ear Hattie:

Lord have mercy, things have really been stirred up here on the Island!  Pa's been going nonstop since he first heard about how the Government was going to dig a tunnel from the mainland to PEI.

I remember the day he first got all excited about it.  It was mid February, 1905, the weather had broke after 4 or 5 days of snow, and we had 7 or 8 of the dandiest, sunniest winter days you could imagine.

     But it sure was cold, hovering about 5 below, when Pa spotted 4 fellers coming across the ice from New Brunswick.  They were still about half mile off shore so Pa hitched up the old wagon and went down to meet them.  They had planned to make shore at the Cape Traverse wharf and spend the night at the Lanstowne, the big Hotel down there.  Now that place, they say, there ain't nothing like it on this Island.

     Pa and I had never been over there but we could see her when she was all lit up on a clear night.

    Pa was going to drive them fellers over there on the old wagon but as soon as I took one look at them, I knew they were all tuckered out.  I just told Pa to unhitch the old wagon and bring them on in for the night. Least I could do was give them a hot meal and let them bunk on the floor for the night around the old pot bellied stove.

    After supper he hauled an old fiddle out of his pack, rosined up the bow and let her rip.  One of the other fellers had an old harmonica and it wasn't long before Pa had the spoons out and we had us a real old shindig on our hands.  Even little Junior and Annie got out of bed and were dancing around the kitchen.

     Well the next morning, after breakfast, them fellers set out for Souris and we never thought we would see them again.  But, they have stopped in a lot over the years and they nearly always have a friend of two with them, and we always have us a big House Party.

     However, on that morning that they first left, as I was cleaning up, I came across a newspaper one of them had left behind, the St. John Telegraph.

     Now I ain't much for reading but Pa always enjoys catching up on any news from the mainland so I set it on the old stand beside our bed for him to read.  I never realized what a commotion that newspaper would create.

      That night as he read it, Pa go all worked up.  "Ma", he said, "Goodness gracious, listen to this.".  He proceeded to read all about how Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier had promised he was going to dig a tunnel over to PEI.  I started to laugh and said, "Pa, they can't even keep those old ice boats running, what on God's green earth would make them think they could dig a tunnel?".

     Pa never said anything else that night about a tunnel but he did read that old paper over and over.

     I thought Pa had clean forgot about anyone digging a tunnel until one day in July he gets all dressed up to go over to the wharf for a 'Tunnel Tea Party', when he landed home from that he was some excited!  He says to me, "Ma, we got to get ready for that tunnel, when all those people come over here from the mainland we can make us some cash money if we had a few things to sell them."

     Now Pa don't always think clear for it seems he clean forgot that there wasn't much around this old place to sell.  When I mentioned that to him he just chuckled and said how it was always up to him to do the thinking round here.

     "Ma, you will have to expand your horizons", he said.  "We could get some stuff from that potter feller back in Stanley and that weaver back in Hunter River, and I bet you , we could even sell some of those quilts and some of those knic-knacs and doodads you and the other ladies make every winter.  Ma, this could be our big opportunity."

ell, Hattie, you know Pa.  He surely never let an opportunity pass him by.  That next day, Pa took off and that Friday he landed back with the old wagon loaded down with things from the potter and the weaver.  He even had a couple of fellers heading to the mainland and of course, I insisted they stay for the night.

Wouldn't you know it, Hattie, one of them fellers had a guitar and we had ourselves a grand old shindig!

     After that, Pa would go every week and haul more stuff home and before you knew it, this old place was so full, Pa had to go to work and start building a piece on.    Purty soon, word got around about all the stuff Pa had collected up and people would come from all over.

     We sold a lot of stuff those first few years.

     Well, Hattie, time does fly, would you believe that was 20 years ago now and Pa, he hasn't quit lugging stuff home since.  Funny thing after that first year or two, he plumb forgot all about that tunnel being dug or least ways, he stopped talking about it.  As you probably know, it ain't never been dug.  But eight years ago, they did start those car ferries running right into Borden and things have really been busy since then.

     Pa sure does love traveling around this old Island; he still goes almost every week, although now he has himself a Model T Ford and he doesn't be gone so long.

     Hattie, you couldn't imagine some of the stuff he's lugged home and every bit of it made right here on PEI.  Junior, Annie and me still get excited every Friday when he lands home cause he nearly always has something for each of us.

     He's traveled this old Island back and forth hundreds of times now and Pa says you can't beat the people of this little Island.  He does business with them all now, Acadians from up in Evangeline, MicMacs from over in Lennox Island, Irish and Germans down east and too many others to talk about.

     Pa says his opportunity has become their opportunity too.  I guess he's right because he sure enough has brought stuff home from all of them.  He's taken home clothes made up west and some made down east, clothes for Junior and Annie, clothes for me and clothes for him too, wicker baskets, china and glassware, dolls, toys and games for Annie and Junior when they were smaller, quilts and blankets, belts, wallets, and purses, or ornaments and musical instruments, furniture and cabinets, jams and preserves, new fangled electrical gizmos since we got the hydro in and other contraptions that I'll never understand the half of.

     Lord have mercy, Hattie, one time he even brought me home some silk scanties made by some lady down in Charlottetown.  I turned red as a beet when he pulled them out in front of Junior and Annie. 

     You never know what Pa is up to especially if he happens to run across some of that moonshine or corn likker.

     One of the things I enjoy best of all, Hattie, is the people Pa has brought home with him;  they usually all can make music, so every Friday night we have us a big house party.  Lordy, Hattie, you wouldn't believe some of the music I've heard.  Fiddles, guitars, harmonicas, piano players, mandolins, flutes and horns, and one time even a feller with the bag pipes.  It sure was good to hear the old pipes again.

     Sometimes the neighbours used to complain about the noise, said they couldn't sleep, but now, every Friday evening, they just come on over and join right in. Junior travels with Pa all the time now and he's seen almost all of this Island too.  Even Annie goes with Pa every now and then.

     Some people say times must be lonely but there always seems to be someone around buying this or that.  In fact, most times now, things are so busy I have to get the neighbours' kids in to help out when Pa, Junior and Annie are away.

he traveling around this Island has been good for Annie and Junior too.  Junior even drives the Model T sometimes when he and Pa are traveling.

I suspect he had to learn.  You know how they say necessity is the mother of all invention.  Hattie, I guess I really shouldn't say that, as Pa don't bother with the jar too much anymore.

     Pa says even though Junior ain't had much schooling, he is wise in the ways of the world.  Junior says he has become cultured from his travels and enlightened in the ways of the universe.  I reckon that covers a pretty wide swath but just so his head don't get too big, I mention the woodshed every now and then.

     Really Hattie, he's a good boy, but he has some strange ways about him.  For instance, you should see the way he dresses.  Weird, well let me tell you!  You couldn't believe some of the clothes he wears and he's found them all here on the Island.  I don't know where the ideas come from!

     He played golf one time down to Cavendish and then some feller down in Charlottetown made him a few golf clubs and now he's got a couple of holes dug in the field beside the house with flags on a stick stuck in them and he practices all the time.  Being over in Scotland, Hattie, I guess you know all about golf.  I remember our Pa talking about the Links at St. Andrews.  I guess Junior will have to be content with his holes in the field as I don't imagine there will ever be anything like a golf course close enough to Borden for Junior to get excited about.

     When I mentioned that to Junior, and told him he might as well put his golf clubs away and give Pa and me a hand round here, he said, "The universe will unfold as planned, Ma.".  Pretty hard to argue with that kid of logic so I just let him keep on a-practicing.

     Another habit he's acquired is smoking, not the pipe like Pa, but ready-made cigarettes that he gets from some feller down around Montague.  I can't say I agree with all his habits but he's old enough and big enough now that he can do as he pleases as long as he don't get Pa riled up.  Then he soon enough does what Pa pleases!

Now, Annie, she's another story.  She travels with Pa almost as much as Junior but she don't get too wrapped up in all the things she sees.

     She wears her red hair in pigtails and a little straw hat to keep the sun off her cause when she gets out in the sun, her freckles just start to pop out all over.

     Usually, the only thing that gets Annie excited is clothes and Pa sure caters to her with them.  He's brought her home more clothes than she will ever wear.

     Her room is full of clothes, and if Pa keeps it up, he'll have her spoiled rotten.  Just last year, she went with Pa over to North Shore and met a young Montgomery lassie over in Park Corner.  It seems they hit it off right good.  She stayed with her a few days while Pa did his business or while he was "advancing his opportunity", as he always says.

     Since then, her and Annie have been writing back and forth and just today, Annie was all excited.

     She got a letter from Lucy who said she misses Annie and wants her to come visit again, says even though they've only known each other for a short while, they've become kindred spirits and she made Pa promise to take her over to visit for a few days.

     I reckon Annie is just not as easily swayed in the ways of the world as Junior because the only habit she's acquired is drinking soda pop.  She sure loves that soda pop that Seaman feller down in Charlottetown makes, and every time Pa goes down there, he brings her home a great big crate of it.  I must admit, it is pretty good and even Pa and I enjoy a glass of it every now and then.

attie, you'll have to come visit and hear Pa tell about how he's taken advantage of his opportunity and some of the things he's seen and the people he's met.  To hear him tell some of the stories, you will laugh till you cry!

     One time down east around Wood Islands, Pa had Annie with him.  He spent the whole trip talking about how Annie would have to meet this feller and his wife that Pa always got some stuff from and how they were real artisans.

      Well, it seems Annie never did meet them.  Just as Pa was about to pull the Model T into their place, he spies this big life size statue of a naked lady right in the front yard.  Well, Annie says he stepped on that Model T and flew by there faster then she had ever seen it go.  After hearing them tell the story, I'm sure I don't know as to who was the most embarrassed, Pa or Annie.

     Pa says he didn't stop cause he didn't want Annie to see such a thing, and Annie says Pa was so embarrassed, he fumed all the rest of the trip about how no decent folk would have such a thing about the place.

     Another time, Pa brought this English gentleman home with him and he had a university education.

     Lordy, I sure did love to listen to him talk.  He could sure play that old piano that Pa lugged home on one of his trips, too.  He stayed a couple of days waiting for the car ferry to come in and Pa showed him all the stuff he's collected over these years.

     The two of them really hit it off especially after Pa shared his jug with him.  When he was leaving, the last thing he said was, "This is the most amazing Emporium I have ever seen that you have compiled here, and I wish you all the best.".

     Pa sure lit up though when he said about how this was an amazing Emporium;  he had that big old grin of his on his face for the next couple of days.

     A couple nights later, he says to me, "Ma, I'm going to make a big sign, Pa's Emporium.".

     Well, I let him ramble on for a while.  He finished up telling me how he had taken advantage of his opportunity, and how we soon would be able to save up some of that cash money.

     I said, "Pa, you know all this stuff you have here is from all over this little Island of ours, from different people, different cultures, and different places.  If this is an Emporium, whatever that might be, then it really is an Island Emporium.".

     "You're right, Ma." he says, "That sign will say Pa's Island Emporium.".  So I just said, "Whatever you think, Pa.".

     The next day, him and Junior started making that sign.  When I seen how big that sign was, I stopped a minute to look around the old farmhouse and all of a sudden, I realized just what Pa has done over these years.

     Hattie, I just couldn't believe it;  you wouldn't know this old place, that's for sure... we ain't had a pig, nor cow, nor duck, nor chicken around here for over ten years now, and over the years, Pa has added a piece on to the old house here and a piece there.

     I believe right today, it's bigger than that old hotel we used to watch at night over on the wharf, before it burnt down a few years ago.

    Just so you can have some idea, I'm going to have Junior draw a sketch of the old farm house on the back of this letter.

     Well, Hattie, I'll write again.  Oh, wait just a minute...

     Sorry about that, Hattie, I had to stop writing yesterday.  Pa is all riled up again.  Seems he heard on that old radio that the government is going to build a causeway over to PEI.  He says this is the big opportunity he's been waiting for.  Hattie, he's as excited as he was 20 years ago when they talked about digging that tunnel.  Says as soon as him and junior finish this sign today, he's going to Summerside and trade the old Model T for one of those new half ton trucks so he will be able to haul more stuff on each trip.

     Well, they just hoisted that big sign up on the roof.  Lordy, the sign is nearly as big as our old house use to be.  Do you know what that sign says, Hattie?

     Prince Edward Island Emporium.

     You know, Pa is pretty proud of what he's done with his opportunity.  But, I guess when it boils right down to it, he knows that this big place ain't just his anymore.

     He gave me a big smile when he climbed off the roof and said to me, "Ma, they'll be able to see that sign plumb from that causeway.  When they get it built, Ma our ship is going to come in.".

   Oh, my, my.  Can you figger that one out, Hattie?  One thing for sure, there ain't never a quiet moment around this old place anymore.

     Anyways, Hattie, as I started to say yesterday, I'll write again soon.  But if there is any way at all that you and Bruce can come over from the old country, we sure will have work for you as soon as that causeway is built.  Ha, Ha, Ha.
 

ove, Ma

This letter was submitted by Hattie MacDonald, who was so excited about the new store that she had to share it with all Islanders.  This webmaster has since visited the Emporium, and verifies that the description here so enclosed is accurate and true.

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