Another little vignette she told was as follows: "Robert was going to be away on business so he told me I needed to learn how to shoot. He had a big revolver" (Now in Dick Thomas' possession, this is a Colt Serial N° 1562, it was a very early model with 6 chambers, gunpowder was loaded into each chamber individually from the front of the chamber, lead bullets were then rammed back by a moveable stick attached to the barrel; the detonators were very small percussion caps individually fitted by hand at the back of the chambers. fiddly work, after every shot the hammer had to be cocked by hand). -and I learnt how to use it, and was quite a good shot”.
She was very proud of her ability...... “on one occasion that I was alone with the children, some men came to where we lived and demanded that I give them some food. I went in and brought out some food for them. They got nasty, and said that they wanted more. I told them they would have to wait a moment. Then I went in and got the gun, came out and told them to leave; they laughed and said they wanted more food. I then got out the gun, pointed it towards their feet and said leave or I'll shoot, they laughed at me again, so I shot towards their feet, they all left with great haste, more-over, they never came back ".
I also remember another story that the Edgar's, all farming stock, thought that Isabella Pearson was not a suitable wife for Robert, she was a petit, society girl, well brought up, but with no knowledge of the country ways. What is more her parents were late comers, of the professional classes. In turn Mr and Mrs Adam Pearson didn't think much of these wealthy farmers. She of course married him. This says something about her resolute character and utter devotion to her husband.
What follows in my father's letter, I assume this happened after the Guamini debacle and right up to 1920. 'At that time a new fuel (petrol), was replacing solid fuels, (coal and timber). He then turned all his energy into promoting the use of the new fuel for the manufacturing industry by installing new burners for their boilers. He designed a new burner, but was unable to compete with the companies that built and sold this type of equipment and once again he was ruined. However he was determined in his
aberration of working on his own. So he decided he would set up and make bricks, his works were located in Villa Rosa, a small country village near the town of Pilar, Province of Buenos Aires. This was no different than all his previous enterprises, and again he was ruined. Once again we were in utter misery; this was abject poverty, which left me with; permanent emotional trauma, which lasted for my entire life. These experiences in some way inhibited me in the way I behaved. It cramped my style of action in the business world.
I would have preferred living in mediocrity, without wanting anything, without pretending to the higher echelons in pursuit of a chimera, thus risking the little we had. I knew that I wouldn't go far with this idea, but as the say "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ". However we were happy with the little we had. Finding himself in this plight once again, he took advantage of his medical training and with some further studies at the Optical School, together with the fact that he got on well with The Director oj the British Hospital led to him to become "Optician to the British Hospital by Special Appointment". He set up Optical shop near Plaza Constitucion on 95 Brasil St, after a faltering beginning things slowly improved, at last he hit on a business that allowed us to live decently and gradually the business expanded. Success at last; but one day the devil made his mischief and sunk us into the most deplorable poverty. In one night thieves broke into the shop and stole absolutely everything, were left with an enormous debt. Our situation was appalling, we were totally bankrupt. This took place sometime in 1916.
