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| Dave Brown in Photo One, (Left) Opening Hamilton Board of Education Archives and (Right) at Camp Comak |
A NEAT DAY AT THE SHOP - A CASUAL VISIT WITH ELLIOTT BROOD
IT' IS, BEYOND A DOUBT, WHAT IS SO FREAKING GREAT ABOUT BEING IMBEDDED IN THE COMPANION ZONE OF THE MUSIC ENTERPRISE, IN THIS COUNTRY. YOU GET TO MEET SOME SWELL MUSICIANS. SO HERE IS THIS HUMBLE SCRIBE, BALL CAP TIPPED TOO FAR BACK FOR MY OWN GOOD, (LOOKING COCKY WHEN I HAVE NO RIGHT TO) TAPPING AWAY AT THE KEYBOARD ON THIS COOKIE-CRUMBED LAPTOP, FEELING THE WINTER BLUES SETTING IN FOR YET ANOTHER SNOWY AFTERNOON; WHEN LOW AND BEHOLD, I LOOK UP, AND SEE THOSE BRIGHT FACES OF THE JUNO-AWARD WINNING BAND, "ELLIOTT BROOD," THE FOLK-ROCK TRIO, WHO BY THE WAY, WERE PLAYING THIS EVENING AT "PETER'S PLAYERS," FURTHER SOUTH ON MUSKOKA ROAD. I HAD A NICE VISIT, AND ANDREW AND ROBERT GOT A CHANCE TO TALK RECORDS AND GUITARS, AMPS AND WELL, YOU KNOW....ALL THE MUSIC STUFF I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT. OF COURSE WE GOT THEIR AUTOGRAPHS. WE CAN'T DO WITHOUT THAT, AS YOU CAN SEE BY OUR HALL OF FAME POSTER WALL, INSIDE THE LOBBY. SEVERAL OF THE BAND MEMBERS GOT TO HOLD TOM THOMSON'S TENOR BANJO (CURRENTLY BEING RESEARCHED BY ART EXPERTS), AS WELL AS MENDELSON JOE'S 1960'S, GUILD GUITAR, FROM HIS DAYS PLAYING WITH THE BAND "MAINLINE," AND WELL, THEY SHARED A FEW COOKIES SUZANNE MADE, WHO HAD EXPECTED THE GROUP MIGHT DROP IN FOR A PRE-CONCERT VISIT. THIS IS NECESSARY PROGNOSTICATION, BECAUSE FRIDAY IS BAKING NIGHT. SHE HAS TO HAVE A GUEST LIST, SO WE DON'T RUN OUT. SATURDAY IS COOKIE DAY. JUST ASK OUR FRIENDS. SHE IS BLAMED FOR A LOT OF WEIGHT GAIN IN THIS COMMUNITY AND BEYOND.
THE GROUP WAS ENJOYING THE VISIT TO SNOWY MUSKOKA, AND GRAVENHURST, AND WE WERE CERTAINLY GLAD THEY TOOK TIME TO PAY US A VISIT. ANDREW WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO ATTENDING THE SHOW, THIS TIME, DESERVING A BIT OF LEISURE, AS A PATRON. I TRUST THE SELL-OUT SHOW WAS GREAT FOR EVERYONE.
CRITICAL THOUGHT AND WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW.....THAT ISN'T ALWAYS WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW
WILLIAM DAWSON LESUEUR AND DAVID BROWN - FROM LITERARY CRITIC TO OUTDOOR EDUCATOR
AFTER A LOT OF WRITING AND SOUL SEARCHING THIS WEEK, WITHOUT TOO MUCH RESOLVE, HONESTLY, I HAD TO FALL BACK ON THE WORK OF MY TWO FAVORITE HISTORICAL CHARACTERS; ONE MORE CONTEMPORARY THAN THE OTHER. THE QUOTE I WISH TO OPEN TODAY'S BLOG WITH, IS IMPORTANT FOR SO MANY REASONS, AND I THINK ESPECIALLY, FOR THE FUTURE ADMINISTRATION OF THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST. IT COMES FROM THE PEN OF THE MAN WHO NAMED OUR TOWN. THEY ARE THE WORDS OF A SCHOLAR, A CANADIAN HISTORIAN OF CONSIDERABLE NOTE, AND A REVERED LITERARY CRITIC. I HAVE NEVER EXPECTED THAT, ONE DAY, A TOWN ADMINISTRATION, WOULD EMBRACE THESE WORDS. OR RESPECT WHAT THEY MEAN TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF INSIGHTFUL THOUGHT, AND A CRITICAL APPROACH TO THE WAY IN WHICH GOVERNMENT UNDERTAKES ITS RESPONSIBLITIES, ON BEHALF OF CONSTITUENTS. BUT ONE CAN HOPE. IN 1862, WE WERE GIVEN THIS RIGHTFUL PROVENANCE, AS IT WAS WILLIAM DAWSON LESUEUR, WHO NAMED OUR HAMLET. THESE WORDS STILL RESONATE WITH ME, AND MAYBE YOU'LL FIND SOMETHING POSITIVE WITHIN AS WELL. THERE ARE SOME MODERN DAY APPLICATIONS TO THE WORK OF ANTIQUARIANS. IF WE CAN ONLY APPRECIATE, THAT JUST BECAUSE IT'S OLD, DOESN'T MEAN IT'S STALE OR IRRELEVANT. I SOUGHT OUT THIS QUOTE TODAY, BECAUSE IT IS THE SAGE ADVICE OUR PRESENT TOWN COUNCIL COULD BENEFIT FROM, IF, BEFORE THE END OF THEIR TERM, THEY FELT THE NEED TO RE-EXAMINE THEIR PERFORMANCE. BEING STALWART ISN'T ALWAYS A GOOD THING.
"Criticism should be the voice of impartial and enlightened reason. Too often what passes for criticism is the voice of hireling adulation or hireling enmity. Illustrations of this will occur to everyone, but there is no use blaming criticism, which, as has been said, is an intellectual necessity of the age. The foregoing remarks have been made, in the hope that they may help to clear away some prevalent misconceptions, by showing the organic connection, so to speak, that exists between criticism as a function, or as a mode of intellectual activity, and the very simplest intellectual processes. Such a mode of regarding it should do away with the odium, that in so many minds, attaches to the idea of criticism. Let us try to be critics according to the measure of our abilities and opportunities. Let us aim at seeing all we can, at gaining as many points of view as possible. Let us compare carefully and judge impartially; and we may depend upon it, we shall be the better for the very effort."
The Town of Gravenhurst should take wisdom, like this, seriously, whether they wish to have them etched on a cornerstone or not. It might be of some use to them, as a few of the present council, will undoubtedly opt to seek re-election. I think we all like the idea of our representatives being impartial, and willing to gain "as many points of view as possible." Why wouldn't they want this? But do they? Let them be judged on their record!
DAVE BROWN TAUGHT ME TO BE PREPARED FOR ADVENTURE - AS HE WAS IN LIFE
Whether as a collector, researcher, historian or writer, Dave Brown always gave me good advice. "Pay attention to everything around you....as it might save your life one day!" He gave that advisory, to the thousands upon thousands of school kids, he instructed, at his Hamilton Outdoor Education Centre. It was fundamental advice. Not complicated. But his mission was to develop perception skills, in his young audience, and that was supposed to make them more intuitive, watchful, studious adults. As his biographer, I have some testimonials, from former students, attesting to the value of Dave Brown's sage advice. Apparently it had some merit. I even tagged along on some of Dave's outdoor adventures, and watched how he turned kids on to nature, by employing the simplest techniques, to herald discovery. His instruction wasn't just about nature, but about "man in nature"! Like LeSueur, he wanted his students to be critical of what they experienced, and make comparisons based on research. As he presented myths of nature, he wanted his students to challenge and debunk them. I sort of got hit by the spin-off of his philosophy, and it was one of the best "science of life" courses I'd ever taken. There was nothing I'd taken in university, that was more effective, than his kindly approach to discovering the intracacies of nature. The mission was to challenge students to think for themselves, and not rely on the opinions of others, as the sole means of support. In other words, to base the pursuit of knowledge on hard facts, experienced first hand, was the most important step in ongoing education. In his Camp Comak days, (near Dorset, Ontario) it meant putting a paddle in a camper's hand, and setting them down in the bow of his canoe.....for a traverse across Lake St. Nora. He did the same in Algonquin Park, and so many of his students, benefitted from this lover of nature, who believed so much in education by immersion. And that may have involved a dunk or two in the water, having to deal then, with that sudden, violent necessity, to get back in the canoe or drown. Dave Brown never lost a single camper or one student in his care. It doesn't mean they weren't introduced to life and death situations, as can happen in the lakeland in an instant.
A feature story on Dave Brown, back during those Camp Comack years, reads as follows: "One man who has a profound interest in those early years (of Canadian history), and can help set the record straight, is David Brown, a science teacher from Hamilton who spends his summers at Camp Comak near Dorset. He is 32 years old, and of those 20 years, has spent thousands of hours researching the history of logging in this region. One very tangible result of David's efforts is a logging museum located on the Camp Comak Island of St. Nora. With the exception of a steam alligator, (tractor used in former logging days), almost every piece of equipment ever used in lumbering operations is represented. There are long spikes, short spikes, sleigh runners, frying pans, boom chains, stoves and dozens of other pieces that almost tell the story of lumbering by themselves.
"The objects, many of them found under water, are badly rusted now, but continue to serve as reminders of those great years. Dave Brown explained that when a young boy, attending camp, he found some old logging equipment. From then on, he set out on canoeing trips from Camp Comak, expressly to find rusted relics. He was usually successful, and found many objects in Algonquin Park. 'They were at first easy to find,' he says, 'because the lumberman abandoned their equipment whenever it became useless.' But finding abandoned objects is somewhat more difficult more difficult now, because in the last few years, all the boy campers at Camp Comak have become involved in the search. 'The boys on the canoeing trips actually compete to see who can bring home the most stuff. Last week some campers brought back several dozen feet of heavy chain'. Considerable research is done before the trips leave Camp Comak. A course to an abandoned camp is plotted out, if it appears there may be equipment left in the camp. 'The canoers must work quickly and efficiently while on the trips, which usually last four of five days. Getting into Algonquin Park and coming back in less than a week is rigorous business,' says Brown. Several people have suggested to the historian that he move his museum to the mainland. Although he's not too keen on that idea, he may move it some day. His house in Hamilton, he says, is something of a museum also. He has one room set aside for logging artifacts." Many of those artifacts came from those excursions, and were toted home after the sale of Camp Comak. They were a major part of Dave's estate, along with thousands of old books, which were also his passion.
Dave was as wise as he was cunning. He developed an outdoor education program, similar to what he had built at Camp Comak, but this time, it was the students of Hamilton who were the beneficiaries. Whe Comak was closed, demolished, and the island property sold off as cottage lots, Dave was devastated, in one sense, but used the negative aspects of the departure, to bolster his stake in the Hamilton Board's outdoor education program. Dave used artifacts, the campers had raised from the waters of Algonquin Park, to enhance his exhibits, at the education centre, where he had display cases to set out is historic exhibitions for the community. Not long before his death, teacher friends and board administrators, saw him sitting in front of his display case, mapping out the artifacts for his next exhibit. He always had a plan for education, and he didn't mind extending it to adults, who he felt needed to brush up on their historical knowledge.
"What happens to children? What happens to their natural curiosity they were born with - that which they used when they first stuck their fingers into their eyes, their toes into their mouths? How do we answer those words of discovery? The quotation is the keynote of a best-seller on the opening of the west. It expresses the spirit of adventure and discovery of that time. Does such a spirit exist today? Science, of all areas of education, certainly can express this spirit - can help the pupil to continue his in-born desire to find out - to see what lies over the mountain. 'Outdoor education' is the pupil in close contact with the material world as real experience, rather than a remote interpretation on television or through a test."
Dave Brown noted that, "A nature program starts with observations, which develops into discussion. Out of this, questions arise which cannot be answered by the observations made on a first trip. So much careful observation is needed, this time resulting in a better agreement on what has been seen, but also raising new questions which cannot be answered by observations alone. The need for recourse to books arises, which, if correctly used, should send the reader back for further observation and discussion. So the program becomes like a rolling wheel; observation, discussion, research, observation, discussion, research, and the wheel constantly moving forward, as the young naturalist finds himself meeting new experiences."
William Dawson LeSueur was a philosopher of note. Dave Brown was a philosopher of occasion. Dave drew from natural experience, and would argue with any of his peers, about what great strides the world could make, by investing more in outdoor education. He was so passionate about his opinions, and found so much opposition, in so many areas of education funding protocols, that he wound up donating much of his time, and personal resources, to get what he needed to enhance his program. It was said that his outdoor education centre was one of the finest in the province.....possibly in Canada, and so much of it had been procured by his unstoppable passion to increase educational opportunities. Let's just say he had friends in the right places, to help him out on these missions of acquisition.
Take the time, he was called at home, around the Christmas season, and offered a little gift for his education centre, if he was prepared to put in a little effort into recovery. Apparently a rather substantial boa constrictor, had escaped from a house in Hamilton, and for warmth, wrapped itself around the engine of a car, after the owner had returned home from a motor trip. As the engine began to cool, the snake became lethargic in the sub-zero temperatures, and overnight, froze beneath the hood. The owner, who knew Dave, wanted it removed, and because it was a deceased rescue, (instead of live) no one wanted the assignment from the municipality. Dave saw this as an opportunity, to get a snake, which he could have skinned, to use as a demonstration piece for his students. He did this on his own, and had the snake skinned, via his many friends who had a variety of skills in taxidermy etc. To Dave Brown, this wasn't a project that he saw as over-time, to be billed to the Board. He saw that his efforts, would serve his purposes, to broaden the horizons of his students, who would, thanks to his efforts, be able to touch a boa skin up close and personal.
Dave was the same with just about anything of a natural curiosity, like the time, he jumped into the water of a Muskoka roadside swamp, to rescue a length of sunken log, because he found that it possessed the nearly invisible imprint of a logging stamp, that was used in the logging industry, to identify the property of specific companies. He took an hour or more to pull the log piece out of the water, and load it into his canoe, while walking it to shore, through the muck of the bog. I saw him shortly after he had pulled himself out of the swamp, and I couldn't help but ask him, why he had so many red welts all over his legs, along with a lot of mud residue. "Oh, that's where I had to pull off the leeches," he said. Well, that was enough for me. Dave wanted this chunk of old pine, to use in his Board of Education display case, to companion with other logging artifacts, he had similarly rescued from the quagmires of Muskoka and Algonquin. There wasn't a single cent of monetary reward. He had nothing to gain, accept the satisfaction, he had once again, by opportunity, found resourcefulness, to be the means to the end he desired.
I saw him on another afternoon, in Bracebridge, with cuts all over his legs; back, front and on the sides. "What the hell happened to you," I asked, pretty much knowing, in advance, that it would have involved some similar wrangling, of an historic artifact. "Well, Ted, I was rescuing an old woodstove, from a cottage, on Clear Lake, and everything was going fine, until a helper let go of the main part of the stove, before I was ready to catch it," he said. Well, where were you standing," I enquired. "I was in the boat, and I went overboard with the stove, and it almost ended both our existences. As I am standing here now, only one of us survived the experience." Dave had a plan, you see, to use the old woodstove for another display he had planned. I helped him disinfect some of the wounds. "Ah, this is nothing," he said, as he pulled away to look at some old books, I'd bought that morning, at a yard sale. I could come up with another hundred examples, of how Dave extended his work week, depending on the prevailing circumstances. He just never submitted any invoices for those hours, artifacts he found, rummaging around at flea markets, or antique shops, looking for items he could insert in his outdoor education classroom. Was it all about his students? I don't think it was. He was self serving, in that he wanted, as they say, " what he wanted," and he found ways around all the obstacles in front. As his mother and colleagues found it useless to say "No, it can't be done," or more directly, "You can't," he found the way and means to circumnavigate authority figures. It happened with the Board of Education, with the Board's Archives Committee, at Camp Comak, at Camp Candalore, and working on his free time, with demolition companies in Hamilton. "Dave, there is no way on earth, you are going to be able to get those out of this building before the wrecking ball comes smashing through." This might have been said of a circular iron staircase, or old elevator mechanisms, iron railings and posts from schools being demolished; or built-in cabinets that he felt would be good display cases. He most often worked alone, and many a construction worker, looked in awe, at this chunky man, pulling assorted iron pieces and timbers, came out of buildings with only minutes scheduled to remain upright. Sometimes, almost as a reward, they'd let Dave set off the dynamite charges, to bring the buildings down, but only after they had been scavenged of anything that could be re-used in the contemporary sense.
The point of all this verbiage? Well folks, it was Dave Brown who was Andrew and Robert's outdoor education tutor, for quite a few years. Their collection of old adventure books, came courtesy Dave, who got them from some of Hamilton's finest homes, when their estates were settled, including names like Sherman. They learned about nature and its wonders from not only Dave's walks in the woods, but from the science discovery books he brought them, on his visits. His talks on antiques and collectables, on logging heritage, and natural history, were subtle influences over many, many enjoyable hours. There were no lectures, no hard selling, nothing of an imposition, just conversation, where the youngsters were treated as adults, and the adults listened like children. Like the time Dave brought rattles of a deceased rattlesnake that had been run-over near MacTier. He wanted the boys to see and hear the rattles, in case, they were to encounter one on their forest hikes. He made a special point of bringing them a small piece of broken-off elm, that had been struck by lightning. He wanted them to smell the difference, between the wood that had been hit, and aanother piece, off an adjacent tree, so that they could sense what changes the electrical current, had altered of the wood's constitution. He was taking these items back to Hamilton anyway, but he wanted the boys to have a chance to examine nature's wonders. We couldn't afford to send our kids to summer camp to learn about this stuff, and I had never been very good at science or botany. So Dave Brown filled the void. So if our lads occasionally appear older than their years, I think it may be the pleasantly obtained weight of experience, people like Dave Brown, and celebrated Canadian archivist, Hugh Macmillan, shared with them, as our house-guests. So occasionally, when they get frustrated about some of the close-mindedness they experience, when trying to convince local politicians to "bend a little," much of it comes from their own appreciation, that embracing life, means a lot more than memorizing a procedural book, for administration of all things, at all times. Like Dave Brown, and to some degree, William Dawson LeSueur, that they also know a lot about, they realize, from close proximity, that obstacles to ongoing education, are most often self-imposed; and of this, so much potential is lost.
As a final note today; it's never too late to learn a lesson. The difference is, some just refuse, "because......."
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