Oliver Jones. Marthe Sansregret
and to fill gaps in the conversation, especially at lunchtime, the boys talked about their family and told jokes like the old-time miners did. Some miners, especially the bachelors, liked to talk about girls, giving each other a good motivation to keep going!
Surfacing at their end of their working day, many of the younger miners would stroll through the town in the hope of meeting girls. Before long, the handsome Oliver Wesley understood that knowing how to coax a tune out of a guitar gave a man a mysterious power over women. Since he loved chasing girls, he decided to put this knowledge to use to charm the belles of New Waterford.
One morning, when they were working together underground, Oliver Wesley told his cousin of an unusual dream he’d had the night before: he had seen an intense vision of his mother and had wanted the image to linger. At the end of that day, his supervisor told him a telegram from Barbados had arrived. It contained the announcement that his mother had passed away.
The sudden loss of his beloved mother was a tragedy for Oliver Wesley, especially since he was too far away to attend her funeral and share his grief with the family. At the same time, he felt it was a sign that he should make a complete break with the past. His mother had represented home to him, in the deepest meaning of the word. From that moment on, his intention to stay in Canada for good solidified.
***
It was 1914. Rumours were circulating that young men were needed to fight in Europe.
Oliver Wesley, who had a strong sense of patriotism mixed with pride in being a British subject, decided to enlist in the Canadian army, which was then closely connected to the British army. A brave young man like many of his generation, he wanted to fight for freedom.
It was not that easy for Oliver Wesley to enlist. First of all, he was not old enough. But, like many would-be soldiers, he lied about his age. The other problem was that Black men were not being accepted for combat in what was considered a White man’s war. This barrier disappeared in 1917, when, with no end to the war in sight, Black soldiers were finally sent from Canada to serve in France, Belgium, Holland, and Italy.
Aware of this changed policy, Oliver Wesley went back to the recruiting office to try his luck again. After passing his medical examination on June 10, 1918, he filled out the last of the official forms, giving the name of his paternal grandmother, Cecilia Alleyne, as the family member to contact in case of death. He completed his military training and joined the First Depot Battalion, Nova Scotia Regiment, with the rank of Private.
On August 2, 1918, he said goodbye to his cousin, who had chosen to remain in New Waterford, and embarked on a ship for England. After arriving in Liverpool, he was taken to the army base of Purfleet. On October 9, Oliver Wesley Jones was sent to France to join the 11th Battalion of Canadian Railway Troops. He began as a sapper in a unit of engineers assigned to build trenches and fortifications.
Working as a miner had been dangerous for Oliver Wesley’s long-term health, not to mention the risk of death from explosions and other mining disasters. Now, on the battlefield, his health and life were threatened just as much, but this time by human folly. Fortunately, there were short periods when the soldiers could take leave in a nearby village. During one of these excursions, Oliver Wesley met a Belgian girl, Margot, and fell in love with her. They were serious enough about each other to begin making plans for after the war.
When the war finally ended, Oliver Wesley sailed on the Lapland on February 20,1919. He arrived in Halifax on March 1, and was discharged from the army on March 22.
He participated in Canada’s rejoicing on Armistice Day, singing and dancing with people on the streets in the name of victory with a capital V. Together, they celebrated the freedom obtained by brave soldiers, many of whom had been killed, while thousands of others were sent home crippled. The survivors were the veterans, also written with a capital V.
Oliver Wesley was lucky. He had suffered only a few bruises and some muscle pain. He was thankful that all his faculties were intact, except for the fact that his memory was overloaded with painful images. He had lost friends and seen civilians killed. When he reunited with his cousin, MacDonald, he preferred not to talk about the war. Although he had only been at the front for a few months, it seemed like years to him.
Margot, Oliver Wesley’s Belgian girlfriend, immigrated to Canada to be with him. They were only together for a few months. In Oliver Wesley’s view, there were too many hardships in store for the children of a racially mixed marriage. When he let Margot know what he felt about it, they decided to separate.
Following his break-up with Margot, Oliver Wesley wanted a change, and hoped that he could use the trades he had learned in Barbados: welding and furniture-making. In 1925, he took the train to Montreal, the biggest city in Canada. With his experience in the Canadian Railway Troops, he was qualified to work on the railroad. Soon after his arrival, he landed a job as a mechanic for the Canadian Pacific Railway at the Angus Shops on Rachel Street in the eastern section of the city.
***
Meanwhile, in Waverly Cot, Barbados, Jestina Louise, one of the seven girls of the Burrowes family, was making her living as a seamstress. She also made patterns for some of her more picky customers.
While other girls worked in cottage industries outside the home, Jestina attracted customers to her by word of mouth. She was her own boss, planning her time as she wished and deciding how much to spend and how much to save. Frugal and well organized, she liked to know exactly where she was headed.
Jestina Louise was also well capable of helping her grandmother take care of the house. Following the tradition of her African ancestors, she was trained in basic health care and hygiene, enough to know how to treat certain illnesses, and to know when it was time to call the doctor. She also had a beautiful voice. Every Sunday at the Church of St. Luke in the parish of St. George, people enjoyed listening to her sing hymns, accompanied at the organ by her father, who had studied music in England and directed the church choir.
Things appeared to be going well for Jestina Louise, but she was worried all the same. At age 27, she knew her future was bleak, as was the case for many young women in Barbados. The economy of the island had remained stagnant. Some of her relatives and friends who had immigrated to Canada wrote in their letters that it was possible to make a decent living there provided one was willing to work hard. Very few of them mentioned plans to return. With her characteristic determination and hot temper, Jestina Louise decided that something had to be done, and sooner rather than later!
She sailed for Canada to join her sisters, Clementine and Irene, who were already established in Montreal. Irene’s husband, Sydney Bryant, sponsored Jestina. She had another support in her decision to emigrate: her strong faith in God. Her father, also a Church of England minister, had educated her by the assiduous reading of passages from the Bible, emphasizing what he felt was important for her to remember. As a result of this training, whenever Jestina was anxious or sad, she’d say a little prayer, and so far, it seemed to work.
In this frame of mind, she boarded the ship in Bridgetown and left the rest of the family behind, including George, her only brother. The ocean voyage was tumultuous and so desperately long that she lost all notion of time.
***
When she first arrived in Montreal, Jestina was impressed by everything she saw. People walked quickly on their way to work or to some other place they seemed to be in a hurry to get to. Many of the men were well turned-out in suits, high hats, and cravats, and the women wore elegant long dresses topped by extravagant hats. They rode in horse-drawn carriages or in electric tramways, which Jestina had never seen before. When she saw an automobile going by, built high with wooden wheels and rubber tires with a white stripe around them, she said to herself that rich people must live in the city.
Once Jestina had settled in with her sister’s family, she began to spend her Sunday afternoons after church exploring her surroundings. She compared women’s clothes in Barbados and those worn in Montreal. In the Caribbean, light fabrics were used all year round for skirts, tops, and dresses, while in the cool of the evening, a cardigan was enough to keep warm. In Montreal, the climate forced women to wear different types of apparel during the year. But there