ATLAnTIC GUARDIAn - Memorial University of Newfoundland DAI

Building in St. John's, and another
at Corner Brook.
Home Made Souvenirs
Soldiers shopping for Newfoundland
souvenirs to send home or bring
back with them on furlough have a
difficult job, because nearly everything
sold here is made abroad and
imported. In some of the outlying
towns, or "outports" as they are
called, the women make colorful
hooked rugs and picture mats from
wool they shear and dye themselves.
At St. Anthony, in northern Newfoundland,
workers at the Grenfell
Mission make souvenirs which are
brought down to St. John's in the
Spring and placed on sale. These
include articles made of seal and
other skins, fur hats, wool mittens,
and miniature animals carved from
ivory and bone. They find a ready
market with the American and
Canadian soldiers stationed in this
country.
The City of St. John's is British in
appearance, many Americans think,
though this would not be apparent
to anyone who hailed from England.
The city's finest building is Government
House, an English-type maosian
surrounded by spacious grounds,
where the Governor and his lady
reside. The most modern structure is
the Newfoundland Hotel, a big
yellow brick building, while the
most imposing is the huge Catholic
Cathedral, located on a high hill and
visible from any part of town. The
Church of England Cathedral, designed
by Sir Gilbert Scott, one of
England's best known architects, is
ATLANTIC GUARDIAN
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considered one of the finest examples
of Gothic architecture on this side
of the Atlantic. Overlooking the city
from atop Signal Hill is Cabot
Tower, where Marconi received the
first wireless message from across
the Atlantic.
As the U.S. Army "fanned out"
into outposts for observation and
defense against threatened attack by
sea and air, its men became familiar
with the primitive, hardy life of
Newfoundland fishermen in the
outports. These little villages, although
picturesque enough for the
brush of any painter, have lacked
for centuries such modern conveniences
as drugstores, restaurants,
and movie theatres. At some of the
American outposts, for example,
many adults as well as children have
seen movies for the first time in their
lives.
The old order is changing in Newfoundland.
It is no longer living in
isolation, but has become an important
crossroads in air traffic over
the entire northern hemisphere.
Sometimes, as an old-fashioned
funeral goes by, with the undertaker
walking in advance of a wagon
drawn by a coal black horse and the
mourners in tall silk hats, a momentary
glimpse of the past comes
back. But the eyes of young Newfoundlanders,
as they study in the
U.S. Army Apprentice Machinists'
School, or work in the many installations
which employ ambitious girls,
are firmly fixed on the future.
The sun of prosperity has risen
over an island that will be increasingly
important in world affairs.