Seasons Of The Lilac, Part Nine; Life On Other Planets Circa. 1854 Book About Solar System

"SEASONS OF THE LILAC," PART NINE

BEFORE CONFEDERATION, THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, AND THE OPENING OF THE MUSKOKA DISTRICT, THE DEBATE ABOUT OUTER SPACE

     IT IS ONLY HEARSAY, BECAUSE I WASN'T IN ATTENDANCE, BUT URBAN PRIORITIES AGAIN, WERE THE ONES GETTING MULTIPLE CANDIDATE APPROVAL, DURING THE ALL-CANDIDATES FRIENDSHIP MEETING, HELD AT THE OPERA HOUSE, THE OTHER NIGHT, IN PREPARATION FOR THE OCTOBER MUNICIPAL ELECTION. OR, ONE OF THE MOST BORING MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN MODERN TIMES. MY SONS WERE IN ATTENDANCE LONG ENOUGH TO REALIZE THE VENUE WAS FLOODED WITH FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE CANDIDATES, SUPPORTERS, AND A FEW OTHERWISE BORED CONSTITUENTS, WHO THOUGHT A GOOD DEBATE WOULD BREAK OUT. NOW THAT'S DREAMING IN TECHNICOLOR. THE MEETING SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELD AT GRAVENHURST PUBLIC SCHOOL, WHERE THERE IS ACOMMODATION FOR A LARGER AUDIENCE. I GATHER FROM THE NEWS COVERAGE, AS MINOR AS IT WAS THIS MORNING, THAT URBAN ECONOMICS ARE THE ONE AREA COUNCIL HOPEFULS AGREE, NEEDS A LOT OF ATTENTION. IF YOU WERE TO GO BACK ABOUT A HUNDRED YEARS OR SO, URBAN ECONOMICS HAS ALWAYS DOMINATED, AND THAT MUST REALLY PISS-OFF THOSE IN THE RURAL AREAS OF OUR MUNICIPALITY, SELDOM GETTING THE KIND OF TOP BILLING, (OR CLOSE TO THE TOP), IT RIGHTLY DESERVES. IT IS ONE OF THE GIANT FAILINGS OF OUR MUNICIPALITIES THESE DAYS, IGNORING THE NEW INVESTMENTS IN RURAL LIVING, IN MANY AREAS OF THE DISTRICT. IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN, WITH REAL ESTATE PRICES BALLOONING IN URBAN AREAS. THERE IS A STRONG, HEALTHY, NEW DEVELOPMENT INTEREST, IN WHAT THE RURAL CLIME, HAS TO OFFER, BEYOND THE URBAN BOUNDARIES, AND THE BURDENSOME TITHE OF INCREASING SERVICE TAXATION. I'VE SEEN IT BEFORE, AND IT'S LOOKING LIKE IT HAS LEGS! IF OUR COUNCILLORS WERE TRULY WISE, AND AMBITIOUSLY PROACTIVE, AND WHO PRESENTLY DON'T HAVE MUCH KNOWLEDGE OF THE "RURAL-LIVING AND WORKING THING," THEY SHOULD BE EAGER TO GET TO KNOW, WHAT MAKES UP A BULK OF THE TERRITORY IN OUR MUNICIPALITY. THEY MAY BE SURPRISED, (OR MAYBE NOT), THAT THE ACTUAL URBAN AREA ISN'T AS BIG AS THE COUNTRYSIDE IS BROAD, WHERE RURAL-DWELLERS HAVE INVESTED THEIR TIME AND MONEY; SOME FROM FAMILIES THAT GO BACK TO THE ERA OF THE HOMESTEAD GRANTS OF THE LATE 1860'S. A FEW EVEN EARLIER THAN THIS. IN TERMS OF IMPORTANCE, IT'S HARD TO SELL THE URBANITES, ON THE MANY HISTORIC AND LOGICAL REASONS, WHY THEY, FROM THE OUT-BACK, SHOULD BE GIVEN MORE RESPECT, EVEN IN PRE-ELECTION DISCUSSION, THAN THEY GENERALLY RECEIVE....ALL YEAR, ALL TERM! SOONER OR LATER, THERE'S GOING TO BE A RURAL-RIGHTS GROUP ESTABLISH THEMSELVES, IN MUSKOKA, TO DEMAND THE ATTENTION OF LOCAL COUNCILS; KEEPING IN MIND, THAT COTTAGERS ARE PART OF THE RURAL POPULATION. THEY MAY BE GETTING A LITTLE TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THE ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION OF THE MAIN BUSINESS AREA, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AS IT IS KICKED LIKE A SOCCER BALL, WHEN IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE'S PROVIDING A LITTLE SCRUTINY, TO WHAT COUNCIL IS ACTUALLY UP TO.
     I LIVE IN THE URBAN AREA OF GRAVENHURST. BUT OUR FAMILY, HAVING PIONEER BRAGGING RIGHTS IN THIS REGION, ARE RURAL ADVOCATES BASED ON OUR LEGACY. SO WE DO TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY, TO PITCH FOR THE UNDERDOGS, IN THE RURAL ENVIRONS, WHO BELIEVE IT OR NOT, ARE A MODERN DAY EXTENSION, OF THE HOMESTEAD CHRONICLE. IT WAS THE HOMESTEAD COMMUNITY, SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRYSIDE, THAT PROVIDED THE ECONOMIC FOUNDATION FOR THE INITIAL COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS, FOR THE HAMLETS, VILLAGES, AND TOWNS TO BUILD UPON. THE VILLAGES COULDN'T HAVE SUCCEEDED, IF NOT FOR THE MARKETPLACE, BOLSTERED BY THE RURAL DWELLERS. WE SHOULD REALLY ANALYZE, ONE DAY SOON, JUST HOW MUCH ECONOMIC INPUT COMES FROM THE RURAL PROPERTY OWNERS, IN TAXATION, AND REVENUE, FROM URBAN AREA SHOPPING AND PURCHASING, THE RESULT OF RURAL CUSTOMERS DOING BUSINESS IN OUR TOWN(S). URBAN FOLK, TEND TO FORGET THAT THE MUNICIPALITY ISN'T ALL ONE HAPPY FAMILY OF CONSTITUENTS. THE BREAK DOWN, AS IT HAS BEEN SINCE THE FIRST HAMLETS DEVELOPED, IS THAT WE ARE A MIX OF RURAL AND URBAN RESIDENTS; AND PERMANENT AND SEASONAL RESIDENTS. THERE ARE MANY AREAS WE DON'T AGREE. AS HISTORY REVEALS, THE URBAN POPULATION IS THE FAVORED CHILD. TELL ME I'M WRONG!

WERE HOMESTEADERS SMART, SORT OF SMART, COUNTRY SMART, OR TRANSPLANTED URBAN DULLARDS, WITH NO CHANCE OF BEING SUCCESSFUL?

     WHAT IF, WHEN WE STUDIED THE HOMESTEADING / PIONEERING YEARS OF OUR NATION'S HISTORY, AS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, WE HAD BEEN TAUGHT DIFFERENTLY THAN WHAT HAS BECOME THE NORMAL FARE, ABOUT THESE HARDY, ADVENTUROUS, BUT HIGHLY GULLIBLE EMIGRANTS? EMIGRANTS WHO WOULD BE DUMB ENOUGH, TO BELIEVE THAT SWAMPLAND, AND ROCK HILLSIDE WOULD MAKE A GOOD FARM SITE. HOW WOULD OUR VIEWPOINT HAVE CHANGED, AND OUR ESTIMATION OF THE HINTERLAND, IN BROAD TERMS, BEEN INFLUENCED, IF IT HAD BEEN REVEALED, BY OUR TEACHERS, THAT A MAJORITY OF THE NEW FARMERS TO OUR LAND, WERE ACTUALLY RELUCTANT SCHOLARS; BUT SCHOLARS NONE THE LESS. INSTEAD OF WHAT WE BELIEVE AS THE LOWEST OF LOW, POVERTY STRICKEN, DESPERATE, URBAN REFUGEES, THEY WERE ACTUALLY QUITE THE OPPOSITE; BEING OF HIGH INTELLECT, AND SELECTED HOMESTEADING INSTEAD OF THE INSANELY BORING PROFESSION, OF BEING EDUCATORS, DOCTORS, ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS, POETS AND BUSINESS LEADERS? WOULD WE TODAY, BELIEVE THEN, THAT THE SMARTEST OF OUR ANCESTORS, KNEW THE INHERENT REWARDS OF BEING RURALLY RESIDENTIAL? WHO KNOWS? IT WAS QUITE THE OPPOSITE, IN ACTUALITY, AND FROM THE BEGINNING, THE HOMESTEADERS WEREN'T CONSIDERED THE CREAM OF THE CROP. I AM NOT WELL VERSED ENOUGH, TO SAY THAT THIS IS WHY THERE IS STILL A LINGERING MISCONCEPTION, ABOUT THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO RESIDE IN THE COUNTRY, VERSUS THE INHABITING THE SUBDIVISIONS OF OUR URBAN AREAS.
    IF YOU THINK THIS IS A WILD STRETCH, CONSIDER THE DISCUSSION MY WIFE SUZANNE, AND I, WERE HAVING THE OTHER NIGHT, RECALLING OUR DAYS AT BRACEBRIDGE AND MUSKOKA LAKES SECONDARY SCHOOL, BACK IN THE LATE 1960'S, TO MID 1970'S. SUZANNE WAS FROM THE VILLAGE OF WINDERMERE, IN THE TOWNSHIP OF MUSKOKA LAKES, (AT LEAST AN HOUR BY BUS BOTH WAYS) AND I WAS FROM ALICE STREET, IN BRACEBRIDGE, EXACTLY TEN MINUTES BRISK WALK FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL, SITUATED ON THE TOP OF ROSEMOUNT HILL, OVERLOOKING THE HOLLOW. I WAS AMONGST HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS, FROM THE URBAN AREA, WHO THOUGHT THE RURAL STUDENTS WERE A TAD BACKWARDS. HAYSEEDS. HICKS. LIKE THE CLAMPETTS. WE ROUTINELY MADE FUN OF THEM FOR BEING BUS-KIDS, AND LIVING IN "THE BUSH." (OR STICKS) SUZANNE AGREES, THAT THERE WAS ALWAYS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE URBAN STUDENTS AND THE RURAL, EVEN IN THE CLASSROOM SITUATIONS; EVEN DOWN TO THE DIFFERENCE, THAT URBAN KIDS COULD GO HOME, WHEN CLASSES LET OUT, AT THREE IN THE AFTERNOON, AND THE BUS KIDS HAD TO WAIT AROUND UNTIL FOUR, TO CATCH THEIR BUS HOME. THE ONLY TIMES WE KIND OF LIKED THEM, WAS WHEN THE BOARD OF EDUCATION WOULD CANCEL THE BUSES, MEANING THE TOWN KIDS DIDN'T HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL. WHEN IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT A BUS, FOR EXAMPLE, WAS GOING TO BE LATE, THE TOWN KIDS CHEERED. I DON'T KNOW WHY. WE JUST DID! "WE DID FEEL LESSER BECAUSE WE WERE FROM OUT OF TOWN, FOR A LOT OF DIFFERENT REASONS. THERE WERE A LOT OF THINGS WE COULDN'T DO, THAT THE TOWN KIDS TOOK FOR GRANTED; LIKE COMING BACK TO GO TO A SCHOOL DANCE. BY TIME I GOT HOME ON A WINTER NIGHT, IT WOULD BE FIVE O'CLOCK. WITH A DANCE THAT STARTED AT SEVEN, THE ONLY WAY I COULD HAVE GONE, IS IF I HAD STAYED ALL THAT TIME AT SCHOOL; OR WENT TO A FRIEND'S HOUSE. MY PARENTS COULDN'T DRIVE ME BACK AND FORTH TO BRACEBRIDGE, JUST FOR A SCHOOL DANCE. THEN THERE WAS THE PROBLEM OF GETTING HOME AFTER THE DANCE. IT WAS THE SAME FOR A LOT OF SCHOOL EVENTS, AND IT DID MAKE US FEEL APART FROM THE REST OF THE STUDENT BODY," SAID SUZANNE. BUT THEN I KNEW IT ALL FROM EXPERIENCE. I DATED OTHER GIRLS FROM THE RURAL AREA, AND I EVEN MARRIED ONE. BUT I KNOW WHAT SHE MEANT, WHEN SHE REFERENCED FEELING LIKE AN OUTSIDER, JUST BECAUSE SHE LIVED IN RURAL MUSKOKA.

WHERE DID THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND MISREPRESENTATIONS COME FROM?

     THERE HAS BEEN, FOR LONG AND LONG UNFORTUNATELY, THE NAGGING, PRECARIOUS DANGER, ASSOCIATED WITH UNDER-RESEARCHING THE HOMESTEAD PERIOD, IN OUR REGION, AND THUS, THE PIONEER EMIGRANTS THEMSELVES. A SLOPPY FOLLOW-THROUGH, FOR THE HAPPENSTANCE RESEARCHER, AND LESS THAN THOROUGH TEACHER, TUTOR, IN THE MOST GENERAL SENSE, JUDGING, AND REPRESENTING MUSKOKA REGIONAL HOMESTEADERS, FROM THE LATE 1850'S, AS HAVING BEEN OF LESS INTELLIGENCE; THAN FOR EXAMPLE, THE ASTUTE, EXPERIENCED CAPITALISTS, WHO OPENED BUSINESS OPERATIONS, AND OF COURSE, THE LAND SPECULATORS. THOSE OPPORTUNISTS, SEEKING WEAKNESSES, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE FAILURES OF THE INITIAL FREE GRANT HOMESTEADERS. I'VE RUN INTO THIS MANY TIMES, WHEN GIVING MUSEUM LECTURES, OR TALKING WITH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, WORKING ON THESIS PROJECTS, REGARDING THIS PERIOD OF CANADIAN HISTORY. JUST BECAUSE MANY OF THESE EMIGRANTS WERE KNOWN AS BEING POOR, AND DESTITUTE OF OPPORTUNITY, IN THEIR RESPECTIVE HOME COUNTRIES, DIDN'T MEAN, BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION, THEY WERE FINANCIALLY DISADVANTAGED, BECAUSE OF THEIR LIMITED LEVEL OF INTELLECT. I HAVE TALKED TO MANY HISTORY-LOVING FOLKS, WHO JUST ASSUMED, THAT IF YOU WERE POOR IN THE HOMELAND, IT WAS BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T PARTICULARLY INTELLIGENT. DULLARDS! IDIOTS! HOMESTEADERS MUST HAVE BEEN DULLARDS AND IDIOTS! THAT'S WHY LIFE WAS SO TOUGH FOR THEM! THIS IS A FORM OF SOCIAL / ECONOMIC PROFILING, AND IT'S WRONG TO MAKE SUCH ILL-FOUNDED, POORLY CALCULATED OVERVIEWS, WITHOUT KNOWING FOR SURE, WHO REALLY MADE UP THIS BAND OF EMIGRANTS; AND THE TRUTHFUL REASONS, THEY WERE SEEKING OPPORTUNITIES ELSEWHERE. FOR MANY, THE INTELLIGENT DECISION, WAS TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC, AND TAKE A CHANCE ON SUCCESS; WHEN AT HOME, THERE WASN'T EVEN THE SLIGHTEST GLIMMER OF HOPE FOR A NEW BEGINNING, LET ALONE FUTURE PROSPERITY.
     INDEED, THERE WERE MANY UNEDUCATED SETTLERS, JUST AS THERE WERE EDUCATED HOMESTEADERS. IN TERMS OF EFFICIENCY IN THE BUSINESS OF OWNING PROPERTY, AND RUNNING SUCCESSFUL HOMESTEADS, THIS WAS A BIG ISSUE, AND A BIG LOOPHOLE FOR THE LESS SAVOURY LAND SHARKS. SOME HOMESTEADERS WERE SO DEFICIENT, IN INVESTMENT PROWESS, THAT THEY WERE EASY PREY FOR THE GOVERNMENT LAND AGENTS; EMIGRANTS WHO COULDN'T REASON WHY THEY SHOULDN'T MAKE SUCH A GAMBLE, AS ABANDONING THEIR HOMES, TO BECOME WILDERNESS FARMERS. MANY EMIGRANTS WERE OF MUCH HIGHER INTELLECT, AND WERE ABLE TO READ THE HOMESTEAD ADVISORIES, PUBLISHED BY PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SOURCES, INCLUDING MUSKOKA'S OWN, THOMAS MCMURRAY; WHO EMBELLISHED WHEREVER AND WHATEVER HE COULD, TO SELL A TOPOGRAPHY OF THIN SOIL ON ROCK, TREES BY THE MILLIONS, AND WATERCOURSES; JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE, FOR, AS IT TURNED OUT, MINIMAL AGRICULTURAL EXPLOITATION. AND OF COURSE, THERE WERE THOSE WHO COULDN'T READ THE SELF-HELP PIONEER GUIDEBOOKS ANYWAY, AND THIS DID BECOME A PROBLEM FOR THESE FOLKS DOWN THE LINE. MANY PIONEERS WERE SERIOUSLY RIPPED OFF, AND THEIR LAND TAKEN FROM THEM, BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T MATCH THE PROWESS, UNLEASHED BY THE BAND OF SPECULATORS, WITH THEIR OWN VESTED INTEREST. MAKING MONEY. FIRST IN PROPERTY, AND THEN IN CAPITAL. THE BETTER TUTORED AMONGST THE SETTLERS, HELD TIGHT TO THEIR PROPERTIES, AND ACQUIRED MORE WHEN IT BECAME AVAILABLE. INTELLECT WASN'T STRICTLY RELATED TO KNOWING ALL THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE, OR BEING ABLE TO WRITE A CRITIQUE OF MILTON'S WORK, OR TO DEBATE GOOD LITERATURE WITH THE LIKES OF CHARLES DICKENS AND WASHINGTON IRVING. IF THEY KNEW HOW TO SURVIVE IN A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE SITUATION, SUCH AS SEEKING OUT THE BEST POSSIBLE HOMESTEAD LAND, AND THEN RUNNING THEIR FARMS BY SENSIBLE PROPORTION, THEN IT WAS ALL THAT REALLY MATTERED. THERE ARE PLENTY OF EXAMPLES, OF HOMESTEADERS, WHO MAY HAVE BEEN SMART IN TERMS OF INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY, BUT GENUINELY POORLY PREPARED, TO UNDERSTAND AND THEN MASTER, THE ART OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY.
     THE POINT IS, I HAVE LEARNED OVER THE PAST THREE DECADES, THAT OUR HOMESTEAD COMMUNITY WAS GENERALLY PRETTY CLEVER, AND ASPIRING FOR A LIFE BETTER THAN THEY HAD IN BRITAIN AND EUROPE. THEY APPLIED THEIR INTELLIGENCE TO RUNNING ECONOMICALLY SUCCESSFUL FARMSTEADS, AND WOULD EVENTUALLY BECOME COMMUNITY LEADERS, TEACHERS, BUSINESS PROPONENTS, AND POLITICIANS. THEY WEREN'T TO BE DEFINED BY A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA OR A UNIVERSITY DEGREE. THEY INVESTED THEIR INTELLIGENCE IN A MORE PRACTICAL WAY, THAN BEATING THE DRUM IN PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE. BUT THEY KNEW HOW TO READ, AND WHAT MADE A GOOD BOOK. SO HAVING A BOOK ON THE HOMESTEAD SHELF, THAT LOOKED AT OUTER SPACE, AND LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS, WASN'T AS STRANGE AS IT MAY INITIALLY SEEM; AND THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE WE HAVE A HARD TIME, ASSUMING THE FIRST FLOOD OF PIONEERS, WERE ACTUALLY QUITE SCHOLARLY, IN THEIR OWN PARTICULAR WAY. HOW COULD YOU BE POOR AND SCHOLARLY? I HEAR THIS A LOT. I'VE BEEN POOR MOST OF MY LIFE, AND I THINK I'M REASONABLY SCHOLARLY. WE HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT A SIZEABLE PORTION OF THE EMIGRANTS WERE OF HIGH INTELLECT, BUT BECAUSE OF ECONOMIC WOE, AND HARDSHIP, FINDING EMPLOYMENT IN THEIR HOME COUNTRIES, HAD IN RESPONSE, LITTLE CHOICE, WANTING TO IMPROVE THEIR FAMILY'S LOT, BUT TO TAKE CANADA'S KIND OFFER. AND THEY BROUGHT BOOKS ALONG WITH THEM, SUCH AS THE 1854 SCHOLARLY TEXT, "MORE WORLDS THAN ONE - THE CREED OF THE PHILOSOPHER - AND THE HOPE OF THE CHRISTIAN," WRITTEN BY SIR DAVID BREWSTER, PUBLISHED IN LONDON, ENGLAND, FIVE YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST SETTLERS ARRIVED IN THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA. ALONGSIDE THE FAMILY BIBLE, HYMN BOOKS, AND BOOKS ABOUT FARM ECONOMY, AS THIS STRANGE INCLUSION, INVESTIGATING LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS.
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PREVIOUS TWO BLOGS ABOUT THIS BOOK, YOU CAN ARCHIVE BACK TO PART SIX OF THIS SERIES, "SEASONS OF THE LILAC."
     THE COLLISION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION, CIRCA 1854.

RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES

     "It is injurious to the interests of religion, as it is degrading to those of science, when the votaries of either, place them in a state of mutual antagonism," wrote David Brewster, in his well received 1854 overview of astronomy, and the life that may live on the planets known in the universe. "A mere inference or a hypothesis in science, however probable, must ever give way to a truth revealed; but a scientific truth must be maintained, however, contradictory it may appear, to the most cherished doctrines of religion. In freely discussing the subject of plurality of worlds, there can be no collision between reason and revelation. Christians, timid, and ill-informed, have, at different periods, refused to accept of certain results of science, which, instead, of being adverse to their faith, have been its best auxiliaries; and infidel writers, taking advantage of this weakness, have vainly arrayed the discoveries and inferences of astronomy, against the fundamental doctrines of Scripture. This unseemly controversy, which once raged respecting the motion of the earth, and the stability of the sun, and more recently, in reference to the doctrines and theories of geology, terminated, as it always must do, in favour of science. Truths physical have an origin as divine as truths religious.
     "In the time of Galileo, they triumphed over the casuistry and secular power of the church; and in our own day the incontrovertible truths of primeval life, have won as noble a victory over the errors of speculative theology, and a false interpretation of the word of God. Science ever has been, and ever must be, the handmaid of religion. The grandeur of her truths may transcend our failing reason, but those who cherish and lean upon truths equally grand, but certainly more incomprehensible, ought to see in the marvels of the material world, the best defence and illustration of the mysteries of their faith."
     He notes that, for example, "In referring to the planets of our own system, and to those which surround the fixed stars as suns, Dr. Bentley just remarks, 'that if any person will indulge himself in this speculation, he need not quarrel with revealed religion upon such an account. The Holy Scriptures do not forbid him to suppose as great a multitude of systems, and as much inhabited as he pleases. Tis true there is no mention in Moses's narrative of the creation of any people in other planets. But it plainly appears that the sacred historian doth only treat of the origin of terrestrial animals; he hath given us no account of God's creating the angels; and yet the same author in the ensuing parts of the Penateuch, makes not unfrequent mention of the angels of God. Neither need we be solicitous about the conditions of those planetary people, nor raise frivolous disputes how far they may participate in Adam's fall, or in the benefits of Christ's incarnation. As if because they are supposed to be rational, they must, needs be concluded, to be men.' He then goes on to show that there may be 'minds of superior or meaner capacities than human united to a human body,' and 'minds of human capacities, united to a different body,' 'so that we ought not upon any account to conclude that if there be rational inhabitants in the Moon or Mars, or any unknown planets of other systems, they must therefore have human natures, or be involved in the circumstances of our world'." Extra terestrials? Me thinks, this is what is being considered here, but having a human form, in mind and body. Imagine the pioneer, who could look out of the log cabin doorway, in the pitch black of night, and see those twinkling star lights, and moon illumination, and wonder, about God's good will, for the coming harvest; and by the way, if by chance, there's alien life forms moving-about way up there. What a huge transition, between the traditions of religious upbringing, to then read, about the possibility, earth-bound mortals, might not be the big show afterall.
     "The doctrine of a plurality of worlds, - of the occupation of the planets and stars by animal and intellectual life, has been stated as 'a peculiar argument against Christianity not much dwelt upon in books, but, it is believed, a good deal insinuated in conversation, and having no small influence on the amateurs of a superficial philosophy.' Although we have felt that such a difficulty might be made an objection to Christianity, we have never heard it made in conversation; but as it has been so prominently brought into view by Dr. Chalmers, and also by the author of the essay, 'Of a Plurality of Worlds,' it is necessary to ascertain its value, whether it be urged by the infidel, against the truths of Scripture, or by the Christian against the inferences of science."
     Fascinated by the possibilities, of confluence, of religion and science, the author reports, "Is it likely,' as Dr. Chalmers puts it, 'says the infidel, that God would send his eternal Son, to die for the puny occupiers of so insignificant a province, in the mighty field of his creation?' Are we the befitting objects of so great and so signal an interposition? Does not the largeness of that field which Astronomy lays open to the view of modern science, throw a suspicion over the truth of gospel history? And how shall we reconcile the greatness of that wonderful movement, which was made in heaven for the redemption of fallen man, with the comparative meanness and obscurity of our own species?
     "In meeting this astronomical objection, Dr. Chalmers states that it consists of an assertion, which he denies, that Christianity was established for the exclusive benefit of our minute and solitary world, and of an inference or argument, that God would not lavish 'such a quantity of attention on so insignificant a field.' In denying the assertion, and maintaining that the inhabitants of other worlds may not have required a Saviour, Dr. Chalmers, has obviously cut the knot of the difficulty rather than untied it. The assertion of the infidel, and the assertion of the divine, mutually destroy each other. The assertion of the infidel, not his inferences, has been maintained by some Christians themselves, and is a difficulty which ought not to have perplexed them. The assertion of the divine, on the contrary, is one which very few Christians will admit, and one which is opposed to the very system of analogy, which guides us in proving a plurality of worlds. If we argue that Jupiter, a planet with moons, must be inhabited because of the Earth, which has a moon, is inhabited, is not the infidel or the Christian entitled to say, that since the inhabitants of the Earth, have sinned and required a Saviour, the inhabitants of Jupiter may also have sinned, and required a Saviour? To maintain the contrary opinion is not only against analogy, but it is a hazardous position for a divine take, when he maintains it is to be probable that there are intellectual creatures occupying a world of matter, and subject to material laws, and yet exempt from sin, and consequently from suffering and death. A proposition so extraordinary we cannot venture to affirm."
     He writes, in explanation, that "Thus chained to a planet the lowest and most unfortunate in the universe, the philosopher, with all his analogies broken down, may justly renounce his faith in a plurality of world, and rejoice, in the more limited but safer creed of the anti-pluralist author, who makes the earth the only world in the universe, and the special object of God's paternal care." And concludes the chapter, by noting, "The difficulties we have been considering, in so far as they are of a religious character, have been very unwisely introduced into the question of plurality of worlds. They have, indeed, no real connexion with it. Before the advent of our Saviour, such difficulties could not have been started; and had it been previously, an article of faith that Jupiter was inhabited, the appearance on Earth of a Redeemer, would not have interfered with it. We are not entitled to remonstrate with the sceptic, but we venture to doubt the soundness of that philosopher's judgement, who thinks that the truths of natural religion, are affected by a belief in planetary races, and the reality of that Christian's faith, who considers it to be endangered by the conviction that there are other worlds than his own."
     Some may be very surprised, to know that the pioneers, were pretty well informed, back then, on both religion, astronomy, science break-throughs, and world affairs.  The science of the farmstead, was everyday life. When we wonder what the settlers were reading, by hearthside, on those cold winter nights, it might seem amazing then, to learn that books like "More Planets Than One," by Mr. Brewster, were just as significant as great works of fiction, farmers' guide books, barn building booklets, and the Family Bible. The Shea family, of Ufford, got a newspaper from Montreal sent, care of the fledgling postal outlet, in Muskoka Falls, as far back as 1862-63. So as far as knowing what was going on, in Canada and abroad, sure thing, the homesteaders were just as informed, as those in the urban neighborhoods; maybe more so!
     Thanks for joining today's blog, which I wrote entirely, from the front verandah of Birch Hollow; nary a candidate for election anywhere in sight. Just the way I like it!

Seasons Of The Lilac Part Eight; Life On Other Planets Or Just The Spirits That Have Taken Flight

"SEASONS OF THE LILAC," PART EIGHT - LOOKING WAY UP, INTO THE NIGHT SKY

THE CONFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS FAITH, THE REALITIES OF SCIENCE, AND THE TIME TO READ A GOOD BOOK

NOTE: ON THE ELECTION FRONT IN GRAVENHURST! I CAN'T RESIST MAKING COMMENT, ABOUT THE ALL-CANDIDATES' MEETING, AT THE GRAVENHURST OPERA HOUSE, TONIGHT (MONDAY NIGHT). IT WAS ORGANIZED BY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, WITH CO-OPERATION OF THE LOCAL MEDIA, TO RUN THE EVENT FOR ALL CANDIDATES DEBATE (NOT REALLY) OF THE UPCOMING OCTOBER MUNICIPAL ELECTION. AT FIVE THIS EVENING, (EVENT WAS SUPPOSED TO BEGIN AT 7 PM), THERE WAS NO NOTICE OF THE ALL-CANDIDATES MEETING POSTED ON THE OPERA HOUSE'S ILLUMINATED SIGN. AT LEAST ON OUR SIDE, OF THE STREET, WHICH IS THE BULK OF THE BIA AREA, IT WAS VACANT. THUS, NOTHING WAS GOING ON AT THE OPERA HOUSE. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THE OPERA HOUSE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH LETTERS, OR THE CHAMBER DIDN'T ASK THE OPERA HOUSE TO HIGHLIGHT THE EVENT, OR A FEW FOLKS DIDN'T GIVE A CRAP EITHER WAY. I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE CANDIDATES FELT LIKE, WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT THE OPERA HOUSE, READY FOR A SCRAP (NOT REALLY), AND DISCOVERED THEY WEREN'T IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO BE HIGHLIGHTED ON THE SIGN. THE SPIRIT AWARDS UPCOMING, ARE APPARENTLY OF A HIGHER PRIORITY. IF THERE IS ANYTHING ABOUT THIS TOWN THAT DRIVES ME CRAZY, IT'S STUFF LIKE THIS; INSTEAD OF FOLLOW THROUGH, WE GET HALF THE JOB COMPLETE. BUT, THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTIONS, IS WHETHER A SINGLE COUNCIL HOPEFUL EVEN NOTICED THE BLANK SPOT WHERE THEIR EVENT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PROMOTED. DISAPPOINTED? HOW MANY OF THEM SPOKE UP AT THE MEETING, AND COMPLAINED ABOUT THE FACT IT WASN'T ON THE SIGN. ALL THE BIG TALKERS? YOU'D THINK ONE WOULD HAVE HIT THE MICROPHONE WITH A BIT OF PROTEST. LOOK AT THE PROTESTS FOR A SHRED OF DEMOCRACY IN HONG KONG. EVEN THE QUESTIONS IN OUR TOWN, WERE VETTED FOR THE MEETING, SO AS NOT TO HAVE ANY SURPRISES CROP UP. DEMOCRACY WAS PRETTY CLOSE TO BEING MUZZLED. I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS MANIPULATION, OF WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A NO HOLDS BARRED DEBATE. I DIDN'T GO. I'VE GIVEN UP ON GRAVENHURST POLITICS.

     ON THE DAY MY GRANDMOTHER, BLANCHE JACKSON, DIED, AFTER A LONG PERIOD OF ILLNESS, MERLE ASSURED ME, FEELING SOMEWHAT LOST BY THE FAILURE OF GOD TO KEEP THE OLD GIRL ALIVE, THAT HER MOTHER HAD GONE TO A BETTER, KINDER, LESS PHYSICAL PLACE. I KNEW HER BODY STAYED ON EARTH, BECAUSE I SAW PICTURES OF THE GRAVE, IN TORONTO'S PARK LAWN CEMETERY. HEAVEN WAS FOR THE VAPOR, KNOWN AS THE SPIRIT, SHE EXPLAINED, ONCE AGAIN, LOOKING UPWARDS (AT THE CEILING). FOR AWHILE, I THOUGHT HEAVEN MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH CEILING TILES. I HAD HEARD THIS BEFORE ABOUT SPIRITS BEING INVISIBLE. MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY DIDN'T GO TO CHURCH, UNLESS FOR A FUNERAL, AND AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, I NEVER SAW A BIBLE IN OUR APARTMENT. YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD A LINE LIKE THIS BEFORE, BUT, WELL, IN OUR HOUSE, THE ONLY TIME WE EVER HEARD MY FATHER ED, CALL OUT THE NAME "JESUS CHRIST," WAS WHEN THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS BEAT MONTREAL ON HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA. WHENEVER ANYBODY IN OUR FAMILY, AND NETWORK OF FRIENDS, IDENTIFIED HEAVEN, (AND YOU CAN PROBABLY RELATE), CLEARLY, WITHOUT HESITATION, THEY WOULD EITHER LOOK UP TO THE SKY, OR GESTURE IN SOME OTHER WAY, THAT SALVATION WAS UP NOT DOWN. THAT MY PET TURTLE FOR EXAMPLE, WAS NOW IN GOD'S DOMAIN; AND BY DEFINITION, HEAVEN WAS SKYWARD; HELL WAS SOMEWHERE BELOW. IT DIDN'T MAKE ME QUESTION, WHY THE DEAD WERE BURIED BELOW. WOULDN'T THIS PUT THEM CLOSER TO SATAN? WHETHER IT WAS IN SHIRLEY TEMPLE MOVIES, OR IN THE TELEVISION SHOW, "HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN," WITH MICHAEL LANDON, THE SKY, THE CLOUDS, THE UNIVERSE, WAS CONSIDERED "HEAVEN." I HAD TO WORK A LOT OF STUFF OUT FOLKS, SO BEAR WITH ME!
     WHEN WE TRY TO VISUALIZE THE CANADIAN HOMESTEAD, IN THE MID TO LATE 1800'S, WE HAVE A PRETTY GOOD IDEA WHERE THE IRON COOKSTOVE WOULD BE SITUATED, IN THE SIMPLE LOG DWELLING. IT'S TO BE EXPECTED THERE WOULD BE A BUTTER CHURN, OF SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION, A COUPLE OF PINE ROCKERS, A NUMBER OF PLAIN PINE WATERFALL-SEAT KITCHEN CHAIRS, A HARVEST TABLE, POTS HANGING DOWN FROM HOOKS ON THE WALLS, AND SEVERAL PINE CUPBOARDS. MAYBE AN ICON HUNG ON THE WALL, ABOVE THE BEDSTEADS, A PICTURE OF JESUS, AND A FEW PRINTS BROUGHT FROM THE OLD COUNTRY, TO MAKE THE NEW DWELLING, LOOK A LITTLE LIKE THE ONE THEY HAD JUST DEPARTED.
     WE CAN SMELL THE WOODSMOKE, AND EASILY IMAGINE THE SOOT-COVERED PINE TIMBERS OF THE WALLS, AND CEILING. THERE'S THE SCENT OF AN "EVERYTHING" STEW, SIMMERING ON THE STOVE, CANDLE WAX FROM AN EARLIER CHORE, AND IMAGINE BURNING FUEL FROM SEVERAL OIL LAMPS; ONE ON THE TOP OF A TALL DRESSER, AND THE OTHER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TABLE. THERE ARE TWO SHELVES FOR BOOKS, AND THE BIGGEST IS THE FAMILY BIBLE; AND BESIDE ARE TWO SMALL HYMN BOOKS. AMONGST THE BOOKS, IS ANOTHER TO HELP THE EMIGRANT, UNDERSTAND WHAT THE NEW COUNTRY IS ALL ABOUT. IN MUSKOKA, A SETTLER MIGHT HAVE ACQUIRED THOMAS MCMURRAY'S GUIDEBOOK, CIRCA 1871, ENTITLED "MUSKOKA AND PARRY SOUND." IT MIGHT BE THE CASE, THAT THE HOMESTEADERS HAD ACQUIRED AN EARLIER "SETTLERS GUIDE," PRODUCED IN GREATER VOLUME IN THE LATER 1850'S, OR THE WIDE RELEASE OF THE AMERICAN TEXT, "THE FARMER'S EVERYDAY BOOK," FROM THE EARLIER PART OF THAT DECADE. WHAT'S SEEMS OUT OF PLACE, AND PROBABLY WOULD NEVER BE IMAGINED, AS BEING PART OF THAT BOOK COLLECTION, IS THE FIRST EDITION COPY OF SIR DAVID BREWSTER'S BOOK, "MORE WORLDS THAN ONE - THE CREED OF THE PHILOSOPHER - AND THE HOPE OF THE CHRISTIAN," ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1854, IN LONDON, ENGLAND, BY JOHN MURRAY. IT'S A CELESTIAL EXAMINATION, WITH EMPHASIS, ON EARLIER PREDICTIONS, THAT THERE WAS LIFE (OR SPIRIT-KIND) ON OTHER PLANETS. IT JUST DOESN'T FIT IN, WITH WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT ABOUT THE PIONEER PERIOD, IN OUR HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY CLASSES. SO IT BEGS THE QUESTION, DID THE HOMESTEADING FAMILY, THAT OWNED THIS BOOK, LOOK UP INTO THE TWINKLING NIGHT SKY, IN MUSKOKA FOR EXAMPLE, CIRCA 1859, AND WONDER WHETHER THEY MIGHT ONE DAY BE VISITED BY THE GOOD FOLKS FROM THOSE OTHER PLANETS, VISIBLE IN THE NIGHT SKY. OR WERE THEY THE LANDING PLACES, FOR THE ALL THE DEARLY DEPARTED SPIRITS, GOING HEAVENWARD? I WONDERED THE SAME THING AS A KID. AT SOME POINT WE MIGHT NEED TO MAKE USE OF ANOTHER PLANET, TO TAKE CARE OF ALL THE HUMAN SPIRITS, SET LOOSE BY THE DEATH OF MILLIONS OF MORTALS. AREN'T WE EVENTUALLY GOING TO RUN OUT OF SPACE HERE ON EARTH. I WAS A KID ALRIGHT, WITH PARENTS THAT BELIEVED I SHOULD BE SEEN, BUT NOT HEARD, ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE WAS A HOCKEY, BASEBALL OR FOOTBALL GAME ON TELEVISION. (AND I DON'T MEAN MOONSHINE WHEN I USE THE WORD "SPIRITS") I CAN IMAGINE THE PERPLEXITY OF FINDING EXPLANATIONS, FOR ALL OF THIS, WHILE LIVING ON AN ISOLATED HOMESTEAD, BEING EXHAUSTED FROM BACK-BREAKING WORK, MOST OF THE TIME, IN ORDER TO SURVIVE, AND GOING BETWEEN TWO BOOKS, THE BIBLE AND MR. BREWSTER'S TOME ABOUT OUTER SPACE, TO FIND OUT WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS REALLY ALL ABOUT. (YOU CAN ARCHIVE BACK TO YESTERDAY'S BLOG, IF YOU MISSED THE INTRODUCTION TO BREWSTER'S BOOK). BREWSTER'S BOOK, BY THE WAY, WAS SO PROFOUND FOR ITS TIME, IT HAS JUMPED THE GENERATIONS, AND IS CURRENTLY IN MULTIPLE REPRINTS. THERE'S SOME PRETTY INTERESTING EXPLANATIONS ABOUT LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS, BUT IF YOU'RE THINKING EXTRA TERRESTRIALS, MAYBE NOT SO MUCH.
      "BEFORE CHRISTIANITY SHED ITS LIGHT UPON THE WORLD, THE PHILOSOPHER WHO HAD NO OTHER GUIDE, BUT REASON, LOOKED BEYOND THE GRAVE, FOR A RESTING PLACE FROM HIS LABOURS, AS WELL AS FOR A SOLUTION OF THE MYSTERIES WHICH PERPLEXED HIM," WRITES DAVID BREWSTER, IN HIS OPENING CHAPTER, HEADED, "RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE QUESTION.'
     "MINDS, TOO, OF AN INFERIOR ORDER, DESTINED FOR IMMORTALITY, AND CONSCIOUS OF THEIR DESTINATION, INSTINCTIVELY PRIED INTO THE FUTURE, CHERISHING VISIONS OF ANOTHER WORLD, WITH ALL THE FERVOR OF DOMESTIC AFFECTION, AND WITH ALL THE CURIOSITY WHICH THE STUDY OF NATURE INSPIRES. INTERESTING AS HAS BEEN THE PAST HISTORY OF OUR RACE, - THE FUTURE, MORE EXCITING STILL, MINGLES ITSELF WITH EVERY THOUGHT AND SENTIMENT, AND CASTS ITS BEAMS OF HOPE, OR ITS SHADOWS OF FEAR, OVER THE STAGE BOTH, OF ACTIVE AND CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE. IN YOUTH WE SCARCELY DESCRY IT IN THE DISTANCE. TO THE STRIPLING AND THE MAN, IT APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS LIKE A VARIABLE STAR, SHOWING IN PAINFUL SUCCESSION ITS SPOTS OF LIGHT AND SHADE. IN AGE IT LOOKS GIGANTIC TO THE EYE, FULL OF CHASTENED HOPE AND GLORIOUS ANTICIPATION; AND AT THE HOUR OF TRANSITION, WHEN THE OUTWARD EYE IS DIM, THE IMAGE OF THE FUTURE IS THE LAST PICTURE WHICH IS EFFACED FROM THE RETINA OF THE MIND."
      I CAN'T HELP GETTING MIRED-DOWN BY THE CONTRADICTION, OF ON ONE HAND, THE ALMOST PRIMITIVE MUCKING AROUND OF THE POOR HOMESTEADER, TRYING TO CULTIVATE A PARCEL OF LAND, DOTTED WITH BROKEN TREE ROOTS AND ROCK, AND APPLYING HONEST FAITH, TO GET THROUGH A LONG DAY'S LABOUR, TO ATTAIN EVEN A POOR HARVEST AT THE END OF THE GROWING SEASON. BEING SUPERSTITIOUS, AND BELIEVING SOME OF THE CULTURAL FOLKLORE FROM THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, IT IS EXPECTED, BY MOST WHO PAID ATTENTION TO THOSE HISTORY LESSON, THAT THE PIONEER'S CHOICE OF EVENING READING, CAME FROM THE FAMILY BIBLE. THIS WELL WORN COPY OF BREWSTER'S TEXT, INDICATES A CONSIDERABLE RESPECT FOR WHAT IS PRINTED INSIDE. I JUST HAVE A HARD TIME, THINKING ABOUT THESE SAME HOMESTEAD FOLK, STANDING OUT ON A HILLSIDE, WATCHING THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, WITH GREAT INTEREST, AND AT THE SAME TIME, SPECULATING WHAT MYSTERIES MIGHT BE REVEALED FROM DEEP IN THE UNIVERSE, BECKONING THEIR IMAGINATIONS TO STAR TRAVEL. WHAT IF THEY HAD WITNESSED AN UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT, WHICH WE DO KNOW, DID OCCUR, DURING THIS PERIOD OF HISTORY IN NORTH AMERICA, JUST NOT BEING NAMED AS "FLYING SAUCERS." THERE WERE DOCUMENTED REPORTS, IN THIS COUNTRY, OF STRANGE OBJECTS AND VISIONS IN THE SKY, WITHOUT BEING ASSESSED AS EXTRA TERESTIAL EVENTS. COMETS, METEORS, AND SHOOTING STARS. THE PIONEERS KNEW ABOUT THESE BLAZING LIGHTS ACROSS THE SKY, AND OF COURSE, THE MOON MADE OUT OF CHEESE. FOLKLORE AND CHILDREN'S TALES DID ENTER INTO THE ASSESSMENT OF THE UNIVERSE, AT THIS TIME IN THE INTERMINGLING OF SCIENTIFIC REALITIES, AND DOG EARRED STORIES FROM ANTIQUITY, ABOUT THE MYSTERIES OF TIME AND SPACE. BREWSTER ADDRESSED THE ISSUE OF CONFLUENCE BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY IN REGARDS TO ASTRONOMY, AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF.
     "BUT HOWEVER UNIVERSAL HAS BEEN THE ANTICIPATION OF THE FUTURE, AND HOWEVER POWERFUL ITS INFLUENCES, REASON DID NOT VENTURE TO GIVE A FORM AND LOCALITY TO ITS CONCEPTIONS; AND THE IMAGINATION, EVEN WITH ITS LOOSEST REINS, FAILED IN THE ATTEMPT. BEFORE THE BIRTH OF ASTRONOMY, INDEED, WHEN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF SPACE TERMINATED WITH THE OCEAN, OR THE MOUNTAIN RANGE THAT BOUNDED OUR VIEW, THE PHILOSOPHER PLACED HIS ELYSIUM IN THE SKY; AND EVEN WHEN REVELATION HAD UNVEILED THE HOUSE OF MANY MANSIONS, CHRISTIAN SAGE DESCRIED HIS FUTURE HOME, IN THE NEW HEAVENS, AND IN THE NEW EARTH OF HIS CREED. THUS VAGUELY ABANDONED FORTH, - THUS SEEN AS THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, THE FUTURE EVEN OF THE CHRISTIAN, THOUGH, A REALITY TO HIS FAITH, WAS BUT A DREAM TO HIS REASON. IN VAIN DID HE INQUIRE WHAT THIS FUTURE WAS TO BE IN ITS PHYSICAL RELATIONS, - IN WHAT REGION OF SPACE WAS IT TO BE SPENT, - WHAT DUTIES AND PURSUITS WERE TO OCCUPY IT, - AND WHAT INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS WERE TO BE HIS PORTION. BUT WHEN SCIENCE TAUGHT HIM THE PAST HISTORY OF OUR EARTH, ITS FORM, AND SIZE AND MOTIONS, - WHEN ASTRONOMY SURVEYED THE SOLAR SYSTEM, AND MEASURED ITS PLANETS, AND PRONOUNCED THE EARTH TO BE BUT A TINY SPHERE, AND TO HAVE NOT PLACE OF DISTINCTION AMONG ITS GIANT COMPEERS, AND WHEN THE TELESCOPE ESTABLISHED NEW SYSTEMS OF WORLDS FAR BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF OUR OWN, THE FUTURE OF THE SAGE CLAIMED A PLACE THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE, AND INSPIRED HIM WITH AN INTEREST IN WORLDS, AND SYSTEMS OF WORLDS, - IN SPACE, WITHOUT LIMITS, AS WELL AS IN LIFE WITHOUT END. ON EAGLES' WINGS HE SOARED IN IMAGINATION TO THE ZENITH, AND SPED HIS WAY TO THE HORIZON OF SPACE, WITHOUT REACHING ITS EVER-RETIRING BOURNE; AND IN THE INFINITY OF WORLDS, AND AMID THE INFINITY OF LIFE, WHICH HIS REASON SUGGESTED, HE DESCRIED THE HOME AND THE COMPANIONS OF THE FUTURE."

IS THERE SOME LIFE FORMS OUT THERE, JUST LIKE US?

     "That these views are in accordance with the demonstrated truths of astronomy, and deducible from them by analogies which guide us in the ordinary business of life, it will be the object of this essay to shew (show). But before entering upon the astronomical and geological details, which will thus demand our attention, some preliminary observations are necessary to prepare our minds, for the unfettered discussion of a subject which ignorance and bigotry still surround with many prejudices," writes David Brewster.
     "In advocating a plurality of worlds, we are fortunately in a more favoured position, that the geologist, whose researches into the ancient history of the earth, stood in apparent opposition to the declaration of Scripture. Neither in the Old nor New Testament, is there a single expression incompatible with the great truth, that there are other worlds than our own, which are the seats of life, and intelligence. Many passages of Scripture, on the contrary, are favourable to the doctrine, and there are some, we think, which are inexplicable, without admitting it to be true. The beautiful text, for example, in which the Psalmist expresses his surprise that the Being who fashioned the heavens, and ordained the moon and stars, should be mindful of so insignificant a being as man, is, we think, a positive argument for a plurality of worlds. We cannot concur in the idea, of Dr. Chalmers, that a person wholly ignorant of the science of astronomy, and consequently, to whom all the stars and planets appear but specks of light in the sky, not more important than the ignis fatuus, upon a marshy field, could express the surprise and deep emotion of the Hebrew poet. Inspiration, no doubt, revealed to him the magnitude, the distances, and the final cause of the glorious spheres which fixed his admiration; and, when impressed with these truths, two portions of creation were presented to his mind in the strongest contrast; - Man in his comparative insignificance, and the Heavens, - the Moon, and the Stars, in their absolute grandeur. He whom God made a little lower than angels, who He crowned with glory and with honour, and for whose redemption, He sent His only Son to suffer, and to die, could not, in the Psalmist's estimation, be an object of insignificance, and measured, therefore, by his high estimate of man, his idea of the heavens, the moon, and the stars must have been of the most transcendent kind."
     The author points out, "Man, made after God's image, was a nobler creation than twinkling sparks in the sky, or than the larger and more useful lamp of the moon. The Psalmist must, therefore, have written under the impression either, that the planets and stars were worlds without life, or worlds inhabited by rational and immortal beings. If he regarded them as unoccupied, we cannot see any reason for surprise that God, should be mindful of His noblest work, because innumberable masses of matter existed in the universe, performing, for no intelligible purpose, their solitary rounds. If they were thus made for the benefit and contemplation of man, unseen by any mortal eye but his, then should the Psalmist have expressed his wonder, not at the littleness, but at the greatness of the being, for whose use such magnificent worlds had been called into existence. But if the poet viewed these worlds, as he doubtless did, as teeming with life physical and intellectual, as globes which may have required long periods of time for their preparation, exhibiting new forms of being, new powers of mind, new conditions in the past, and new glories in the future, we can then understand, why he marvelled as the care of God for creatures so comparatively insignificant as man."
     He contends, "We must consequently find, for the race of Adam, if not for races that may have preceded him, a material home upon which they may reside, or from which they may travel by means unknown to us, to other localities in the universe. At the present hour, (1854) the inhabitants of the earth are nearly a thousand millions; and by whatever process we may compute the numbers that have existed before the present generation, and estimate those that are yet to inherit the earth, we shall obtain a population which the habitable parts of our globe could not possibly accommodate. If there is not room then on our earth, for the millions of millions, of beings, who have lived and died upon its surface, and who may yet live and die during the period fixed for its occupation by man, we can scarcely doubt that their future abode, must be on some of the primary or secondary planets of the Solar System, whose inhabitants have ceased to exist, like those on earth, or upon planets in our own, or in other systems which have been in a state of preparation, as our earth was, for the advent of intellectual life.
     "The connexion thus indicated between the destinies of the human family, and the material system to which we belong, arising from the limited extent of the earth's habitable surface, and its unlimited population, is a strong corroboration of the views which we have deduced from Scripture. In the world of instinct the superabundance of life, is controlled by the law of mutual destruction, which reigns in the earth, the ocean and the air; but the swarm of human life, increasing in an incalcuable ration, both in the Old and the New World, has never been perceptibly reduced by the scythe of famine, of pestilence, or of war; and when we consider the length of time during which this acummulation may proceed, we cannot justly challenge the correctness of the conclusion, that this earth is not to be the future residence of the numerous family which it has been destined to rear."
     In tomorrow's blog, we will examine a few other thoughts, as expressed by the good Mr. Brewster, from the chapter, under the heading, "The Future of the Universe."
     Imagine by hearthside, after a pause to look out the window, and the blackness of night, and the few twinkling stars visible from that angle of the rocking chair, the following words of advice from the author; to set us in the right direction, in heart and philosophy. "We must instruct our youth, and even age itself, in the geology and physical geography of the Earth, that they may learn the structure and use of its brother planets; and we must fix in their memories, and associate with their affections, the great truths in the planetary and sidereal universe, on which the doctrine of more worlds than one must necessarily rest. Thus familiar with the more magnificent works of creation - thus seeing them through the heart, as well as through the eye, the young will look to the future with a keener glance, and with brighter hopes; the weary and the heavy laden, 'Lifting their tearful eye unto the stars,' will rejoice in the vision of their place to rest; - the philosopher will scan with a new sense the lofty spheres in which he is to study; - and the Christian will recognize, in the worlds of stars, the gorgeous Temples in which he is to offer his sacrifice of praise."

THE MUSKOKA EXPERIMENT CIRCA 1861 - THE COMMISSION REPORT

     I have frequently referenced the Ontario Agricultural Commission report of 1881, when I write about the homesteaders and the free land grants; most recently in the stories about Granny Bowers journal, and then the Icelandic settlement, in Hekkla, in North Cardwell, in the District of Muskoka. The report confirms in my opinion, that the fact a majority of settlers survived on the frontier, and created moderately successful homesteads, and commenced somewhat prosperous businesses, meant that the government's hunch had been correct. The poorly outfitted settlers would take just about any land, and at least clear the timber and roads, helping the cause of settlement down the road. What it also meant for them, was that there was more boglands, rocks and densely forested areas further north, and if the Muskoka grant program worked, so would a similar free land offer, in even more adverse northern districts. The settlers, however, didn't know they were part of a government strategy, to settle the country sea to sea. They (government land agents) knew some would perish trying to homestead, and there is no evidence they were particularly concerned about this negative side of the story.

      "Coupled with the suggestion that the attention of the Government should be directed to this matter, with the view of affording facilities for the class of settlers, or occupiers of the land, indicated the Commissioners desire at the same time respectfully, to urge the preservation of the more valuable hardwood timber of our still remaining Crown lands, should be the subject of special and particular attention. In the District of Muskoka and Parry Sound large quantities of such timber exist, and every day brings nearer the time when, either from its possession or destruction, its real value will be recognized.

     "The water communication existing, supplemented by colonization roads already constructed, and still more by the projected railway through the length and very heart of the district, will afford means for marketing its products or shipping them to market at many convenient points, and of rendering the hardwood accessible with little difficulty. Nor can the Commissioners overlook the fact, that, if the lands of the Muskoka and Parry Sound District can be made available for the purpose already as above proposed, a key may be found to the solution of the question, what is to be done with regions still more remote and to all appearance unfitted for settlement in the ordinary sense, but still within the boundaries of Ontario. The subject is too large to be touched upon further here, but it is one well worthy of the attention of all who have the future of this Province most dearly at heart."

     There is more concern about the welfare of the valuable hardwood stand, than interest in the settlers' living standard and welfare generally. The settlers they habitually abused with misinformation, when government land agents attempted, with great fanfare and promotion, to attract immigrants to the free land grants. They, without shame, suggest that crappy land is abundant in Northern Ontario, at least in the interest of farming, but because of the Muskoka and Parry Sound improvements, obviously there were more brave and desparate souls to occupy the environs, to help make the province prosperous, and the mission to settle the north and west......a resounding success, despite the casualties. To meet the government's objective, lives would have to be sacrificed.....and lives were most definitely lost due to the hardships these largely ill-prepared immigrants faced. As I've asked before, what was the "acceptable loss," to get the unsettled lands "occupied." Was it okay to lose a hundred souls each year? A thousand? Did they care, accept for the reason of statistics and economics, if 5,000 had perished? The deal was, how did the province fare in all this? Seeing as the general public wasn't going to get a copy of this commission's report, they could allude to anything they wanted.......and apparently, hardwood was more important than human life. As an historian, it makes me cringe to think how much suffering was directly proportional to government deceit, and overall misrepresentation of homestead possibilities in the Muskoka wilds. Who was held to account for the falsehoods....the fraud? The final line of the summation, is the one that knocks me over, and reminds me of so many other government interests......"The subject is too large to be touched upon further here, but it is one well worthy of the attention of all who have the future of this Province most nearly at heart." Geez, I'd enjoy the retrospective of meeting with the folks who were at this commission meeting.

     So in today's monetary terms, what was the homesteaders' pain and suffering worth? How about a class-action lawsuit, on behalf of family members today, who possess records of just how much hardship was endured, based in large part, on the lies of those they trusted. Government representatives. Just to meet quota, they told the stories, these poor souls wanted to hear......of the promised land. Many didn't survive the voyage across the Atlantic, succumbing to illnesses, passed from contaminated passengers on the crossing. Steerage in many cases, was pretty much a hell on water. Then to arrive here, with next to nothing, and find out that there was even less to be pleased about, due to the shortage of provisions, the expense of life-sustaining materials, transportation, and temporary shelter. For the government to admit this was a trial, and some good came from it, well......what can an old historian say, than never trust the government to give you the straight goods, without crossed fingers........hoping you'll just take their word and disappear into the rank and file of citizenry.

     "While the older settled portions of the Province naturally demanded the largest share of attention from the Agricultural Commission, it was obviously proper that some of the newer and outlying sections should not be altogether overlooked.  Having regard to the circumstances generally under which the electoral district of Muskoka-Parry Sound had been settled, it was thought most expedient that some members of the Commission should make a personal visit to that district, and thus obtain, not only from oral testimony, but also by personal observation, a much larger amount of information than could be had by summoning a limited number of the settlers to give evidence at Toronto," notes the report.

     "The lumbering industry is carried on to a considerable extent, several townships having been placed under license from 1871 up to the present time. A large proportion of the settlers have been, as may be supposed, persons without means or with very little means indeed. The Commissioners remark upon this fact, and point out that the general effect of the Free Grant policy has necessarily been to people Muskoka to a very great extent in the way least likely, early, to show large results. The country is densely wooded; consequently, every foot of cultivable ground has had to be cleared with the axe; and, but for the lumbering industry, already referred to, not a few of the settlers would have found subsistence impossible. Having regard in fact, to the nature of the country, and the class to which the majority of the settlers belong, the progress made has been not only satisfactory but even, in some respects, surprising. The district is traversed by bands of Laurentian rock, and the cultivable area is thereby considerably broken up." Which means a thin soil on top of rock.

     The report was published in 1881. The homesteaders needed their help and guidance in the 1860's. It took decades to decide to investigate the situation in Muskoka and Parry Sound, and even then, it wasn't much more than cursory, like a barber giving a basic trim. By the 1880's, much of the carnage to the pioneers had already been experienced, and the graves long grown-over, by time there was any attention to their plight.

    Just so you know, I am the only historian in this region, to my knowledge, to place a huge weight on this report, to explain why homesteaders to this region, suffered so greatly. And our family was amongst those first settlers, in the Ufford, Three Mile Lake area of the present Township of Muskoka Lakes, who came to Canada, because of the free land grants' promotion of a better life in a new land. They survived and prospered, the result of back-breaking labor and fierce determination to succeed. Many of their neighbors didn't fare quite so well. A substantial number simply succumbed to a lifestyle they were not accustomed, and definitely not prepared.

     So what's my point. Well, as we all enjoy the exceptional and abundant recreations of Muskoka in this new century, and occasionally complain about taxes, inconveniences, things and options we don't have here.....like they have in the city......maybe a little reflection on the way it was......might be insightfully refreshing; and validate the hard work and sacrifice those folks made for us, so that we could enjoy the modern version of a wild frontier, they found so painfully discouraging in pioneer Canada. Should you be out for a countryside hike, and come upon, all of a sudden, a rectangular depression in the ground, the size of a coffin, well, offer a little thanks to the pioneer who gave up his life to make a better one for his or her family.......and ultimately the survivors of those rigors.....us!

   

Seasons Of The Lilac Part 7; The Books That Comforted The Pioneers, Including Speculations About The Universe

"SEASONS OF THE LILAC," PART SEVEN - WHAT WERE THE HOMESTEADERS READING IN THEIR BACKWOODS ISOLATION OTHER THAN THE FAMILY BIBLE?

SOME BOOKS, YOU WOULD EXPECT, OTHERS, WELL NOT REALLY!

     EVEN WHEN I VISITED HALF-FALLEN IN FARMSTEADS, IN SOUTH MUSKOKA, IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON AT ALL, TO FIND A HIGH, CORNER BOOKSHELF, WITH TEXTS STILL LINED UP, AS IF THE RESIDENT GHOSTS, HAD BECOME ENDURING, FAITHFUL STEWARDS TO THE WRITTEN WORD. MANY WERE STILL IN FAIR CONDITION, AFTER DECADES OF BEING EXPOSED TO SEASONAL WEATHER FLUCTUATIONS, AND MOISTURE CONTAMINATION. MANY WERE AGRICULTURAL BOOKS, AND A FEW HOMESTEAD SURVIVAL GUIDES, SUCH AS THE 1850'S "FARMERS' EVERYDAY BOOK," THAT I PURCHASED, AT AN AUCTION SALE, HELD ON THE PROPERTY OF THE HISTORIC EWING FARM, WEST OF BRACEBRIDGE, NEAR MILFORD BAY. YOU COULD FIND THE OCCASIONAL COOK BOOK, IN ROUGH CONDITION, AND OTHER RELIGIOUS BOOKS, WITH A SMATTERING OF POETRY COLLECTIONS, ALL OF THE MORE ROMANTIC KIND. FEEL GOOD POETRY! BUT THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS, THAT MAKES THE VOYEUR RE-THINK WHAT HAS BEEN ASSUMED OF THE PIONEER PERIOD, AND WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION MADE IT ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE WILDS. BOOKS WERE A LUXURY, AND HEAVY CARGO, ESPECIALLY IF THE HOMESTEADER HAD TO WALK TWENTY OR THIRTY MILES THROUGH THE BUSH, TO GET TO A FREE LAND GRANT PROPERTY. THERE IS ONE STORY TOLD, OF AN ELDERLY WOMAN BEING ASKED TO GET OUT OF A CART, AS IT WAS BEING PULLED UP THE A HILL, NEAR BAYSVILLE, BY AN EXHAUSTED, FALTERING TEAM OF HORSES. SHE AGREED TO GET OUT, BUT INSISTED THAT THE CLOCK CAME WITH HER, AS IT WAS HER DEAREST POSSESSION, BROUGHT FROM HOME. WE KNOW THAT SOME BOOKS, ESPECIALLY FAMILY BIBLES, MADE THE TRIP AS "COVETED," POSSESSIONS, AND I DARE SAY, SOME WERE WALKED UP HILLS AS WELL, WHEN THE LOAD AND THE CHALLENGE AHEAD BECAME TOO MUCH FOR THE TEAM.
     I PURCHASED TWO AMAZING OLD BOOKS THIS AFTERNOON, THAT I SUSPECT WERE FROM (AREA) FARMSTEADS, LOCATED IN THIS REGION OF ONTARIO. AND AMONG THE MANY I HAVE COLLECTED OVER THE DECADES, AS A BIBLIOPHILE, THERE ARE OCCASIONAL SURPRISES. I LIKE PROVENANCE WITH MY BOOKS, SO THAT I CAN INCLUDE THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO OWNED THE BOOKS IN THE PAST, AND WHERE THEY WERE FROM IN THE WORLD. OLD AND DEAR BOOKS, WERE OFTEN HAULED AROUND THE GLOBE, FROM TRANSPORT IN HORSE DRAWN CARTS, IN SCHOONERS, IN PACKS UP MOUNTAIN SIDES, AND VIA TRAIN PULLED BY STEAM LOCOMOTIVES. IN THE ANTIQUE COLLECTING ENTERPRISE, HAVING PROVENANCE TO ATTACH TO AN ACQUISITION, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, IS A VALUE ENHANCEMENT, AND KNOWING IT WAS FROM A SPECIFIC REGION, A CASTLE, A WELL KNOWN ESTATE, THE AUTHOR'S OWN COLLECTION, OR FROM THE MODEST LIBRARY OF A KNOWN FARMSTEAD, OFFERS AN HISTORIAN /WRITER, LIKE ME, A LITTLE EXTRA TO SHARE WITH READERS. TODAY I GOT TWO GEMS; ONE OF THE TWO 1854 BOOKS, WAS A PREDICTABLE FIND, THE OTHER, WELL, IT BLEW ME AWAY. THE FACT THAT BOTH WERE FROM 1854, AND WERE THE ONLY TWO GENUINELY ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS I HANDLED TODAY, WAS ALSO ONE OF THOSE COINCIDENCES WE COLLECTORS SPIN STORIES ABOUT. AND HERE'S ONE FOR TODAY.
     THE FIRST BOOK ACQUISITION, WAS AN 1854, GOOD CONDITION COPY OF "A THEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY, CONTAINING OF ALL RELIGIOUS TERMS, A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF EVERY ARTICLE IN THE SYSTEM OF DIVINITY, AN IMPARTIAL ACCOUNT OF ALL THE PRINCIPAL DENOMINATION, WHICH HAVE SUBSISTED IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE PRESENT DAY - AN ACCURATE STATEMENT OF THE MOST REMARKABLE TRANSACTIONS AND EVENTS RECORDED IN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY." BY THE REVEREND CHARLES BUCK. A SECTION ENTITLED "NEW AMERICAN, FROM THE LATEST LONDON EDITION," WAS COMPOSED BY REVEREND GEORGE BUSH, A.M. (COULD IT BE ANY RELATION TO THE PRESIDENTIAL BUSH FAMILY? AND YES WE FOUND OUT HE WAS A DISTANT RELATIVE FROM VERMONT)
     THERE IS AN OPENING SECTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE BOOK, SHOWING RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION THROUGH THE YEARS, AND HONESTLY, I STARTED TO GET NAUSEOUS. YES, IT IS THAT BAD. SO THIS WAS A PRETTY SOUL WRENCHING INTRODUCTION, TO THE HISTORY FREEDOM OF RELIGION, OR NOT, WITH THE KIND OF GRAPHICS THAT WOULD CERTAINLY MAKE A FORLORN, WEARY HOMESTEADER, FEEL A LITTLE MORE WRETCHED THAN USUAL. THIS IS NOT THE KIND OF ENDEARING COLLECTION OF GRAPHICS, THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO READ FURTHER. BUT, IN TERMS OF EXPLANATIONS, OF BIBLE REFERENCES, AND TO LEARN MORE ABOUT "ANGELS" FOR EXAMPLE, IT WAS A SUBSTANTIALLY WELL PROPORTIONED AND USEFUL RESOURCE. IF THE HOMESTEAD MOTHER, OR FATHER, WANTED TO SCARE THEIR CHILDREN, AND WARN THEM ABOUT THE EVILS OF THE WORLD, THE FIRST TWELVE OR SO PAGES OF THIS BOOK, WOULD EITHER SCARE THEM STRAIGHT, OR TURN THEM OFF RELIGION FOREVER.
     THE SECOND BOOK, FROM A HOMESTEAD BOOKSHELF, IS PARTICULARLY FASCINATING. JUST LAST NIGHT, I SAT OUT HERE ON THE VERANDAH OF BIRCH HOLLOW, ENJOYING THE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER EVENING (IN AUTUMN), AND WONDERED HOW THE MUSKOKA HOMESTEADERS, FELT ABOUT THINGS LIKE THE MOON AND STARS, AND WHAT THEY COULD SEE OF THE UNIVERSE. IN THEIR ISOLATED SITUATIONS, ON NIGHTS AS BLACK AS COAL, (AS THEY SAY), HOW WOULD THEY HAVE INTERPRETED THE STARSCAPE, AND SPECULATED ON WHAT EXISTED OUT THERE IN THE SPACE ABOVE THEM. WAS IT OF GOD'S CREATION? WAS IT A SPARKLING UNKNOWN QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF NATURE, UNDERSTOOD BY SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHERS? THE BOOK I FOUND TODAY, MAY OFFER SOME EXPLANATION, IN THIS REGARD, AND PROVIDE REASONABLE INSIGHT, ABOUT WHAT HOMESTEADERS COULD SPECULATE ABOUT THE UNIVERSE, DAZZLING IN TINY LIGHTS, AROUND THE GREAT AND MYSTERIOUS MOON-FACE, ABOVE THEIR TINY RURAL HOMESTEADS. IT DEMONSTRATES, THAT EVEN IN THE HOMESTEAD PERIOD OF MUSKOKA, THERE WERE "OTHER WORLDLY" INSIGHTS AND SPECULATIONS, ABOUT THE MOTHER EARTH, AND HUMANITY'S PLACE IN IT, THAT DIDN'T ALWAYS FALL TIGHTLY INTO NEAT COMPONENTS OF RELIGION, AS IT WAS BEING OFFERED IN COUNTRY CHURCHES, WHICH WERE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN, HERE IN THE EARLY 1860'S. IN MANY ENCAMPMENT AREAS, IN THE SETTLEMENT TERRITORY, HOMESTEADERS MIGHT MEET IN THE HUMBLE LOG CABINS, WHERE NEIGHBORS COULD CONGREGATE FOR CONVENIENCES ON SUNDAYS, TO PRAY AS A GROUP.
     THE BOOK IS ENTITLED "MORE WORLDS THAN ONE, THE CREED OF THE PHILOSOPHER - AND THE HOPE OF THE CHRISTIANS," BY SIR DAVID BREWSTER, AND PUBLISHED IN 1854, IN LONDON, ENGLAND, BY JOHN MURRAY OF ALBEMARLE STREET. THIS WAS NOTED AS BEING WITHIN THE FIRST 6,000 COPIES PUBLISHED AT THAT TIME. THINKING ABOUT THOSE SETTLERS, LOOKING AT THE NIGHT SKY, WITH THIS BOOK HAVING BEEN AVAILABLE TO THEM AS REFERENCE, WOULD HAVE CERTAINLY CREATED AN UNEXPECTED ENLIGHTENMENT ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY, EARTH WASN'T THE ONLY HABITABLE PLANET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. THIS WASN'T A BOOK CONFINED TO A UNIVERSITY COLLECTION, FOR THE BENEFIT OF SCHOLARS. THIS WAS AVAILABLE TO THOSE INTERESTED IN SUCH THINGS, WHO COULD AFFORD SUCH A LUXURY. IT'S NOT A BOOK THAT DISMISSES RELIGION, BUT OPENS THE READER'S MIND TO THE POSSIBILITIES OF LIFE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE UNIVERSE. IT'S WILD WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT. HERE WE ARE, IN 2014, STILL TRYING TO ANSWER ROUGHLY THE SAME QUESTIONS. OBVIOUSLY IN 1854, THEY DIDN'T HAVE THE SAME ADVANTAGES WE HAVE TODAY, TO SEEK OUT THESE ANSWERS. I CAN VISUALIZE THE HOMESTEADER, SITTING BY AN ILLUMINATED OIL LAMP, READING FROM THIS BOOK, AND THEN HEADING OUTSIDE, IN THE DARKNESS, LOOKING UP TO EXPLORE WITH THEIR OWN EYES, THIS MAGNIFICENT DEEPNESS OF UNIVERSE STRETCHING TO INFINITY. BUT THEN, WHAT IN 1854 WAS INFINITY? WHAT WOULD A SETTLER, CIRCA THE 1850'S, EXPECT, AND IMAGINE, OF LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS. ALIENS? DID THEY KNOW WHAT THIS MEANT? WELL, LET'S FIND OUT WHAT THIS BOOK WAS ALL ABOUT, AND WHAT IT MEANT TO THE HOMESTEADERS, TRYING TO GET THROUGH THE DAYS AND WEEKS, WITHOUT STARVING TO DEATH; TOO BUSY GENERALLY TO WORRY ABOUT SPACE INVADERS. BUT WHAT IF THEY SAW A HOVERING DISC, LIKE WHAT WE WOULD CALL "A FLYING SAUCER" TODAY?
     I WILL CARRY-ON THIS BOOK REVIEW, AS IT RELATES TO THE HOMESTEAD LIBRARY, FOR SEVERAL BLOGS THIS WEEK, BECAUSE IT'S SUCH A FASCINATING STORY. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS COLUMN, TRY TO IMAGINE YOURSELF IN THAT BLEAK, ISOLATED HOMESTEAD SITUATION, SUCH AS THE DESCRIPTION I'VE OFFERED OF THE PIONEER ENCAMPMENT OF "JERUSALEM," NEAR BRACEBRIDGE, AND LOOKING UP FROM THE VALLEY BELOW WHAT THEY CALLED, "THE HILL OF JUDEA," IN THE PITCH-BLACK OF NIGHT, LOOKING UP AT THE INFINITY OF TWINKLING LIGHTS, AND SHOOTING STARS, ACROSS THE FACE OF THE HARVEST MOON. IT MAKES ME SHIVER JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.
     "There is no subject within the whole range of knowledge so universally interesting, as that of a Plurality of Worlds. It commands the sympathies, and appeals to the judgement of men of all nations, of all creeds, and of all times; and no sooner do we comprehend the few simple facts on which it rests, than the mind rushes instinctively to embrace it. Before the great truths of Astronomy were demonstrated - before the dimensions and motions of the planets were ascertained, and the fixed stars placed at inconceivable distances from the system to which we belong, philosophers and poets descried in the celestial spheres the abodes of the blest; but it was not till the form and size and motions of the earth were known, and till the condition of the other planets was found to be the same, that analogy compelled us to believe that these planets must be inhabited like our own."
     Sir David Brewster writes, "Although this opinion was maintained incidentally, by various writers both on astronomy and natural religion, yet M. Fontenelle, Secretary to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, was the first individual who wrote a treatise expressly on the subject. It was published in 1686, the year before Sir Isaac Newton, gave his immortal work, the 'Principia,' to the world, and was entitled "Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds.' It consisted of five chapters with the following titles. 1. The earth is a planet which turns round its own axis and also round the sun. 2. The moon is a habitable world. 3. Particulars concerning the world in the moon, and that the other planets are also inhabited. 4. Particulars of the worlds of Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. 5. The fixed stars are as many suns, each of which illuminates a world.' In another edition, of the work published in 1719, Fontenelle, added a sixth chapter, entitled, '6. New thoughts which confirm those in the preceding conversations. The latest discoveries which have been made in the heavens.' This singular work, written by a man of great genius, and with sufficient knowledge of astronomy, excited a high degree of interest, both from the nature of the subject and the vivacity and humour with which was written. The conversations are carried on with the Marchioness of G___, with whom the author is supposed to be reading. The lady is, of course, distinguished by youth, beauty, and talent, and the share which she takes in the dialogue is not less interesting than the more scientific part assumed by the philosopher.
     "The Plurality of Worlds,' as the work was called, was read with unexplained avidity, and was speedily circulated through every part of Europe. It was translated into al the languages of the continent, and was honoured by annotations from the pen of celebrated astronomer, La Lande, and of M. Gottsched, one of the German editors. No fewer than three English translations were published, and one of these, we believe the first, had run through six editions so early as the year 1737. Wherever it was read, it was admired, and though one hundred and sixty-seven years have elapsed since its publication, (to 1854) we have not been able to learn than any attempt has been made, during that long period, either to ridicule or controvert the fascinating doctrines which it taught. A few years after the publication of Fontenelle's work, the celebrated philosopher, Christian Huygens. the contemporary of Newton, and the discoverer of the ring and one of the satellites of Saturn, composed a work on the 'Plurality of Worlds,' under the title of the 'Theory of the Universe, or Conjectures concerning the Celestial Bodies and Their Inhabitats.' This interesting treatise, as large as that of Fontenelle, was translated into English, and went through at least two editions. It was written at the age of sixty-seven, a short time before the author's death; and so great was the interest which he felt in its publication, that he earnestly besought his brother, to carry his wishes into effect. He mentions the great pleasure he had derived from the composition of it, and from the communications of his views to his friends. About to enter the world of the future, the philosopher who had added a new planet to our solar system, and discovered the most magnificent and incomprehensible of its structures, looked forward with a peculiar interest to a solution of the mysteries which it had been the business and the happiness of his life to contemplate. He was anxious that his fellow-men should derive the same pleasures that he did, from viewing the planets and the stars, as the seats of intellectual life, and he left them his 'Theory of the Universe,' a legacy worthy of his name."
     To be continued in tomorrow's blog.


FROM THE ARCHIVES

THE PROPANGANDA OF 1871 - THE HOMESTEADER TRAP - DISHONESTY? OR TWISTING THE TRUTH?

SO WHAT GOT THE BALL ROLLING IN OUR DISTRICT? SPECULATION AND THE POOR!

THOMAS MCMURRAY WAS A DECENT SORT. NOT A GREAT BUSINESSMAN, BUT A HUSTLER. A GREAT OPTIMIST. THE KIND OF "IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME," KIND OF ENTREPRENEUR. SEEMED TO BE IN A HURRY TO BUILD A "TOWN OF BRACEBRIDGE" BEFORE THE HAMLET WAS EVEN INCHING TOWARD VILLAGE STATUS. HIS SETTLERS' GUIDE BOOK, PUBLISHED IN 1871, ENTITLED "MUSKOKA AND PARRY SOUND," IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DISTRICT BOOKS WE POSSESS AS A REGION. I WAS GIVEN A COPY BY MY MOTHER-IN-LAW, HARRIET STRIPP (NEE SHEA), WHO HAD BEEN GIVEN HER FATHER'S BOOK, WHEN HE PASSED AWAY. HE WAS JOHN SHEA, OF UFFORD, AND HE HAD ONCE BEEN A CLERK AT WATT TOWNSHIP, IN MUSKOKA LAKES. I AM PLEASED TO OWN IT, BECAUSE IT PUTS ME CLOSER, YOU SEE, TO THE GUY WHO HELPED MISLEAD A LOT OF UNSUSPECTING SETTLERS TO THEIR HOMESTEAD DISASTERS. DON'T GET ME WRONG. THOMAS MCMURRAY WAS AN IMPORTANT BUSINESSMAN IN BRACEBRIDGE. BUT HE HAD CONFLICTS, PARTICULARLY WHEN HE AUTHORED THIS PARTICULAR BOOK, THAT WAS AIMED AT POTENTIAL AND INCOMING HOMESTEADERS…..AND WAS HEAVILY BIASED, BUT HE DIDN'T WANT READERS TO THINK SO. HE FOOLED A LOT OF HISTORIANS OVER THE YEARS BUT NOT ME. THE MORE FOLKS HE ATTRACTED TO BRACEBRIDGE AND MUSKOKA, THE BETTER HIS BUSINESS MIGHT FARE. NOW I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY COPIES OF THIS BOOK WERE PRODUCED AS A FIRST EDITION. I DON'T SUSPECT THERE WERE THOUSANDS PRINTED, BUT I CAN'T SAY THIS FOR SURE. NONE THE LESS, HE STILL CONTRADICTS HIMSELF WITH THE PARAGRAPH THAT READS:

AS I HAVE NO DESIRE TO EXTOL THE DISTRICT, AND AM ANXIOUS TO GIVE A FAIR AND IMPARTIAL ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENT, I SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING CONTROVERSY, SO THAT MY READERS MAY HAVE BOTH SIDES AND DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS THERE ON." AS EXTOLLING THE VIRTUES OF THE DISTRICT, HE WAS A CHAMPION. HIS BOOK IS FILLED WITH ROMANTIC POETIC SELECTIONS, THAT CERTAINLY MAKE MUSKOKA SEEM PRETTY CLOSE TO HEAVEN-ON-EARTH. NOW I LIKE HIS WORK, AND THERE ARE ASPECTS OF HIS REPRESENTATION OF THE REGION, THAT DO APPEAL TO THOSE OF US WHO DO FIND MUSKOKA A MORE NORTHERLY WALDEN POND. IT WAS THE DAMAGE HIS BOOK, AND OTHERS SIMILARLY COMPOSED, DID…. WHEN MAKING IT APPEAR A MUCH EASIER TASK, TO ARRIVE HERE AS "THE DOWNTRODDEN," AND IMMEDIATELY START PULLING VEGETABLES OUT OF THE GROUND……THE LOG SHANTIES ALMOST BUILDING THEMSELVES. THE ONLY REASON HIS BOOK DIDN'T INFLUENCE EVEN MORE HOMESTEADERS, IS THAT THEY COULDN'T READ ABOUT WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO SELL.

AS FAR AS FAIR, THE LETTER HE PUBLISHED FROM A NEWSPAPER CALLED THE ST. MARY'S VIDETTE, PRESUMABLY FROM ST. MARY'S, ONTARIO, ISN'T REALLY USED AS A COUNTER POINT, TO THE CLAIMS MCMURRAY MAKES ABOUT THE GOOD LIFE IN MUSKOKA….BUT RATHER, WAS USED AS A PLATFORM, FROM WHICH TO MOUNT AN EDITORIAL MASSACRE, OF THE LETTER WRITER AND THE NEWSPAPER FOR THEIR INACCURACIES. IN THE BOOK, THE REPRINTED LETTER IS ENTITLED "A BLACK PICTURE," AND OFFERS SOME SUBSTANTIAL REASONS WHY AND HOW LAND AGENTS AND SPECULATORS, HAD GROSSLY MISREPRESENTED THE ADVANTAGES OF FARMSTEADING IN THE MUSKOKA REGION. THIS IS IMPORTANT, BUT USUALLY NEGLECTED, BUT IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN HOW IT ALL BEGAN HERE…..AND POVERTY WAS SEEDED IN THIS PERIOD, THIS IS WHERE WE HAVE TO BEGIN. IN MY MANY YEARS DELVING INTO, AND WRITING ABOUT MUSKOKA HISTORY, THIS LETTER IS BANG-ON, BUT MCMURRAY WASN'T GOING TO LET IT GO UNCHALLENGED. HE TURNS THE ARGUMENT AROUND AND USES IT TO BOLSTER HIS OWN HUGELY BIASED POSITION.

JUST A NOTE OF EXPLANATION. IT IS WIDELY KNOWN THAT FREE LAND GRANTS WERE MISREPRESENTED, AND ARABLE LAND WAS PROMOTED WHERE THERE WAS ONLY A THIN SOIL ON ROCK. THEN THERE WAS THE CASE OF THE FORESTS OF MUSKOKA. THE WETLANDS. THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF WETLAND. NOT GREAT FOR FARMING. ROCKS AND DIFFICULT TERRAIN, WHERE IT WAS BARELY MENTIONED IN GOVERNMENT ADVERTISEMENTS. THE POOREST OF THE POOR WERE BEING SOLICITED FROM EUROPE, AND PROMISED MUCH BETTER ENVIRONMENTAL, AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS THAN WAS THE REALITY ONCE HERE. SO THESE POORLY PREPARED SOULS, WITH YOUNG FAMILIES, WERE SUCKED INTO THE CROSS ATLANTIC TRAVERSE, TRANSPORTED BY RAIL, BACK TO STEAMSHIP, THEN TO HORSE DRAWN WAGONS OVER THE MOST TREACHEROUS ROADS ANYWHERE ON EARTH, AND THEN GIVEN A ROUGH MAP, A SLAP ON THE BACK, (AFTER MERCHANTS SOLD THEM OVER-PRICED PROVISIONS), AND WERE SENT WALKING TO THEIR VERY, VERY RURAL HOMESTEAD ACREAGES. HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS REFUSED TO CHOP ONE TREE, OR ROLL AWAY ONE BOULDER, BEFORE TURNING AROUND AND SEEKING ANOTHER REGION TO SETTLE. WHAT THEY FOUND WAS NOT IN THE HAND-BOOKS. A MAJORITY OF THESE SETTLERS WERE WITHOUT MEANS, AND LOW ON PROVISIONS, AND MANY DID PERISH DUE TO BEING POORLY OUTFITTED TO SURVIVE THE LONG HARSH WINTERS. A COLLECTIVE OF STORY SPINNERS, SOME WORKING ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT, THE STEAMSHIP LINES, AND ASSORTED BUSINESS INTERESTS, MADE THEIR HANDSOME PROFITS, CONVINCING THIS CITY POOR, LOOKING FOR BETTER LIVES, THAT MUSKOKA WAS "GOD'S COUNTRY," AND YOU WOULDN'T STARVE UNDER GOD'S WATCH? WOULD YOU? THOSE WHO PITCHED THE VIRTUES OF MUSKOKA, WERE TELLING PORKIES. BUT WHEN YOU'RE AS DOWNTRODDEN, AND VOID OF HOPE AS THESE POTENTIAL SETTLERS WERE, IT SOUNDED LIKE A WONDERFUL WAY TO START OVER, IN A HEALTHY ENVIRONS, WITH A 100 ACRES OF PARADISE! MCMURRAY WAS PART OF THE PROBLEM. WHAT WAS WRITTEN BELOW IS PRETTY ACCURATE TO WHAT ONE CAN RESEARCH EASILY, ABOUT THE FIRST ROUND OF TRIAL AND ERROR SETTLEMENTS.

ONE MORE THING TO CONSIDER, IS THE FACT THAT IN THE 1880'S, AN AGRICULTURAL COMMISSION REPORT, CONFIRMED THAT SETTLEMENT INITIATIVES IN MUSKOKA, HAD BEEN A LARGELY SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM. WHAT IT POINTED OUT, IN ONLY A FEW PARAGRAPHS, WAS THAT CRAPPY LAND FOR FARMS, WAS ACCEPTED BY DESTITUTE SETTLERS….AS THERE WASN'T ANY OTHER OPTION. SOME DIDN'T HAVE THE RESOURCES TO MOVE AWAY, ONCE THEY ARRIVED HERE. WHAT THE COMMISSION DREW FROM THIS LITTLE EXPERIMENT WITH HUMANITY, WAS THAT IF THEY COULD FOB-OFF BOG-LANDS, HIGHLANDS AND THICK FORESTS, AND HAVE PIONEERS BUILD THE ROADS AND BRIDGES, THEN IT WOULD BE THE TEMPLATE FOR A LOT OF OTHER CRAPPY LAND TO THE NORTH…..THAT ALSO NEEDED SETTLERS TO BUILD THAT CANADIAN DREAM OF INHABITATION COAST TO COAST……..AS WELL AS THE POLITICAL SIDE, OF BEING ABLE TO JUSTIFY THE BUILDING OF THE GREAT LINKAGE OF RAIL LINES FROM THE EAST COAST TO THE WEST. SETTLEMENTS AND AN INCREASING POPULATION, WOULD CONVINCE THE AMERICANS, WE WERE SERIOUS ABOUT CARRYING-ON WHAT WE ESTABLISHED, BY WINNING THE WAR OF 1812. SO THE HOMESTEADERS IN MUSKOKA WERE JUST PART OF THE PLAN, TO SETTLE THE REST OF CANADA. THE RESILIENCE OF THE SETTLERS, TOLD GOVERNMENT CLEARLY, THAT THESE DESPERATE SOULS WOULD TAKE ANYTHING IF IT WAS FREE…..EVEN ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT LANDSCAPES TO FARM. SO WHEN YOU READ THE LETTER BELOW, AND THINK IT RATHER RUDE, OR IGNORANT, REGARDING THE ASSETS OF OUR REGION, REMEMBER THE FACT THAT GOVERNMENT, DIDN'T FEEL BAD WHATSOEVER, MISREPRESENTING THE OPPORTUNITIES OF EMIGRATING TO CANADA……AND CONTINUED TO LIE BECAUSE IT GOT RESULTS. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, DID THEY HAVE A FIGURE FOR "ACCEPTABLE LOSS," ESTIMATING IN ADVANCE HOW MANY SETTLERS COULD DIE, AS A RESULT OF THE PROGRAM, BEFORE THE ISSUE BECAME A STICKY WICKET. IF IT HAD BEEN ANNOUNCED THAT TWO HUNDRED IMMIGRANTS HAD PERISHED IN THE FIRST YEAR, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN BAD FOR BUSINESS. DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL. GOVERNMENT WAS AWARE WHAT THE RISK WAS, TO THESE UNFORTUNATES, BUT THEY HAD A BIGGER PLAN……AN AGENDA THAT WHEN FULFILLED, WOULD BE WORTH THE SACRIFICE.

HERE IS THE PRE-1871 LETTER TO THE EDITOR, OF THE ST. MARY'S NEWSPAPER

"A few days ago, a party of eighteen or twenty farmers from this neighborhood, having read the glowing newspaper accounts of the free grant lands to the north, started on an expedition to Muskoka, to explore the region for themselves, and see whether it would be advisable for them to move thither. On arriving there, they split up into subsections, each detachment taking a particular field. These traversed the most promising townships, examining the soil, consulting the people, taking notes of the landscape, observing the crops, and obtaining all the information possible. After tedious and hopeless wanderings, they one and all returned indignant and disgusted at the imposition of paid agents and rascally speculators; and they declare, in blunt terms, that the idea of its being an agricultural country, is a barefaced piece of imposition, invented by tricky sharks, who are fairly coining money out of the necessities of newcomers. These statements have been corroborated in the main by Messrs. John Rouson, Biddulph Township, Thomas Hughes, George Oliver and Henry Morgan, Nissouri Township, who have just paid our sanctum a visit on their way home from Muskoka.

"Three of these gentlemen have themselves travelled through eleven townships, and affirm one and the same story. The soil is nearly all sand and rock, with an occasional spot of clay, while limestone was found in only one small place. The best land, a specimen of which was shown us, is a red sort of sand clay. The water is, for the most part, of the color of strong lye, embittered by balsam and pine roots. Throughout these eleven townships there were about half-a-dozen loads of wheat raised. People who have settled there for seven years past, grow nothing but potatoes - which are really splendid and come up in double the profusion we see them in Perth or Middlesex. The timber is good, and there is a prodigious lumbering business in the prospective. Pine and birch are very plentiful, but maple and beech are seldom observed. The residents are chiefly emigrants from English cities, who know nothing of farming, and are easily victimized by the Government agents and private adventurers. It is pitiable to see the shifts they are put to in some cases, broken-heartedness visible upon their features, and the utter wretchedness of their lives. In many cases the remnants of luxury add a kind of ghastly significance to the scene - silk dresses, faded and torn - the remnants of fine carpets, and other mementoes of an easy and comfortable existence among friends in the old country. In short, the narrative accords with the exclamation of one of these returned farmers; 'It is the most desperate country a white man ever set his foot on with a notion of settling.' Some of them say they wouldn't take the whole of Muskoka as a gift, if they had to pay the penalty of living out of its soil; and that starvation and rags will haunt the dwelling of settlers as long as they exist.

"Of course, we know nothing of these things from our own personal knowledge, but it strikes us that there has been a good deal of studied misrepresentation in favor of these lands from time to to time. Our informants may, in their present state of mind, look at the black side of the picture; but it may do good to people to learn that it has a black side. We desire to see every part of Canada turned to good account, but if a section is fitted only for timber and game, it is worse than useless to inveigle farmers into it, in the Quixotic efforts of making it an agricultural country."

"The above seems almost too ludicrous to answer," wrote Thomas McMurray in response. He wrote a considerable retort, but again from a position of conflict of interest…..as he was a businessman who stood to gain because of the growing prosperity and settlement of the region.

Authorities honestly, had little concern, just because some settlers perished in their humble little cabins. It didn't really matter much if they froze to death, starved to death, worked themselves to death, or died of frustration. One day, when development moves further into the hinterland, onto these old homesteads, the earth movers will uncover many of these gravesites. If work and the elements didn't kill them, a wide assortment of diseases would. When I see the romantic, sentimental interpretations, of the pioneer period in Muskoka, one recent video series in particular, I just can't watch or read these accounts, without a. gagging, and b. pondering why it is so difficult to cross reference as part of logical, scholarly research…..such that the observations above, might instill a writer or film maker to delve a little further. There's no whimsy about this period in our history. Yet almost every modern day attempt to capture this period, for the benefit of today's audience, is so ridiculously attached to the pretty picture, of what it must have been like, at hearthside, in those beautiful, rustic cabins. Right on! This is what I was referring to in a previous blog, about the history lesson William Dawson LeSueur thought he should give Stephen Leacock, when the revered author started penning the popular history of Canada. "The Peoples' History of Canada." The one with the rounded edges so no one got hurt by it. LeSueur, who believed in the critical approach to such important things as history, would rather have quit a project, because of editorial constraints, than leave a good history to seed. He looked at hundreds of sources of information before making an assessment. His was the "actual" perspective, not the "popular" version. I write this often folks, but I am so proud that we have an association with Dr. LeSueur, who named our post offices in Gravenhurst and Bracebridge, in 1862 and 1864 respectively. A smart dude, who didn't conceal the truth, or muddle reality, but insisted on clarity, with whatever he happened to be writing about. This former postal authority, civil servant in pioneer Canada, was a literary critic in high standing, his reviews of books revered by major publications in his time, and he became by accomplishment, one of Canada's most respected early historians. Yup, and he named our towns. But don't expect to much fanfare about this, although there was a mention in the most recent Gravenhurst history, composed by Cecil Porter….and released in the fall of 2011.

You won't find much ink dedicated to this "Black Picture," as presented in McMurray's book. Well, if McMurray trashed the letter in his book, seems fitting that every other historian to use the book as reference, did pretty much the same. But as I've pointed out previously, it just doesn't matter whether it is taken seriously, or not, all these years later, because it was reality during those dreadful years. Trying to carve out farmsteads from thick Muskoka bush. Ignorance isn't going to change the realities of history. There were success stories. Survivors. There are citizens of this community today, who have roots in those precarious homestead farms, and have a right to speak about what they know of good times and adversity, as faced by their kin-folk.

It's abundantly clear, most historians in the past hundred years, couldn't spare a lot of time, calculating just how many pioneers died, as a direct result of the risky lifestyle, immersed in an inhospitable, harsh environment, with so many agricultural limitations. Why is that number not of significance to local museums and historical societies…..to local heritage video makers and authors, who time and again give us the sanitized version of events……without even the slightest sense of the humanity that suffered so greatly, trying to survive against horrific odds. Poverty, alcoholism, half-starvation, illness due to inadequate diets, and injury sustained on the homestead, and in the logging operations…..where they had to work in the winter months, in order to make enough money to buy seed for next year's harvest. When I read stories about economic disparity in our region, and find some new half-ass, under-researched over-view of Muskoka's history in this regard, I try my best not to over-react, and "smoke 'em" with a cruel letter to the editor. I can't tell you how many letters I would have to write in a year, to correct the misunderstandings and almost purposeful misrepresentations of social / economic history. I want to make them understand how poverty is our provenance in this region……and we didn't just get this way in a couple of years. The hangover from those pioneer days never really disappeared, and was extended through family generations….although some critics would find this hard to believe. It began as a rural tragedy and it has continued to be a recurring situation for many rural families, still finding it impossible to homestead in modern times.

Muskoka is a jewel. It is a wonderful place to live. But if you plan to live here year round, and you are still "a million dollars shy of being a millionaire," you may find this region, still, after all these years, a difficult place to live affordably and work profitably. Some circumstances don't change no matter what year is printed on the calendar.

There are still folks fudging the facts. Those of authority who feel it is best not to reveal too much, in case we might object or rebel……or toss their sorry behinds out of office. I'm a career writer, so I know how to pitch a slight mistruth to make something look better than it is. I remember a publisher asking me to write a nasty editorial about a councillor I happened to respect, and I outrightly refused to do his dirty work. Well he didn't like my insubordination, but there is no way I could have slanted an editorial, based on someone else's opinion, with nary a fibre of fact to corroborate the assertion. It happens lots out there, and I'm glad my editorial days are long over. But I still watch in my community here, for those who try to manipulate the press, to meet their agenda. There are quite a few Thomas McMurray's lurking about, and I react accordingly, as an historian must. I can live with fact. Researched material from reliable sources. Not hearsay. Not because it's the bent someone has, who feels compelled to shape history the way they see fit.

I don't expect you to believe what I have written because it seems factual-enough to make the grade. I don't ever mind being challenged to prove a point, or defend a position, as long as the challenger has taken the time to read and research counterpoint, before firing attack missiles at me. Point is, we need to know more about our community, from many more points of view, in order to understand what it all represents. You can't possibly understand the history of Gravenhurst or Muskoka, without knowledge of this "Black Picture," I have just presented…….simply because it's considered an inconvenient, messy, unfortunate, paradise-damaging-truth.

The way we began those pioneering years in Muskoka, isn't the direct link or cause to what some amongst us still suffer with today. But when we look at how we have coped, and survived as a permanent population, there is lingering evidence of that grass-roots, social / economic resourcefulness, that many revisionists wouldn't take five minutes to consider as part of our legacy…..before tossing it out as irrelevant. Well, I'm telling you, it is relevant. Toss me away if you think I deserve it!

Thank you so much for joining me for this little retrospective. Please join me again soon.

Seasons Of The Lilac Part 6; Man Versus Nature, The Cook's Kept The Homestead Alive

SEASONS OF THE LILAC - PART SIX

THE WILD WOODS AS MAGNIFICENT - THE WILD WOODS AS AN ADVERSARY

     "I SLEPT AND DREAMED THAT LIFE WAS BEAUTY; I AWOKE AND FOUND THAT LIFE WAS DUTY."
     THE PASSAGE ABOVE, WAS WRITTEN BY AMERICAN WRITER, ELLEN STURGIS HOOPER.

     A NEIGHBOR OPENED HER DOOR, AT SUNRISE, WALKED OVER THE BACK VERANDAH, DOWN ALONG THE PATIO STONES AGAINST THE GARAGE, STEPPED OUT THROUGH THE FENCE-GATE IN HER HOUSECOAT, AND DECLARED, IN A CLEAR, AND SOMEWHAT LOUD VOICE, "WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!" IT WASN'T A QUESTION. IT WAS A CLEAR ENDORSEMENT OF WHAT NATURE WAS PROVIDING HER, IN ACCEPTABLE CLIMATE, FOR WHATEVER PLANS SHE HAD FOR THE DAY. RATHER, THIS IS WHAT I ASSUMED, BASED ON THE LAW OF AVERAGES, OF PEOPLE MAKING COMMENTS ABOUT THE PREVAILING WEATHER SITUATION. I CONCURRED WITH HER APPROVAL, ALTHOUGH, I'M SURE OUT THERE, SOMEONE WAS HOPING FOR A RAIN SHOWER INSTEAD. WE ALL HAVE OUR PASSIONS, AND OUR DEFINITION OF WHAT MAKES A PERFECT DAY, FOR THE ENTERPRISE, OR LACK OF ONE, WE HAVE PLANNED.
     THIS MORNING THERE WAS A THICK MIST OVER THE MOOR, HERE AT BIRCH HOLLOW. I WAS OVER ON THE EMBANKMENT OF THE BOG, WHEN THE SUN FIRST BEGAN BLEEDING THROUGH THE QUICKLY RISING AND DISIPATING MORNING FOG. IT WAS A STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL SCENE, AND THE SOUND OF THE BABBLING CREEKS, AND TINY CATARACTS SITUATED THROUGHOUT THE LOWLAND, MADE THIS URBAN OASIS, VERY MUCH A THOREAUESQUE WALDEN; WHERE FOR A MOMENT OF PRECIOUS SOLITUDE, THERE WAS NO MAN-MADE INTRUSION. NO RIP-SNORT OF CHAIN SAW, BACK-FIRING LAWNMOWER ENGINE, LEAF BLOWER, DUMP TRUCK, OR EVEN LOUD COFFEE-TIME CONVERSATION. SON ROBERT SHOWED UP WITH HIS CAMERA, TO CAPTURE THE SCENE; THE WAY THE MIST WAS RISING FROM THE GROUND, UP THROUGH THE CAT-TAILS AND TALL FIELD GRASSES, TURNED GOLDEN AS THE BIRCH LEAVES ON THE FAR RIDGE.      IT REMINDED ME OF MY YOUNGER DAYS, SITTING ON A FALLEN LOG, OR DISPLACED CABIN TIMBER, UNFOLDING MY PARCEL WITH A NOTEPAD AND PEN WRAPPED TIGHTLY WITHIN, AND MAKING MY COPIOUS NOTES ABOUT THE AMAZING INTRICACIES OF THESE RURAL PLACES. THE OLD HOMESTEADS, WHERE EMIGRANTS ARRIVED, TO TAME THE PRIMAL FORESTS, FOR THEIR AGRICULTURAL FUTURES. LOOKING OUT OVER THE BOG, THIS MORNING, I GET THE SAME FEELING, AS I DID THEN, THAT WHAT WAS VISIBLE AS THE HOMESTEAD ACREAGE, WAS THIS SIMILAR MIX OF ADVERSE LAND CONDITIONS. BOGS, LOWLANDS AND SWAMPS WERE NOT UNCOMMON ON THESE HOMESTEAD PARCELS, AND VALUABLE, ARABLE FARMLAND, IN MUCH LESS ABUNDANCE, THAN IN MORE SOUTHERLY PARTS OF THE PROVINCE. THIS IS NOT TO SUGGEST, THERE WASN'T DECENT AGRICULTURAL LAND TO BE FOUND IN MUSKOKA, BUT NOT AS IT WOULD BE, IN WHAT WE KNOW TODAY, FOR EXAMPLE, AS THE VAST FERTILE HOLLOW OF THE HOLLAND MARSH. MUSKOKA HAD A NEAR FAIRYLAND SCENERY, AND REPUTATION, THAT GRACED THE PAGES OF MAGAZINES LIKE "PICTURESQUE CANADA," WITH HIGHLY EXAGGERATED ENTRIES INTO BOOKS LIKE "SPORTSMEN'S PARADISE," AND MANY HUNDREDS OF SIMILAR, LATE 1800'S PUBLICATIONS, WITH MASSIVE CIRCULATION TO THOSE EAGER TO EXPERIENCE THE CANADIAN WILDERNESS. BUT WHAT MADE THE REGION SPECTACULAR, AND A HEALTHY RETREAT, FOR THE URBAN WEARY, ADVENTURERS, AND KEEN HUNTERS AND ANGLERS, DID NOT MIRROR, EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOMESTEADING, IN THE AGRICULTURAL SENSE. WHAT LOOKED "PRETTY AS A PICTURE," WAS A RUGGED, HILLY, CONTOURED, TREED, ISOLATED LAKELAND, WITH MANY INHERENT DANGERS, THAT DID HAVE MINOR POTENTIAL FOR AGRICULTURE, IN TERMS OF LIVESTOCK ACCOMMODATION. IT ALSO HAD BEAR AND RATTLESNAKES TO MAKE LIFE INTERESTING.
    THE EMIGRANTS UNFORTUNATELY, DIDN'T HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OF KNOWING THIS TOO FAR IN ADVANCE, OF ACCEPTING THE CLAIMS OF CANADIAN LAND AGENTS WORKING ABROAD, AND AFFORDING THEIR FAMILY'S PASSAGE TO THE LAND OF WIDE-SPREAD OPPORTUNITY. AND MANY ARRIVED IN MUSKOKA, AND RECEIVED A HOMESTEAD ALLOTMENT, THAT IN MANY TOPOGRAPHICAL WAYS, LOOKED LIKE THIS MORNING'S BOG-SCAPE, NOW VISIBLE AS THE FOG LIFTS. IF THIS HAD BEEN A HOMESTEAD, THE FOREST WOULD HAVE BEEN CUT DOWN, THE ROOTS EXCAVATED, AND BURNED AWAY, THE LAND CLEARED OF ROCK AND NATURAL WASTE, AND THEN CULTIVATED FOR THE FIRST YEAR'S CROP. THE CABIN WOULD HAVE BEEN CONSTRUCTED ON THE BANK OF THE BOG, AS WOULD THE OUT-BUILDINGS. THE HOMESTEAD, IF NICK THE GREEK HAD BEEN CALLING THE ODDS, WOULD HAVE RANKED ITS POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS, AT ONE OUT OF A HUNDRED (OR GREATER), AND PROSPER ONLY ENOUGH, TO PROVIDE THE FAMILY WITH MEAGRE PROVISIONS; THE MALES OF THE FAMILY HAVING TO WORK IN THE LUMBER CAMPS, IN THE WINTER, TO UNDER-PIN THE FAILURES OF THE HOMESTEAD ECONOMY. THE ODDS, AS THEY SAY, WERE STACKED FROM THE BEGINNING; BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM A FREE GRANT SETTLEMENT PROGRAM, BASED ON LIES, AND MISREPRESENTATION, AS ITS STANDARD FARE. BUT THEN, HAVING BEEN A FOLLOWER OF THIS BLOG, FOR SOME TIME, YOU ARE AWARE OF MY BIAS, ABOUT THE WAY NUMEROUS LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT, AND EVEN STEAMSHIP LINE AGENTS, OVER-SOLD THE BENEFITS OF GETTING A HUNDRED ACRES OF FREE LAND. WHAT REMAINS, TODAY, IS THAT THIS LARGELY MISUNDERSTOOD, UNDER-RECOGNIZED SETTLEMENT DEBACLE, IN MUSKOKA, REMAINS A HIDDEN, PRECARIOUSLY BALANCED, POLITICAL DISASTER IN WAITING. AN ANALOGY I OFFER, AS A BOOK COLLECTOR, I SEE THE BURIED "URBAN VERSUS RURAL" ISSUE, PERCHED ON A THINLY ANCHORED FOUNDATION. IT WOULD BE LIKE HAVING THREE OF THE BOTTOM BOOKS, OF A FLOOR TO CHEST-HIGH, PILE OF BOOKS, PLACED IN A SERIOUSLY ASKEW FASHION. WEAKENING IT AS THE PILE GETS HIGHER. THE SIDES ARE STRESSED, AND THE BOTTOM WILL PROVE UNRELIABLE. THE FOUNDATION PLATFORM OF THE LARGE STACK, OFFERS THE ILLUSION, THE BOOKS ARE SECURE. THEY MAY APPEAR, AT FIRST GLANCE, TO BE SAFELY STANDING, AND INDEPENDENT, AND LOOK GOOD ENOUGH AT THE TOP, TO MAKE IT SEEM, ALL IS WELL; YET IT IS A DANGEROUS MISCONCEPTION. THESE BOOKS WON'T TOPPLE-OVER! UNLESS OF COURSE, THE FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY, OF APPEARANCE, DULLS THE SENSE OF PROPORTION, AND EVEN MORE BOOKS ARE RECKLESSLY PILED ON TOP. OVER TIME, THE ASKEW BOOKS ON THE BOTTOM, BECOME PRECARIOUS TO THE FUTURE BALANCE, AND EVEN A JOG ACROSS THE FLOOR, BY THE FAMILY PET, COULD SEND THE TOWER OF TEXTS, CAREENING INTO OTHER STACKED BOOKS; AND THE BOOK COLLECTOR IS THUSLY RE-INTRODUCED TO THE DOMINO INFLUENCE HE OR SHE LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN PLAYTIME. A LOT OF BOOKS GET SCATTERED ON THE FLOOR, AND SOME HAVE THEIR COVERS DAMAGED BEYOND REPAIR.
     IN TERMS OF HOW OUR MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS SEE THEIR BUSINESS OF THE DAY, THE PRIORITY CONCERN IS THAT THEY HAVE MONEY AVAILABLE TO COVER PROMISED, ESSENTIAL SERVICES TO CONSTITUENTS. THEY KNOW THAT, OF ALL THE TAX PAYING CONSTITUENTS, THE COTTAGE COMMUNITY IS PROBABLY PAYING THE MOST FOR THE PRIVILEGE, OF OWNING WATERFRONT PROPERTY, IN THIS INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN VACATION LAND. I HATE THIS DESCRIPTION, BUT IT'S A FACT OF LIFE HERE. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL TAXATION IS A BIG DEAL, AS IS URBAN AREA TAX REVENUE. IN TERMS OF TAXES TO BE HARVESTED, THE RURAL REGION OF OUR MUNICIPALITIES, IS A LESSER RESOURCE, (THEY MIGHT NOT THINK THIS IS A BARGAIN) BECAUSE OF THE SMALLER POPULATION. THESE RURAL RESIDENTS AREN'T ON SEWER AND WATER, AND THEREFORE, CAN'T BE TAXED FOR HAVING "SERVICED" RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL LOTS. THERE ARE RUMBLINGS NOW AND AGAIN, ABOUT HAVING THE RURAL RESIDENTS SHOULDER SOME OF THESE SERVICE EXPENSE BURDENS, ESPECIALLY AS URBAN NEEDS GROW, BUT EACH TIME THE ISSUE EVEN SLIGHTLY THE RIPPLES THIS WAY, IT ATTRACTS AN ALMOST INSTANT, AGGRESSIVE RESPONSE BACK. NO WAY, SO GO AWAY!
     GETTING BACK TO THE ASKEW BOOKS, ON THE BOTTOM OF MY STACK OF READING MATERIAL. I MIGHT PRESENTLY HAVE, ONE OR TWO STACKS NEAR MY LIVING ROOM CHAIR, WHICH MAKES MY WIFE VERY ANGRY. THE ASTUTE BOOK SCULPTOR, TO PROTECT HIS COLLECTION FROM TOPPLING, WOULD FIRST, CORRECT THE POORLY PILED BOOKS ON THE BOTTOM. IT WOULDN'T MATTER THAT THEY WERE ADEQUATELY SUPPORTING THE PILE, EVEN HOLDING FIRM, MANY, MANY TEXTS. IT WOULD JUST SEEM, THE RIGHT THING TO DO, IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE, ANTIQUE BOOKS WERE BEING STORED IN A SAFE MANNER. (MOST BOOK COLLECTORS WILL DO THIS, BUT NEVER OFFER THIS AS A CONFESSIONAL OF PAST BAD BEHAVIOUR). CALL IT PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE. YET, FROM FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE, I HAVE NEGLECTED THESE SITUATIONS MANY TIMES, AND HAVE LIVED WITH THE FALL-OUT, OF HAVING MY PRIZED BOOKS DAMAGED FROM IMPACT OF A CONSIDERABLE FALL, AND SUBSEQUENT CRUNCH, WITH OTHER BOOKS. FIRST, AS SUZANNE POINTS OUT TO ME, THAT'S WHY BOOK SHELVES WERE CREATED. AND SECONDLY, WHY, IF WE HAVE TO LIVE WITH BOOKS, OR ANYTHING ELSE SMALL, AND OF VOLUME, THAT REQUIRES A SOLID PLATFORM TO BUILD "UP", THAT THOSE ASKEW BOOKS I MENTIONED, SHOULD, AT ALL EXPENSE OF TIME AND EFFORT, BE CORRECTED. TO BE AT THE SAME ANGLE OF PLACEMENT, AS ALL THE OTHERS. STILL, THERE IS A HEIGHT LIMIT, WHICH I HAVE EXCEEDED MANY TIMES. BUT THERE IS ALWAYS CONSEQUENCE.
     THE NAGGING PROBLEM IN MUSKOKA, AS I'M SURE WITH MANY OTHER NORTHERN AREAS, SETTLED WITH A SIMILAR FREE LAND GRANT OFFERING, IN THE MID 1800'S, IS THAT THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH RURAL OCCUPATION, AND RESIDENCY, CORRESPOND TO THE ANALOGY SITUATION, OF MY ASKEW BOOK PILES. I'M WILLING TO BET, THAT A MAJORITY OF MUNICIPAL COUNCIL HOPEFULS, RUNNING FOR ELECTION, OR RE-ELECTION, WITH THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA, LATER IN OCTOBER, OF THIS YEAR, WOULD FIND WHAT I HAVE JUST WRITTEN, QUITE OUT OF ORDER, AND RIDICULOUS. HOW COULD AN 1850'S, TO 1870'S (EVEN TO THE 1880'S), INEFFICIENCY, AND GENUINELY BAD START IN THE HOME DISTRICT, INFLUENCE THE POLITICS OF CONTEMPORARY TIMES? THE CROP OF HOMESTEADERS, BEING GENERALLY POOR SOULS, BROUGHT AS URBAN REFUGEES, FROM THE URBAN AREAS OF COUNTRIES OVERSEAS, TO SETTLE THE OPEN LAND OF CANADA, (PARTLY TO STOP THE AMERICAN AGGRESSION FOR BROADER BORDERS), HOW SHOULD THEY HAVE FARED? THE SOCIAL / CULTURAL INFLUENCES OVER MANY GENERATIONS, HAVE CREATED, WHAT I BELIEVE, IS A CLEARLY "ASKEW" WAY OF DEALING WITH RURAL CONSTITUENTS GENERALLY. WHILE COUNCILLORS MAY POINT TO PLANNING DOCUMENTS AND POLICY DECISIONS, THEY'VE HAMMERED OUT, AS MITIGATION ATTEMPTS TO DEAL WITH INEQUALITIES, AIMED AT IMPROVING LIFE FOR RURAL DWELLERS, IT'S STILL NOT BASED ON THE GENUINE INTEREST, IN HOW THE PILED UP POLICIES AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS, FOR ALL OF THESE YEARS, HAVE CREATED AN UNSTABLE PLATFORM, ON WHICH TO BUILD ANYTHING. THIS WILL GENERATE PROBLEMS SOONER OR LATER, AND THE FIRST AND MAJOR ISSUE, IS GOING TO BE FUTURE TAXATION INCREASES, BECAUSE THE MUNICIPALITIES WILL NEED MORE REVENUE. AND WELL, THE RURAL RESIDENTS ARE THE LOW HANGING FRUIT.
     THERE IS NO WAY OF GIVING RESTITUTION NOW, FOR ALL THE WRONGS THAT WERE COMMITTED BY THE OFFICIALS OF THIS HOMESTEAD PERIOD. THERE IS NO WAY OF MAKING IT UP TO SURVIVING FAMILIES, OF THESE COURAGEOUS HOMESTEADERS, WHO SUFFERED GREATLY, BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT MISTRUTHS, THAT LED THEM TO A REGION GENERALLY UNSUITED FOR FARMING. MANY FOUND THIS OUT, TOO LATE, AND EITHER PERISHED THE RESULT OF STARVATION, FROZE TO DEATH, DIED OR WERE INJURED IN LOGGING CAMP, AND RIVER DRIVE ACCIDENTS, OR PERISHED WELL BEFORE THEIR TIME, DUE TO EXHAUSTION. URBAN REFUGEES, YOU SEE, WERE AN AFFORDABLE MEANS TO AN END. THE LAND WAS SETTLED. HOMESTEAD GARDENS, WHILE SMALL, DID PRODUCE A HARVEST. PIONEERS, THROUGH GREAT AMBITION AND FAITH, MADE THE BEST OF THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES. THEY FOUND WAYS TO EARN MONEY, AND TRADE FOR PROVISIONS, FOR SERVICES RENDERED. THEY WENT OFF TO THE LOGGING CAMPS TO EARN EXTRA FUNDS, FOR HOMESTEAD SURVIVAL. THEY CATERED TO THE BUDDING TOURIST ECONOMY, PROVIDING WOOD FOR BUILDING RESORTS AND COTTAGES, AND FRESH PRODUCE, WHEN IT WAS AVAILABLE, AND IN ABUNDANCE, TO THIS SAME EXPANDING INDUSTRY. THEY EVEN CAME TO WORK FOR HOTELIERS, AS GROUNDSKEEPERS, AND COOKS. THE HOMESTEADERS HAD A HELL OF A BIG ROLE TO PLAY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOURIST INDUSTRY IN MUSKOKA, BUT YOU WILL HAVE A HARD TIME FINDING THIS INFORMATION OUT, READING THROUGH LOCAL HISTORIES. I KNOW, BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE HOMESTEAD PERIOD OF MUSKOKA HISTORY FOR A LONG TIME, AND SPENT AN EQUAL PROPORTION OF RESEARCH TIME, WANDERING AROUND THE ABANDONED PIONEER ENCAMPMENTS OF THIS DISTRICT, INVESTIGATING THE TRUTHFUL PROFILE, OF WHAT IT REALLY MEANT TO BE A PIONEER. WITHOUT THE SENTIMENTAL, NOSTALGIA CRAP ATTACHED. IT SURE WASN'T GLAMOROUS. BUT IT WAS FULL OF HARDSHIP AND SUFFERING.
     THIS TRUTHFULNESS, OF HOW WE GOT TO THIS LEVEL IN OUR HISTORY, REPRESENTS THE ASKEW BOOKS, MENTIONED EARLIER. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE IS STILL CONSIDERABLE MISTRUST, BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL RESIDENTS, AND POLITICAL BIAS, AS RELATES TO TAX DOLLAR COLLECTING, AND ALLOCATION TO FINANCE IMPROVEMENTS, BASED ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE URBAN AND RURAL ECONOMIC CLIMATE. I HAVE BEEN AT THE CENTRE OF THESE DISCUSSIONS, MANY TIMES, WHEN I WAS COVERING LOCAL MUNICIPAL COUNCILS. NOT ONCE, DID ANY COUNCILLOR, OR PLANNING STAFF, MEMBER, THINK IT WORTHWHILE, TO CONSULT WITH A REGIONAL HISTORIAN; WHO JUST MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SHED SOME LIGHT, ON WHY, HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER, THERE IS STILL A DEEP RIFT BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN DWELLERS. ASKEW BOOKS, REALLY DOESN'T PROPERLY ADDRESS, HOW SERIOUS THIS ISSUE WILL BECOME, TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW, WHEN WHAT IS NOW HINTERLAND, AND WHAT MAKES MUSKOKA ATTRACTIVE TO OUR VISITORS, BECOMES MORE HEAVILY DEVELOPED, AND INITIATES CHANGES IN LAND USE POLICIES. CAN IT ALL COME DOWN TO THE WRONGS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, AND THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, FOR LIEING TO EMIGRANTS, ABOUT THE GREAT LAND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE COLONY? IN MY MIND, WITH WHAT I KNOW, YES INDEED. IT GOES ALL THE WAY BACK, AND THE ONLY REAL REGRET, IS THAT HISTORIANS OF THIS REGION, HAVEN'T BANDED TOGETHER LONG BEFORE NOW, TO FORCE MUNICIPAL REPRESENTATIVES TO FACE HISTORICAL REALITIES; INSTEAD OF FOBBING-THEM-OFF, AS OLD NEWS WITHOUT ANY HINGE TO THE FUTURE. I SHOULD HAVE EMBARKED ON THIS PROJECT A LOT SOONER, BECAUSE TODAY, IT IS A FAR MORE BURDENSOME, COMPLICATED PATH BACK, TO FIX EVERYTHING THAT IS ASKEW. YET EVERYTHING THAT IS MISUNDERSTOOD, AND OR, TAKEN FOR GRANTED, CAN BECOME THE DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES OF IMBALANCE, AND "THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE."
     THE FIRST STEP AT RECONCILIATION, IS TO FORM COMMITTEES, WITH CONSTITUENT PARTICIPATION, TO ADDRESS RURAL ISSUES, PAST AND PRESENT. IT WOULDN'T FIX EVERYTHING UP, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW, THAT STATUS QUO IN THIS REGARD, WAS THE FIRST ASKEW SITUATION TO BE RECTIFIED. GIVING THE RURAL RESIDENTS A VOICE, BEYOND THEIR COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE, IS GOOD FOR THE WHOLE MUNICIPALITY. TRYING TO CONVINCE COUNCILS TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY? NICK THE GREEK MIGHT HAVE PUT "MILLION TO ONE ODDS" ON THIS KIND OF SUMMIT EVER HAPPENING. SUFFICE THAT STUBBORN HISTORICAL-TYPES, LIKE ME, ARE WILLING TO PUT IT ON PUBLIC RECORD, AS BEING A WRONG OF HISTORY, THAT CONTINUES TO CORRUPT RELATIONS TO THIS DAY. ME THINKS, SOME BELIEVE IT IS JUST AS EASY, IN TERMS OF A RESOLUTION, TO JUST KEEP ON PICKING-UP WHAT TOPPLES OVER, AND STARTING THE SAME WAY, WITH THE VERY NEXT REALIGNMENT. LIKE PUTTING SHINGLES ON A ROTTEN ROOF STRUCTURE. IT HAPPENS, AND LIVING CONSEQUENCE FREE, JUST ISN'T POSSIBLE, FOREVER.
     THIS BRINGS ME TO THE POINT OF THE PAST FIVE BLOGS, AND THE TWO PREAMBLES BEFORE THEM. STUDYING MUSKOKA HOMESTEADS AND THE PIONEER PERIOD IN MUSKOKA, HAS BEEN MY CHOICE OF HERITAGE PROJECTS, DATING BACK TO THE MID 1970'S. IT HAS INFLUENCED MY WORK AND COLLECTING INTERESTS IN THE ANTIQUE PROFESSION, AND VERY MUCH THE SAME, IN MY CHOICE OF WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. IT IS ALWAYS MY BACKGR0UND STIMULUS, FOR NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS WITH A VERY OLD THEME. I LOVE IT. I THRIVE ON THE STUDY OF THIS PERIOD IN OUR HISTORY. AND NOT JUST IN MUSKOKA. EACH FORAY TURNS UP NEW INFORMATION, AND EACH NEW RESOURCE, LIKE AN ORIGINAL PIONEER JOURNAL OR DIARY, SHEDS A GLOW OF ILLUMINATION, LIKE MY OLD OIL LAMPS FROM THE SAME PERIOD, ON OTHER AREAS OF STUDY I'VE NEGLECTED OR MISSED ALTOGETHER. I HAVE TIME, IN MOST OF THESE CASES, TO MAKE AMENDS, AND INFILL WHERE IT IS NEEDED. THE REWARD FOR PURSUING THIS, IS THAT ONE DAY, PUBLIC RECORD OF THIS PART OF HISTORY, WILL BETTER ASSIST FUTURE HISTORIANS, AND MAYBE EVEN MUNICIPAL POLITICIANS.
     I AM SO SMITTEN BY THE STUDY OF THE HOMESTEAD PERIOD, THAT IT DOES, SUBLTY, AND AT TIMES PROFOUNDLY, AFFECT MOST OTHER WRITING I ENGAGE IN, INCLUDING MANY OF THE LANDSCAPE PIECES I ENJOY PENNING FOR SHEER RECREATION. READERS WILL ALWAYS BE ABLE TO DETECT THIS SENSITIVITY, WHEN GOING THROUGH THESE EDITORIAL PIECES. IT MAY BE UNDERSTOOD, THEN, THAT IT HAS BEEN A CAREER INFILTRATION, AND NOT JUST A PASSING FANCY OF A GOOD STORY-LEAD, THAT KEEPS ME ON, WHAT FOR SOME, MAY APPEAR, THE SAME DOG-EARRED PAGE; A SORT OF STALEMATE OF CREATIVITY. I NEVER SEE IT THIS WAY, BUT POSSIBLY IT'S TRUE. I BELIEVE THERE IS A LOT MORE TO THE HOMESTEAD CHRONICLE TO GARNER, THAT WILL BENEFIT FUTURE GROWTH, AND STRENGTHEN REGIONAL IDENTITY; THAT FRANKLY, IS BEING EASILY MANIPULATED BY THE NEW VESTED INTEREST, MAKING RIDICULOUS CUT-OUTS OF THE MUSKOKA LIFESTYLE, TO SUPPORT THEIR INDUSTRY OBJECTIVES. PROFIT. THIS IS WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO, ONCE AGAIN! I HATE WHEN THESE LIBERTIES ARE TAKEN, AND I DON'T CARE WHETHER THE PROPONENTS OF THIS BULL-CRAP APPRECIATE MY INTERVENTIONS OR NOT. THERE HAS ALREADY BEEN DAMAGE CAUSED BY UNTRUTHS AND MISREPRESENTATIONS, SUCH THAT THEY HAVE ACTUALLY BECOME DEEPLY IMBEDDED IN OUR SOCIAL / CULTURAL IDENTITY. I'M REFERRING TO THE WHOLE HOMESTEAD DEBACLE. I SIMPLY CAN'T REMAIN QUIET, OR PRINT-RESTRICTED, WHEN THESE FOR-PROFIT BASTARDIZATIONS OF OUR HERITAGE, ARE MADE ON THE BACKS, OF ALL THOSE WHO WERE THE TRUE PROGRESSIVES, OF THE BACKWOODS MUSKOKA EXPERIENCE. YUP, IT'S THAT IMPORTANT.

A DISCUSSION WITH AN AUTHOR ABOUT THE DARK - LIGHT SIDES OF NATURAL EXPERIENCE

     Muskoka author Robert Rea, although he would find this hard to believe, brought me around to a new way of thinking about nature. Seeing as my preoccupation with the settlement years of district history, intimately involved nature for nature's sake, I never worried too much about the durability of my knowledge of both homestead realities, and the dynamic of the four seasons, on the settlers' ability to survive. I didn't expect to be challenged, to re-think my understanding of pioneer emotions, as related to how nature was interpreted by these brave souls. The chosen land, for their prosperity. The evil terrain of constant misfortune. I knew the basics. I was writing about it frequently, for publications, and it was up for debate with my colleagues. And then, by happenstance, Robert Rea asked if I could edit through his novel, "View to the North," and beyond making corrections where required, offering some advice on the publishing game, and how he might be able to market the text if he followed the course of self-publication. I'm not going to analyze the story that unfolds, in a rural / cottage setting near Bracebridge, other than to highlight the undertow of these perceptions of nature; which as the story reveals, affects the way some of the characters respond, individually, and in a neighborhood, family collective. I began asking about this under-current, that virtually creates a buried character, of nature itself, brandishing what nature can, on the environs. We got into a minor squabble about this, because I felt it incumbent to defend what I had been promoting for decades, about the man versus nature conflict in those homestead survival scenarios.
    Robert, the son of Phyllis Rea, a former guidance department secretary, at Bracebridge High School (circa early 1970's) who helped in so many ways, get me through my courses of study, and into university, was challenging some of my most accepted, anchored opinions, about what role nature was playing, beyond its obvious trump cards; of harsh, long winters, late frosts, early frosts, beating-down storms, floods, lightning ignited fires, deep snow, deep frost in the soil, until late in the spring, and oh so much more, beyond the pretty face of days like the one we're having today in Muskoka. He, in several profound ways, in what was actually a very short conversation, gave nature a much more definable identity, that I had never thought about in those terms. Much as the devil within a dramatic scenario. A soft, gentle nature, with the evil horns and hell fire of the devil. The homesteaders, would have been most vulnerable in this way; taking the gentleness as a sign, a gift from God, to advance their homestead; the wicked storm, that ripped the roof off their cabins, and destroyed their crops, the strong hand of evil unfettered.
     What he brought into his story, was the conflicted situation, that, to his characters in the novel, nature was both the hero and the villain, but never truly benign; a friend as an enemy. Interwoven, and dependent on the confluences with humankind. As a sunny day might make most of us feel contented, and positive, there are others who feel it is the exact opposite, in sensory perception, at the parallel peak of experience. The same, as on a day of inclement weather, one voyeur feels upbeat at the dull, darkened environs, while the other, who had felt giddy in the sunshine, comes to be depressed by the grip of bad weather. This isn't new by any means, and philosophers a thousand years ago, had figured out the way weather and nature affected human emotions. I had just never applied this, to the study of the homesteaders of the late 1850's onward, and how depression and positivism collided constantly, like logs in a river jam. First of all, the emigrants were not aware of just how intimate they would have to become with the nature as it presented on the North American continent. The settlers were not farmers in Britain and Europe, yet they were recruited to be farmers, in a hostile environment; and largely because they weren't aware what obstacles stood in the way, of actually succeeding on the frontier, as new farmers. Instead of looking out their windows at an urban landscape, they looked out from their cabin doorway, and saw a wild and isolated environment, with many inherent dangers. What was the mental health profile, of these ill-prepared, city weary, poor emigrants, when handed the rights to a property that grew trees, rock and water, but would never attain much else as a farmstead, other than to extend basic provisions of fruit, vegetables, and hay for assorted livestock. How did they battle the depression of being isolated, and being so far removed from their former lifestyle and family? One family member may have been keen to emigrate, but not all were convinced. How did these reluctant homesteaders, cope with the burdens of isolation and hardship, which was day to day, without much in the way of reprieve. Many never benefitted from improvement of circumstances. They either died, or abandoned their farmsteads.
     Robert Rea fascinated me, because beyond the normal, expected connections, and relations between characters, in his novel, nature would become a key player, however invisible, in the actions and reactions of good neighbors and old friends. It might be said, that this is an obvious situation. I would agree. But how easily it is forgotten, in this context. We say, when asked about the weather, "It's raining outside." Or, "It's damn hot," or "Damn cold!" "Yup, it's nice and sunny," and within a second or two, "Oh look, it's started to rain again." All very rudimentary and anticipated of the human interaction with weather; with nature. But framing it, as a homesteader, some much more reluctant to be on the Muskoka frontier, could well have experienced nature as both friend and adversary in a far more intimate manner. In other words, it was an entity. Not just the seasons of the year, and hours of the day. Nature had a definable character, if not an imagined face, like story book artists portray the strained face of the "North Wind," and the growl of "Winter."
     I don't think that Robert Rea believed me, when I told him much later, that I had benefitted a great deal, from our impasse about nature, and its influences, and that in re-thinking the situation, had changed what I believed was, for me anyway, etched in stone. Not that we were far apart, from the beginning, but just in the way I looked at the environment / nature, as a more abstract influence; without ever considering it whittled down to what someone else, might interpret its interventions, as being positive or entirely negative. How could I understand the pioneers, if I didn't respect their interpretations of nature; their leaning on the Bible to give them strength to endure what they believed, were life and death battles with the elements. Good nature, bad nature.
     He might suggest, after reading this explanation, that I took it way beyond what he was trying to achieve for his story. But that's the way philosophies broaden and deepen, based on interpretation, and usefulness to explain what to that point, seemed to hard to satisfy in mind. Nature can make people crazy. Nature can make people happy. Nature can grow things, and kill things, without warning, and delight us with its warmth, one minute, and sweep us away in its bluster, seconds later. We are invigorated and inspired by nature, and sent scurrying for cover, when its wrath is unclenched. We are of nature's ilk. We are as much the undertow, as we are the offspring, and the harvest. It's all in the interpretation. It is all in the philosophy. It is all around us.
     "Though love repine, and reason chafe, There came a voice without reply - 'Tis man's perdition to be safe. When for the truth he ought to die." (Emerson, in New England)
     Thank you so much for visiting with me today. It's always a pleasure. I mean this sincerely.

THE HOMESTEAD KITCHEN, THE COOK - AND SOME 1897 COOKERY WISDOM YOU MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN

SURVIVAL DEPENDED ON THE CAPABILITIES OF THE HOME COOK TO STRETCH PROVISIONS

     "EMIGRATION TO THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO - (BRITISH PUBLICATION AIMED AT POTENTIAL SETTLERS) - OUR BRITISH AND OLD COUNTRY READERS, NO DOUBT, ARE AWARE THAT THERE IS SUCH A COUNTRY AS CANADA, ALTHOUGH WHERE IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS LIKE,  MANY OF THEM DO NOT KNOW, EXCEPT BY LOOKING AT A MAP OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. TO ALL SUCH WHO MAY DESIRE TO MEND THEIR PRESENT POSITION, TO BECOME FREEHOLDERS, INSTEAD OF LEASEHOLDERS, OR ANNUAL TENANTS, TO OWN A FARM OF THEIR OWN, INSTEAD OF SITTING UNDER THE SHADOW OF WILL OF A LANDLORD, TO THOSE WHO CANNOT GET LEASES WHATEVER THEIR IMPROVEMENTS MAY BE, AND WHO, IN SHORT, FEEL TOO INDEPENDENT FOR THEIR PRESENT POSITION, WE SAY UNHESITATINGLY, 'COME TO CANADA,' AND COME TO THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, CANADA. TAKE SHIPPING TO QUEBEC OR MONTREAL, THEN TAKE THE GRAND TRUNK RAILROAD FOR TORONTO, AND FROM TORONTO SET OUT ON THE IMMEDIATE EXPLORATION FOR A NEW HOME." KEEP IN MIND, A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF SETTLERS COULD NOT READ, LET ALONE UNDERSTAND DETAILS OF MAP READING. AND YES INDEED, IT IS TRUE, THAT BOTH ILLITERACY AND LANGUAGE BARRIERS (EG. ICELANDERS) CREATED HUGE OPPORTUNITIES, FOR THESE IMMIGRANTS TO BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF....FROM BEGINNING OF THEIR OVERSEAS JOURNEY, TO CANADA, AND INTO THE HEART OF MUSKOKA. RIPPED OFF FOR AN ENTIRE JOURNEY.

    AND HOW COULD ANY POOR SOUL RESIST A LINE LIKE THIS: "ONTARIO HAS ALL SOILS, AND ALL SORTS OF SITUATIONS AVAILABLE. TO THE POOR MAN THE FREE GRANTS ARE OPEN, AND ALTHOUGH THE FOREST IS HARD TO CLEAR, YET WHEN THE SETTLER FEELS THAT EVERY STROKE OF HIS AXE IS A BLOW TOWARD INDEPENDENCE, THE LABOUR BECOMES LIGHT AND PLEASANT." THIS WAS PUBLISHED IN THE LATE 1860'S, IN ENGLAND, AND IT WAS THE PLAN, AS ENCOURAGED BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF CANADA AND ONTARIO, TO GET AS MANY IMMIGRANTS TO THE OPEN LANDS OF THE COUNTRY AS POSSIBLE.  THERE WAS A TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY TO JUSTIFY, TO FINANCE AND TO BUILD, AND A NEWLY POPULATED LANDSCAPE, SEA TO SEA, WAS JUSTIFICATION FOR ALL KINDS OF CAPITAL SPECULATION......(JUST IN CASE THE AMERICANS WERE PLANNING ANOTHER ATTACK, LIKE THE WAR OF 1812, THERE WOULD BE SETTLERS TO JOIN MILITIAS, TO HOLD BACK THE FOE....WITH PITCHFORKS AND AXES)  THOSE GETTING MONEY FROM PUSHING THE IMMIGRATION PROJECT, INCLUDING THE STEAMSHIP AND RAIL LINES, ALL BENEFITTING FROM THE TRANSPORTATION BOOM, ATTACHED TO THE GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES,  HAD NO REAL INTEREST IN WHETHER OR NOT THE PROGRAM WAS ATTRACTING THE RIGHT OR WRONG KIND OF PEOPLE, TO HOMESTEAD AN UNCOMPROMISING, WILD FRONTIER.

      IT WAS ONE HELL OF AN EXPERIMENT, AND MANY LIVES WERE LOST AS A RESULT. THERE WERE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SETTLERS, WHO SHOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT EUROPE, ARRIVING IN CANADA HAVING ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE FELLING GIANT PINE, OR RUNNING FARMSTEADS. THE GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO, BELIEVED (AND IT IS STATED INA LATER AGRICULTURAL COMMISSION REPORT, RELEASED IN THE 1880'S) THAT BY THE 1880'S, THE HOMESTEAD GRANT EXPERIMENT HAD SUCCEEDED.....AND IT WAS ACKNOWLEDGED, LIKE SOLDIERS LOST IN WAR,  THERE WOULD BE CASUALTIES OF THE EFFORT......AND BY THEIR OWN SURVEY, TWO DECADES LATER,  DISCOVERED THAT THERE HAD BEEN WHAT CAN ONLY BE CONSIDERED,  A FIGURE NOT EXCEEDING WHAT HAD BEEN ANTICIPATED, AS "ACCEPTABLE LOSS." THERE WERE BOUND TO BE FAILURES AND LOSS OF LIFE, AS A RESULT, OF SUCH A MASSIVE PROGRAM OF SETTLING, WHAT SOME IMMIGRANTS SAW AS A LITERAL, HJOPELESS BARRENS.  OF COURSE THEY DON'T WORD IT PRECISELY THIS WAY, BUT WHAT DOES THAT MATTER. THEY WANTED TO PROVE THAT SETTLERS WOULD MAKE DO WITH WHAT POOR LAND THEY WERE AWARDED, AND IF THEY COULD ACHIEVE EVEN MODEST HOMESTEAD SUCCESS, IT WAS A WORTHY TEMPLATE, FOR THE OPENING UP OF EVEN MORE COMPROMISED TOPOGRAPHY, FURTHER NORTH AND WEST.

     THERE IS NO SENSITIVITY OR INTEREST IN ANY CALCULATION OF PERCENTAGES, DOCUMENTING THOSE SETTLERS WHO REMAINED ON THEIR FREE GRANT LAND, AS COMPARED TO THOSE WHO WERE FORCED TO ABANDON THEIR PROPERTIES OR STARVE TO DEATH. HOW MANY DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF COMING TO CANADA, AND MUSKOKA SPECIFICALLY. SOME NEVER MADE IT OFF THE BOATS ALIVE, TRUTH BE KNOWN. HONESTLY, IT'S WHY WE HAVE SUCH A POOR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE PIONEERING PERIOD MEANT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TRUE MUSKOKA LIFESTYLE, FROM THE BEGINNING. IT WAS BRUTAL. THIS MUST BE UNDERSTOOD. SO WHEN I PAY MY SINCERE RESPECT, AS AN HISTORIAN, TO THOSE BRAVE SOULS, WHO STUCK IT OUT, AND LIVED TO RAISE FAMILIES ON THE SAME PROPERTY, OVER MANY GENERATIONS, I DO SO AS ONE WHO IS COMMITTED TO NEVER, EVER  ALLOW THEIR STORY TO BE MINIMIZED OR OBSCURED, BY OTHER MORE POPULAR, TRENDY HISTORIES, TAKING CENTRE STAGE THESE DAYS, IN OUR REGION.

     FOR ONE THING, I HAVE A GREAT AND UNFALTERING RESPECT FOR THE HOMESTEAD COOKS, WHO KEPT THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS FED.....THE BEST THEY COULD, WITH THE FEW FINANCIAL RESOURCES THEY WERE ABLE TO MUSTER. POOR IN EUROPE, POOR AND DESTITUTE IN MUSKOKA. MY IDEA OF A MUSKOKA THANKSGIVING, IS TO HONOR THESE STALWART PIONEERS WITH A WEE PRAYER OF THANKS, FOR GIVING US THE MUSKOKA WE CELEBRATE TODAY.

     I DEDICATE THIS BLOG, AND THE REST OF THE THANKSGIVING-WEEK COLUMNS, IN TRIBUTE OF OUR TRUE FOUNDING MOTHERS AND FATHERS...WHO KEPT THE HOME FIRES BURNING....AND A POT OF STEW SIMMERING THROUGH THE HOMESTEAD CHRONICLE. OUR PICTURESQUE, QUAINT LITTLE CEMETERIES, AT CROSSROAD  CHURCHYARDS, AND TUCKED BENEATH MAPLE AND PINE CANOPIES,  CONTAIN THE TOMBSTONES OF OUR BUILDERS...OUR UNSUNG LEADERS.....COMPRISING THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CANADA. THE NATION BUILDERS WE HAVE NEGLECTED FOR LONG AND LONG.

     THERE ARE ENOUGH STORIES, TALES AND LORE, OF PIONEER HARDSHIP, TO FILL A SUBSTANTIAL AND RATHER INTERESTING VOLUME OF LOCAL HISTORY. I'M THINKING ABOUT IT FOR A PROJECT SOME TIME DOWN THE ROAD. ONE AREA OF SUFFERING AND CORRESPONDING RESOURCEFULNESS (JUST TO SURVIVE ANOTHER DAY), OF WHICH I AM ESPECIALLY INTERESTED, IS OUR REGIONAL COOKERY HERITAGE; PARTICULARLY AS REGARDS THE PIONEER AND MOST ACTIVE FARMING PERIOD IN MUSKOKA.....EVEN STRETCHING INTO THE MODERN ERA. I AM A FRUSTRATED WANT-TO-BE FARMER, SO I LOOK FORWARD TO ANY OPPORTUNITY TO DELVE INTO FARM HISTORIES IN ONTARIO AND CANADA.       THE UNSUNG HEROES OF HISTORY, (IN MUSKOKA, FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS STORY) WERE THE HOMESTEAD, FARM AND CAMP COOKS, WHO OFTEN HAD TO WORK, AND MAKE DO, WITH VERY POOR AND MEAGER RESOURCES, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT AND PROVISIONS, IN ORDER TO KEEP THEIR FAMILIES FROM STARVING TO DEATH. AND MAKE NO MISTAKE, THERE WERE SETTLERS WHO DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF BEING MALNOURISHED, AND SUSCEPTIBLE TO RELATED ILLNESSES. EQUALLY, ALTHOUGH YOU'D BE HARD PRESSED TO GET STATISTICS TO PROVE IT, FOOD POISONING TOOK ITS SHARE OF LIVES AS WELL. KEEPING FOOD FROM SPOILING, WAS A MAJOR DILEMMA IN THE EARLY DAYS, BEFORE ICE STORAGE WAS IMPROVED AND MADE MORE CONVENIENT FOR HOME USE.

    SETTLERS BY PRECARIOUS TRIAL AND ERROR, HAD TO LEARN THROUGH BASIC IMMERSION AND EXPERIENCE, IN THE WOODLANDS, WHAT NATURAL FLORA AND FAUNA WAS EDIBLE, AND WHAT, FOR EXAMPLE, COULD PROVE TO BE FATAL IF CONSUMED. FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT TYPE OF MUSHROOM WAS EDIBLE, AND WHAT WAS POISONOUS TO HUMANS. WHICH AMOUNTED TO A "DEATH-WISH," IF ONE MADE THE MISTAKE OF MISIDENTIFICATION. I HAVE READ PIONEER ACCOUNTS OF THOSE WHO BECAME MORTALLY ILL, AFTER CONSUMING POISONOUS MUSHROOMS, OUT OF IGNORANCE AND HUNGER, AND THE DEATH WAS A LONG, PAINFULL, GUT-WRENCHING DEMISE. DESPARATION OFTEN LED TO EXPERIMENTATION, AND SICKNESS WAS THE RESULT OF NOT LISTENING, TO THE SAGE ADVICE OF OTHER NEIGHBOR SETTLERS....WHO MAY HAVE MADE THE SAME MISTAKES, AND SURVIVED, WHEN THEY FIRST ARRIVED IN THE VAST PRIMAL FORESTS OF MUSKOKA.

     I'VE READ JOURNAL ACCOUNTS, REPORTING THAT EVEN BY LATE NOVEMBER, PROVISIONS WHICH WERE SUPPOSED TO LAST UNTIL SPRING, HAD DIMINISHED TO ONLY A SMALL QUANTITY OF VEGETABLES, ESPECIALLY VERSATILE POTATOES; AND I THINK IT WAS IN THE JOURNAL PENNED BY HARRIET KING, IN THE "DIARY OF AN IMMIGRANT WOMAN," THAT SHE DESCRIBES HER CONSTERNATION, WHEN AT CHRISTMAS, DURING A BRUTAL SNOWSTORM, AN ACQUAINTANCE ARRIVED AT THEIR CABIN DURING DINNER, AND THE SMALL, SIMPLE SUPPER, HAD TO BE DIVIDED TO FEED EVERYONE AROUND THE HARVEST TABLE. THERE ARE STORIES TOLD OF SETTLERS MAKING TEA, AND COFFEE FACSIMILES, FROM TREE BARK AND GRASSES. WHAT WE DON'T ALWAYS RECOGNIZE, IS THAT MUSKOKA, WHILE RICH IN WILDLIFE, COULD NOT PROVIDE ENOUGH WILD GAME TO FEED ALL THE SETTLERS, ALL OF THE TIME. I'VE TALKED TO MANY MUSEUM GROUPS, DURING HERITAGE LECTURES, ABOUT THIS FOOD SHORTAGE, AND MANY JUST CAN'T ACCEPT THAT THERE COULD HAVE BEEN ANY REASON TO DIE OF STARVATION, WHEN THERE WERE FISH TO CATCH, DEER TO SHOOT, AND BEAR, MOOSE AND BEAVER WAITING THEIR TURN FOR HARVEST. THERE IS A STORY CONTAINED IN THOMAS MCMURRAY'S 1870'S BOOK, "MUSKOKA AND PARRY SOUND," THAT REFERS TO "ROAST BEAVER," BEING SERVED AT THE END OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD "WOOL PICKING BEE."

     EVEN THE ALGONQUINS, ONLY USED THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA, AS A SUMMER HUNTING GROUND AND ENCAMPMENT, BUT COULD NOT SUSTAIN THEMSELVES YEAR ROUND, TO MAKE THE REGION A PERMANENT LOCATION; MUCH AS THE HURONS DID TO THE SOUTH. THE PROBLEM MORE SO, WAS THAT MANY OF THE SETTLERS WHO ARRIVED HERE, FROM THE LATE 1850'S, AND THROUGH THE FREE LAND GRANT AND HOMESTEAD ACT PERIOD, WERE FROM URBAN AREAS OF EUROPE, AND HAD VERY LITTLE EXPERIENCE IN WILDERNESS SURVIVAL. AS WELL, THEY WEREN'T FARMERS IN EUROPE, AND NOT FAMILIAR WITH LOG HOUSE CONSTRUCTION, CUTTING TREES, MILLING THEM FOR HOME USE AND FURNITURE MAKING, LET ALONE PULLING UP STUMPS BY HAND (BY HORSE OR OXEN LATER ON) TO CREATE THE FARM PLOTS THAT WOULD PRODUCE ANY KIND OF TANGIBLE HARVEST, AT THE END OF THE SHORT GROWING SEASON. SO THEY HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO COUNT ON THE KINDNESS OF MORE ESTABLISHED NEIGHBORS, THE GENEROSITY OF CHURCH CONGREGATIONS, EARLY FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND KIN FOLK, DOING BETTER THAN THEY WERE, AT THAT TIME. OF COURSE THIS COMMUNITY SHARING WAS LIMITED AS WELL, BECAUSE, SO MANY OF THIS CLASS OF HOMESTEAD SETTLER, IN THOSE FRONTIER-OPENING DAYS, FACED THE SAME DAY TO DAY DRUDGERY, AND HEARTACHE, OF BATTLING THE ELEMENTS AND THEIR OWN FETTERING TITHE OF POVERTY.

     IN THE 1897 BOOK, "STEPPING STONES TO HAPPINESS," BY HARRIET PRESCOTT SPOFFORD, WHICH BY THE WAY, WAS PURCHASED FROM AN ESTATE OF AN ORIGINAL PIONEER FAMILY, THERE IS A WELL WORN CHAPTER OF THE VICTORIAN SELF-HELP BOOK, REGARDING COOKERY INSTRUCTION. IT DOES HAVE A MORE URBAN FLAVOR TO IT, THAN IF A SIMILAR SECTION HAD BEEN INCLUDED IN THOMAS MCMURRAY'S BOOK, FOR EXAMPLE; WHICH IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN, TO TRULY BE OF ASSISTANCE TO THE SETTLER CLASS. IN 1897 THE MARKET FOR MRS SPOFFORD'S BOOK WAS OBVIOUSLY THE URBAN HOUSE-WIFE, ALTHOUGH ITS INCLUSION OF HOME ECONOMY, UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES, DID APPEAL TO THE HOMESTEAD COOKS AS WELL. THE ONLY THING STANDING IN THE WAY, WAS HAVING ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY THE BOOK IN THE FIRST PLACE. DUE TO ITS CHRISTIAN THEME, OF LIVING HEALTHY AND CONTENTED, IN GOD'S GARDEN, SOME FAMILIES DECIDED IT WAS MORE IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE TEXT, THAN FACE THE BLEAK FUTURE WITHOUT. I EXPECT THIS COOKERY CHAPTER WAS VERY WELL USED BY THE HOMESTEAD COOK. I DETECT SOME SMUDGES OF GREASE AND JUICES, FROM VENISON OR RABBIT; BASS OR TROUT; FRESHLY MADE BUTTER FROM THE SINGLE COW, GRAZING IN A MODEST PASTURE.

     "BUT THERE ARE VARIOUS OTHER WAYS IN WHICH THE ENGLISHWOMAN CAN GIVE US LESSONS IN ECONOMY. IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT NOTHING IS WASTED UNDER HER CARE. EVEN HER STALE BEER IS SAVED TO RINSE HER BRONZES IN, TO BOIL WITH OTHER MATERIAL AND MAKE HER OLD PLATE LOOK LIKE NEW, AND TO CLEAN HER SOILED BLACK SILKS; AND THE LEMONS WHOSE OUTER SKIN HAS BEEN GRATED OFF, AND WHOSE JUICE HAS BEEN SQUEEZED OUT, IF THEY ARE NOT LAID ASIDE TO BOIL IN ANY COMPOUND, ARE GIVEN TO THE COOK TO CLEAN HER SAUCEPAN. IF SHE KEEPS FOWL, EVERY EGG BROUGHT IN IS DATED WITH A PENCIL, AND THOSE OF THE EARLIER DATE ARE USED FIRST; IF THERE ARE ANY TO BE SPARED, SHE LAYS THEM BY FOR WINTER PROVISION, USUALLY BY PASSING OVER THEM A CAMEL'S HAIR PENCIL, DIPPED IN OIL, WHICH HERMETICALLY SEALS AND PRESERVES THEIR CONTENTS; AND WHERE SHE USES ONLY THE WHITES IN ONE DISH, SHE CONTRIVES ANOTHER IN WHICH SHE SHALL USE THE YOLKS. IF THE BREAD HAS BECOME DRY, SHE DOES NOT IMMEDIATELY THROW IT TO THE HENS OR DEDICATE IT TO A PUDDING; SHE DIPS THE LOAF IN HOT WATER, AND SETS IT IN THE OVEN, AND FINDS IT SUFFICIENTLY FRESH FOR FAMILY USE. NOR DOES SHE OFTEN INDULGE IN THE DOUBTFUL LUXURY OF BAKER'S BREAD, SINCE SHE HAS LEARNED THAT SHE THEREBY LOSES IN BREAD, JUST THE WEIGHT OF THE WATER USED IN COMPOUNDING IT, BESIDES RUNNING THE RISK OF DELETERIOUS INGREDIENTS. AND WHEN THE BREAD IS REALLY DRIED PAST FRESHENING, THEN IT ANSWERS FOR STUFFING, IS GRATED FOR CRUMBS, OR IS SOAKED WITH MILK AND BEATEN EGGS FOR PUDDINGS; NONE OF IT IS THROWN AWAY.

     "SHE IS EQUALLY ECONOMICAL CONCERNING THE HAM; WHEN NO MORE SLICES CAN BE CUT FROM THE BONE, THERE IS YET A SMALL QUANTITY OF DRY MEAT UPON IT THAT WOULD SEEM TO MOST OF OUR HOUSEKEEPERS AS SOMETHING RATHER WORTHLESS. NOT SO TO THIS GOOD WOMEN; IT IS DRIED A LITTLE FURTHER, AND THEN GRATED FROM THE BONE, AND PUT AWAY IN JARS, TO BE TAKEN OUT AND SEASONED ON REQUIREMENT FOR ENRICHMENT OF OMELETS, FOR SPREADING UPON SAVORY DISHES OF TOAST WHICH MAKE A NICE ADDITION TO BREAKFAST OR LUNCH; FOR STUFFING OLIVES AND MAKING SANDWICHES, AFTER WHICH GRATING THE BONE SERVES TO FLAVOR SOUP. IN THE SAME WAY SHE GRATES HER CHEESE THAT IS TOO DRY OR NEAR THE RIND, USING IT AFTERWARD AS A RELISH, OR AS A DRESSING TO MACARONI OR OTHER SUBSTANCE. ALL BONES, MEANWHILE, AS WELL AS THE HAM BONE, ARE OBJECTS OF CARE WITH HER, OR WITH THE SERVANTS, WHOM SHE HAS TRAINED TO HER WILL, AND ARE REGULARLY BOILED DOWN TO ADD THE RESULT TO THE STOCK POT FOR GRAVIES AND SOUPS, BY WHICH MEANS SHE PROCURES THE LATTER, AT ALMOST NO COST AT ALL. WHENEVER SHE HAS A FEW SLICES OF HETEROGENOUS COLD MEATS, SHE HAS COUNTLESS PALATABLE WAYS OF USING THEM; DEVILED, BROILED IN BATTER, SCALLOPED, MINCED INTO CROQUETTES OR MAYONNAISE."

    MRS SPOFFORD WRITES, IN HER ADVISORY TO COOKS IN TRAINING, "AS A GENERAL, ALTHOUGH NOT UNIVERSAL THING, AMONG OURSELVES, WHEN THESE STRAY BITS OF BONES ARE NOT THROWN AWAY, THEY ARE GIVEN AWAY; BUT THE LATTER IS NOT THE ENGLISH WOMAN'S IDEA OF CHARITY; SHE HOLDS THAT THE POOR, UNACCUSTOMED TO DAINTY FOOD, FIND A COARSER KIND QUITE AS AGREEABLE AS THE LEAVINGS OF HER TABLE; SHE PREPARES ESPECIALLY FOR THEM, SAVING ALL LIQUORS (LIQUID) IN WHICH THE MEATS HAVE BEEN BOILED, AS A BASE FOR BROTHS OF BARLEY AND PEAS, THAT ARE REGULARLY DISPENSED, WITH TEA LEAVES AND COFFEE GROUNDS DRIVED OVER, AND FROM WHICH A SECOND DRAUGHT CAN BE MADE, WITH OATMEAL, VEGETABLES AND DRIPPING. DRIPPING, BY THE WAY, FORMS NO INCONSIDERABLE ITEM IN THIS SORT OF ECONOMY; IT IS SKIMMED FROM EVERY POT AND SAVED FROM EVERY PAN, AND WHEN A SUFFICIENT QUANTITY ACCUMULATES IT IS CLARIFIED BY POURING BOILING WATER UPON IT, MIXING IT WELL, AND PUTTING IT BY TO 'SET'THE SEDIMENT, GOING TO THE BOTTOM WHEN COLD, LEAVING A HARD CLEAN CAKE, WHICH IS USEFUL ON DOMESTIC OCCASIONS, WHERE BUTTER OR LARD WOULD BE USED, AS THE 'SHORTENING' OF MEAT PIE CRUSTS AND GINGERBREAD, AND FOR COMMON BASTING AND FRYING."

     "SOME HOUSEKEEPERS, TO BE SURE, WHO ARE ABLE TO LIVE MORE SUMPTUOUSLY, ABANDON THIS TO THE COOK, BY WHOM IT IS CLAIMED AS A PREQUISITE, AND VALUED AS AN EQUIVALENT OF LARGE EXTRA WAGES. BEYOND THIS SYSTEM OF SAVING ON A SMALL SCALE AND DOING IT SO REGULARLY, AND SO PRECISELY THAT IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE; AND IS DONE WITH AS LITTLE EXTRA THOUGHT, AS THERE IS GIVEN TO THE PARING OF THE POTATOES. THE ENGLISH HOUSEKEEPER GOES FURTHER, IN DEALING OUT TO HER SERVANTS THE WEEK'S ALLOWANCE OF SUGAR, RICE, FLOUR, COFFEE, AND OTHER OTHER HOUSEHOLD PROVISION, THAT IS KEPT IN QUANTITY, AND REQUIRING AN ACCOUNT OF IT ALL TO BE RENDERED, THE THING HAVING BEN BROUGHT TO SUCH A FINE POINT, THAT SHE KNOWS THE EXACT AMOUNT OF EACH ARTICLE REQUISITE FOR HER FAMILY, ALLOWING SO MUCH TO EACH INDIVIDUAL, AND THAT QUANTITY BEING SUFFICIENT, AS SHE KNOWS BY EXPERIENCE; TWO OUNCES FOR TEA, FOR INSTANCE, BEING REGARDED AS A WEEK'S SUPPLY FOR EACH SINGLE INDIVIDUAL, ONE HALF POUND OF SUGAR, THREE AND ONE HALF POUNDS OF MEAT FOR A WOMAN, AND FIVE AND A QUARTER FOR A MAN - FACTS WHICH THE HOUSEKEEPER PROBABLY LEARNED FROM HER MOTHER, AND FROM HER MOTHER BEFORE HER - KNOWING MOREOVER, THAT THE GREATER VARIETY OF FOOD OFFERED, DIMINISHES THE QUANTITY OF THE SIMPLER KINDS REQUIRED. ALL OF THESE STORES SHE SETS DOWN IN HER HOUSEKEEPING BOOK AS SHE GIVES THEM OUT, AND SHE DOES NOT FAIL ON THE NEXT DISPENSING DAY TO CONSULT HER DATES, AND IF ANYTHING BE LEFT OVER IN THE COOK'S HANDS, NOT ACCOUNTED FOR, TO SUBTRACT THAT FROM THE AMOUNT TO BE NEWLY ISSUED. AND IN ENGLAND SERVANTS EXPECT THIS, SO FAR FROM BEING INDIGNANT WITH IT, THEY WOULD FEEL AS IF THERE WERE NO GUIDING HAND BEHIND THEM, WERE IT LEFT UNDONE, AND THEY GIVEN THEIR HEAD IN AN OVERFLOWING STORE-ROOM, AS SERVANTS ARE WITH US. IN FACT, THERE IS NO SAVING WHICH THE HOUSEWIFE ACROSS THE WATER, CONSIDERS TOO SMALL TO PRACTICE, OR AS BENEATH HER DIGNITY; AND WHEN WE SHALL HAVE FOLLOWED HER EXAMPLE IN HER PET ECONOMIES, MORE GENERALLY THAN WE FOLLOW IT AT PRESENT, WE SHALL HAVE MORE RIGHT AND MORE ABILITY TO INDULGE OURSELVES IN OUR PET EXTRAVAGANCES OTHERWISE."

     AS FOR THE HOMEMAKER, "THE CHIEF OF THE HOUSEHOLD CARES, IS ALWAYS THE COOK. SHE IS VERY SELDOM IN THE ORDINARY FAMILY, OR IN THAT OF NARROW MEANS, WHAT SHE SHOULD BE, AND HER SHORTCOMINGS DO A GREAT DEAL TO BRING ABOUT THE CHANGES FROM THE BLACK BIRD TO THE GRAY. THERE IS NO ONE WAY TO OVERCOME INCOMPETENCY THAT I HAVE OFTEN WONDERED WAS NOT MORE GENERALLY PURSUED. THERE EXISTS NOW IN MOST OF OUR LARGE CITIES GOOD AND EFFECTIVE TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR SERVANTS OF ALL CLASSES AND CAPACITIES, AND, BESIDES THESE, VARIOUS PERSONS OF SKILL AND RENOWN IN CULINARY MATTERS ADVERTISE LESSONS IN COOKERY; STANDING READY, ON CERTAIN AFTERNOONS OF THE WEEK, TO IMPART TO THE CLASS OF THE HOUR ALL THAT THEY KNOW ON THE SUBJECT, EVEN ANNOUNCING IN THEIR ADVERTISEMENTS THE DISHES TO BE PREPARED THAT DAY - FIFTY CENTS ADMISSION, AND SOMETIMES NOT SO MUCH."

     ALTHOUGH THIS PIECE, BY THE CLEVER MRS. SPOFFORD, WAS WRITTEN MUCH LATER THAN THE ACTUAL HOMESTEAD GRANT PERIOD, OF SETTLEMENT IN MUSKOKA, IT STILL WOUND UP IN THE LATER FARMSTEADS OF THIS PART OF ONTARIO. AS FOR GETTING COOKING INSTRUCTIONS, I WOULD IMAGINE THAT THE OPPORTUNITIES IN THIS AREA, IN 1897 WERE SLIM TO NONE....AND IT WAS THE GOOD GRACES OF KIND NEIGHBORS AND FAMILY, WHO EDUCATED ONE ANOTHER ABOUT COOKERY QUANTITIES AND QUALITIES....HANDED-DOWN ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF MODEST PROVISIONS.

     WHEN I USED TO WANDER THROUGH THE REGION, LOOKING FOR HOMESTEAD SITES TO EXPLORE, I ALWAYS GOT A LITTLE HEARTSICK, WHEN I'D FIND MYSELF STANDING IN THE PATHETIC, LATE-LIFE REMAINS, OF THE FARMSTEAD KITCHEN; LOOKING SO EMPTY AND UNSTORIED, WHEN QUITE THE OPPOSITE HELD TRUE. I OFTEN GOT MY BEST FEATURE STORY IDEAS, HOVERING IN THE RUINS, EXAMINING THE REMAINS OF OLD CUPBOARDS, AND CABINETS, BROKEN DISHES AND THREE LEGGED HARVEST TABLES, THEN TOPPLED OVER; THE OLD NEWSPAPERS UNDER THE FLOOR SURFACING, DATING THE TIME PERIOD OF THAT PARTICULAR HOME IMPROVEMENT. THERE WOULD BE TYPICAL SIGNS OF WILDLIFE HABITATION, POSSIBLY A PORCUPINE THAT HAD BEEN GNAWING AT THE CHAIR LEGS, SQUIRRELS AND CHIPMUNKS NOW CALLING THE RUINS HOME. YET I COULD VISUALIZE THE HOMEMAKER WORKING AWAY IN THIS KITCHEN, WITH THE LARGE, NOW-GLASSLESS WINDOW, LOOKING OUT ONTO THE GROWN-OVER GARDEN AND PASTURE; WITH THE REMAINS OF FARM BUILDINGS NO LONGER UPRIGHT. DESPITE WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE, AND WHAT CARNAGE HAD OCCURRED, SINCE ITS ABANDONMENT, SO MANY OF THESE OLD RUINS HELD CLOSE TO THE REMAINING HEARTH, THAT STRANGELY FAMILIAR AURA, AND HOLLOW ECHO, OF FAMILY HISTORY, FROM ALL THOSE WHO ONCE DWELLED WITHIN;....THOSE WHO JOYFULLY, IN GOOD CHEER, CELEBRATED SPECIAL OCCASIONS AND HOLIDAYS TOGETHER; WHO HELD ONTO EACH OTHER DURING PERIODS OF ILLNESS AND SUDDEN DEATH; PEOPLE WHO LOVED AND

WERE LOVED, AMALGAMATED WITH SO MANY HOPES, ASPIRATIONS, AND SUCCESSES; THE SORROW OF FAILURE AND LOSS, MIXED WITH THE HAPPINESS AND CONTENTMENT, DURING A FINE MEAL WITH FAMILY AND NEIGHBORS, WHERE THIS OLD PINE TABLE WAS "GROANING" FROM THE WEIGHT OF EDIBLE BOUNTY. A GOOD HARVEST. OF ALL THE ROOMS IN THE OLD FARMSTEAD, IT IS THE KITCHEN THAT I AM COMPELLED TO DAWDLE. THE ROOM I FIND MOST HAUNTED; THE PART OF THE HOUSE THE RESIDENT SPIRITS WANT THIS INTRUDER TO KNOW MORE ABOUT, AS IF IT, OR THEY, KNOW MY INTENTION IS TO WRITE ABOUT IT.....GIVING IT, AT LONG LAST, AN HISTORICAL RELEVANCE; SO FAR DENIED, EXCEPT IN LIVES LIVED; THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN RAISED FROM THESE HUMBLE QUARTERS, HERE IN THE MUSKOKA HEARTLAND. IT IS THE ROOM I LOOK BACK INTO, ON THE WAY OUT, SWEARING SOMEONE WAS WATCHING ME FROM WITHIN....BUT NEVER CAUSING AN AIR OF ILL EASE FOR THE INTRUDER. I MIGHT STOP FOR A MOMENT, ONCE OUTSIDE, AND LOOK BACK, EXPECTING TO SEE A FACE IN THE WINDOW, WHERE THE KITCHEN WAS, BUT ALAS, THERE IS ONLY THE DARK VOID OF AN HISTORIAN'S WISHFUL THINKING.