The Great War Open House

On Thursday, October 29, 2015, I made a presentation at the Great War Open House hosted by the Town of Erin Heritage Committee, held in the Council Chambers. It attempts to show what life was like in Erin in 1914 and 1915, and the role that the Erin Advocate newspaper played at that time.

CLICK HERE to download the images from that presentation as a single PDF file (33 MB).

My thanks to

- Chair Jamie Cheyne and members of the Heritage Committee.

- Councillor Jeff Duncan, who provided enthusiasm and research help.

- Doug Kirkwood, Service Officer for the Erin Legion, who shared some of his extensive research on local people involved in the war.

Cenotaph

- Looking Back at the past is fascinating, not only because we see how different things were. When we get a glimpse of the lives of real people, we can imagine ourselves living at that time.

- The No. 7 Company of the 30th Battalion of the Wellington Rifles was based in Erin. They were formed in 1866 after the scare of the Fenian raids and eventually became part of 153rd Wellington County Battalion during World War One.

- Erin’s soldiers came from all walks of life, and enlisted in many different places. A cenotaph to help us remember our fallen was not dedicated until 1956.

Arthur Berry

- The first name on the list is Arthur Berry, a farmer from Orton, the son of George and Annie Berry of Orton, a member of the Disciples of Christ. The Canadian Great War Project is an on-line database. It says he enlisted at age 18, served with the 153rd Wellington Battalion and was killed in action at age 20. His body was not recovered.

Arthur Berry Vimy Memorial

- His name appears on the Vimy Memorial

Arthur Berry plaque

- And on a plaque at Orton United Church, formerly the Methodist Church

Population Chart

- In 1914, Erin Village had about 500 people. Erin Township including Hillsburgh and the other hamlets had a total of 3,000 – less than they had 50 years earlier. The combined Erin population would dip as low as 3,100 in World War Two. It would not pick up until 1961, after our water works were installed, and it soared to 11,000 by 2001.

- We’d had the railroad for 35 years – great for shipping out potatoes and bringing in tourists to Stanley Park. There were two trains a day to Toronto and two returning, plus regular bus service to Guelph.

Going West this Spring?

- At World War One, Erin Township had been settled for almost a hundred years, but there was no fire department, the roads were dirt or gravel, and there were no sewers.

- Life expectancy was mid-50s, many women still died giving birth and over 10 per cent of babies didn’t live until their first birthday.

- Erin was already past its peak as an industrial centre. Our water-powered mills were still operating, but steam turbines at big town factories were driving the economy.

- Rural areas like Erin were being depopulated as farming became more mechanized. People were moving to the cities and to the fertile farmland of the Canadian Prairies. Canada’s population was growing, but the immigration from Europe was being directed to the West.

- The Canadian Pacific Railway was urging people to go West, and many Erin residents did. Though many returned during the prairie drought of the 1930s.

Archduke’s assassin

- Community newspapers in those days were often the only source of news – international, national, provincial, local events and social gossip.

- The Advocate reported that Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip appeared before a magistrate in Sarajevo, expressing no guilt for assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on June 28, 1914. It was treated as far-away political upheaval.

- And even once the war was on, many people expected it would be over by Christmas of 1914. Canadians realized only gradually that they would have to change their way of life.

King George

- King George in his uniform, ready to fight.

- Canada’s identity, outside Quebec, was embedded in the British Empire. Once England was at war, Canada was at war – no questions asked.

Mother Britain poem

- Every week, there was a poem on Page 1 – like this one, warning the bally Huns, that those who strike at Britain, must reckon with her sons.

Uniforms at Salisbury

- The Canadians looked quite spiffy in their uniforms, while training in England.

Ford car

- A few people could afford the new automobiles, but horses and buggies were still the norm. And the cars weren’t much use in the winter, so cutters or sleighs were a necessity.

Magic Baking Powder

- Here are some other examples of ads in the Advocate. Magic Baking Powder, made by the Gillett Company.

Corn Flakes

- No comment needed

The Darkest Hour novel

- Every issue of the paper had the next chapter of a serialized novel – usually a mix of romance and melodrama.

Fashion news

- And even with a world war raging, the Advocate carried the latest fashion news from Paris. This hat, with rabbit ear bows of black velvet, was considered one of the smartest creations of the season.

W.A.R. Store

- Merchants were not above using the war for commercial promotion – like this ad from W.A. Ramesbottom.

Columbia Records at Bell’s store

- Robert Bell’s store carried the latest music from the relatively new recording industry. The 3rd last song on the list: Cows may come, Cows may go, but the Bull goes on forever.

Fruit-a-tives

- The newspaper was packed with ads for dubious medicines, and testimonial articles claiming miracle cures. Perhaps a pre-cursor of today’s info-mercial.

Castoria

- Castoria promises to contain no opium or morphine – which tells you something about other medicines on the market.

Advocate prints butter paper

- The war drove up the price of butter wrapper paper – but the Advocate was selling it at the old price. We would print almost anything.

Wellington Hull

- The publisher of the paper was Wellington Hull, a master of multiple revenue streams. Before buying the paper in 1894, he had been a farmer, a butcher, a village councillor and the reeve. He owned land in Erin village, just west of what is still known as Hull’s Dam.

- He was a Wellington County Constable, and later a Magistrate and Justice of the Peace.

- He was the official starter at local horse races

- He was a car salesman.

Advocate – Union Bank building

- Hull built a solid building and leased the ground floor to the Union Bank, later the Royal Bank.

- Wellington Hull passed the paper on to his son Roy, who passed it on to his son Charles. The family operated The Advocate for 78 years. The great thing about owning a newspaper, is that you can run free ads for yourself every week.

Farms for sale

- If you couldn’t get a loan downstairs, you could always try upstairs at the Advocate office.

Real estate agent

- He was a real estate agent and farm equipment dealer.

Auctioneer

- An auctioneer

Marriage licenses

- And the issuer of marriage licenses. Note the cost of an annual subscription – $1 per year, which is probably why he needed other sources of income.

Bombs on Dunkirk

- The paper normally had two full pages of war news, like this story of a dirigible air raid. It was a constant narrative of heroism, foul deeds by the enemy, glorious victories and human slaughter.

War news – Nerve pills

- For those who were depressed by the war news, there were Milburn’s Heart and Nerve Pills, designed to build up the unstrung nervous system.

Pleasant pellets

- It appears some women were having crying spells. They were starting to feel old and look old – due to some weakness or derangement. Fortunately, Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets could be ordered by mail to restore youthful vigour.

German guns seized in Toronto

- There were frequent stories of German spies. Canadian transport ships had been the target of mines and submarine attacks in the Atlantic, and it was widely believed that spies had fed critical information to the enemy.

- The United States was not in the war at this stage, and there were millions of Germans living there. Canada feared those Germans might invade Canada, so as a precaution, police confiscated all firearms belonging to Germans in Toronto.

Wellington raises half-regiment

- In 1914, Wellington County was planning to raise half a regiment of 500 men. It would cost $90 to outfit each soldier, for a large expenditure of $45,000.

Acton Tanning Co. busy

- In Acton, they were working day and night to supply leather for war horses.

Cavalry horses painted blue

- The French had a novel idea – they would paint their horses blue so they would blend in with the horizon and not be noticed by the enemy.

Four horses in a shell hole

- George Arnett of Erin was a member of the Royal Horse Artillery. He said the artillery shells would make a hole large enough to put four horses in. A later letter said six horses.

Canada makes shells

- The British War Office had placed orders for $154 million worth of shells – and every machine shop or factory capable of making shells was busy. Canada was shipping out 10,000 shells per day, and hoped to push the average to 40,000 shells per day.

Drawing of barn being shelled

- There was very little action photography, but survivors would describe battles, and artists would create drawings for the newspapers – like this barn being hit by a shell.

Drawing of air battle

- Air battles caught the public’s imagination, with the exploits of flying aces like Canada’s Billy Bishop and Germany’s Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron).

Sgt. Frank Belway

- Frank Belway didn’t move to Erin until later, but he was well known as the manager of Stanley Park, owner of a grocery store and the third President of the Legion.

Distinguished Flying Cross

- In World War One he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying low over enemy lines under heavy machine gun fire, to get exact information on the positioning of their troops.

German albatross forced down by Belway

- He also had the rare distinction of forcing an enemy pilot to land behind the Allied lines.

Carmichael ad – Shot to Pieces

- The Carmichaels were a prominent Hillsburgh family with a prosperous store. The website carmichaelfamilyonline is an excellent source of information on Hillsburgh history.

John and Grace Carmichael

- Portraits of John and Grace Carmichael.

Marjorie visits

- The Advocate social notices reported a visit by their daughter Marjorie, who was about to leave for France.

Nursing Sister Marjorie Carmichael

- At the age of 29, working in Toronto as a nurse, Marjorie had enlisted as a nursing sister.

Open Letter to Women

- The Advocate carried an open letter from the most powerful women in Canada – the National Committee for Patriotic Service:

- The President was Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Connaught. That was Louise Margaret, a German princess who was married to the third son of Queen Victoria, Prince Arthur – who was Canada’s Governor General. Her daughter was Princess Patricia, who had her own Light Infantry Regiment in the Canadian army. Then you had the wife of Prime Minister Robert Borden, the wife of Opposition Leader Wilfred Laurier, and a long list of upper class ladies.

- The message was simple: Canadian women must “ungrudgingly” give up their sons and husbands for this struggle.

- A side note about the Duchess – she died of influenza during the war, at a time when there was no vaccine for the flu, and doctors didn’t even know it was caused by a virus. The flu pandemic in 1918 would infect 500 million people and kill at least 50 million – 3 per cent of the world’s population. That was far more than the 11 million soldiers and 7 million civilians who died in the war.

Patriotic Concert by Brisbane students

- Student concerts and many social events were raising funds for aid to the Belgians, who were being allowed to starve to death after their country was invaded.

- Erin Township Council voted to start a Patriotic Fund to assist in the war effort. Councillors were assigned areas and would canvass every resident.

- There was also a Patriotic Association that helped out the families of soldiers. Many children did extra work in the farm fields while their fathers were away. Farmers who had not enlisted were under extreme pressure to increase food production.

W.C.T.U. knits socks

- The Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Erin was busy knitting socks for soldiers, and collecting material for bandages.

Teachers donate ambulance

- Wellington teachers decided to donate one per cent of their salaries to buy a motor ambulance for the front.

Red Cross fundraising

- The cost of treating the wounded was very high, so the Red Cross launched a major fundraising campaign.

Machine gun drawings

- It cost $1,000 for each machine gun, and the federal government appealed for public donations. In 1915, communities across Canada gave over $1 million for machine guns.

War Tax Stamp

- The federal government brought in new taxes to help pay for the war effort, including an extra one cent for every telegraph message, a one-cent war stamp on every letter (regular postage was two cents), two cents for every bank cheque, five to ten cents on train tickets, five cents on every pint of regular wine, and 25 cents on each bottle of champagne.

Surcharge on property taxes

- The provincial government brought down a special surcharge on property taxes that would raise $1.8 million.

Pensions for wounded

Severely wounded survivors were entitled to a monthly pension that ranged from $264 for privates, up to $2,100 for brigadier-generals.

Parliamentary propaganda

- News or propaganda: “Canada’s loyalty to the great struggle of the Motherland for the cause of right was again manifested in the vote of another $100,000 for the war fund by the absolutely unanimous voice of the members of the House of Commons.”

Soldiers’ fountain pens

- Soldiers were urged to buy good quality pens that would last for years after the war.

Hugh McMillan photo

- This is Hugh McMillan. When the war broke out, Prime Minister Borden promised Britain 20,000 troops. Within a month, 30,000 had enlisted at an army camp in Valcartier, Quebec.

- Travelling to Valcartier to enlist were Erin boys: Hugh McMillan, Albert McBride, Elmer Green, Horace McArthur, Alan and Ernie Royce, Howard Cox, Gordon McRae and Laurence Tarzwell.

- When Hugh McMillan signed up, he listed his occupation as “Chauffeur”, and that’s what he was assigned to do. He was a truck driver supplying the trenches, an ambulance driver, and a chauffer for senior officers.

Hugh McMillan pennant, and Marjorie

- McMillan was a prolific letter writer, and quite proud of his home. He raised the Hillsburg Pennant not far from the front lines in France.

- He also mentions Marjorie Carmichael from Hillsburg, working in a nearby hospital, keeping in touch with the local boys.

Hillsburg pennant

- Image from the Wellington Museum and Archives

- The “H” at the end of Hillsburgh did not come into common use until the Second World War

McMillan – shell didn’t burst

- McMillan was very casual about the dangers, saying his house had been hit by a shell, but it didn’t burst.

McMillan – respirators issued

- Or that he’d been issued a respirator for poison gas

- “The Germans will pay for this.”

News from Ypres

- Ypres was Canada’s first major battle. Chlorine gas was used for the first time by the Germans.

- Listen to the news language used about Canadian soldiers: “Though reduced in the lines, and with dispositions made hurriedly under the stimulus of critical danger, they fought through the day and though the night, and then through another day and night; fought under their officers until, as happened to so many, these perished gloriously, and then fought from the impulsion of sheer valor, because they came from fighting stock.”

McMillan – under fire at Ypres

- Ypres was the battle during which Doctor John McCrae of Guelph wrote his famous poem In Flanders Fields.

- From the same battle Hugh McMillan wrote of rescuing a comrade whose truck had stalled, with shells falling all around. There was a German aviator overhead sending signals to the artillery. The road was filled with women and children running from the shells. “You have no idea what it was like, and I couldn’t explain it in writing”. In fact, he was having trouble writing because the guns were making the ground shake. “Bye, bye dear mother. Write soon, and oftener.”

McMillan – souvenirs

- McMillan lost a batch of letters during the Battle of Ypres, but another soldier found them and forwarded them to his parents. He sent some souvenirs, including a piece of the Yres cathedral, and a “Housewife” – a string shopping bag he picked up from a German soldier.

McMillan – if my turn comes

- “If my turn comes, it will be no worse than hundreds of other poor fellows who have fallen. The only way to do out here is to do your best and trust to God to bring you through safely.”

- “I’ve only been off duty half a day since coming to France, and that day I had a headache.

McArthur gets Advocate, congratulates hockey team

- Horace McArthur was very glad to receive copies of the Advocate at the front. He congratulated the Erin Hockey Team and wished them a successful season.

- His job was to dig trenches on the night shift, ducking out of sight when the German flares went up.

McArthur has close calls

- He too was very casual about danger, reporting that a shell had fallen four feet away from him, but that the explosion had only covered him with mud. After a bullet went through his hat, he said, “That was close enough for me”.

McArthur believed dead

- It was rumoured that Horace had been killed, and The Advocate wrote to his father, a minister, for information. Rev. McArthur reported that Horace’s letters had suddenly stopped after the Battle of Ypres. He was with the 48th Highlanders, 15th Battalion, three fourths of whom were lost.

McArthur in prison camp

- Finally a letter arrived from Horace. He had been captured, sent to a German hospital, treated for gas poisoning and appendicitis, and sent to a prison camp where he was allowed to receive mail, as long as it had no reference to the war.

- Horace later escaped from that prison camp.

F.W. Wood funeral director

- Typically, the local furniture maker would be the casket builder as well, in this case F.W. Wood.

High school debate

- His son Arthur was a senior high school student, and was involved in a Literary Society debate, arguing that the United States was morally obligated to join the war on the Allied side.

New recruiting drive

- At that time there was a new recruiting drive, and Arthur Wood was one of two high school students who signed up.

Jolly good fellows recruited

- Principal Tomlinson held a big party at his house, and the boys were each presented with a gold ring. They were also rewarded with a rendition of the song, “For They Are Jolly Good Fellows”.

Twenty volunteers

- The goal was 25 recruits and they got 20.

- Notice the wording from the editor at the end – “Keeper up the good work boys. You Country needs you now.”

35,000 more men needed – now up to 150,000

- Stories in the newsapaper could seem like a country talking to itself, reassuring itself that it was doing the right thing: “Canada is surely measuring up to her duty in her contribution of men to the war.”

- Today, it would be controversial front-page news. In 1915, it was one paragraph on an inside page – 35,000 more men needed for the firing line in France. That would bring the total so far to 150,000, but even then, we were just getting started.

- Canada had a population of 8 million in 1915. Eventually, she would have 650,000 men and women enlisted, 8.3% of the population. The casualties would total over 65,000 dead and 172,000 wounded.

- Erin Township and Village had a combined population of 3,500. From that we had 228 volunteers and 97 draftees, for a total of 325. That’s 9.3% of the local population. Of those, at least 28 died.

- As we promise every November, they have not been forgotten.
Erin is still proud that we did our bit for King and Country.

- And that’s the story so far.

Getting the inside story on Great Lakes novel

As published in The Erin Advocate

It is interesting how personal connections from the past will spark the interest of people, especially when it comes to the myriad of subcultures that thrive outside the mainstream of Canadian society.

Erin publisher Tim Inkster received a manuscript in 2005 for a semi-autobiographical novel called Sailor Girl, by Sheree-Lee Olson, about the adventures of a young woman working in the kitchen of a Great Lakes freighter.

He did not publish it until 2008, but he initially gave it a serious look because he knew about that culture – his father and grandfather had worked on the boats. He is proud of his grandfather, Captain Walter Inkster of Collingwood, who became a friend of Scott Misener while travelling across the Atlantic to deliver a boat to Montreal in 1903. Misener went on to operate a shipping fleet, and that same boat was later named after Inkster.

Shelley Austin, Sheree-Lee Olson and Tim Inkster

Shelley Austin, a member of a book club called the Joyous Erin Wine & Literary Society (JEWLS) was recently looking for ideas for a book event. Elke Inkster of Porcupine's Quill suggested Sailor Girl, and she took an immediate interest because her grandfather had been an engineer for Misener Steamships from 1925 to 1950.

She planned an evening that brought together about 30 women from four local book clubs last Friday at Tintagels Tea Room on Main Street, to meet Sheree-Lee Olson. The event was sponsored by Jim and Audrey Devonshire, owners of Tintagels and the Devonshire Guest House, and by Tim and Elke Inkster of Porcupine's Quill, who also run a small bookstore, located in comfortable surroundings at the back of the Renaissance store in downtown Erin.

When Shelley asked me about covering the event, I was interested not only because of the local aspects, but because my uncle had been a Great Lakes freighter captain. I grew up within earshot of the boats on the Welland Canal, and as a kid found it strange that my uncle Bernard had a job that only allowed him to be home with his wife and children during the winter.

Conditions could be harsh on that edge of society, as Olson discovered over seven summers, working her way through university. She went on to be the Style Editor at The Globe and Mail, and is currently a copy editor for Globe Life.

"I was so thrilled to finally get this book published, after spending twenty years writing it," she said. After many false starts in her 20s, she finally found an opportunity to work all week at her job, and every weekend for four years on the book.

Finishing it in her 40s made it "much more informed by my own experiences in the working world, and by feminist issues, and just trying to honour people whose lives are pretty much invisible...They are an outlier society."

While she had personal experience on the lakes, she found it was necessary to do a lot of research to recapture details about the lifestyle. Some characters were based on real people, others were composites, and others, like Calvin, were inventions. "I made him up because I wished I had Calvin, instead of the other jerks," she said.

She promotes Sailor Girl as having "salty dialogue and gripping description", as a "uniquely Canadian story, one that distills a vanishing part of our heritage", and as a love story in which "a middle class girl finds a deep connection with the unruly young men and toughminded women of the lakes."

The book has had critical acclaim and won a bronze in the 2009 Independent Publisher Book Awards, but sales have been modest, and she describes marketing a book as something of a "crapshoot".
Sailor Girl got a boost with the placing of a "Bookmark" in Port Colborne, at Lock 8 on the Welland Canal, in 2011. Project Bookmark Canada installs plaques bearing selections from notable Canadian works, in the exact locations where scenes are set.

There is also a movie version of Sailor Girl in the works, with Markham Street Films (MSF) planning to start shooting this year. Naturally, Inkster is hoping that goes well, since there's nothing like a successful movie to propel book sales.

MSF describes it as a coming of age story, in which "19-year-old art student rebel Kate McLeod signs on to a Great Lakes freighter and sails off into an unexpected world of stormy, sexy and dangerous adventures."

Olson said that to distill the story, screen writer Johanna Schneller had to "really collapse the book – a whole new treatment that was very visual and very visceral, and really cut out all the boring stuff – it was great."

For more about the author, go to www.sheree-leeolson.com, and for a taste of that Great Lakes shipping culture, go to www.boatnerd.com.

1912 Advocate delivered lively slice of modern life

As published in The Erin Advocate

In 1912, Erin readers could rely on The Advocate not only for local news, but for national and international affairs, on-going excerpts from novels, and a relentless stream of advice from the unscrupulous makers of patent medicines.

There were just 511 residents in the village, a total that would not be surpassed until the 1940s, but it was a busy hub for the district, and proud to take its place in the modern century.

As Christmas approached, there was news that the Canadian government had allocated the astronomical sum of $35 million to the Royal Navy, to build three Dreadnought battleships, part of Britain's naval arms race with Germany. There were also weekly reports about the first of two Balkan wars, with Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria overpowering the Ottoman Turks, helping set the stage for World War I.

To liven up the Christmas season, the Young Ladies of Erin held a Ball at the Town Hall, which The Advocate reported was "nicely decorated for the occasion, making a very pretty appearance by Electric Light".

Some things never change, such as the newspaper promoting local business. Publisher Wellington Hull wrote, "Shop Early. Only 2 weeks to Xmas. Our merchants are making attractive Xmas displays."

Hull also reminded taxpayers to pay up any amounts owing, or face extra costs. In addition to also being the local printer, auctioneer, money lender and issuer of marriage licenses, he was on salary with the village as Tax Assessor and Collector.

Erin village had a bylaw that allowed businesses to open in the evening only on Mondays Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Township was being urged to pass a bylaw limiting Hillsburgh evening shopping to Tuesdays and Thursdays.

You could buy fur coats or groceries at the Ritchie & Ramesbottom store. Steel & Foster had Motor Hoods for ladies and Natty Mufflers for men. Whole wheat Triscuits were advertised as the "Toast of the Town". The serial romance novel at that time was entitled The Invitation; Or The Bird That Pecked at the Window.

There was a report of Fergus working on a water works system, with half of the debentures taken up by local residents. Erin wouldn't have such a system for another 50 years.

On Christmas Day, 1912, there was an essay on Page 1 from "Luckenuf, Belfountain". It was penned by Charles W. Mack, the eccentric philanthropist who had invented the cushion backed rubber stamp, and owned the land that is now Belfountain Conservation Area. In the gate post of the stone wall in front of his summer retreat there, he cemented the word Luckenuf.

He questioned whether Christmas customs were losing their hold on the popular mind, "since the marvels of science began to usurp the seat of authority".

"Are the parents doing their duty to-day? The answer is, no, a thousand times, no. Far too many are leaving their children to shape their own destiny, to grow up as they may. How many parents make themselves companions to their children to find out their thoughts and acts and treat them with gentleness and consideration, giving them thoughts of rich character building, instead of being afraid of this and that subject?

"The complicated apparatus for alleviating the woes of the community has sprung into being, piece by piece, out of an overpowering sense of social necessity. Efforts to deepen the sympathies of young people and to lighten the lot of the sick and afflicted, or to brighten days that are apt to be dull, amid the general jollity, has not grown stale or out of date.

"There is no better time to attempt kindly acts than while the atmosphere is charged with good feeling and the sense of brotherhood now in the hearts of the true and real."

Ads for dubious remedies revealed not only the limitations of medicine in 1912, but a condescension toward women that was common in the media. Dr. R.V. Pierce of Buffalo, America's most famous patent medicine man, promoted his Pleasant Pellets for "the weaknesses and disorders peculiar to women", at the top of Page 1:

"Woman's most glorious endowment is the power to awaken and hold the pure and honest love of a worthy man. The woman who suffers from weakness and derangement of her system soon loses her personal magnetism, good looks, amiability and womanly charm. Dr. Pierce has devised a successful remedy to regulate and purify the stomach, liver and bowels. It makes weak women strong, sick women well."

Meanwhile, from England, there was news of militant suffragettes seeking volunteers to bomb the House of Commons. Full voting rights for women (not just for those owning property) were not granted in Canada until 1918, and in England, not until 1928.

Good recovery prospects for those with depression

As published in The Erin Advocate

Speakers at a panel discussion hosted by the East Wellington Family Health Team (EWFHT) this month painted a hopeful picture of recovery for the many people who suffer from depression.

With presentations that included scientific, therapeutic and personal points of view, the overarching message was that this condition can be defeated or made manageable.

"Depression has many faces, changing the way it appears from one person to the next," said Kim Bell, Program Lead/Mental Health Worker at EWFHT.  "Compounding this problem is the fact that most people are unaware that depression is an illness. It's a treatable illness. People do recover every day. So there is hope."

Depression affects 10 per cent of Canadians. Early intervention can reduce its severity, but sufferers and health professionals are working against the embarrassment, fear and stigma attached to all mental illnesses. Caring support from family and others can be crucial to recovery.

Dr. Pete Anderson, a family physician who recently joined EWFHT, and has a PhD in molecular biology and genetics, described the physical changes that take place in the bodies and brains of people with depression. Some 15 per cent of people will suffer from depression at some point in their life, with a higher incidence for women, especially in the time following the birth of a child.

"There are measurable changes in how your neurons work in the different parts of your brain, and things that short-circuit it can cause depression," he said, recounting his own struggles with the illness.

"The pressures I put on myself while going through medical school put me into a spiral. Had my wife been a hair less strong than she was, we might not be together today. So I am very, very lucky to have had the support of my family and friends to get through that.

"Insidious is a fantastic word to describe it. I was just miserable. Everything I did was just coloured by this morose, blue, outlook on things. All the pleasure of small things seemed to get drained out of the activities in my life."

Losing the ability to function distinguishes major depression. Anderson suffered many of the classic symptoms, at first not knowing the cause. A diagnosis requires a combination of symptoms persisting over a period of time.

These include overwhelming sadness, loss of interest in activities, low self-esteem, weight loss or gain, insomnia or excessive sleep, lack of energy, slow movement, changes in appetite, feelings of guilt, impaired concentration and decision-making, and thoughts of suicide as a way to escape.

"Maybe it would just be easier if I wasn't here – I remember saying that to my wife," he said.  "That was a big turning point, when I actually admitted I was having these thoughts."

Research is showing that stress triggers hormones that can wither the neurons in the brain and reduce connectivity, which can lead to a self-reinforcing pattern of negative thoughts and emotions. The human brain evolved to handle the short-term stress of emergencies, not the constant stress that society now generates.

"We think depression is a maladaptive response of the body to chronic stress that you can't get resolution to," he said. "There's usually a difference between expectation and reality that you can't reconcile. The part of the brain that decides what to do is locked out.

"The good news is that there are effective therapies for depression. You have to start doing things that used to make you happy. You have to socialize – there's something protective about social interaction, having people tell us that they care about us. That helps make new connections in the brain.

"Exercise releases hormones within the body that actually help neurons grow. Our bodies are designed to move, and our brains are designed to catalogue that movement," he said, but cautioned against expecting quick results. "You are not going to snap out of it. It takes time for brain re-growth."

Counselling can help people challenge their negative thoughts, while medications can sensitize the brain to helpful hormones. Finding the best medication and dosage is often a trial and error process, with the risk of serious side effects, but it is extremely valuable for many patients.

So the strategy is to combine different therapies to fight the illness. I will touch on some variations when I outline the presentations of the other panelists in a future column.

Porcupine's Quill supports Canadian visual artists

As published in The Erin Advocate

One of the rewards of doing this column is the opportunity to interview writers and artists who have taken on remarkable projects, satisfying their own passions while reaching out to the public. It gives one a touch of envy, a reminder that value lies not in what you intend to do, but in what you actively pursue.

Richard Nevitt lives in Alton, and in 2008 published A Caledon Sketchbook with Porcupine's Quill in Erin. He has retired from 40 years of teaching at the Ontario College of Art, but still works at his home studio and gives workshops at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg.

The book is a journal of 60 pen and ink drawings, based on sketches that capture "chance moments of solitude" and the spiritual power of the Niagara Escarpment landscape. He was signing copies during the recent Doors Open event.

Early in his career, he studied art as applied to anatomy and medicine, which expanded his creative vision, and he went on to work in a variety of media. In 1968 the Canadian Government invited him to document peace-keeping activities with the Canadian Armed Forces in Cyprus.

"I draw every day," he said. "It is important to be observant. I extend my observations of anatomy into landscapes. It's learning how to look at things and bring out their strengths."

McMichael Executive Director Tom Smart said, "In the turn of a line, a scrap of contour, an oblique hint of mass, form and volume, Nevitt lends his subjects a living quality, a breath of life and of vitality."

Nevitt's great grandfather, Richard Barrington Nevitt, was a doctor, artist and journalist who came to Toronto from the Confederate South. He went to Alberta in 1874 as an assistant surgeon with the North-West Mounted Police, and documented the plight of the Blackfoot natives.

Nevitt is appreciative that publishers like Porcupine's Quill and organizations such as Headwaters Arts (www.headwatersarts.ca) have helped create "a dynamic support system for the arts".

In addition to fiction and poetry, Porcupine's Quill has often published books that support the visual arts, especially serving the niche market for reproductions of wood engravings. Their newest offerings include a collection of engravings called A Calendar of Days by various artists, and Book of Hours, a graphic novel by George Walker which traces, without words, the routines of daily life in the hours before the 9/11 attacks.

"The art books give a voice to the artists that they wouldn't otherwise have," said Tim Inkster, who puts his own artistic flair into the design and production of books, giving them a traditional, textured look and feel. Their equipment is traditional as well, with a Baumfolder folding machine dating back to the '40s and a Smyth book binding sewing machine from 1907.

In 2008, Tim and Elke Inkster were appointed to the Order of Canada for their contributions to Canadian publishing and promotion of new authors.

The other interesting conversation I had at the publishing shop was with Jane Lind, a writer, editor and sculptor who is passionate about the work of Canadian experimental filmmaker and visual artist Joyce Wieland (1931-1998).

"I am mainly interested in stories of women artists who have really developed their creative lives," said Lind, who published a biography in 2001: Joyce Wieland - Artist on Fire. A preview of that book can be seen on the Google Books website.

Wieland made an impact on the art world in Canada and New York, from the '60s to the '80s, with avant garde work that celebrated the surge in feminist sentiment, while making use of traditional female crafts such as quilting. It is an unusual blend of sexuality, politics and patriotism. A highlight of her career was True Patriot Love, an exhibition in 1971 at the National Gallery of Canada – the first such show devoted to a living Canadian female artist.

"She was a pioneer for women's place in the art world," said Lind. "She pokes fun at the weird things people do, and how foolish politicians can be in their obsession with power."

Lind, who lives in Guelph, has now published a follow-up book, with Porcupine's Quill. Joyce Wieland: Writings and Drawings, is an eclectic selection of drawings, journal entries and stream-of-consciousness poetry from 1952 to 1971, drawn from the archives at York University. It reveals the aspirations and struggles of a woman in a male-dominated field.

The introduction to the book provides sufficient background, so that it is is not necessary to read the published biography to appreciate the work. Lind hopes that it will help renew some interest in Wieland with scholars, art historians and the public.

Cromaboo, Part Two

As published in The Erin Advocate

In a 1948 letter to the Fergus News-Record, Baptist Johnston of Toronto said, “I am sending you a copy of ‘The Cromaboo Mail Carrier’, written by my great-aunt, Mary Leslie, in the 70’s, under the nom de plume of James Thomas Jones. … Some of the characters were so thinly disguised that my Aunt was threatened with a lawsuit for damages, and on that account the book was withdrawn from circulation.”

Last week’s column was about this 1878 novel, one of the first published in Wellington County, which used the name Cromaboo for the village of Erin. It can be read on-line at www.canadiana.org.

It is not known who threatened the lawsuit. Many village residents are portrayed in a negative way, though never identified by their real names. There’s a “disreputable veterinary surgeon” who poisons our hero, Robert Smith. Could it be the doctor who avoids treating patients? Or perhaps the postmaster, said to be “obstinate as a jackass”?

Although it is fiction, almost any of the 700 inhabitants could have taken offence when a character says that the people of Cromaboo are “all of a lower class, and they are so dreadfully immoral; nearly everybody”.

When some well-to-do folks in the story invite the serving-class Robert to sit at the dining table with them, they are acutely aware of breaking a social taboo. Mary Paxton, the leading lady who resembles the author, is fond of Robert and uncomfortable with the shackles of class distinctions.

“It is the man after all, not his class or occupation, that makes the difference," she says. When Robert’s long-lost father returns and reveals that the family actually has upper class connections, it paves the way for Mary and Robert to wed. That was to occur in the sequel, but alas, it was never published.

The novel also provides a view of the times, as logging companies stripped Ontario of its forests. One character describes the newly-cleared land as “denuded of its beauty and scarred with ugly stumps and weeds.” She remembers an earlier time in the 1830s when she saw Niagara Falls “not as you see it now, but guarded by mighty forests”.

How did the author come up with the name Cromaboo? It could be from “Crom-a-boo”, the war cry of the prominent Fitzgerald clan of Ireland. Crom was the name of a castle that the Fitzgeralds acquired after helping in the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169-72 AD. It could be translated as “Crom forever”. Another source says the term Crom-a-boo was outlawed by King Henry VII, since it encouraged dissent.

Perhaps the choice of Cromaboo was simply a way for the author to put an obscure Irish label on Erin and show off her European education.

I heard about this novel through an extensive article written by Barb Mitchell, published by the Wellington County Historical Society in 1994, which provided some of my background information. She drew on research done by historian Hazel Mack, who published books on Wellington County in 1955 and 1977. Mary Leslie’s personal papers are stored in the Archives of Ontario.

Leslie worked exclusively as a writer, but was not successful. Strand magazine in England refused to publish the Cromaboo novel in installments, calling it “a little too outspoken”. She had many short stories published in newspapers, but two text books written for Ontario schools were rejected. When she borrowed $100 to publish a book of poetry in 1896, called The Rhymes of Kings and Queens in England, she was unable to repay it with receipts from book sales.

She lived on her family money until middle age, but lost her house during a recession and lived in poverty with her sister in Belwood, near Fergus. She published another book of poetry, Historic Sketches of Scotland, in 1905, and died in Toronto in 1921.

If you have information or comments for me, send an email to: erininsight@gmail.com.

Novel outraged Erin residents

As published in The Erin Advocate

The term “blackguard” is rarely used these days, but if ever it is applied to you, be aware that it refers to a rude, unscrupulous, foul-mouthed scoundrel.

So when a book came out that called Erin “the most blackguard village in Canada”, residents became irate and attempted to have it banned.

Mary Leslie, an upper-class lady who lived on the road between Guelph and Erin, published “The Cromaboo Mail Carrier: A Canadian Love Story” in 1878. Not many copies were sold, but it holds a special place in Canadian literary history, as one of the earliest novels published in the western part of our newly-created country.

As was common for women writers at that time, she uses a masculine pen name (James Thomas Jones), to increase the chances that her work would be taken seriously by publishers and the public.

She gives the name Cromaboo to the village, and the name Gibbeline to Guelph, in an attempt to fictionalize the setting. Her style is dramatic and exaggerated, so there is no way to know whether her descriptions are based more on fact or fantasy. Still, scholars believe that this novel provides unique historical details about rural culture in that era.
Some Erin residents, apparently seeing too much of themselves in various unsavoury characters in the story, threatened to sue the author.

I examined the book at the Wellington County Archives, where they make you wear cotton gloves, so the oil on your skin will not harm the fragile pages. You can read all 296 pages on the Internet – just go to www.canadiana.org and search for “Cromaboo”. Here is the opening passage:

“Cromaboo is the most blackguard village in Canada, and is settled by the lowest class of Irish, Highland Scotch and Dutch. It consists of seven taverns, six churches, and about one hundred shabby frame houses built on little gravelly mounds. Fights are frequent, drunkenness flourishes, vice abounds; more tobacco is smoked there than in any village of the same size in the Dominion; swearing is so common that it passes unnoticed, and there is an illegitimate child in nearly every house – in some two, in others three, in one six – and the people think it no sin. Yet even in this Sodom, there was at the time of which I write, a Lot.”

She goes on to introduce the village postmaster, Owen Llewellyn, proprietor of the stagecoach that carried the mail from Gibbeline. The other main characters are the hero, Robert Smith, a lower-class 18-year-old stagecoach driver who is in love with the heroine, Mary Paxton, a 32-year-old upper-class lady who lived on the stagecoach route. Her life closely resembles that of the author.

The story notes the progress of the village: “Ah! Times are changed. Now the great Credit Valley Railway passes through Cromaboo, but at the period of which I write such a thing was not dreamt of; a rough uncovered waggon ran between that village and the great town of Gibbeline.”

In real life, that rail line was completed through Erin the year after this novel was published, followed by incorporation of the village.

Cromaboo turns out to be not such a bad place, but the plot evolves ever so slowly. Much of it is about the snobbery of upper class people, the influences of religion, and the evils of alcohol (Erin voted to ban its sale in 1915).

In one dramatic scene, the stagecoach is attacked by Yankee ruffians, who had been hiding in the swamp near the Sixth Line, intent upon raping Mary, who was a passenger. Robert knew the attack was likely, but was ready with his pistol to repel the villains.
“You have saved my life and my honour,” she says.

Leslie sometimes unexpectedly addresses her readers: “Do not be discouraged my reader, and give up the story…I promise to introduce you to the most fashionable people. I promise you romance, adventures, love-making in galore, and finally orange blossoms and wedding favours; kisses – blessings – only have patience.”

The story does not live up to these promises, since the main characters never get around to professing their love for one another. Much more was planned for a sequel called The Gibbeline Flower Seller (Robert’s new occupation), but it was never published.

So how do Mary and Robert bridge the gap between the upper and lower classes? How did the author survive after her novel was forced off the market and she lost her house? And just where did the name Cromaboo come from? The answers to these and many other burning questions will be revealed in the sequel to this column, to be published next week.

Stirring up trouble

As published in The Erin Advocate

While visiting the Wellington County Museum near Fergus recently, I opened the door of the County Archives office, not really knowing what to expect.

Turns out they have friendly staff who can help you find information about people and places back into the mid-1800s. Having nothing in particular to research, I asked to see their oldest copy of The Erin Advocate.

Out came the microfiche and there it was, tattered but intact, dated December 17, 1880, in its first year as a weekly paper. Published by Sylvester Dilts, it had subscriptions at $1 a year if paid in advance, and ad rates at 8 cents per line for the first insertion.

I enjoy the ads in old papers, like the one from the Erin Furniture Depot, in which D.S. Travis promises, “Furniture of a superior make to any hitherto sold in Erin”. Or an in-house promotion by The Advocate for job printing of posters and cards: “Neatest and Latest Style of the Art…Executed on the Shortest Notice”.

What really caught my eye, at the top of page one, was the headline: WOMEN: Schopenhauer’s Peculiar Opinion of the Sex. Here is a brief excerpt, for educational purposes, from a piece of writing that even in its day would have been considered outrageous and inflammatory.

“The mere aspect of woman proves that she is destined neither for the great labors of intelligence nor for great material undertakings. She pays her debt to life not by action but by suffering; she ought therefore, to obey man, and to be his patient companion, restoring serenity to his mind.”

“Women perjure themselves so readily in Courts of Justice that it has often been a question whether they ought to be allowed to take an oath. …What may be called the European Woman is a sort that ought not to exist. Those who help in the house and look after the house ought to be the only women in the world.”

Two questions stand out. Who was Schopenhauer, and what was his misogynist tirade doing on the front page of The Advocate?

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher who lived from 1788 to 1860. He is known for his analysis of human motivation, arguing that basic human instincts supersede reason, and that human desires can never be truly fulfilled. He extolled the value of negating the will.

As a prominent Pessimist, he held that we live in the worst of all possible worlds, since if things were any worse, we would be extinct. He said that evil was the only real force in the world, and that anything good was just a brief respite from a boring, painful existence.

His ultra-intolerant views on women probably stem from tempestuous relationships with his mother and other women – though he also had praise for some.

He was a strong advocate of animal rights, remarking that animals are incapable of deception. He praised artistic achievement as more essential than science and reason. His work was considered influential on composer Richard Wagner, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

In 1851, at the age of 63, he became famous throughout Europe and North America with publication of a series of essays that include: On the vanity of existence, On suicide and On women – a translation of which found its way into Erin’s newspaper, 29 years later.

Publishers in that era often mixed classified ads with local, national and international news, fiction and trivia on their front page. Anything to attract readers.

I doubt there were many students of European philosophy in that little village.

My guess is that Mr. Dilts figured he could get away with printing part of a philosophy essay from a published book, titillating some male egos and enraging some female ones.

That was in the old days. Enlightened media outlets in the new millennium would never give attention to extremist views just to stir up trouble.