tales-of-Fogo-Island

Mr. Dan Budden, or 'Uncle Dan', as many people knew him, delivered the mailfor fifteen winters. Sometimes, he would begin mail delivery in January,depending on when the coastal boats stopped running. Mr. Budden wouldleave Little Seldom and go to Stag Harbour. He would pick up the mail in thatcommunity and then take it to Fogo. When he arrived in Fogo, he would dropthis mail and pick up mail arriving from Farewell and Change Islands.Mailmen's wages were not high, but they were enough to make ends meet.Mr. Dan Budden received three dollars for each of his return trips. When theweather was good and the mail was on time, he would make one trip perweek. The people of Seldom even made up a poem about the mail service. Itbegan with the following two lines:Danny and his dogs are doing all rightWe gets our mail every Friday night!One of Mr. Budden's dogs, 'Bruno' is still remembered with pride:Most times, Uncle Dan had four or five dogs. Then he got Bruno and hedid all the work. Bruno was quiet, but when you showed him the harnesshe would come right along for the work. The rest of the dogs might runup under the house or store, but not Bruno! He was always ready towork!Uncle Dan got him as a pup up in Dog Bay. He was a big dog, but hismother was only small. They said that when he was a pup, he'd chasethe other pups around and that strengthened him up. He was mostlyblack in color, with some white spots.Uncle Dan could cross the island in all kinds of weather when he hadBruno with him. There were no ski-doo suits then either! The dog wouldstop sometimes and scratch the snow out of his eyes. Dan often said hewould have smothered if it were not for Bruno. In fact, he was on a mailrun the day that Reverend Mercer was smothered in the storm. UncleBob Scott asked him what the weather was like coming back from Fogo.He said that he had often seen worse, but he had the dog with him. Danwould have never lived to be ninety-seven years old if it wasn't for thatdog.Most story tellers will say that the working dogs of years ago were not at alllike the dogs that people own today. Some people called them 'Newfoundlandworking dogs'. In fact, the dogs may have been related to the Labrador