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Transcription: [00:28:57]
{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Which upset me.

{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
—Yes.

{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
—but you know. So I just dropped out [[ ? ]] when my brother passed. I couldn't care.

[00:29:05]
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Oh. In the, um, competitions in St. Leonard's, how many usually entered?

[00:29:10]
{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
In St. Mary's?

{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
St. Mary's.

[00:29:13]
{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
They [[ will/would ?]] have about, at least about 10, because they would start it on a Saturday. They would start the shucking contest on a Saturday and the winners from Saturday -- the finals was on Sunday -- and then they would shuck, the finals on Sunday would shuck against the winners of the year before.

{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
OK.

{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
You know, and that's the way it went.

[00:29:46]
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Um, how many workers were there usually at the oyster house, let's go back to that. About how many shuckers were there on an average day?

{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Probably about 30 or 40 workers.

[00:30:07]
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Can-do you remember any other besides, I know you mention Blondele as Blondele Mason. Uh, and your brother's name was—

{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Cornelius [[ ? ]].

[00:30:16]
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Cornelius. And um, Butler, um—

{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Conroy Butler.

{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Conroy Butler.

[00:30:24]
{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Oh, I remember a lot of 'em because they was Mabel [[ ? ]], Lance [[ ? ]], [[ ? ]] Mason, um, I bas-I knew just about all of them that worked there, you know.

[00:30:35]
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Did you basically work all the way through, or did you stop for breaks, or—?

[00:30:39]
{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Yeah, we stopped for breaks and lunches and stuff. And we just had a good time, I mean, just about all day long we would just work and to sing hymns. We was just-it was beautiful.

[00:30:53]
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
You sang hymns as you worked? What are some of the hymns that you would sing?

[00:30:57]
{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Oh, my Lord. Whatever anybody started — Whatever anybody started we'd go—

{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
—You had church while you were working?

{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Mhmm. Yes, yes. It was really nice.

[00:31:07]
{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
But I left the oyster house because I was beginning to get arthritis in my shoulder.

{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Ok.

[00:31:13]
{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
And see, the place was very wet, you know.

[00:31:15]
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
I wondered about that. I had an opportunity to visit the oyster house a few days ago, and I noticed that the floors are very wet.

{SPEAKER name="Ruth Smith"}
Yes.