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| Don’t Forget the Birds at Christmastime |
NOTE: FOR THE CHRISTMAS PERIOD, I'VE ADDED NEW MATERIAL TO MY BRACEBRIDGE BLOG-SITE - ALL TOWN SPECIFIC TO MY OWN WINTER SEASON FUN CIRCA 1960'S AND THE 1970'S, GROWING UP IN MY FORMER HOME TOWN. JUST A COLLECTION OF SENTIMENTAL STUFF THAT WILL MEAN SOMETHING TO THOSE WHO KNEW THE TOWN BACK THEN....AND THE OLD AND FAMILIAR HAUNTS, WE USED TO VISIT. YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT BY CLICKING HERE http://thenatureofmuskoka.blogspot.ca/
THE ANGELS WALKING AMONGST US - WOULD NEVER MAKE IT TO "STAR" STATUS IN OUR MODERN ERA - UNLESS THEY HAD A TOP TEN SONG
ARE WE MISGUIDED BY OUR PREOCCUPATION WITH "CELEBRITY," AND HERO WORSHIP?
IF I WAS AMONGST THE BEST-READ BLOGGERS TODAY, THEN I'D MOST CERTAINLY BE WRITING DAILY ABOUT THE LIVES AND DRAMA OF CELEBRITIES. IF I WANTED TO HIT THE READERSHIP JACK-POT, I'D PUT TOGETHER THE KIND OF COLUMNS THAT WOULD DEAL WITH THE POP STARS OF TODAY. I'D TRASH-TALK THE HOLLYWOOD STARS, AND WEIGH-IN ON THE LATEST MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIP FAILURES, AND OF COURSE CAPITALIZE ON EVERY REPORTED IMPAIRED DRIVING CHARGE, ASSAULT AND BATTERY, TRIPS TO REHAB, AND INCIDENTS OF DRUG POSSESSION, INVOLVING TODAY'S MOST VISIBLE AND POPULAR ACTORS OR MUSICIANS. JUST BEING INTERESTED IN BIG NUMBERS, I'D DEFINITELY BE DROPPING NAMES INTO THE HEADING OF THESE BLOGS, BECAUSE THAT WOULD ATTRACT ALL THE CELEBRITY KEENERS LOOKING FOR CLEVER INSIGHTS. I COULD DO THAT. BUT I WOULDN'T. I COULD EVEN GET ON THE GOVERNMENT'S "PERSONS OF INTEREST" LIST, IF I STARTED BASHING FEDERAL POLITICIANS REGULARLY. I MIGHT BE ON THE LIST ALREADY. ONLY THEY KNOW. WHEN I TALK ON THE PHONE THESE DAYS, BELIEVE ME, I DON'T GET POLITICAL, JUST IN CASE.
WISHING TO BE THE TOP BLOGGER IN THE LAND, I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T WRITE ABOUT THE BENEVOLENCE OF SALVATION ARMY MISSIONARY, ADA FLORENCE KINTON. THAT WOULD BE ABSURD. COUNTER PRODUCTIVE TO BEING A CELEBRITY BLOGGER. I WOULDN'T WRITE ABOUT MUSKOKA HISTORY, OR THE FOLKLORE OF OUR REGION; AND OF COURSE, THE DEATH KNELL OF THE WRITER'S ONLINE POPULARITY, IS THE MERE MENTION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WHICH HAS BEEN A MILLSTONE FOR THEM (BEING WRITTEN ABOUT) AND ME, WITH PEN IN HAND. READERS PRETTY MUCH KNOW THAT MUNICIPAL POLITICS, UNLESS IT'S ABOUT THE MAYOR OF TORONTO, IS GOING TO BE A TIRED, LACKLUSTRE SOAP OPERA, ABOUT RISING TAXES, SUNDRY BRIGHT IDEAS AND THE RELATED FALL-OUT, STAFF ARRIVALS AND STRANGE DISMISSALS, AND PETTY POLITICS ABOUT PETTY THINGS. NOTHING TO GET TOO EXCITED ABOUT. SO I WANT YOU TO KNOW, THAT ON ALL COUNTS, I'M NOT COMPOSING THESE "MADE IN MUSKOKA" BLOGS TO SET READERSHIP RECORDS, BECOME HIGH AND MIGHTY BY INFLUENCE PEDDLING, OR MAKE BIG BUCKS PUBLISHING IN CYBERSPACE. BUT THERE IS SOMETHING I DO VALUE MORE THAN A BIG READERSHIP ALL AT ONCE. AND THAT HAS TO DO WITH "ARCHIVING." LET ME EXPLAIN.
WHILE I VERY MUCH LIKE TO SEE SOLID NUMBERS, WHEN I CHECK OUT THE STATISTICS OF READERSHIP, FOR THE DAY'S BLOG, WHICH I CAN TRACK AND MAP GLOBALLY, I AM FAR MORE IMPRESSED BY THE NUMBERS OF GUESTS, WHO ARE DELVING INTO THE ARCHIVES. THIS MEANS, FOR AN HISTORICAL CHAP LIKE ME, THAT THE HERITAGE MATERIAL I'VE BEEN WORKING ON, OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS ESPECIALLY, IS BEING REFERENCED BY READERS CONSTANTLY, AND THE TOP FIVE FOR THAT DAY AND WEEK, ARE LISTED ON THE "STATS" PAGE. FOR EXAMPLE, A BLOG I WROTE SEVERAL YEARS AGO, ABOUT THE NEWLY PUBLISHED BOOK, ON CANADIAN ARTIST, TOM THOMSON, BY WELL KNOWN AUTHOR, ROY MACGREGOR, HAS BEEN IN THE TOP FIVE AT WEEK LONG STRETCHES, FIVE TIMES OR MORE, JUST THIS YEAR ALONE. OF ALL THE STORIES I'VE WORKED ON, AS AN HISTORIAN, TOM THOMSON ENTRIES ARE THE BEST RECEIVED. OBVIOUSLY. HIS NAME ATTRACTS READERS. I COULD TRIPLE MY NUMBERS TODAY, IF I USED HIS NAME IN THE HEADING, INSTEAD OF ADA'S, WHICH OF COURSE, I WON'T. RECENTLY, MY BLOGS ON ANTIQUES AND GHOSTS HAVE BEEN GETTING A HIGHER READERSHIP, THAN IN PREVIOUS WEEKS, AS HAVE MY BLOGS ABOUT GRAVENHURST BEING AN OUTSTANDING PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK.....ESPECIALLY AS A WRITER. EVEN AFTER IT RAN A FEW DAYS AGO, MY BLOG ON OUR MENDELSON JOE GUITAR, WE PURCHASED FROM THE ARTIST / MUSICIAN, CONTINUES TO ATTRACT READERSHIP. I DIDN'T USE HIS NAME TO FRIVOLOUSLY AS A PUBLICITY STUNT. WE ACTUALLY BOUGHT HIS "GUILD" GUITAR WITH JOE'S VINTAGE ART WORK PAINTED-ON. SO IT'S NICE TO KNOW THE BLOG IS STILL ATTRACTING SOME ATTENTION FROM MENDELSON JOE FANS OUT THERE, SEARCHING THE INTERNET.
THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF WAYS TO BUMP-UP READERSHIP. IF I OWNED A NEWSPAPER, WITH A BIG PAYROLL AND HUGE OPERATING COSTS, I'D WORRY ABOUT DAILY READERSHIP NUMBERS. AS I AM WRITING THIS BLOG OUT OF GENUINE INTEREST, TO REPRESENT THE HERITAGE OF OUR REGION, SPECIFICALLY, I DON'T GET BOTHERED WHATSOEVER, BECAUSE MY READERSHIP FLUCTUATES DAY TO DAY. TRUTH IS, I'M WRITING THE HERITAGE PIECES FOR LONG TERM REFERENCE AT THE SAME TIME, AS I'M MAKING THESE STORIES RELEVANT TO THE PRESENT DAY. I AM CONTINUALLY PLEASED TO FIND THAT WHAT HAS BEEN ARCHIVED, AS A PRIOR POSTING, IS BEING UTILIZED BY GROUPS OF PEOPLE, NETWORKING THE STORIES GLOBALLY. THAT IS FLATTERING. SOME OF THE EMAILS I RECEIVE, RELATED TO CONTENT, ARE OFTEN VERY HELPFUL IN ADDING INFORMATION TO WHAT WAS PREVIOUSLY KNOWN. THROUGH THE INTERNET EXPOSURE, I'M ABLE TO REACH FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF THOSE I'M WRITING ABOUT, AND INEVITABLY, I RECEIVE USEFUL INFORMATION, TO THEN RE-WRITE PORTIONS OF THE BLOG, FOR EVENTUAL REPUBLICATION. I HAVE EVEN CONNECTED WITH RELATIVES OF ADA FLORENCE KINTON THROUGH THIS ONLINE EXPOSURE, WHICH FOR ANY HISTORIAN, MAKES THE OUTCOME MORE THOROUGH AND IMPROVES ACCURACY.
WHY IS THIS A BIG DEAL? CONSIDER THIS! ONE SUMMER, SUZANNE DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO TIDY MY ARCHIVES. THE PART SHE WAS MOST CONCERNED ABOUT, WAS THE HUGE STACKS OF NEWSPAPERS, DATING BACK TO MY DAYS WITH THE MUSKOKA LAKES-GEORGIAN BAY BEACON. IT'S NATURAL TO WANT TO SAVE WHAT YOU'RE WRITTEN PREVIOUSLY, BUT IN THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS, CLIPPING ARTICLES IS A TIME CONSUMING NUISANCE. SO I USED TO KEEP AT LEAST TWO COPIES OF EVERYTHING I HAD PUBLISHED. I'VE WRITTEN FOR QUITE A FEW PUBLICATIONS, SO FROM THE LATE 1970'S UP UNTIL SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I HAD A MOUNTAIN OF PRINT ARCHIVES. MOST OF IT I DIDN'T NEED. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT WAS A RARE OCCURRENCE. IT HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST AS WELL, WHENEVER I'M FRUSTRATED OR BELIEVE I WILL NEVER NEED THE MATERIAL AGAIN. SO WHY KEEP IT? THE ONLY DIRECTIVE SUZANNE GAVE ME, AS PART OWNER OF BIRCH HOLLOW, WAS TO START CLIPPING THE ARTICLES I WANTED TO KEEP FOR MY PERSONAL FILE, AND RECYCLE THE REST. SIMPLE ENOUGH. JUST NOT FOR A WRITER ON HIATUS, WITH ANGER ISSUES. ON A DAY WHEN SHE WAS PREOCCUPIED RUNNING A YARD SALE, I DECIDED (AS I HAD CLEANED STUFF OUT OF THE SHED TO GO IN THE SALE ANYWAY) TO HAUL THESE OLD PAPERS TO THE LANDFILL SITE FOR RECYCLING. BY TIME THE SALE HAD CONCLUDED, I HAD MADE THREE TRIPS TO THE DUMP, AND CARTED AWAY THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF NEWSPAPERS. I HADN'T BOTHERED TO CLIP THE ARTICLES. SO SHORT OF THEM HAVING BEEN COPIED ONTO MICROFILM, WHICH I DOUBT HAPPENED TO MOST OF THE MATERIAL, I DESTROYED MY OWN ARCHIVES OF PAST WORK. SUZANNE WAS FURIOUS. IT'S NOT WHAT SHE HAD MEANT ABOUT "TIDYING UP." SHE KNOWS HOW IMPORTANT THESE HISTORICAL TOMES WERE, INCLUDING A SPECIAL FEATURE BIOGRAPHY I DID ON NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE ALLSTAR, ROGER CROZIER. I WROTE A WHOLE TEN PAGE SECTION, IN TRIBUTE TO THE BRACEBRIDGE BORN CROZIER, PUBLISHED IN THE HERALD-GAZETTE, IN THE MID 1990'S. GONE. I HAD A WHOLE BUNDLE AT HOME. RECYCLED IT! I FELT GOOD ABOUT GETTING RID OF THE CLUTTER, BUT ABOUT A MONTH LATER, WHEN AN IMPORTANT PROJECT CAME MY WAY, I REALIZED MY RESOURCES WERE HUGELY DEPLETED. WHEN WRITERS GET FRUSTRATED, AND WANT TO LIBERATE THEMSELVES FROM THE BURDENS OF THE PAST, THEY DON'T THINK LIKE ARCHIVISTS. THEY DO REALLY STUPID THINGS, LIKE DISPOSE OF THEIR BIOGRAPHY, VIA TRANSPORT, IN THE BACK OF A MINI-VAN.
ALL THE WORDS ABOVE, AT NO COST OF A SINGLE TREE, ARRIVE AT THIS POINT. IF I HAD PUBLISHED THOSE SAME HERITAGE FEATURE ARTICLES ON-LINE, VIA A BLOG LIKE THIS ONE, I COULD HAVE EASILY ARCHIVED BACK TO FIND WHAT I NEEDED, TO HANDLE A PRESENT REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. IT'S WHY I HAVE BEEN RE-PUBLISHING, WITH UPGRADES OF NEW INFORMATION, THOSE FEATURE ARTICLES I STILL REMEMEBER FROM THE PAST, SO I'LL HAVE A MORE ACCESSIBLE ARCHIVES NOW, WITHOUT THE CLUTTER THAT ONCE FILLED OUR HOUSE. I CAN PRINT THEM OUT WHEN I SO DESIRE, AND I CAN SEND SPECIFIC ARTICLES IN HARD COPY, TO THOSE INTERESTED, WHO DON'T HAVE A COMPUTER. THERE ARE FEATURE HISTORIES I WISH I HAD BACK, IN MY POSSESSION, BECAUSE THEY CONTAINED TOO MUCH DETAIL FOR ME TO REMEMBER EXACTLY NOW. SUCH IS THE CASE WITH THE 1880'S HISTORY OF EARLY MUSKOKA SETTLEMENTS, IN THE EASTERN SECTION OF THE REGION, WRITTEN AS A JOURNAL BY ANGLICAN MISSIONARIES ATTENDING THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS IN HAMLETS SUCH AS LEWISHAM, COOPER'S FALLS, BARKWAY, HOUSEY'S RAPIDS, MUSKOKA FALLS, PURBROOOK AND FRASERBURG. A RARE BOOK DEALER LOANED ME THE BOOK FOR A WEEK, TO COPY-OUT THE MUSKOKA REFERENCES, WHICH I ALSO HAVE NOW LOST. HE WANTED THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR THE BOOK, AND I WAS BROKE AT THE TIME. THIS LOST HISTORY MAKES ME VERY ANGRY, BUT ALL I NEED TO DO IS FIND A MIRROR, AND THE GUY LOOKING BACK, IS THE SAME CHAP WHO COMMITTED THE GRAVE ERROR IN JUDGEMENT. THE ORGINAL ARTICLE BASED ON THIS RARE BOOK, WAS PUBLISHED IN THE MUSKOKA ADVANCE BACK IN THE EARLY 1990'S.
I'D LIKE TO THINK THAT THE STORY OF ADA FLORENCE KINTON, AS IT DID IN THE LOCAL PRESS, WILL INSPIRE A GOODLY NUMBER OF READERS. IT WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW, THAT SOMEONE FELT SO MOVED BY THE CONTENT OF THE SERIES OF ARTICLES, THAT THEY DECIDED TO OFFER A DONATION TO THE FOOD BANK IN THEIR HOME COMMUNITY, IN RESPECT OF ADA'S KINDENESSES REMEMBERED. IT IS A CHRISTMAS TALE, NONE THE LESS, AND A STORY I ENJOY PUTTING MY NAME TO......NOT AS A MEANS TO DOUBLE OR TRIPLE MY AUDIENCE, BUT RATHER, TO KEEP THE NAME ADA FLORENCE KINTON CONTEMPORARY TO THE TIMES. WE CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY ANGELS WALKING AMONGST US. HER STORY IS JUST AS RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT TODAY, AS IT WAS, WHEN HER SISTER, SARAH RANDLESON, DECIDED TO PUBLISH ADA'S DIARY IN THE EARLY 1900'S, BECAUSE OF ITS MESSAGE ABOUT COMPASSION AND SPIRT-FULL LIVING.....AND OF COURSE, THE WELFARE OF HUMANITY AROUND US.
THIS IS NOT A SERIES OF ARTICLES THAT WILL JETISON ME INTO THE TOP TEN BLOGGERS WRITING TODAY. I WON'T GET A CALL FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST, WANTING ME TO JOIN THEIR COLLECTIVE OF BLOGGERS. BUT I GUARANTEE YOU, THE POSTERITY OF SHARING THIS STORY, AND ITS WARM CHRISTMAS MESSAGE, WITH A BACKGROUND OF REGIONAL MUSKOKA, IS ALL THAT I NEED TO FEEL INSPIRED AT THIS FESTIVE TIME OF THE ROLLING YEAR. I'D LIKE TO THINK THE STORY STRIKES YOU THE SAME WAY. ADA KINTON WAS POPULAR BECAUSE OF HER WORK ON THE STREETS OF TORONTO,= STAFFING SOUP KITCHENS, AND TENDING THE POOR SOULS WHO ARRIVED THERE, HUNGRY AND COLD. IF SHE HAD BEEN BORN OF THIS ERA, HER WORK WOULD BE APPRECIATED, AND HER EFFORTS ACKNOWLEDGED, BUT ADA WOULD BE NO RIVAL OF THOSE STARS WE WORSHIP TODAY. BUT THEN, SHE WOULD HAVE, AS SHE DID IN LIFE, DEFLECTED ATTENTION TO THOSE WHO NEEDED IT MORE. HER FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY WAS THE TASK AT HAND. IT HAS BEEN THE TASK FOREVER, HASN'T IT? THAT'S A LONG TIME TO LIVE WITH A CRISIS, DON'T YOU THINK? HOW MUCH CIVIL UNREST AND REVOLUTION, AROUND THE WORLD THROUGH HISTORY, HAS BEEN SPARKED BY POVERTY? HOW MANY CITIZENS OF THIS WORLD, HAVE DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT? YET WE RECOGNIZE "CELEBRITY" AS BEING MORE IMPORTANT ON ALMOST ALL COUNTS. THEY HAVE SO MUCH! WHEN SO MANY, HAVE TOO LITTLE! THIS WAS ADA KINTON'S CONUNDRUM. SO S HE GAVE HER LIFE TO THE CAUSE, WITHOUT FEAR THAT THE EFFORT WOULD EVENTUALLY BREAK HER HEALTH.
HEE NOW IS THE CONTINUATION OF ADA FLORENCE KINTON'S FASCINATING BIOGRAPHY, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE TEXT, "JUST ONE BLUE BONNET."
PART 3
ADA FLORENCE KINTON DEPICTS HUNTSVILLE IN ART
By Ted Currie
A talented artist, a competent writer, and devotee of the Salvation Army’s international mission-work, Ada Florence Kinton had a wide choice of vocations when she left England, in 1883, aboard the steamship S.S. Sarmatian. She could have had a lengthy career as an art instructor, with private schools in England or Canada. Ada most certainly could have sold her paintings, or worked professionally in the publishing industry as an illustrator. But she felt her passion for art, was secondary to a heartfelt sense of mission to help others. And she did. From the streets of Toronto to international postings, the poor and destitute always had a friend in Ada Kinton.
After the death of her father, (her mother died when she was 10), a devastating turn in her life, Ada had accepted an invitation from her brothers, Ed and Mackie, to stay with them in the pioneer hamlet of Huntsville, Ontario, where both were well entrenched in the business community. After a dreadful storm-plagued voyage aboard the Sarmatian, and a long and exhausting passage west by rail, north by steamship, cart and sleigh, Ada wrote the following description in a letter, posted to her sister Sara Randleson, at this time still residing in England.
"I am happy to say we have safely arrived at last, after being on the journey, on the cars and in the sleigh, from Tuesday evening until Sunday morning. We have just been two days short of three weeks since we left home (England). I didn’t seem to mind the jolting of the train nearly as much as usual. I suppose it was the dreadful shaking-up we had in the Sarmation in the storm."
The weary traveller writes, "We landed at Halifax on Tuesday, and got straight into a Pullman. There was quite a happy little party of us from the ship, and no strangers; about a half dozen young men and Mrs. Hooper (my cabin-mate) and I. We had the train to ourselves. There was only the Pullman and the mails and the luggage, so it was very cosy and select, and we were quite like brothers and sisters together, after the rough time we had at sea, and we walked about and talked. We stopped at meal-time at different stations, and ate steadily for twenty minutes. At Montreal we changed our cars, and from there to Toronto we met with all sorts of disasters. Amongst other things we got snowed-up, and had to wait patiently till we could be dug-out. That was in fifteen hours. It was breakfast time when we started, and happily we had a dining car attached. Eddy (her brother) teased me so about eating sausages at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour. Then we met a freight train off the track and had to wait for that. Then we heard there was a bad collision ahead of us. That took a long time to clear the track. Two freight trains had run into and over one another."
"Next our tender broke, and we had to wait till we could get a fresh engine. Five hours. Then we got to Gravenhurst, and I had my first sleigh-ride. I suppose I shall never forget it. The horses frisked along like kittens and their long tails and manes waved about so prettily. And oh, the ‘tintinnabulation’ of the bells, and the snow and the forest and the quiet of midnight," wrote the artist-voyeur. "Twenty-six miles’ sleigh-ride from Bracebridge to Huntsville. Supper at a little hotel; everyone silent, mutually afraid to speak. Don’t want to show I’m and Englander. Sleigh again. Almost oppressed with the beauty of the winter forest. Scenery gaunt and fantastic in the twilight. Saw grim, weird forms; wondered if there are any Canadian ghosts. Nice to look up, up, up, by the trunks of the slender, towering trees, and see the pale grey-clouds lighted by the snow beneath. Strange, lovely sleigh-ride, packed tight between Ed and the driver, the stars winking at us; the silent trees, the bush, swamp; Lake Vernon, Huntsville; home in the distance."
She pens the following about her emotional state, and the adjustment from busy London, to the hamlet scene in the Muskoka wilds of 1883. "Began to feel utterly done-up and began to cry, but had to quit it; could not manage it and struggle through the snow at the same time. Arrived at the gate panting and gasping. Heard my brother Mackie’s voice again. Kissed Kitty; too agitated to sleep; woke at last in my warm cosy wooden room. Struck with the amount of comfort in this little Canadian village in the midst of the bush."
"The four months’ visit to Huntsville (which her diary covers), was spent chiefly in making exquisitely pretty watercolor sketches of the village as it was then," wrote her sister, Sara Randleson, in the accompanying text of the biography, "Ada Florence Kinton, Just One Blue Bonnet." She adds, "These (sketches) are carefully treasured by Florence’s friends, and will be very valuable if ever Huntsville becomes a city. Considerable attention was also given to baby worship - a new thing for her." Ada joyfully helped out with the children in the Kinton home.
As if painting with words, as she planned out the subjects for her sketch pad, Ada wrote the following brief description of the village scene, as witnessed from the Kinton homestead:
"Cold wind and glare ice, thawed surface of snow frozen over again. Makes walking difficult. Village is very picturesque and quaint in the moonlight, like a lot of miniature toy wooden cottages, chucked down anyhow on the uneven ground, covered over with nice snow and just a light here and there, to make it look pretty; and then all around a dark bordering of great hills fringed with forest; and through the village the river coiling, and under the wooden bridge to the lake, all steely ice except in the middle, where the current is rapid and strong; a dark inky blue bit of stream shows itself in a fitful broken sort of way. Wonder where all the water lilies have hid themselves?"
Observant and a visionary of her time, she could assess the changes to the scene about to come, and she would take a great interest in the welfare of the forests and wildlife it supported. In future issues, we will travel with Ada Kinton, as she roams back into the woodlands to sketch.......as she notes, before the woodsman’s axe fells what’s left of it.
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