Page 58 - MailOrderBrideFlipBook

---------------------- Jim continued to stand by the edge of the dock for quite some time. He thought of many things. He remembered back to when he was dating Mary. She was so beautiful. He had loved her almost from the minute he met her. She had worked at the lumber camp helping with food and cleaning. Jim was already foreman at the lumber camp, even though he was only thirty and much younger than many of the other men. Jim could remember the day some of the men started acting inappropriately toward her. She was frightened. He had grabbed a big piece of wood and told them that the first man that bothered her would be wearing a pine bough for a hat. The men knew he meant it, and they never bothered her again. Mary had appreciated his watch over her, and it wasn’t long before they became good friends. Her name wasn’t really Mary, but Madileeno. But it was easier for customs to put her down as Mary, and that was what everyone called her. She had emigrated from Italy because of political unrest there. She was the oldest, so her father had sent her ahead to find a place the family could live and have her get a job to help support them when they arrived. However, things had settled down in Italy, and the family decided to stay there. She had been in Newfoundland for two years when she received word that her family wasn’t coming. They requested that she come back home, but she had no money, and they had no means to help her. Besides, by that time, she had fallen in love with Jim. 55