gm 9. The Fall of 1917

For Alphy there were two events that happened in the fall of 1917 that stand out—all the children received a new pair of boots and his father remarried.

During the summer of 1917, the children saw some changes in Henri. He was still very busy during the week, but on Saturday

evening he would change into his best clothes and go and visit a lady named Mary Anne Perry.

Mary Anne was a single lady who had been introduced to Henri by their neighbour, Raphelle. There quickly developed a mutual attraction between Mary Anne and Henri. At first Alphy didn’t take too much notice of his father’s courtship, but he noticed when Mary Anne came to the house, his father seemed more relaxed, taking time to drink tea, or smoke the pipe. For the most part, there was very little leisure time for Henri: occasionally he would take time to read, or engage in storytelling" when the neighbours came by, but apart from that Alphy had rarely seen his father take time to drink tea, until Mary Anne came.

During the day, Henri was still very busy on the farm, when he wasn’t fishing. He would also spend time repairing fish nets for some of the fishermen in the community. For this, he would receive

cash, and that’s how he managed to buy each child a pair of new boots.

Alphy was so proud of his new boots! These were definitely a ‘man’s boots’, made of waterproof material. As soon as he put them on his feet, he knew they were the best boots he ever had. He then decided he would test them out to see if they were actually water- proof. He looked down at his boots which were almost up to his knees. Alphy went outside with them on. To test them, he would

*Storytelling- this was not gossip. Henri would sometimes read books and relay the story to the neighbours.

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