Dancing In a Jar Read Online Free PDF

65% tacked on before they add the duty so you can imagine how expensive things are. As a result, many people living in this part of the country smuggle from the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. It took this Methodist boy a while to get used to it but things are so much cheaper there, even compared to the U.S., that I now accept it as the only way to do business around here. Sugar, for example, is ten cents a pound here, but two and a half cents a pound if you bring it in from Saint Pierre.
    Of course “bringing it in” can get a little hair raising! The vast majority of people get things through unnoticed, but there have been some dramatic confrontations at sea with the Coast Guard, and the stories get more embellished as they pass from house to house—and funnier! Last week they caught a fellow trying to smuggle in a piano.
    For now, I am happy to get American cigarettes through a neighbor for $3.50 a thousand. I hope to go to Saint Pierre before Christmas to pick up the machinery that Siebert is shipping and hopefully a bottle or two of cheer.
    You’d be happy to know I managed to get a couple of hours of hunting last week. It was quite an affair as everyone here loads their own shells, so I will have to learn how. They are using old muzzle loaders traded here for furs by the Hudson Bay Trading Company. You have probably never seen this many ptarmigan, or what the locals call partridge, in your life. The hills here are full of them. I was after ducks though and shot four nice ones. It was a terrible day of weather and if it had been the least bit calm I would’ve had enough to last all winter.
    I’m not sure what we can do about Christmas presents. The only way to avoid duty is to send items that are over a year old and critical to the household. All the bathroom fittings we brought with us are useless to us here as there is no pipe. I’ve asked Siebert to send that in, so I’ll test the tariff rule on that shipment. Otherwise I may arrange an address in Saint Pierre so you can send things.
    I would very much like you to include in the package from Siebert my old sewing machine motor, complete with wiring and the pulley that fits against the wheel. The machines here have no foot action and have to be cranked by hand. I have never seen such poorly made clothes and the men all need better waders and coats for the mine. Urla is anxious to make some clothes too.
    This week “Doc” Smith arrived back in St. Lawrence. He is a geologist and has been here since Siebert started working the lease last year. When we arrived in St. Lawrence, he was in Germany visiting his wife and eight children. I guess he is the de facto manager of the operation although this has never been made clear by Siebert. Thankfully, he and I get along quite well and he is leaving the engineering and surveying sides clearly to me. At any rate, it will take two of us to make things work, so I’m happy for his company. He is staying at the same boarding house, and both Urla and I enjoy stories of his experiences from Russia to South America.
    Best regards to all and I will write again when the next boat comes in.
    As ever,
Donald
    Water Street
St. Lawrence, Newfoundland
    November 15, 1933
    Dear Mother and Dad,
    I must laugh as I write the address at the top of the page. I felt it was time to have proper stationary and proper salutations. Everyone in the house looked at me strangely when I asked what street we are on. First of all, the streets are barely roads, and secondly, everybody is so well known how could the mail go astray! So I felt like a silly city girl, and not for the first time.
    Yesterday I had a caller to see me at the boarding house. Mrs. G says there are always a few nosy ones who have to meet the new people in town! So I sat politely and had tea with a Mrs. Annie Pike. She is my age, but looks fifty and has never been outside the town of St. Lawrence in her life. The big thing she wanted me to know about her is the fact