Nationalities

As mentioned earlier, French was the dominant nationality, so most of us who were not French learned the French language from our playmates in the area. Those of us not of French descent participated in the French feasts (Fete Dieu and Saint Jean Baptiste) and activities with great gusto and interest.

Likewise the French enjoyed participating in the Italian festivities and particularly the annual Italian feast. When the francophones were angry with an Italian, they used to call them maudi macaron.

The Irish Saint Patrick’s day feast and parade was another event enjoyed by all.

Most of the people in the area spoke French and English. However, Italian could frequently be heard because the Italians after the French were probably the second most populace group in the area. The French with some exceptions spoke French. The English with a few exceptions spoke English. Most of the Italians spoke three languages, English, French and Italian.