SUMMER WAGES  
  by Ernie Walsh

One summer Freddy and I collected cod livers floating in the harbour and on the beach. We'd pick them up in a gallon can and dump them into a bologna box with our name on it on Mr. Pat Houlihan‘s wharf. There were many other liver boxes and barrels there with ours as this was a good location for Mr. Jim Barry who would come around the harbour in his boat and collect all the cod livers. The liver,
Mr. Jim would process in the liver factory located on Soldier's Point, about a hundred yards up the harbour from Mr. Jack Louis Pittman's stage. Cooking of the cod liver created a strong smell, but we got accustomed to it the same way we accepted it when he dumped all the blubber and rendered out cod livers into the harbour. Blubber would be covering the inner harbour, coating and clinging to everything. It always calmed the water, of course, and after a few days, the water warmed up and was smooth and fun to swim across the harbour in as the blubber also coated our bodies with oil and the water wasn't as cold.

For the Garden Party on Lady Day, Freddy and I had $4.50 each for our liver, which also included one - two and a half pound lobster which we sold to Mr. Jack Barry at Wareham's for .57 cents.