Muskoka Superstitions, Ghosts and Folk Tales

A split-rail or log fence (also known as a zigzag fence)  along the Sparrow Lake Road in Gravenhurst, was historically used for agricultural purposes to fence in cattle or other livestock.   This type of fencing can been seen throughout Muskoka along the back roads where it was very popular in rocky areas where post hole digging was almost impossible. (Photo By Fred Schulz)

MUSKOKA'S FOLK-LORE NEEDS TO BE PRESERVED - AS DO THE STRANGE FICTIONS OF BANDY-LEGGED WEE BEASTIES, GHOSTS AND GOBLINS
WHAT THESE TALES MEANT TO OUR REGIONAL IDENTITY

     MY MOTHER WAS A DESCENDANT OF THE DUTCH-AMERICAN FAMILY, THE VANDERVOORTS. SHE USED TO TELL ME ABOUT HER GRANDMOTHER, SITTING ON THE VERANDAH OF HER FARMHOUSE NEAR TRENTON, ONTARIO, DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL ATTIRE, (AS YOU WOULD EXPECT IN HOLLAND), SMOKING A PIPE. MY MOTHER MERLE, FROM QUITE A RELIGIOUS FAMILY, WAS DEEPLY SUPERSTITIOUS, BUT I'M NOT SURE, SHE EVEN KNEW WHY. IT'S NOW OBVIOUS TO ME, SHE PICKED UP A LOT OF THESE FOLK SAYINGS, AND BELIEFS, FROM HER MOTHER'S SIDE OF THE FAMILY. I'M REASONABLY SURE IT DIDN'T COME FROM HER BRITISH BRANCH. WHILE MY FATHER DIDN'T BUY INTO ANY OF IT, I WAS CONSTANTLY IN THE FIRING LINE, OF HER ALMOST OBSESSIVE BELIEF THAT ONE SHOULD STAY ON THE GOOD SIDE OF KARMA......OR ELSE.
    THE BASICS WERE ONES YOU PROBABLY KNOW FROM YOUR OWN CHILDHOOD....LIKE THE SEVEN YEARS OF BAD LUCK FOR BREAKING A MIRROR, OR TIPPING OVER THE SALT SHAKER. I WAS A CLUMSY KID, SO I HAD TO SPRINKLE THAT SALT SHAKER OVER MY LEFT SHOULDER MANY TIMES. LET'S JUST SAY THERE WAS A LOT OF SALT ON THE FLOOR, AFTER MEALS. SHE INSISTED WE PERFORM THE RITUAL FOR FEAR OF PARANORMAL RETALIATION. SHE BELIEVED IN GOD, BUT I THINK SHE WAS FAR MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE NEGATIVE REPERCUSIONS FROM, SAY, A FAILURE TO OBSERVE BLACK CATS CROSSING, IN FRONT, OR BEHIND; THE TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF WALKING UNDER A LADDER, OR OPENING AN UMBRELLA INDOORS. SHE DIDN'T STEP ON CRACKS AS A RULE, UNTIL HER HIP GAVE OUT, AND SHE COULDN'T TAKE BIG ENOUGH STEPS, TO AVOID CONNECTING WITH THE LINES. I HEARD "IT'S BAD LUCK," A MILLION TIMES AS A KID. THE ONE SHE FEARED THE MOST, WAS IF AND WHEN A BIRD GOT IN THE HOUSE. NOT A DEMOSTICATED BIRD, LIKE A BUDGIE, BUT A WILD SPECIES, THROUGH AN OPEN DOOR OR WINDOW OF OUR APARTMENT. THIS WAS A HARBINGER OF A DEATH IN THE HOUSE YET TO COME. WE HAD A FEW BIRDS GET IN, BUT NO ONE EVER DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT. SHE WOULD THEN HEAR ABOUT A NEIGHBOR, OR AN ACQUAINTANCE DIEING, IN AND AROUND THIS TIME, AND THEN FEEL JUSTIFIED SAYING, "SEE, I TOLD YOU SOMEONE WOULD DIE."
     I LIVED WITH THESE TIDES OF SUPERSTITION UNTIL THE DAY MY MOTHER PASSED. SHE BELIEVED IN GOD BUT SHE HAD GREAT REVERENCE TO THE POWER OF THE PARANORMAL. SHE HAD CLAIMED TO HAVE SEEN HER MOTHER AND FATHER, HOURS AFTER THEIR RESPECTIVE DEATHS, VISITING HER BEDROOM. I THINK IT WAS HER MOTHER, WHO ACTUALLY SAT ON THE END OF THE BED, AS AN IDENTIFIABLE VAPOR, AND HER FATHER JUST STOOD IN THE DOORWAY. HER TAKE ON THE VISITATION, WAS THAT THEY WERE JUST SAYING GOODBYE, AND MAKING SURE WE WERE ALL OKAY. WHEN GOOD THINGS HAPPENED IN OUR HOUSE, SHE WOULD SAY THINGS LIKE, "THAT'S WHY YOU ALWAYS SCOOP-OFF 'THE MONEY,' FROM YOUR CUP OF TEA." THE 'MONEY' SHE WAS REFERRING TO, WAS THE TINY CLUSTER OF BUBBLES, LIKE A FOAM, THAT FORMED AS PART OF THE MILK-TEA MIXTURE, WHEN STIRRED WITH A SPOON. I'D WATCH HER CAREFULLY INSERT THE SPOON, SLIPPING IT BENEATH THE FOAM, AND THEN QUICKLY SCOOPING IT OUT, TO DRINK IT UP. THERE WERE NO SECOND CHANCES, SO I THINK IT WAS SUPER IMPORTANT TO GET ALL THE BUBBLES IN ONE TEA SPOON, OR ELSE IT DIDN'T COUNT AS GOOD LUCK. YOU KNOW, AS WEIRD AS IT WOULD GET, AT TIMES, I'M THANKFUL THAT I HAD A CHANCE TO EXPERIENCE THESE PASSED-DOWN SUPERSTITIONS AND TRADITIONS, EVEN IF, AT TIMES, THEY SEEMED TO BURDEN HER DOWN, FROM ENJOYING AN OTHERWISE NORMAL EXISTANCE. SHE ACTUALLY SEEMED TO BENEFIT FROM THESE BELIEFS, BUT SHE COULD ALSO LAUGH AT HERSELF FOR BEING A TAD IRRATIONAL.....AT TIMES, LIKE THE TRADITIONAL "KNOCK ON WOOD," WHICH WAS DONE IN OUR HOUSE VERY OFTEN....TO ENSURE THAT A "HOPE" WAS EVENTUALLY REALIZED.
     IN MY LAST BLOG, I INTRODUCED YOU TO A NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CANADA, HERITAGE BOOKLET, ENTITLED "FOLK-LORE OF WATERLOO COUNTY, ONTARIO," AS WRITTEN BY W.J. WINTEMBERG, IN THE 1940'S. IT WAS EDITED AND PUBLISHED AFTER HIS DEATH, AND INCLUDED AS NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN, NUMBER 116, AND NUMBER 28 IN THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES, CIRCA 1950.
     THE RESEARCH UNDERTAKEN BY W.J. WINTEMBERG, ON LARGELY, THE SUPERSTITIONS AND PARANORMAL BELIEFS OF THE SETTLERS OF GERMAN DESCENT, IN THE WATERLOO REGION, INCLUDING THE AMISH PIONEERS, WAS FROM THE PERIOD OF THE EARLY 1800'S IN UPPER CANADA. ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NOT A LARGE GERMAN IMMIGRATION, ESPECIALLY DURING THE FREE LAND AND HOMESTEAD ACT PERIOD, OF THE LATE 1860'S, A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER DID ARRIVE IN THE MUSKOKA REGION, IN THE LATER PART OF THE 1800'S....A TREND THAT CONTINUED INTO THE NEW CENTURY. AS THE BOOKLET DEALS LARGELY WITH THE GERMANIC CULTURE, IT DOES HAVE SOME APPLICATION IN MUSKOKA, DURING ITS PIONEERING ERA. THE STORIES HAVE MANY PARALLELS IN CHARACTER, WITH THE FOLK TALES AND SUPERSTITIONS OF MANY OTHER CULTURAL GROUPS, FROM EUROPE AT THIS SAME PERIOD. THE BELIEF IN WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT WERE ACCEPTED AMONGST SETTLERS GENERALLY, DESPITE THEIR OTHERWISE STRONG RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. THERE ARE A FEW OTHER ILLUMINATING MENTIONS OF WITCHES, GHOSTS AND FAIRIES, IN THE BOOKLET, WORTH INCLUDING IN THIS MUSKOKA FOLK-LORE SERIES, THANKS TO THE WORK OF W.J. WINTEMBERG, AND THE PUBLICATION COURTESY THE MUSEUM OF CANADA.
     THE FOLLOWING IS PUBLISHED UNDER THE HEADING "BAVARIAN WITCHCRAFT.
     "IN ANSWER TO THE INQUIRY WHETHER SHE BELIEVED IN WITCHES, AN AGED BAVARIAN WOMAN, NOW DECEASED, TOLD ME THAT ONLY ONE CASE OF VERITABLE WITCHCRAFT HAD EVER COME UNDER HER OBSERVATION, AND THAT WAS OF A COW THAT HAD BEEN BEWITCHED BY A NEIGHBOR. IT APPEARS THAT HER EMPLOYER'S HOUSE WAS SEPARATED FROM THEIR NEIGHBOR'S BY A CANAL. THE COW CALVED AND FOR TWO DAYS GAVE A LARGE QUANTITY OF MILK, BUT ON THE THIRD DAY THE COW FAILED TO GIVE ANY MILK. THEY CONSULTED A WITCH-DOCTOR, WHO ASKED THEM WHETHER THEY SOLD ANY MILK, AND WHO HAD BEEN THE PURCHASERS, AND ON BEING INFORMED THAT THEY HAD SOLD SOME TO THEIR NEIGHBOR, HE TOLD THEM THAT HE HAD BEWITCHED THE COW.
     "THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSLATION OF A STORY OFTEN TOLD BY THE WRITER'S MOTHER, WHO, IN TURN, GOT THE STORY FROM HER MOTHER, A NATIVE ALSACE. 'ONCE THERE WAS A YOUNG MARRIED MAN WHOSE MOTHER WAS A POOR WIDOW. ONE DAY THE YOUNG MAN AND HIS WIFE HAD A ROAST FOWL FOR DINNER, BUT JUST AS THEY WERE GOING TO SIT DOWN TO EAT, THE MAN SAW HIS AGED MOTHER COMING DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD HIS HOUSE. HE QUICKLY HID THE JUICY ROAST IN A CHEST NEAR AT HAND, AND EXCLAIMED, 'THE OLD WOMAN IS COMING; SHE SHALL HAVE NONE OF IT!' AFTER SHE WAS GONE, THE SON LOOKED INTO THE CHEST AND SAW A LARGE SNAKE THAT HAD COILED ITSELF AROUND THE FOWL. HE THEN SAW THAT GOD HAD SENT THE SNAKE AS A PUNISHMENT TO HIM FOR BEING UNFILIAL."
     "ANOTHER WITCH HAD A WAY OF MILKING A NEIGHBOR'S COW WITHOUT THE OWNER'S KNOWLEDGE. SHE FASTENED TOGETHER FOUR TOWELS WITH PINE, SUPPOSED TO HAVE SOME MAGIC POWER. THE TOWELS WERE THEN HUNG ON THE WALL, OR ON A DOOR, AND THE WITCH WENT THROUGH A MOCK MILKING PERFORMANCE, AND THE MILK FROM THE COW'S UDDER WAS IN THIS MYSTERIOUS WAY, INDUCED TO DRIP FROM THE WITCH'S TOWELS AND THE NEIGHBOR'S COW WAS SOON DRY," NOTES THE HISTORIAN, W.J. WINTEMBERG. "THE WRITER'S MATERNAL GRANDFATHER, AN ALSATIAN, WHO WAS ONE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF WATERLOO COUNTY, USED TO TELL OF AN EXPERIENCE HE HAD WHEN HE WAS A BOY. HIS PARENTS BEING DEAD, HE LIVED WITH AN UNCLE. EVERY NIGHT AFTER HE HAD RETIRED, A BLACK HEN FLUTTERED ABOUT HIS HEAD. HE ENDURED THIS NIGHT AFTER NIGHT FOR SOME TIME, BUT AT LAST, SEEING THAT THE MYSTERIOUS PERFORMANCE WAS BOUND TO CONTINUE INDEFINITELY, HE DECIDED TO TELL HIS UNCLE AND ASK WHAT WAS TO BE DONE. SO ONE MORNING HE TOLD HIM, AND HIS UNCLE ADVISED HIM TO GO TO SLEEP WITH HIS HANDS AND FEET CROSSED. HE DID THIS AND THE HEN NEVER APPEARED AGAIN."
     THE AUTHOR CONTINUES, "A WITCH IN THE ANCIENT CITY OF STRASBOURG, ALSACE, HAVING APPARENTLY NO OTHER MEANS OF DIVERSION, CHANGED HERSELF INTO A HORSE, AND DAY AFTER DAY APPEARED AT A CERTAIN BLACKSMITH SHOP. ONE DAY THE SMITH'S APPRENTICE, WHO SUSPECTED THAT THE HORSE WAS A WITCH, NAILED SHOES ON TO ITS HOOFS, AND WHEN THE WITCH RESUMED ITS NATURAL SHAPE; THE SHOES, BEING UNCHANGEABLE, WERE STILL ATTACHED TO HER HANDS AND FEET. THIS STORY WAS RELATED BY THE WRITER'S MATERNAL GRANDFATHER."
     AS FOR GHOSTS, THE FOLK HISTORIAN OFFERS THIS STORY, WHICH MIGHT WELL HAVE BEEN TOLD IN OUR OWN REGION, WITH SOME ADAPTATIONS. "ABOUT THIRTY OR FORTY YEARS AGO (CIRCA 1900), THE HOUSE OPPOSITE THE ROSEVILLE POST OFFICE, IN WATERLOO COUNTY, WAS BELIEVED TO BE HAUNTED. MRS. G., THE ORIGINAL OCCUPANT, DIED OF PARALYSIS. THE STROKE HAD RENDERED HER MUTE, AND IT SEEMS SHE WISHED TO SAY SOMETHING BEFORE SHE DIED. WHENEVER ANYONE CAME INTO THE ROOM WHERE SHE LAY, SHE WOULD POINT FRANTICALLY TO A SPOT ON THE WALL, AND IT WAS AFTERWARDS BELIEVED THAT SHE HAD SOME MONEY HIDDEN THERE. ONCE MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER WENT THERE TO SEE HER AND THE WOMAN TOOK HOLD OF ONE OF HER ARMS AND POINTED TO A PLACE ON THE WALL, BUT GRANDMOTHER FAILING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE WANTED, THE WOMAN PUSHED HER AWAY FROM THE BED IN DISGUST. AFTER HER DEATH THE HOUSE WAS SAID TO BE HAUNTED. SEVERAL FAMILIES LIVED THERE IN SUCCESSION, BUT NONE OF THEM REMAINED FOR LONG. STRANGE NOISES WERE HEARD DURING THE NIGHT, AS IF A HEAVY BAG WERE BEING DRAGGED DOWN THE STAIRS. ONE OF THE OCCUPANTS WAS A SCHOOL-TEACHER, AND HIS WIFE WAS ON THE VERGE OF NERVOUS PROSTRATION. HIS ASSURANCE THAT THE NOISES WERE CAUSED BY VEHICLES BEING DRIVEN UNDER THE HOTEL-SHED NEXT DOOR, ALLAYED HER FEARS FOR A TIME. A WOMAN WHO LIVED IN THE HOUSE FOR A SHORT TIME, SAID THAT WHEN SHE PUT HER CHILDREN TO BED, AND RETURNED LATER, SHE FOUND THEM UNCOVERED. SHE OBSERVED THIS SEVERAL TIMES, AND ON ONE OCCASION SHE SAW THE GHOST LEAVE THE ROOM JUST AS SHE ENTERED, AND THEN VANISH.
     "I HEARD OF A BAVARIAN WOMAN NEAR JOSEPHBURG, IN WILMOT TOWNSHIP, WATERLOO COUNTRY, WHOSE SPIRIT AFTER HIS DEATH WAS SAID TO HAUNT HIS FORMER HOME. HIS WAY OF ENTRANCE WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN THE CHIMNEY, WHICH, IN THE EARLY SETTLER'S HOUSE, WAS BUILT VERY WIDE. THE PARISH PRIEST WAS ASKED WHAT THEY COULD DO TO 'LAY' THE SPIRIT. IT SEEMED TO WANT SOMETHING AND SO THEY TRIED TO FIND OUT WHAT IT WAS. THE PRIEST FIRST SPRINKLED HOLY WATER AROUND THE HAUNTED APARTMENT. HE, OR SOMEONE, HAD COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT BURIED TREASURE WAS THE CAUSE OF THE SPIRIT'S UNREST, SO THEY TORE UP THE BRICKS THAT COMPOSED THE FLOOR OF THE HEARTH, BUT, OF COURSE, DISCOVERED NOTHING. THIS OCCURRED IN THE 1850'S. THE HOUSE WAS STILL STANDING IN 1899."
     "ONCE A YOUNG MAN, GOING AWAY TO THE WAR, PROMISED HIS AFFIANCED WIFE THAT HE WOULD RETURN TO HER WHETHER HE WAS DEAD OR ALIVE. HE WAS KILLED IN BATTLE AND HIS SPIRIT AFTERWARDS HAUNTED THE YOUNG WOMAN'S HOME. FINALLY SHE COULD NOT STAND IT ANY LONGER, SO SHE ASKED THE PARISH PRIEST WHAT SHE WAS TO DO TO GET RID OF THE GHOST. THE PRIEST'S ADVICE WAS TO TAKE THE PRECAUTION OF WRAPPING HER HAND IN A FOLDED SALFEED (A HANKERCHIEF). SHE DID AS THE PRIEST HAD ADVISED HER AND THE GHOST NEVER REAPPEARED. THE SALFEED WAS FOUND TO BE BURNT BLACK FROM CONTACT WITH THE GHOST'S HAND."
     AS FOR "FAIRY GOLD," THE AUTHOR RECORDED THE FOLLOWING: "AS A PARTY OF YOUNG ALSATIANS WERE RETURNING AT A LATE HOUR FROM A FESTIVAL HELD AT A NEIGHBORING DORF, THEY FOUND AT THE SIDE OF THE PATH, THEY WERE TRAVELLING, A HEAP OF GLOWING COALS. EACH ONE TOOK A COAL AND PUT IT INTO HIS PIPE TO LIGHT THE TOBACCO. THE PRESENCE OF THE COALS OUT IN THE MIDST OF THE SNOW, DID NOT SEEM TO CAUSE ANY SURPRISE, AS THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN LEFT BY SOME TRAVELLER; BUT JUDGE OF THEIR ASTONISHMENT IN THE MORNING, WHEN EACH ONE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF HIS PIPE A SHINING GOLD COIN. THE OLD ALSATIAN, WHO USED TO RELATE THIS STORY TO MY FATHER, WHEN HE WAS A BOY, RELATED IT AS AN ACUTAL EXPERIENCE, HE HAVING BEEN ONE OF THE YOUNG MEN IN THE PARTY. THE ABOVE IS A TRANSLATION OF MY FATHER'S VERSION."
     ONE OF MY FAVORITE GHOST STORIES IN MUSKOKA, IS THAT OF THE PHANTOM RAILWAYMAN, WHO IN CERTAIN WEEKS OF THE YEAR, AROUND THE TIME OF HIS ACCIDENTAL DEMISE, APPEARS ALONG THE TRACKS NEAR THE OLD MOORE'S MILL, IN THE HAMLET OF FALKENBURG, NORTH OF THE URBAN AREA OF BRACEBRIDGE. IT IS SAID THIS CHAP HAD FALLEN UNDER THE WHEELS OF THE TRAIN, ALONG THAT ROUTE, MANY YEARS PREVIOUS, AND BEEN SEVERED IN TWO. IT WAS CASUALLY REPORTED, BY PASSENGERS ON TRAINS, ON THAT PARTICULAR SECTION OF TRACK, THAT THEY HAD SEEN A MAN WALKING WITH AN ILLUMINATED LAMP, AS IF SIGNALLING THE TRAIN'S ENGINEER. THE MAN APPEARS FACELESS, AND CAN NOT BE IDENTIFIED AS THE MAN KILLED BENEATH THE TRAIN. APPARENTLY, HE IS STILL ON THE JOB, WITHOUT PAY, ON MOONLIT NIGHTS IN THE AUTUMN OF THE YEAR. THIS OF COURSE IS A FOLK STORY, AND THERE IS NO PHOTO EVIDENCE, AND NO NEWS PAPER CLIPPING, ON HAND, TO VARIFY HIS PASSING. IT DOESN'T STOP PEOPLE FROM CLAIMING TO HAVE SEEN HIM, AND HIS LANTERN, WARNING THE ENGINEER OF SOMETHING DANGEROUS AHEAD.....A FOREWARNING POSSIBLY OF HIS OWN IMMINENT DEMISE.
     THERE IS A FAMILY STORY, AS TOLD BY MY WIFE AND RESEARCH PARTNER, SUZANNE, (OF THE SHEA AND STRIPP FAMILIES, OF UFFORD AND WINDERMERE), ABOUT A FUNERAL FOR A YOUNG RELATIVE, BACK IN 1867, AT THE FALKENBURG CHURCH CEMETERY. IT WAS FOR A FIVE YEAR OLD CHILD, MARIA SHEA, AND THE PROCESSION, ON FOOT, CARRYING THE TINY COFFIN, HAD TRAVELLED BY A NARROW FOREST PATH, FROM THE HAMLET OF UFFORD, WHERE THE GIRL HAD DIED, AT THE FAMILY HOMESTEAD. IT WAS IN JULY. THERE HAD BEEN A GREAT DEAL OF HOT WEATHER, MAKING THE WALK THROUGH THE BUG INFESTED WOODS, DIFFICULT, AND SLOW TO TRAVERSE. ACCORDING TO SUZANNE, THE FOLK STORY ABOUT THIS, IS THAT A DISTANT PACK OF WOLVES, HAD FOLLOWED THE FUNERAL PROCESSION, INVISIBLE TO THE MOURNERS, ALMOST FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE MOURNFUL ROUTE TO FALKENBURG. THIS WAS POSSIBLY CONSIDERED A BAD OMEN, EVEN FOR A FUNERAL, WHICH IS SORROWFUL ENOUGH; BUT THE IRONY WAS, THAT THE SHEA MEN, AT THAT TIME IN HISTORY, WERE KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE DISTRICT THEMSELVES, AS THE "THREE MILE LAKE WOLVES," BECAUSE OF THEIR ROWDY BEHAVIOR IN AREA TOWNS. WHEN THE PROCESSION ARRIVED AT THE CEMETERY, THE FAMILY WAS AGHAST TO FIND THE PREVIOUSLY DUG GRAVE, ALMOST FULL OF WATER. THEY COULDN'T PUT THE ROUGH BOX IN THE GRAVE, CONSIDERING THE WATER, AND THE SHEA MEN GOT TO WORK REMOVING THOUSANDS OF GALLONS OF RUN-OFF WATER, FROM A SOURCE UNKNOWN, UNTIL IT WAS PRATICALLY DRY. THEN AND ONLY THEN, COULD THE CHILD'S BODY BE COMMITTED TO THE EARTH. THE WOLVES? THEY RESPECTFULLY DISPERSED.
     BERT SHEA INCLUDED THIS IN HIS BOOK, "HISTORY OF THE SHEAS - BIRTH OF A TOWNSHIP," AND MAY BE ONE OF THE FIRST FUNERAL PROCESSIONS ACKNOWLEDGED AND DESCRIBED IN PRINT. "HER PARENTS MOURNING FOR THEIR CHILD, BENEATH THE PINE TREE LAY; THEY SAY THINGS ARE N'ER THE SAME, SINCE MARIA WENT AWAY; AND ANGELS WEEP WHILE OTHERS SLEEP, AND SURE IT IS TRUE THEY MAY; TO SEE HER LOVED ONES GRIEVE FOR HER, THE FAIR MARIA SHEA." "HER CASKET MADE WITH LOVING HANDS, WAS HEWN FROM THE NOBLE PINE; WITH PINS OF OAK TO HOLD IT TIGHT, TO MAKE IT SO NEAT AND FINE; HER PARENTS' HEADS BOWED LOW WITH GRIEF, AS THEY FOLLOWED IN HER FUNERAL TRAIN; THROUGH THE WILD AND UNMARKED WAY, AND O'ER THAT ROUGH TERRAIN; HER CASKET THEY MORE ON LOVING HANDS; FAR THROUGH THE WILDERNESS WAY; TO THE CEMETERY AT FALKENBURG, THERE IN THE GRAVE TO LAY; BESIDE THE WAY WHERE TRAVELLERS GO, IN COLD OR HEAT OF DAY; BUT LITTLE WILL THEY EVER KNOW, OF THE MAID MARIA SHEA."
     PLEASE JOIN ME AGAIN SOON, FOR ANOTHER LOOK AT MUSKOKA'S FOLK HERITAGE.