3 Harry MacTavish Harry MacTavish 's birthplace, the family farm in Iona, dates back to 1823. But it lies vacant now. Harry learned his trade in the wood-working factory on the old farm and built a new house and new factory for himself in 1934. He lived there alone until his 1964 marriage to German-born Rose Fifer . Harry was the great wit of the Belfast area. Although he could be serious, subdued, even bitter at times, his stories and one-liners are his legacy, and the retelling of them, his friends' greatest entertainment. 1 don't know what your politics is. None of my damn business. I always loved [politics] but there was never a price on me at all. Do you see? There was a price on a lot of stuff. And if you had the price you'd get the man and if you hadn't you wouldn't.... It didn't matter a damn to me which party was canvassing or doing the running. Oh well, I'd say I found the government on the Island better...than the federal. And I found the Libs better than the Cons. [But] it's the same racket.1 I've kept nothing back. I spent four years in the lines so I decided, by God, whatever I could get, could come. Shell Hardened When I went to school I read a lot in history about war and I decided, I'll see it for myself. What it's like. And if I come back it's all right and if I don'tl'll just be another dead one.... That'sthe way I sized it up. But I came 1. Harry may have been having some sport with the interviewer, because it was a well- known fact in the Belfast area that Harry was a true and faithful supporter of the Conservative Party. ______^__________ Harry MacTavish 33