The book Acadian Lives consists of interviews with Cape Breton Acadians and was collected and edited by Ronald Kaplan with Rosie Aucoin Grace. The book was published in 2004.
“[Now, the time came to get rid of the ox.]
“Well it was either that we were going to kill the animal for our next winter’s meat. Or probably save one hind quarter for us. And we’d sell the three other quarters. To help us have our meat and at the same time get a spare dollar to buy our groceries for the winter.
“… that black and white one was about the longest I kept… 5 or 6 years. And then put him in the pasture and get him good and fat. And had to kill him in the fall.
“Come here – I used to call him Dick… Put his halter on and the reins. And I would take him home walking alongside of me, just like you’d train a little dog…
“There was a fellow waiting in the yard…with a rifle. Hit him right here. He never knew what happened. That white and black one there, it was sold. And the guy that bought it from me, he was peddling meat on the road.
“[What made you stop using oxen?]
“Well I wasn’t making any money. I was just barely living. I was living more on carpenter work than I was with the ox…Until the time got a little better after the war. And then I started getting jobs.
“The first job I had was looking after an old Co-Op store that was behind the store that’s there now. It’s down now…And it was ready to go bankrupt. And I took it over with grade 8.
“And the reason why I did that is because, when the credit union was started in West Arichat, for a while they had nobody to look after the books. And I took the books. And there was a MacNeil guy from Antigonish. He was an auditor. And he used to come and visit me every month and he used to come and audit the books for me every year. And showed me how to make all the entries in those books, right through for three years. So when they asked me to take the old Co-Op – and I had no business education whatsoever. I figured, well, I might be able to do it if I can manage the books…I did everything in that old store, except the audit. I did all the accounting and everything in that store. And – I saved it from going in bankruptcy.
“And then I quit because there was no wages enough to live. I could still do better for a while, carpenter work was going up, the wages… When they built the store here, a schoolteacher took it. …When he left, he told me “You managed the old store. Why don’t you take this one over?” And I had just stopped working at Point Tupper when they built the pulp mill. I was working payroll clerk…at Point Tupper, for 16 months.
“It was $17,000 in debts, and they were thinking about locking her up. And I paid the $17,000 in less than four years…And the last two years I was there I paid $7,600 and $7,500 dividends to my customers….And when I made the last audits I had: “trade accounts payable – nil. And the store was filled right up to the roof. And there was money in the bank.”