The Diaries of Howard Leopold Morry - Volume 14: (Nov 13 1955 - Sep 20 1956)

Howard was a raconteur and oral historian cast in the same mould as dozens of other men and women in Newfoundland in those days who carried forward the history of the small outport villages in which they lived. In many cases, their knowledge, gained by word of mouth from generation to generation, is our only record of the events that took place in these tiny villages for many decades and even centuries.

In his diaries, he spoke of his own personal experiences, at home in his youth and in his later years, his adventures in western Canada as a young man, and overseas with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in WWI. But he also recorded observations on the significant and insignificant (to most historians) events of daily life in a small outport village on the Southern Shore of Newfoundland in the early to mid-1900s. And he also recounted events from the history of his village as passed down to him by earlier generations of oral historians.

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 more of a traditional daily diary. But it also includes some reminiscences of Howard's earlier life. More than in earlier diaries, he also gives lengthy commentary on the changing lifestyles of the people of Newfoundland.

In this Fourteenth volume, the diary transcribed covers a relatively brief period between November 13 1955 and September 20 1956. At this time in his life, Howard finds himself feeling his age for perhaps the first time, and experiencing more and more the aches and pains of old age. He is no longer in charge of the Morry fish business in Ferryland. In 1954, he ceased to outfit his own cod trap crew for possibly the first year since he returned from his service in WWI. But he keeps his hand in by managing his own salmon nets.

Howard's eldest son, Bill, has taken on the lion's share of responsibility for the Morry fish business. He has also begun to outfit a trap crew as Howard once did. And, he is branching out into a new seasonal trade as a coal merchant to keep employed after the fishing season is over. Finally, for the first time in over 100 years, Bill has begun to export Morry salt fish to Spain and Italy.

By far the most interesting element of this diary comes toward the end, when Howard becomes contemplative and tells stories and anecdotes of his and Ferryland's past and provides social commentary on the changes that have taken place in his lifetime - the good and the bad.

As in previous volumes, in order to provide readers not familiar with the "cast of characters" or the local and international historical events mentioned in the pages of the diary a clue to their identity, an extensive set of endnotes has been provided as an assistance in reading and fully understanding the context of the diary.