Part 7 Beatrice Scovell's "The Muskoka Story"

PART SEVEN

Beatrice Scovell's Re-Telling of "The Tale of Two Hats," in "The Muskoka Story"

     To conclude this short heritage series of articles, as a far too late review of Beatrict Scovell's 1980's regional and family history, "The Muskoka Story," I wanted to share a prime example of folk history published under the heading, "The Tale of Two Hats." It's a little bit of history, intimate to Beatrice's family, and a little bit folk history, but being one hundred percent a good and memorable tale of the days of yore. Beatrice Scovell was as good a story spinner as I've ever known in this region of Ontario.
     Here now, in the words of the master story teller, is a strange chronicle of a hat:
     "My grandmother Ware fell ill with scarlet fever. She was recovering, but her little daughter had died of the disease, when my great-grandmother came from England to the new family home in Paris, Upper Canada, in 1866. The next year, my grandmother and a baby girl got diptheria and the baby girl died. So my grandmother had lost two little girls and was in poor health. Letters were written to members of her family who had gone to Australia, telling them of the deaths of the two baby girls, and my grandmother's poor health, and the address given on the letters was Paris, North America.
     "Meanwhile, my grandfather was looking for a tract of land big enough to bring all his brothers and sisters out from England, for he wanted to have all the family together again. It was suggested that he should move to some place like Manitoulin Island, but his stepfather, Richard Thornton, said he had lived on an island all his life and wanted something different. Mr. Thornton set out to have a look for something suitable and came back to his family with the information that they could get enough land around Peninsula Lake in Muskoka, but that the colonization road was not built and they would have to take lands that could be reached by water.
     "So by 1870 the family had left Paris and gone to live in Muskoka. It took a long time to get mail from Australia in those days, and meanwhile the family there, wanting to do something for my grandmother, because they were so sorry to hear about the babys' deaths and her poor health, had bought a velvet dress, and a matching hat with a feather, and sent it off to Paris. Someone saw the address, and put 'France' on the parcel. It eventually arrived in Paris, and was re-addressed, 'Try Paris, New France.' So the parcel came to New France, Quebec. From there, it was decided that there was a Paris in Upper Canada, and it was sent there. A forwarding address had been left for mail to be sent on to Muskoka, and finally the parcel came to the Huntsville Post Office."
     Beatrice Scovell carries on the story, noting that, "One day someone arrived on a boat from Huntsville to the Peninsula Creek, and set out to walk to see some land on Peninsula Lake. They brought a note from the Post Office; would someone from the Ware family come and see if a parcel there was meant for them; it looked as if it had travelled over half of the world. The velvet dress and hat were beautiful but where would she wear them? Just where she went to get the picture taken to send to the Australian relatives, we do not know. But we do have a copy of the picture. According to my grandmother's story, the next time the clothes were brought out to wear, was when a general store was opened in Huntsville. It belonged to the Scarletts who had a general store first in Utterson. It was the first store in Huntsville, on the west side of the bridge, and it had all that you cold find in a general store anywhere.
     "The day of the opening came. When my grandmother opened the box, the dress was there, but not the velvet hat. My grandmother put on the dress, and went to the opening of the store. Imagine her surprise when she saw her hat on someone in the store. The person with her hat came up to her, smiling and pointing to the hat on her head. 'I like your hat, very nice on me.' Well, it was what my grandfather called 'another borrowing without permission.' The Indians had been coming to the Peninsula Creek every summer since before Champlain. They came and put up their wigwams, just the same, after the land had been sold by them to the government. They simply did not have the same ideas about property as the white people. They would see something belonging to the grant land settlers and take it, returning it before they left in the fall. For them, the concept of property was a shared thing. They would bring baskets of grass, and moccasins they had made, and leave them, for people, who had done something for them. Or, if someone admired something they had made, it would be given to them."
     The author continues her story, stating that "One morning, in the fall, the velvet hat was fond on the kitchen table, but without the feather. The story of the second hat happened many years after the first, but it had nothing to do with the Indians. It happened to my mother, who was born in 1873, after the family had been in Muskoka for some time. But it concerns the same relatives in Australia. They had been receiving our news, and had heard all about the Grant Lands, but they preferred to stay in Australia. They heard about the death of Herbert, the baby who was brought to Muskoka, from scarlet fever. My mother had had the disease too, and was slowly recovering, but she had lost her hair. She had none to braid or curl and always wore a hat of some kind. By this time her mother had a large family, and it was my mother who used to make the clothes for all her brothers and for her father, even going to Huntsville to learn about making clothes from the tailor, Mr. Flaxman. Because of this, and because they felt sorry for her, the Australian relatives decided to send her some serge material and silk, to make herself a suit and matching hat. We still have the picture of her that was taken when the new outfit was finished; one copy, of course, was sent to the aunt in Australia.
     "The first time she wore the dress and hat was to the Peninsula Creek Sunday School. All the people were glad to see that she was feeling better, and they wanted to examine the hat. She took it off, for by this time she was not self-conscious about her hair. She said she did not mind as her hair was growing again. Now, neither my mother nor my father ever said a word about this episode; it was my mother's brother who told me. He told me that there was in the church building at that time, a girl whose brother in fact was engaged to my mother. She could not sew like my mother and perhaps resented this. Or she must have been in a bad mood that day. For she grabbed the hat, opened the lid of the wood stove, and put the hat inside. Her mother, who was to be my grandmother) saw what her daughter had done. She tried to get the hat out, but too late, it was already on fire. Really shocked, her mother decided to punish this temper, that none of the others in the family possessed. And the girl was forbidden to go to the Sunday School for the rest of the year, as well as having to take some of her money and pay for a new hat. She was the only one of the family to have this awful temper, though her mother was born in Ireland and the family called it "the awful Irish temper.' She liked to tease people and play jokes, but could not stand it if anyone dared to tease her or make fun of her. I remember I was always afraid that it my be hereditary and that I would develop it; and my father used to tell me, 'Count to ten if you think you are ready for a temper.' She suffered terribly for she never tried to curb it."
     Beatrice Scovell offers another story to conclude the chapter that reads as follows: "It happened this way. My grandparents were always very good to the student ministers who were sent into Muskoka. They would always provide a horse for the minister's use, for they had to walk miles from one charge to another. They used to call themselves the 'rider ministers,' for a horse was the only way of getting along the wood trails, and often, if they had no experience in managing a horse, some very funny things would happen. They also included the ministers in family meals. I remember Rev. Percy Peacock, one of the early student ministers, who I afterwards knew quite well, telling me how he first preached at Hillside Church, and was told to come out to the Casselman home, next week for a meal. When he arrived, a little late, he made his excuses, went to the dining room, and seeing the table set for 24 people, said, 'I am sorry, I will come again. I see you are having a party.' My grandfather said, 'Oh no, this is just family. We have a place for you.' Well, one of the student ministers, one summer, spent a lot of time at the Casselman home. He was 'one of the family,' and Martha liked him a lot. One day he was late in coming, and one of the brothers said, 'Perhaps he thinks Martha has not come home yet, Poor Martha won't see him today.' She left the room in a huff. Their mother said, 'You know you should not tease her, you don't know what a temper she may get into.'
     "They did not think any more about it. Later the young man arrived. Martha was outside in the hammock, reading. Not knowing what the brothers had said, he innocently went up to her and said, 'Did you miss me because I went to the Taylor's dinner?' Martha threw her book right in his face. He left without a word. He had been used to writing to her, but no more letters ever came, though she used to make excuses and go all the way to Huntsville and bring back the family mail. He never came back to the area to preach; another student took his place. Poor Martha was the only one of the family who never married. And it was all her own fault."
     Thank you for joining this short series of articles, profiling a very fine, and rare book of regional history, written by Beatrice Scovell, entitled with her life-long affection, "The Muskoka Story."