features

51. Judes
"Everything goes on in this little place"
r thur Joseph Young , 72, still
A speaks with a French accent
he inherited from his mother,
even though she died when he
was nine.
"When 1 was 15 I still did not
know the English word for
'gr ee n' ," recalls Arthur. "1 came
here to St. Judes with my sister
Annie when I was 14. That was
from Black Duck Brook on the
Port au Port Peninsula where I
was born ,
"My father was already here,
and my uncle Reuben Young who
was in World War One. There
was construction going on the
power line, and a lot of woods
work. There were quite a few
people living here then. Alan
Rubia, Angus Bennett, Manuel
Alexander, George and Jack
Curnew, Tom Ball who spoke
French and English. and Johnny
Arthur Young
Clou,an Indian man wholived by 1937 to MagdaleneAlexander. We
himself. There were others, too. had six boys and two girls. My
Some families have stayed but oldest fellow died last year in Onmany
others have moved away. tario. Three of the children still
"I cut wood at first, but then live around here. My wife died at
the highway came through bet- 81. John's in 1949.
ween 1934and 1936,so I went with "I worked away a lot, Port aux
them. It was mostly labor work, Basques, Cape 81. George,
putting in pipes, putting the road Codroy Valley, Baie Verteacross
bogs, that kind of stuff. I wherever the highways took us.
worked on the highway 35 years. So the house here was barred up
"I got married at Deer Lake in a lot. Now I'm married again, her
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Arthur Young 's house, St. Judas
DECKS AWAS H - 45
name's sandra, and I have two
more children: Lenore-Ann,
she's seven, and John, he's five ."
Arthur is a spry 72-year-old. We
have only caught him at home
because he couldn't remember in
which pocket he had left his rabbit
licence that morning, While he
was searching, the school bus
departed without him.
"I go along the ridge about a
mile from the road to look at my
snares. This time of the year I go
every morning. You can't leave
rabbits out toolong or they spoil.
Later, when it is colder I go every
two mornings. There are not too
many rabbits this year. Some
people leave their snares out in
the summer, after the season is
over. That destroys them when
they are having their young.
When I make my last rounds, the
15th of March, I pick up all my
snares. Ifsome are hard toget up
I undo them and flip them up on
the side, Arthur also grows
vegetables: turnips, cabbage,
carrots, onions, beets. But crop
yields declined last year.
"The ground is getting runned
out. I have to clear land on my
young fellow's land below the
track. My vegetables didn't turn
out too good here last year."
Despite this, Arthur shows us
turnips the size of a man's head.
Recently he killed off the last of
his 28chickens. He pulls a frozen
one from his freezer. It weighs 12
pounds and looks like a turkey.
"Oh, my dear man. I'm always
busy . I'm logging wood now until-
it snows. Then I'll get
somebody with a skidoo tohaul it
out. I've got two stoves. That one
there eats wood, it just goes
straight up the chimney, but then
I've got a iz-hour burner out the
back."
Arthur sells worms at the side
of the road to give pocket money
to his two children. It's part of a
seasonal entrepreneurial system