Chapter Two
Education,Hard work and Determination.

Although George was illiterate, his wife Fanny was able to read and write having attended school for three months in the Summer for four years, prior to her eleventh birthday. At age eleven, she had gone “in service” with a Mrs Shave, who was having a baby, and needed help with the housework and looking after her four other children, all under the age of six. She did not receive a wage but lived and ate with the family, thus leaving one less mouth for her father to feed from his meagre earnings. Fannie was up at six o’clock and on mornings and when Wesley Shave had gone fishing or “in the woods”, which was most of the time, she would get a fire going in the kitchen stove and go to the well for two buckets of water. If none of the children were awake, she placed an old iron pot on the stove and fill it with water, this would be used for washing both dishes and clothes. Often it would be necessary to make six or more trips to the well during the morning. Later she would wash clothes and hang it on the clothes line outside. There was also bread to be mixed and baked on an almost daily basis. Mrs. Shave was a kind woman but was in the sixth month of a difficult pregnancy when Fannie went to work for her, and most days could manage only a few light chores.

In 1857, Henry was old enough to start school and both George and Fannie were determined that their two sons would learn as much as possible of the three R’s. The school was small with just one classroom and some thirty pupils, all but four of which were boys. Everyone had a slate and slate pencil and there was a blackboard and chalk in the front of the room. Two children sat in each of the seats with desk and chair in one piece. Most children had at least one book and all showed signs of having been used by many different students over the years. The schoolmaster was a tall man and had such a stern look as to strike terror into the hearts of most students. On his desk lay a switch that he still preferred over the leather strap that most teachers had started using in recent years. There were two other students, both boys, starting that year, so Henry was not alone. The teacher, Mr. Clarke, was pleased to find that Henry’s mother had taught him to repeat the alphabet by rote and that he also recognized all of the letters. He could also count to ten and tell time, an achievement that surprised even the teacher. Within a month he was reading some simple sentences.

Like most boys, Henry had a mischevious streak that became more developed as he grew older and during his final year felt the teacher’s wrath on more than one occasion. Sadly he had to leave school at age ten to help his father both in the fishing boat and in cutting and bringing home firewood. Things were different when he went to work with his father, where he was soon expected to do a man’s work and was often so tired at night that he sometimes fell asleep before getting undressed for bed. On Sunday, he went to church with his parents who once he’d learned to read, had bought him a combined copy of the Book of Common Prayer and Hymn Book. It contained the format for all services used in The Church of England in Newfoundland and The West Indies or The Established Church, as it was still often referred to in Britain and it’s colonial empire. By age twelve, he was considered a man, and since George couldn’t read, Henry was expected to read family prayers on Sunday mornings, when it was a rule that no one ate before prayers had been said, and a chapter read from the family Bible. He would do the same on Sunday nights before bedtime.

Henry’s brother George started school the same year that his older brother was forced, for economic reasons, to give up his pursuit for an education. Although he fared no better than Henry in his first three years of schooling, he was able to remain there until he was twelve, a record for most boys of the time. With the children growing and now working with their father, Fannie had more time for gardening, raising a few chickens and berry picking when in season, thus assuring a more ample larder for the winter months. They had always gathered and sun dried Caplin, the tiny fish that rolled on the beaches every year, usually around mid June, and also cleaned and salted Cod’s heads. Salt Herring was also a food that most people stored for the harsh winter months. Life changed little from year to year, yet as the 1860’s grew to a close, and the boys slowly became men in their own right.