This passage is taken from a book called
True Tales of Rhoda Maude: Memoirs of an
Outport Midwife by Rhoda Maude Piercey.
The book is the story of Rhoda Maude's life
from the time she was born in Winterton,
Trinity Bay, in 1912. She did nurse's training
at the Grace Hospital in St. John's when she
was twenty but she married at the age of
twenty-six and returned to live in Winterton.
She lived most of her married life in Winterton
where, in 1954, she took on the role of com-
munity midwife.

In this passage from her book, Rhoda
Maude describes her work taking care of her
children and helping to make a living for her
family in the 1930s. Although it is a story
about one family, it gives us a good picture of
the hard work and the difficult conditions
which families in small communities had to
deal with in those days. It also gives us a
good picture of the role of women in provid-
ing for the family.