Skipper Tom was
my host, and after we had a cheery cup of tea, he said:
"Come out. I wants to show you something."
He led me a little way down from his cottage to the store, and
pointing up at the big bold sign, which Grenfell had nailed there, he
announced proudly:
"'Tis _our_ co-operative store, the first on the whole coast. Doctor
Grenfell starts un for us."
Then after a pause:
"Doctor Grenfell be a wonderful man! He be a man of God."
As expected, there was a furore among the little traders when the news
was spread that a co-operative store had been opened in Red Bay. The
big Newfoundland traders and merchants were heartily in favor of it,
and even stood ready to give the experiment their support.
But the little traders who had dealt with the Red Bay settlement for
so long, and had bled the people and grown fat upon their labors, were
bitterly hostile. They began a campaign of defamation against Doctor
Grenfell and his whole field of work. They questioned his honesty, and
criticised the conduct of his hospitals. They even enlisted the
support of a Newfoundland paper in their opposition to him.
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