Chapter II – Starting Work and Settling in
A Personnel officer was very helpful in advising me in what I had to do before reporting for works in the mines. With the troops returning from the war accommodation was scarce and he advised me that if I was to find a room I should immediately check the rental ads in the local newspaper. He also suggested that the first thing I should do is to go down to their office to collect a paper as it was coming off the press so I would have a first crack at what might be available. I rushed down and managed to get a paper at the first stop the delivery van made after leaving the printing plant. After several discouraging calls telling me that their rooms had already been booked a friendly woman’s voice answered and said that if I hurried down she had one room left.
I recall that the house was near the top of a steep hill. It was a large three story wooden structure and freshly painted in white with a large porch running along the front. The porch was painted a bright red which I found unusual. A middle aged and portly woman stood on the porch and greeted me with an extended hand and a nice smile. She told me that she was the owner and manager and would show me a room to consider. I observed that she seemed to have an unusual amount of jewellery on for that time of day – rings, bracelets and a necklace – but I didn’t give it much thought. On the right as we entered was a large living room. Two men were sitting in comfortable chairs playing checkers and a younger woman sat quietly watching. As they waved at me she said these were some of her guests. She said her guests were like a family and I would like it here.
The room was on the second floor. Spartan with a single bed and a chair, but it looked clean and adequate, the price was very reasonable and I decided to take it and made a small down payment for the rent.
The room was on the second floor. Spartan with a single bed and a chair, but it looked clean and adequate, the price was very reasonable and I decided to take it and made a small down payment for the rent.
As the owner was leaving the room she looked back and said you will find this a friendly place and I should mention that two young women about your age have rooms on this floor and would I like you to meet them? Before I could answer two cheery faces poked their heads around the corner and quickly entered the room. They were nice looking girls, lightly clad and friendly and said they were looking forward to seeing me again.
Being very innocent about life I was puzzled by all this friendliness but in any case rushed off to shop for the clothing and boots I was expected to wear for working in the mines. I slept soundly that night undisturbed.
The next day I went down in the mine for the first time. At a level 500 feet down I met at the landing the man who was going to be my senior partner. He was a big middle aged man, I guessed to be about 45, who had been working in the mines for most of his working life. He took one look at me and asked the foreman "Why have you sent me this skinny kid? He won't be able to handle his share of the work"
The foreman replied, "Well with the project you have been assigned to they were asking me to find someone who can read blueprints. He is a student engineer who just arrived yesterday. Give him a few days and we'll see how he works out."
The subject was then dropped and my partner asked me, " Have you found a place to stay yet ? I know there is almost nothing in town now with all the troops coming home"
"Yes I have." I responded. "I guess I was lucky because I found a really nice place in a big house up on the hill. The people are really friendly and I have already met a few people including some nice girls about my age. They also serve breakfast and you can get a beer at night in the lounge."
"Oh that's interesting. What's the address?" he asked
I gave him the address and he burst out in laughter. "Don't you realize where you are staying? It's a boarding house for those old Swedes, Pollacks and other lonely single men. If they have a family it is far way somewhere. The madam makes her money providing them with food, boot leg booze and women. Do you want to stay there? Why do you think those nice girls that you met are living there?"
"Gosh I didn't know this. I guess it is why everyone was so friendly. Yow!! I better start looking again"
"Kid I'll do you a favour. The Devers are good friends of me and my wife. Bill and his son work in this mine and his wife rents out rooms. I'll talk to him about this."
To make a long story short I met Mrs Devers after work, they had a nice big house across from the jail, and although she didn't have a room I was able to share a bed with another miner who worked on another shift. Mrs Devers also had a daughter a bit younger than me that I took to the movies sometime.
Mrs Devers was a devout religious woman who was constantly criticising the men in the jail yard that she could see wandering about in their striped pyjama like prison garb. Many of these prisoners were simply lumberjacks who had come into town and in a drunken stupor had got into a punch up or other forms of disorderly behaviour and were just there for a short time. On occasion I recognized someone I had worked with in one of the two previous summers in the camps north of Sudbury and much to Mrs Devers horror and her daughter's amusement I would cross the street to talk with them through the fence. Old white haired Whitey was a typical example (seemed very old to me back then but was probably in his mid fifties), A gentle quiet and popular man in the camp who saved up enough money now and then to take the train down to Sudbury for a few days to look for a woman, ending up terribly drunk , fighting and and usually getting his money stolen. A few days in jail to sober up and calm down and then he was released and given a return ticket back to the camp. This was a typical holiday for many lumberjacks and much discussed with merriment in the camp when they returned,
"
The subject was then dropped and my partner asked me, " Have you found a place to stay yet ? I know there is almost nothing in town now with all the troops coming home"
"Yes I have." I responded. "I guess I was lucky because I found a really nice place in a big house up on the hill. The people are really friendly and I have already met a few people including some nice girls about my age. They also serve breakfast and you can get a beer at night in the lounge."
"Oh that's interesting. What's the address?" he asked
I gave him the address and he burst out in laughter. "Don't you realize where you are staying? It's a boarding house for those old Swedes, Pollacks and other lonely single men. If they have a family it is far way somewhere. The madam makes her money providing them with food, boot leg booze and women. Do you want to stay there? Why do you think those nice girls that you met are living there?"
"Gosh I didn't know this. I guess it is why everyone was so friendly. Yow!! I better start looking again"
"Kid I'll do you a favour. The Devers are good friends of me and my wife. Bill and his son work in this mine and his wife rents out rooms. I'll talk to him about this."
To make a long story short I met Mrs Devers after work, they had a nice big house across from the jail, and although she didn't have a room I was able to share a bed with another miner who worked on another shift. Mrs Devers also had a daughter a bit younger than me that I took to the movies sometime.
Mrs Devers was a devout religious woman who was constantly criticising the men in the jail yard that she could see wandering about in their striped pyjama like prison garb. Many of these prisoners were simply lumberjacks who had come into town and in a drunken stupor had got into a punch up or other forms of disorderly behaviour and were just there for a short time. On occasion I recognized someone I had worked with in one of the two previous summers in the camps north of Sudbury and much to Mrs Devers horror and her daughter's amusement I would cross the street to talk with them through the fence. Old white haired Whitey was a typical example (seemed very old to me back then but was probably in his mid fifties), A gentle quiet and popular man in the camp who saved up enough money now and then to take the train down to Sudbury for a few days to look for a woman, ending up terribly drunk , fighting and and usually getting his money stolen. A few days in jail to sober up and calm down and then he was released and given a return ticket back to the camp. This was a typical holiday for many lumberjacks and much discussed with merriment in the camp when they returned,
"
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