A community play

In the years after the Second World War, entertainment in rural communities was often home grown. Dickson's Corners was no exception. In one memorable Christmas concert, Gordon directed a play in which the lead parts were taken by well-known adults from the community. Lois, the teacher's wife played the part of an invalid who spent most of her time in her bed. In reality, her bed was a camp cot which likely threatened to tip over ever time she attempted to get in - or out- of it. Lois' "husband" in the play was Bob Brown, a local farmer and school trustee, whose daughter Janette was in Grade 6 in the school. Zoe Henderson and Gladys Baigent, next door neighbours who lived up the road from the school, were also in the play.



A newly married couple from the community, Bob and Nonnie Kerr, played the part of the young lovers. A mystery woman, her face shrouded in black, was also in the play, but Lois can remember neither who she was, or what role she played. "Maybe she was the music teacher." The props were minimal and I am sure the acting was not terribly professional -- Lois remembers having only two or three rehearsals -- but that would count for little among the highly appreciative audience of neighbours and friends who thoroughly enjoyed watching Bob Brown nuzzle up to Lois McEwan at the front of the hall.

Robert McEwan, Gordon's Grandfather part 2

Sadly Robert McEwan, Gordon's grandfather died when a young man. Here is the story as Gordon has written it: "One night Robert was returning home and lulled by the silence of the land and the quiet rhythm of the democrat wheels, he fell asleep. The fast travelling horse startled by the reflection of the moon in a large puddle by the side of the road shied sharply to one side with the result the sleeping driver was catapulted over the wheel of the vehicle and landed on the gravelly surface of the road causing severe lacerations and bruises to his face.
Some time after that he began to have physical problems and when the doctor diagnosed his ailment as cancer of the jaw a terrible pall must have settled over the family. A portion of his jawbone was removed but one year later he passed away leaving his gritty widow, three children and fifty acres without his strength and guidance." That was in 1893 when Robert was 43 years old. This picture must have been taken shortly before his death when they all knew that he was dying.

Robert McEwan, Gordon's Grandfather

In a previous blog I told the story of John McEwan who was the first of the McEwans to settle in Perth County. He married Agnes Ballantyne who, like John, had been born in Scotland. Their first child who was born in 1849 and who was Gordon's grandfather, was named Robert. If John and Agnes had remained true to the traditional pattern of child-naming, then Robert would have been called after his paternal grandfather. However, since Agnes' father was also a Robert, it may have been that the baby was named after his maternal grandfather Robert Ballantyne. Few stories have been passed down about the character of Robert McEwan. What we do know is that in April 1872 he married Harriotte Hemsley. At first they lived on the Huron Road just west of Stratford and later moved further west to Kasterville. Finally they settled on Lot 19 Concession 3 in Downie on 50 acres of land just west of both the Ballantyne land and the Hemsley land. Here are pictures of Robert and Harriotte, likely on their wedding day, and of the house in which they lived with their three children, Harriotte, John, and Agnes.

Corn Syrup Hockey Pictures My First Collection

I have always been a collector. There is something about the act of anticipating, acquiring, organizing, and building a collection that appeals to me. My first collection consisted of hockey pictures of the famous players on the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens and the other six teams that made up the NHL the 1950's. It wasn't because I liked -- or was even interested in hockey -- that I collected the pictures. But rather, I collected for the sake of collecting. And equally important to a boy with no money, the collection could be started, and developed, for the price of a stamp. The company which made this possible was the St. Lawrence Starch Company of Port Credit, Ontario. As its name implies, the St. Lawrence Starch Company made a whole range of products including Bee Hive Corn Syrup, Ivory Laundry Starch, and Durham Corn Starch. My mother used Bee Hive Corn Syrup in her cooking. The syrup came in a deep blue can embossed with a distinctive drawing of a large red bee hive. As I recall, there was a paper label fastened either around the can, or on the lid of the can. All that was required of me was to remove the label, to write down the name of the player whose picture I wanted and then to send it to the St. Lawrence Starch Company. In return I got a 5 x 7 glossy picture attached to a cardboard backing such as the picture of George Armstrong who later became the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In retrospect I suspect that my collection was inspired as much by my father Gordon as by me. Since we didn't have a television at Dicksons Corners, and we never listened to the games on radio. I cannot understand how I could have known the names of the players. For me, then, the attraction was in the process of sending the letter, in anticipating the arrival of the picture and then in carefully adding it to the ones already in my collection.
Post Script: Lois corrected my version of this story. Our family -- at least Gordon and his two daughters -- regularly listened to the hockey games on the radio. Lois said that she, too, listened, not because she was interested but because it was a family event. As the game progressed, Gordon, who was lying on the couch would fall asleep, the two girls would attempt to change the station on the radio, but as soon as the station was changed Gordon would wake up and the dial would be returned to the hockey game.
Lois also noted that corn syrup was regularly used as a sweetner in cooking. I wonder if it is still available.

Gordon's sense of humour

Jokes and fun were an important ingredient in the lives of Gordon and Lois. "We had a lot of good laughs" is an expression Lois uses frequently in describing an evening of playing cards or other forms of socializing. Roberta Dundas recently related a joke which she and her friend Gladys Campbell, as little girls played on their teacher Mr. McEwan. One lunch hour Roberta and Gladys decided to exchange clothes and to become the other person for the afternoon. When the bell rang to end the lunch hour, the two girls went and sat in each other's desk. The teacher recognized the joke, and for the whole afternoon he called each girl by the other's name. Of course they loved the idea that they were fooling their teacher. I am sure that there were lots of exchanges of giggles between the girls that afternoon, and I am sure that the teacher also enjoyed the joke. On occasion, however, Gordon's sense of humour could get him in trouble. The annual Christmas concert at the school was an important event for the whole community with not only the parents of the children, but also the extended family and the neighbours attending. At one of these concerts at SS# 9 Downie, Gordon told a joke involving two of the school trustees: Freddy Fulcher and Joe Killoran. The joke went like this: One day Freddy met Joe on the road. Freddy stopped Joe and said "look at your nose and tell me what time it is". To which Joe replied "Look at your own, mine ain't running!". Thinking this was a wonderful joke, Earl Richardson a neighbour of both Freddy and Joe, laughed loudly and long. Unfortunately, Fred Fulcher did not see the humour in the story. Thinking that Earl and the teacher had planned this together to make him look foolish, Freddy was deeply insulted. By the next day, the teacher as well as the whole community had heard how Freddy reacted to the joke. There was nothing to be done but Gordon had to pay a visit to the Fulcher home and to humbly apologize and assure Freddy that the joke had not been pre-arranged with Earl Richardson. Here is a picture of #9 school, the site of the infamous "running nose" joke.