five at the Tignish Convent, she would bid farewell to her mother, two younger sisters and three brothers, and board a train to begin

a housekeeping job as maid at a doctor's home in Summerside. There she would be obliged to take complete charge of a

newborn baby. The family being poor and now left without support, due to the death of the father, it would be her duty to

be breadwinner for the family. She remembered being met at the depot by a kindly

gentleman, who was shocked at seeing how young she was. His words she would remember all of her life. ”Why is a child like you, sent to take on such a responsibility?” and with that she ‘broke down and cried. Her housekeeping duties included full

care of the baby, with whom she shared a bedroom. It was a time in her life she described as lonely, away from

her mother, sisters and brothers and without friends. Her work kept her busy caring for the baby, up many long hours at night with little sleep and very scant pay. She was able to send her mother the amount of 50 cents a week. With no father at home her brothers and sisters were out of school working before their

eleventh birthday also, to help keep food on the family table. Another lady told much the same story, after the death

of her father. She was out of school and doing housework at nine years of age. With no government assistance back in those years, the stories told of children being robbed of their childhood

was heartbreaking to hear. Left to remember the train wreck is a plaque and an iron

cross that has been erected at the site on the Confederation trail, with a poem written by Keith Pratt of Bloomfield Station, Prince Edward Island. It is to the memory of the four men who died in

108