tales-of-Fogo-Island

In the early years of the lumber camps, the men did not have mattresses tosleep on. When they arrived at the camp, they would cut boughs for theirbunks. Some men did not change their clothes or their boughs often. Theylived in cramped quarters for months at a time. These living arrangementscreated many problems.There was no running water, no bathroom. I had two underwear outfitswith me. Before I went to bed for the night, I would turn my long-johnsinside out and hang them over a rail, outside. This would freeze the lice.Then I could shake the lice off them in the marning. I would put that pairon, and hang the other pair out for the next night. When I came home inthe spring, the 'missus' would burn the works, every stitch I broughthome.Now, some fellers had it bad in the camps, but it was not like that all thetime. Most of the time it would depend on the crowd that was there withyou. If they were clean and the camp was clean, it was not so bad. Thework was still hard, but you could put up with the work.While they were cutting wood, the men would not eat a noontime meal. Theywould have a lunch at around 10:00 A.M. and then have another lunch ataround 2:00 P.M. This snack time would attract twenty or thirty men. Theywould light a fire outside, boil a kettle full of water and treat themselves tomolasses bread and a few biscuits. There were always plenty of biscuits toeat and sometimes they would have a bit of cold salt meat. Supper would notbe ready until 6:30 P.M. Sometimes, men would catch some fresh food oftheir own:We would do a bit of rabbit catching when we got a chance. We wouldput out a few slips while we was working. Then around three or fouro'clock in the evening you would hear the rabbits bawling. If the slipswas handy, we would check them after supper. Sometimes we wouldclean one and give it to the cook to make for breakfast. The ones wedidn't eat, we put away in the shed and they would freeze like rocks andwe would bring them home.The cookhouse was one of the busiest places in the camp. The men would beserved bread, potatoes, salt beef, biscuits and plenty of deep, dark beans.