The accidental farmer by Joan Watson

Author:Joan Watson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Published: 2017-12-18T15:12:34+00:00

Although they had hoped for something more practical, the Ross family received a piano as a gift from Governor Dalhousie.

(Author)

Four soldiers stumbled, sweating, out of the woods and set their heavy burden down on the grass in front of Rosebank Cottage. They had carried it all the way from Chester Basin. The box contained a Broadwood piano for twelve-year-old Mary Ross, a gift from Governor Dalhousie.

William ran his callused hand over the polished wood and thought to himself, “Better he had sent us a plow.”

When Mary married Andrew Kiens in 1827, the piano was moved to their home across Lake Lawson. Edward, her brother, made several diary entries such as: “went to Mary’s to hear the piano.” When she died in 1850 the piano was returned to Rosebank Cottage. It was small comfort to her mother. With the loss of her only girl, her helper and confidante, Mary grieved deeply, and played softly.

As decades passed, succeeding generations lost interest in the piano, and it was stored in a barn half buried in hay. As sons turned to hunting for sport as well as food, they saw nothing wrong with using strands of irreplaceable wire from the old piano to make rabbit snares. The piano lost its voice but killed a lot of rabbits.

In the mid-1900s, the piano was retrieved from the barn, restrung, and taken to the Nova Scotia Archives, where it was displayed for many years.

When Ross Farm Museum was formed in 1970, the piano was returned to Rosebank Cottage where, today, it stands in the parlour admired by Ross Farm Museum visitors.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.