The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1913-10-03
PART ONE
CHAPTER I.
On the Labrador.

On the Labrador.
Dictated by Mr.. Jesse Smith.
Don't you write anything down yet,
cause I amt ready.
II wrote this yarn myp Ell, I'd make
1t good and red from tip 70 tip, claws
out. teeth bare, fur crawling with emo
tions. 1t wouldn't be dull, no, or evil
dence.
But then it's to please you. and
that's what I'm for.
So ] proceeds to stroke the fur
smooth, lay the paws down soft. fold
up the smile. and purr A sort of
truthfulness steals over me. Coin to.
be dull, too.
No, dunno how to begin. II this
arm was a rope, I'd coil It down be.
fore began to pay out. You lays the
end, 30, and flemish down, ring by ring
until the bight's coiled, smooth, ready
to fake off as 1t runs | delayed
lynching once to do just that, and re-
lieve the patients mind. 1t all went
of so well!
When we kids werc good, mother
she used to own we came of pedigree
stock; but when we're bad, seems we
took after father. You see mothers
folk was the elect, sort of born saved
They allowed there'd be room in
Heaven for one hundred and forty-four
thousand just persons, mostly from
Nova Scotia, but when they took to
sorting the neighbors. they'd get ex-
elusive
Anyway, mothers folk as tribe, Is
1illionaires In grace and pretty well
fixed in Nova Scotia. Then she's found
out, secretly married among the goats.
Her names scratched out of the fam
lily Bible, with a strong hint to the
Lord to scratch her entry from the
Book Of Life. She's married sailor
man, before the mast, Liveyere from
the Labrador, man without a dollar,
suspected of being Episcopalian.
In them days the Labrador amt
laid out exactly to suit mother. She's
used to luxury-coal in the lean-to.
taties in the cellar. cows in the barn.
barter store round the corner, mails,
church, school, and a jail right handy,
so she can enjoy the ungodly getting
of their just deserts But In our time
the Labrador was just Gods country,
all rocks, ice, and sea, to put the fear
into proud hearts-no need of teach
ers. It kills off the weaklings-no
need of doctors. A school to raise
memo need OF preachers. The law
was work or starve"-no place for
lawyers. It's police, and court, and
hangman all complete, fire and hail.
snow and vapors, wind and storm full
filling His word.
Fathers home was an overturned
schooner. turfed in, and he was surely
proud of having a bigger place than
any other Liveyere on the coast. There
was the hold overhead for slowing
winter fish, and room downstairs for
the family, the team of seven husky
dogs, and even a cord or two of fire.
wood. We kids used to play at New
fnlanders up In the hold, when the
winter storms were tearing the tops
of the hills, and the Eskimo devil
howled blue shrieks outside. The hus.
kies makes wolf songs all about the
fewness of fish, and we'd hear mother
give father piece of her mind. That's
about the first l remember, but all
what mother thought about poor IA
Their took years and years to say.
used to be kind of sorry for father
You see he worked the bones thro ugh
his hide, Turing all winter and fish.
ing summers, and what he earned he'd
get in truck from the company. All
tie tn no Do
but father worked hardest and he
owed most, hundreds and hundreds OF
skins. The company trusted him
There wasn't a man on the coast
more trusted than he was, with moth
er to feed, and six kids, besides seven
hus&ies. and fathers aunt, Thessa,
lonil1a. a widow with four children
and a tumor. living down to Last
Hope beyond the Rocks.
There was secrets about father, and
IL mother ever found out! You see
he looked like a white man, curly
yaller hair same as me, and he was
fearful strong. But in his inside
don't ever tell!-he was partly small
boy same's me. and the other half OF
him--don't ever let onl-was noun
taineer injun. / seen his three broth
ers, the finest fellers you ever-yes
Scotch half-breeds-an mother never
knew
Thar's me ON fathers knee, with
my nose in his buckskin shirt, and
even To this day the wood smoke In