Maggie's Farm

Would love to hear more about your ancestors Newfoundland experience.
I was born on Mother's Day in St.John's Newfoundland in 1944 and was brought up in a very strong Irish Catholic family and educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. I think I was at the cutting edge of a renaissance movement when mother said I shouldn't be playing with certain friends (referred as dirty blacks) I rebelled and stuck with my friends one of whom's mother thanked me in tears when I stood by him when all his "friends" deserted him.
The other side of the coin is my father went to his grave not knowing that he wouldn't have been hired by Bowering Brothers if the owner had known that the personal manager had given him the job in spite of being an Irish Catholic. Death bed confession! Long story but not for here.
I live by Robbie Burns dictum,"A man's a man for a" that."

Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.

Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.

A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.