The Rev. Dr. Worcester, an American clergyman and adventurer, made many hunting and travel trips to Newfoundland at the turn of the century. The following is excerpted from the book; Life's Adventure: The Story of a Varied Career. published in 1932 in New York, by Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 189-192.
We read earlier of Worcester's view on Mattie's story telling ability. "Mattie possessed a vast fund of Indian mythology and folk-lore. When he visited a hamlet the fishing people would gather around him and he would amuse them with his tales for hours at a time." In this anecdote he prevails on Mattie to tell one.
On a personal level this anecdote reminds me of an opportunity lost. My wife tells of her grandfather Mattie jr. telling her and her siblings weird and wonderful stories as a child, but they thought they were fantasies he made up. Possibly he was repeating tales he had heard from his father. Unfortunately my wife cannot remember any details and as far as I know neither does her other siblings.
"I live on north arm of Bonne Bay. De mountains rise behind my home like a
wall and dere is only one place you can climb up to get back to de country, and
dat openin 'is only 'bout hundred and fifty yard wide, One day last winter in
January tree fellows from de Bay want to go back in de country to hunt caribou
and dey ask me if I want to go long. I did not guide. I just go long wid dem
fellows and do what dey do. Snow very deep and we take our snowshoes. When
we climb up and go back into de country we find 'bout five foot snow on de
ground and we see no caribou. When night come on we take our snowshoes and
dig out a little house in de snow where we sleep. Night very cold. I hunt round
under de snow an find few little sticks an make a little fire to keep from freezing.
"when we wake up next mornin' big snow falling'. Never see it snow
harder. Couldn't see notin'. We knew it was no time to hunt caribou. What we
want was to get home. Anudder man took de lead. We walk long time; must be
afternoon, none of us got a watch. Tom Kane he lead and I just follow. Bum bye
I stop, I see sometin'. I call dem fellows and say, 'Look dere boys. Dere's
sometin' yaller on de snow. Dat's terbaccer juice. You been here before. You
walk in circle. You lost.' When I say dat dem fellows awful b�fraid. Dey say to me
'Mattie, what you goin' to do?' An I say, 'I know what I'm goin' to do, I'm goin'
to find de pass. If you fellows want to follow me, don' come near me, don'
speak. I got to tink' "
We all listened. We tried to reconstruct the desolate scene and to picture the
hopeless situation. The lofty plateau buried in deep snow was featureless. The
snow was still falling so heavily that a man could not see fifty yards. These men
had already been lost for hours and they had fallen into the fatal circle which a
lost man follows to his death. The pass at which Mattie aimed was miles away
and only about a hundred and fifty yards wide. How could he possibly find it?
And yet he was there, beside us.
I asked him, "What did you think about, Mattie; what gave you any landmark or
sense of direction?" "Don' know, don' know," the Indian replied. "When I walk
like dat my feet thik. I see de direction de snow fall. Once, for a second, I see
where de sun was. Don' tink de wind change, so l go on and don' walk in a
circle anyway. Walk a long time. Bum bye it get dark. don' make no difference
to me. After while I hear de sea bawling an' I know I come right so far. So I wait
for dem fellows. When dey come up I say: 'Men, I brought you to de sea. Can't
tell whedder it's de pass or not. Which one of you fellows want to die first?'
Manuel Kane, he say, 'Mattie, I most dead now, I go first.' I say, 'you jump den,
Manuel. If dat's de pass you'll strike it in fifteen foot. If 'taint de pass,
you won't strike notin' in half mile.' Manuel, he stood on de edge and look down
into the dark. He say, 'Goodbye, boys, you won't see me no more,' and he jump
an we listen. Seem like most a minute. Then he sing out, 'All right Mattie, you
struck her squar',' and we all jump over, one at a time, and in an hour we were
safe back home."
Mattie the Story Teller
After supper, when the dishes were washed and more logs were piled
up for the night, we sat around fire, smoking, and I asked Mattie to tell us a
story of adventure, a story of getting lost in the wilderness, if he had ever had
such an experience. At these words his eyes gleamed and his sombre face
brightened. This was the story he told us.