[was] at Willie Mutch’s. Mrs. Halliday was a nurse and she was coming over [to our place], so... I headed for Willie Mutch’s across the bay in Eamscliffe.

He said the doctor had left there the evening before. I asked Willie Mutch about Pownal ice. He said, “I don’t think Pownal ice is fit to travel on.” Pownal Bay was very treacherous and if you didn’t know it, stay away from it. I had to come back overland to Dr. Judson’s house. His sister was keeping house for him, Ellen, and she said, “He’s at Birch Hill.” So I headed for Birch Hill. The tracks were all through the fields in those days you know... . Well, after this thaw...I had to drag through ploughed fields and mud and everything to get to Birch Hill. I was kind of upset; I was a long, long time away from home then.

Dr. Judson come out and you’d never know he was a doctor. He had an old fur cap on and mackinaw coat and gum rubbers and oversocks. Only for the black bag in his hand you’d think he was anything else but a doctor.

So he got in the sleigh and I asked him what the shortest way [was] to get back to Belfast. “Oh,” he says, “I got into Pownal ice two weeks ago. But we’ll go out to China Point Wharf.” Twice the sleigh stuck in a ditch or something. And the harness would break. He’d get out, help me get the sleigh out of the ditch.

Once we left China Point Wharf you could see all the houses in Orwell Cove on the high ground from the ice. He knew everybody there. And he’d tell me a story about all of them because he knew I was worrying; you know, to get my mind off it. Once we got on the ice, the old horse saw the red bank ahead of him and he pricked up his ears and he started jogging... . Well, he knew he was getting handy home. The doctor said, “That’s quite a horse you got there, West.” I said, “I’ll never own another one like him.” “How old is he?” “Well,” I said, “if he lives till June he’ll be 19 years old.” He was a Royal Parkland; a breed you never heard tell of. But he was really terrific... . He was tough; I never saw another one as tough.

We got home about 12 o’clock or 12:30 and I left home about 6:30. But Louise was born in the meantime and every thing was fine... . Her skin was as clear as yours is today — no redness like you see in young babies. And

she was there laying there, sleeping so peaceful.

At Home

My wife died in December and my sister took Roberta down for the winter months. She was going to bring her up there but I always missed her at the

Bobs West 245