THE MILL VISIT

Written by Ronald Mizon
Published on January 2018

After my attempts at trying my hand to get a deer from the orchard, mainly due to Linus who put blank shells in the rifle unbeknownst to me, all I did was to scare them off.  So, I asked Linus if I could have a go in the woods.   He agreed after he gave me some more instruction on how to hold and aim properly. He advised me to wear something Red! So, I managed to find a Red beret in the cloakroom which probably belonged to one or the other of the two Cameron girls.    

     My day came. He loaded me up with just two shells and off I went with the Ross 303 rifle down to the wood at the bottom of the meadow and slowly moved about. Then I heard a rustle ahead of me and espied two deer having a bite to eat.  I leaned my rifle on the branch of a spruce tree, carefully took aim and pulled the trigger.  BANG!!!!   The kick I received and felt from the recoil just about knocked me over, and the two deer scampered away leaving me crestfallen.  I had missed and the pair scampered away leaving me with my thoughts!!! What would I have done if I had shot one and actually killed it?  What would I have done? I could not carry it back to the house alone and what would I have done if it was laying wounded?

     I began to feel ashamed of myself anyway and felt that I was lucky that he (a buck) had scampered away.  Collecting my thoughts, I ambled back to the house where I met Linus. “Any luck he asked?”   “No,” I replied.   “He got away.”

     I repeated my thoughts to him, he nodded knowingly, and said,  “I know how you feel”.

     I mentioned this escapade to Donald, later and he said, “I could not kill such a noble animal either Ronald.” Incident closed.

     With Alan Bannerman's encouragement I put in for the part time job of looking after the schoolhouse furnace and collecting the sawn off slabs from the local mill to feed it. I of course mentioned this to Linus and he went along with the idea.  “It is only a winter job”  he remarked “so you will have time to help out locally with the harvest and the potato picking.”   Not only that, he offered me the use of his horses and wagon to haul the slabs from the mill. He was a very good citizen. Most important he asked me not to run them.

    So, my first day came and I went to collect the slabs (Saturday).   I harnessed up the team and connected them to the wagon under the watchful eye of Linus to make sure all was correct.   After all, he was trusting me with his wagon and a pair of horses onto the main road on my own. 

    Arriving at the mill, one of the men greeted me and motioned that I should follow him.   Playing safe and prudent I jumped down from the wagon and led the team forward to the pile of slabs indicated already cut to size.  No doubt arranged by Alan Bannerman.

     The man and I loaded them up to his instructions and lashed them down. He then invited me into the cabin for a glass of milk and a molasses cookie.  Then, as I prepared to depart he proffered me a cigarette. I took it and resolved to try it at a more convenient moment.

     I recall, when at Mount Uniacke, Lester Kerr and I rolled a cigarette made of pine needles and nearly choked with the smoke. Once was enough!! The same applied to chewing tobacco. Difference was we chewed cigarette tobacco. UGH!!!! It was horrible! As we left the mill the horses   quickened their pace and without any encouragement from me (HONEST)  (they were not daft) they sensed they were on their way home.

     The schoolhouse basement was not locked and so I was able to off load the slabs straight away. Being so pleased with myself I pulled out the cigarette the man at the mill had given me and lit up! Had a puff - thinking to myself - "I am a young man now”,  until I started to cough and I did not finish it.

      I returned to the Cameron’s at once and reported to Linus that all went well.   I unharnessed the team and turned them out into the pasture.  Bobby made me laugh as he walked a little then broke into a trot and then kicked his hind legs into the air. He certainly felt good to be home!  The mare just sauntered along rather matter of fact as much to say “I’ve seen it all before.”