Family Remembrances: Demille Dakin remembered visiting his mother's family, Thomas and Katherine Ross, in Rossway, when he wasjust a little fellow wearing short pants and a bloused shirt. Grandmother Ross had chickens. Demille wanted totake his mother a present. He put a little "chickie" in his blouse; sadly the chick didn't survive the trip down theNeck to Centreville.As a young man, Demille began dental college on the French shore. His two brothers, twins Tom and Charlie,slept in the same bed and died of tuberculosis the same year. Their mother was devastated by this double loss, soDemille quit college. He came back to live at home and worked in the fish plant. He drank quarts of cod liver oiland always felt that this had saved him from the disease that took his brothers.The Sandy Cove Store, owned and operated by Demille Dakin, used to be a Morehouse store. It was a generalstore and sold or bartered, among other things, yard goods, flour, nails, food, barrels of apples, pencils, candy andcookies. Phyllis remembers, as a small child, noticing the location of the items important to her; the tin of loosecookies was located to the left of the door, and above it candy such as lollipops and barley candy.Demille had a very kind heart. While some people, like the Cartys, bartered eggs for other goods, Demillesupplied others, less fortunate, with basic needs like flour. One recipient of his generosity was a lady so old thatshe frightened Phyllis. Her name was Adeline Griffith and she lived in a rickety old house beside the store. Shewas very grateful and loved "Demilley", as she called him. Another person Demille helped out was George"Coll", who lived with his little dog in a tiny house near the Bay of Fundy. People could hear him mixing hisflour for pancakes, which he cooked on his cast iron stove and saying, "No little dog. You cannae eat it." Georgewas very fond of the little dog and wouldn't let him eat the pancakes if they were too hot. Demille also had a softspot for children. Nora Saunders remembers going to his house where he was having a nap after lunch andsaying, "Please, Mr. Demille, I need to buy a pencil". He went down and opened the store just for her so shecould buy a single pencil for school that afternoon. It cost one cent.Some people might say that because of his generosity Demille wasn't much of a businessman, but he was nobody'sfool. In 1911 he and his brother-in-law, Guy Morehouse, jointly had the mail contract for Digby Neck. Theyworked it out so that Demille voted Tory and Guy voted Liberal; this way no matter which party was in powerthey were assured of the contract.While he was a natural storekeeper, Demille wasn't much of a farmer. In 1910, the Rosses, his mother's family,gave Demille and Norma a Jersey cow in honour of the birth of their first child, Thornton. Dr. Rice, who livedone house away, and Demille got up a "pig competition" to see who could raise the largest pig. No oneremembers which man won, but the pigs undoubtedly lost either way. Demille's pig was so fat it couldn't walk.Norma accused him of feeding his pig pure Jersey cream. The cow fared better. She had a good long life;Thornton remembered having the chore of bringing in the cow from the pasture up the hill, by the McKay's house.In 1914 Demille's new house was completed and the family moved in. The house was built by the Spates fromWeymouth and was the first house with electricity in the Cove. Next door was Reg and Gwennie Sypher's house,Demille and Norma's friends, then Dr. Rice's house and then Demille's store.In 1920 the family moved to Digby where Demille and Guy Morehouse, Norma's brother, built the UniversalGarage. Their dealership had the franchise for Fords and Buick-MacLaughlin cars. Their competitor was CarlEldridge. They were ruined when the garage was destroyed by fire just after they had received a new shipment ofcars, but before Guy had had time to take out insurance on them. Demille moved the family to Massachusettsshortly after the disaster. Norma always suspected that the fire had been set on purpose.Phyllis remembers a ride with her father in one of the Fords. She and her sister Florence were sitting in the backof the car with the top down. As Demille was driving down Church Hill in Sandy Cove, the brakes failed.Florence and Phyllis, with assorted tools, tire irons and jacks, went flying into the air as the car left the road andcame bouncing to a stop in a field. Fortunately the girls and the tools landed safely back in the car.Going for a drive with their mother, Norma, was exciting, too. The girls wore white pique dresses with eyeletedging to visit their mother's relatives in Little River. Norma enjoyed driving but kept an eye out for a convenientfield. She had no problem with forward, but had never mastered reverse gear on the car, so a field was needed forher to circle around in to get back home.