e money from stone
he will send his son to Lilan where they Lot the school' for
artist' an' sculptor'. Uyself, no, I don't go there. I carve
only little, like a flower or letter. Never have I touch' a