Uncle Jimmy Landry – Played Hooky – Halifax, Nova Scotia

My great Aunt Anna Bella Landry Bradley has left me with many stories about her family’s life in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  What follows is one of them, a story about her bother and my great Uncle Jimmy and his sometimes mischievous nature. It starts with a quote from Aunt Anna Bella and then my account using additional information that she and others have given me.

Photo by Paul Brennan at Pixabay.com

 “I remember when we were in school and Jimmy use to like to get out of school once in a while; play hooky on school. Well we had truant officers in them days you know, came to the house…  And this truant officer came to my mother and he was giving it to my mother… We all lived in the same place, the same house, up and down.  Dan come out and said you don’t do nothing to my mother. You get the hell away from here… and don’t come back here, he said. Then the guy took off. See that’s how protective Dan was of my mother.   My brother Dan, your Uncle Dan, Yeah… But don’t you dare come back here, Dan said. He took off. “ – Anna Bella Landry Bradley*

The truant officer and youngest son Jimmy were walking up to the Landry’s home at 38 Union Street. This isn’t the first time he’d found Jimmy out of school and he was furious as they made their way to the front door. Jimmy is slightly behind him staring down at the ground as the officer repeatedly bangs hard, with his fist, on the front door. A few seconds later, mother Charlotte answers the door.  As the officer yells at her about her parenting skills, she backs up.  A door can be heard opening on the floor above her.  Charlotte’s second eldest son, Dan, having heard the man’s verbal assault on his mom, rushes down the stairs. The truant officer looks up in horror as he sees this enraged muscular build man making his way down the stairs. Dan’s yelling, “You get the hell away from here and don’t come back here.”  The officer takes off down the street.

Moments later, after their mom and brother got over the shock, Jimmy would have been punished. She was strict.  Even though he disliked school, Jimmy made it to tenth grade, which was the furthest of any of his siblings; not bad for the early 1900’s.

 Did you like school? How about play hooky?

For more stories about Aunt Anna Bella Landry Bradley and her family, check out the following links:  From Despair to Hope;  The Armouries, a Great Uncle, and the Halifax Explosion;   A Father's Love;   A Picture on the Wall;

*The quote has been edited slightly in grammar and tense to its help flow.