Mary Ross Collection

Big Roddie MacRae on his way to Compton's mill.

Strength

Oh yeah, we were industrious. I was a very busy woman. When my father and mother got a little old they asked me to take them... . My husband had died and they came to live with me. And my sister had died and I took her son. And I did a lot of work around the settlement. I didn’t go out for pay but, you know, if there was an emergency I used to go out.

And I’ve delivered babies. There’s dozens and dozens of babies around here that I delivered, some without a doctor. I was always glad to have a doctor but I have never lost one of them yet... .

I had a pair of rubber gloves and a white apron and I always took a syringe with me. Often I’d give people ether for the doctor and he’d take off fingers and all, when they were cut with saws and that kind of thing. I set one little girl’s arm, sent her to the RE. Island Hospital. I ’d get them ready before the doctor came, as a rule, and if the doctor didn’t come I looked after the case. Sometimes — quite often — you couldn’t get a doctor you know. They were scarce.

Libby Compton 97