The Diaries of Howard Leopold Morry, 1939-1965, Vol. 20 (Jun 16 1958 - Feb 16 1959)

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Newfoundland; Newfoundland studies
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/howardmorry/id/1678

The twenty five volumes in this series differ in composition between two diary formats: the first format is that of an unbroken narrative of events in the life of the author, Howard Leopold Morry, or of the history of the community in which he was born and raised, Ferryland, Newfoundland; the second format is that of a conventional daily diary reporting on events of the day, including the weather and sea conditions, the ups and downs in the fishery, births, marriages and deaths of family, friends and neighbours, and newsworthy events at the local, national and international level. None of the 25 volumes are actually all of one format or the other. They all contain a larger or smaller component of each form of diary. The current volume is, for the most part, an example of the daily diary type. There are only a few short anecdotes in this diary. But there are frequent comparisons made to life in the old days versus the current times. In this Twentieth volume, the diary transcribed covers the period between June 16, 1958 and February 16, 1959. At this time in his life, Howard finds himself feeling his age, which is not surprising considering he will soon to 74. But he has thirteen years of life ahead of him, though of course he has no way of knowing this. He is no longer in charge of the Morry fish business in Ferryland. That phase of his life ended in 1954. Howard’s eldest son, Bill, has taken on full responsibility for the Morry fish business, having taken over and improved the fish plant which was begun by his brother Reg just after the war. He has also begun to outfit a trap crew as Howard once did. He is now concentrating on his great ambition for the fish plant which is, for the first time in over 100 years, the shipping of salt fish to foreign markets. Market conditions in 1958 and 1959 were conducive to moving in this direction. Howard has continued functioning as a small scale farmer and livestock owner and also continues his work harvesting wood from the surrounding woods and groves for a variety of ...