from The Eastern Chronicle 1924 : MERIGOMISH Part 2 "Recollections of Earlier Days: " A mischievous youth, whose spititual welfare deeply concerned the good relatives, had his finger passed through the flame of the candle in order to more fully impress on his mind what was in store for him in the next world if he didn't mend his ways. Some time later, bidding a silent good-bye to Merigomish, he arrived footsore and almost penniless in Pictou where he boarded a schooner bound for Boston. On the way the ship got becalmed and he could not resisit the temptation to throw a dipperful of cold water on the naked breast of a sailor who was snoozing on deck- just to see results. The results came with surprising suddenness. The sailor got up in arage and promptly threw him overboard. THis boy's photo and biography as an author, and that of Holland the designer of the first practical American submarine, were given equal prominence in the same issue of an American magazine some years later. The principal newspaper at that time , as at present, was The Eastern Chronicle. The Halifax Citizen and the Presbyterian Witness had one or two subscribers each. The Eastern Chrinicle had two distributing offices-one at the regular post office kept by Edward Finlayson and the other at the store of R S Copeland. California was the great objective point of the young men and as soon as grown up many of them left for that distant state to seek their fortunes. A number of "forty-niners" who had previously returned from the gold diggings and settled down, infused new life and good citizenship into Church and State. The "old swimmin' hole" previously referred to beneath the highway bridge was anywhere from 20 to 25 feet deep, and in summer time was inhabited practically night and day. The test of full-fledged boyhood was that of being able to dive to the bottom and return with a fistful of mud. Strange to say, no one ever failed to return. Of the many frequenters of this public bathing place and public nuisance to the Magistrates, a few may still be located. One was not not long since heard of as an official of the NY, NH, & H. Ry (note: New York, New Haven and Hartford Railway) and he runs the train out of Fresno, Cal. One "reached" the schoolmaster's ribs as he passed through the school house, stopped when he arrived at Oregon and never returned. Another dared the perils of Death Valley and returned safely to his farm, passing away only a few days ago, the last of the name, a name that had been familar to Merigomish for more than a 100 years (McEwen) . A Sask. farmer, a buyer for a dept. store in San Francisco, a retired building contractor of the same place, and the manager, for many years, of a hardware store in a city in Mass., account for four others. Five more are residents of the neighbouring towns, three of whom are managing their own lines of business, having snug bank balances, and no time to spare for the use of either liquor or tobacco." -30- (end of article ) cheers Thompson in PEI