mentioned. After Mr. Clow’s death in 1921, Mr. Davis Baker purchased the business and continued its operation. Mr. Baker bought and sold potatoes in addition to selling groceries. Eventually this business

deteriorated and the building was abandoned.

Lorne & Alberta Reeves operated a small store in the early 19605 at their home in Freetown (code 40).

They also operated the Robert C. Auld store after his retirement in 1960. Wyville Reeves purchased the Auld store from Lorne and Alberta Reeves and he carried on the business for a short time.

Fred and Alice Perry had a small canteen in their home (code 10) on the Scales Pond Road. This canteen continued for a few years in the mid to late 19605.

A lady from North Bay, Ont., Betty Sager, operated a small grocery store at Freetown village in 1983—84 in the former Barlow Bird home.

DRESS MAKING Miss Lidstone was probably the first dressmaker in Freetown. She operated her business in a shop in the Village. Another dress maker was Mary Ann Deacon. She kept a stock of fabrics and had her business on the second floor of Beairsto’s Tailor Shop. She carried on this business for several years until she married Joseph Lewis, after which she carried on her trade at her home with a smaller stock. She also went to various

homes and spent several days sewing for the family. Matilda Lewis and Essie Walker were dressmakers in Freetown in the late 805 and early 905.

In 1985 Muriel Stetson is active in refitting and making new dresses.

SHOE MAKING Shoemaking in the olden days was carried on in the home. The shoemakers were itinerant and would travel to families to make and repair shoes. Shoemakers carried different kinds of leather and other accessories required in making shoes. Among the shoemakers who carried on their trade in the Freetown area were John

Strang, George Matthews, Malcolm Maclntosh and Daniel Welsh.

TAILORING It is not possible to say who was the first tailor in Freetown. Tailoring in the early days was a common trade because ready made suits were not available. MacAlpine’s Directory of 1870-71, lists Edward Lidstone of Lower Freetown as a tailor and a newspaper report states that Hugh MacLeod opened a tailor shop in Freetown in 1881 specializing in Island Tweeds. Isabella Anderson owned a lot in Freetown which she sold to Hector Morrison, who carried on a tailoring business. Morrison moved to Kensington where he operated

a jewellry business for many years.

Charles Beairsto operated a tailor shop in Spring Valley after he married Lily MacNeill. The family later moved to Freetown and carried on the tailoring business there. Charles was a cutter. He could take the measurements and cut out the cloth without using patterns. After spending a few years in Freetown he moved to Central Bedeque and tailored in Colin Wrights’ shop. There he lived in the old Baptist parsonage and that is where their daughter Irene was born in 1885. In 1890 William Callbeck bought the Colin Wright building and store. Mr. Beairsto continued to manage the shop for a few years until he returned to Freetown.

In 1904 the Beairsto’s moved to Summerside, where Ben worked at tailoring and Charles in MacMurdo’s

grocery. Their time there was short lived as a delegation from Freetown waited on them and begged them to return. They told them how much he was missed as a tailor, a neighbor and choir director. Soon came a parade of neighbors with teams and wagons. They were Will, Jonah and Joseph Lewis, Robert Auld, Henry Crossman, Charl Taylor, two Reeves’ and two Campbells’. Mrs. Beairsto said she was never so happy in her life as she was to get back to Freetown. With the help of the neighbors, the old home was soon spick and

span again.

Since that time the Beairsto Tailor Shop was a fixture in Freetown. Dwight and Ben both worked as tailors with their father. Ben carried on the business after his father’s death in 1935. John McCourt and

Arthur Lockhart were among those who tailored with Mr. Beairsto in his shop at Freetown.

Mr. Beairsto also had a shop in Kinkora where he went to take orders for suits each week. He also had a route up the western end of the province for soliciting orders. This started in 1916. An item of interest, appearing in “From the Top of the Hill”, tells that Charles Beairsto bought many kinds of cloth; flannel and drugget, and other items, pant and vest buttons, buckles and thread from the country store. Prices ranged from $4.00 for a suit of clothes, $2.70 for a coat and vest, $1.50 for pants and vest and $3.50 for repairing ulster coats.

78