File: cheveriecharles-oh-alchohol_violence_M.mp3
Speakers:
CC – Fr. Charlie Cheverie
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
CC: On the Island in particular, in the Prohibition days in particular, a lot of the drinking was done – First of all, drinking was done; people drank. But it picked up a peculiar social flair and style, and custom and mores, in as much as at dances there was always drinking going on. But you brought your pint in your back pocket or your coat pocket and you went outside behind the barn or wherever else to consume it. And since the social habits of consuming alchoholic beverage wasn't of the greatest finesse, then these guys gobbled it down and it had the appropriate effects after that. The fiddler on the other hand was one who was required to stay in the presence of the people at a dance. He couldn't go out as frequently as the ordinary person. And so it was quite customary to have the fiddler treated with these drinks. And the old saying "more rum for the fiddler" was very common. And in some cases I guess, the more rum the better fiddling. So you paid accordingly. But what did happen was that some of those fiddlers become alcoholics, so in that sense it was a bad relationship to be a fiddler and booze consumer. Apart from that, there were families that would prohibit their son or daughter from playing the fiddle with the feeling that maybe they would become alcoholic. And then there's the question of high spirited young people and maybe middle aged people too who at every dance got into a little bit of fisticuffs, and so it was not uncommon for people in a given region, if there was a dance in a given hall, to fight among themselves. But what happened more frequently was people coming from other communities would get in and you'd have fights occuring. And I suppose a lot of the priests at that time, "Well, if you're not going to behave yourselves, then no more parties!" And of course if you want to get at the source of it, get rid of the fiddler. Then of course the question of the different religious backgrounds had a bearing here too, you know. Just the moral teachings as they were expressed and as they were taught, and as they were lived would preclude the fiddle playing. You had very strict Presbyterian types and very strict Baptist types who were opposed to any kind of amusement of this nature.
KP: I was just wondering if in terms of your own chosen profession whether in the early days when you were learning the fiddle [if you ever faced any pressure not to fiddle].
CC: No not any time in my life. And I can't remember – But there were times, I can't cite specific dates, others can tell you, of burning fiddles in communities, where the pastor or the priest would burn the fiddles.
