A River Runs Through It

Today our family took a walk along the Grand River trail here in Brantford, sheltered from the hot sun by the canopy of trees, feasting our eyes on the purple and yellow wildflowers lining the route, leaving the path periodically to peak at the river.  The Grand River was named by the French who called it "Grande Riviere", although the Native Indians had called it the "Willow River".  As Ontario's largest river, the Grand covers an area of 300 kilometres.  It starts near the small town of Dundalk, then flows through Fergus and Elora where one can see a beautiful gorge.  Then it meanders through St. Jacobs where one can shop at the Farmer's Market and flows through Waterloo and Kitchener where one can see the brilliant colours of fall foliage.  At Elmira, Mennonite country, one can find Ontario's only remaining covered bridge.  In Cambridge, the Grand flows past beautiful stone churches.  Paris is a favourite spot for canoeists and flyfishers.  Brantford is the site of where Native Joseph Brant once paddled down the river.  At Caledonia a beautiful old bridge with several arches spans the Grand; the river is wide enough here that a cruise boat plies its waters, complete with a staff serving a roast beef dinner and fiddlers playing.  At Port Maitland, the Grand empties into Lake Erie. 

Photo courtesy www.stjacobs.com.

Ten Things You Didn't Know About the Titanic

1.  By the Numbers
The $7,500,000 (now $400,000,000) Titanic could hold a maximum of 3,547 people, but had 2,223 aboard when tragedy struck four days into its maiden voyage. There were six warnings of icebergs before the collision and it took 160 minutes for the boat to sink into water that was negative two degrees centigrade. Just 31.6 percent of the passengers and crew survived, however experts say 53.4 percent should have survived given the capacity on the Titanic lifeboats. Just 28 people were on board the first lifeboat, which had a capacity of 65. Today, the ship sits at 12,600 feet below sea level.

2.  Titanic's Near Collision

Long before it struck an iceberg in the Atlantic, the RMS Titanic ran into trouble with another object: the steamer New York. A much smaller ship, the New York was sucked into the Titanic's wake and its mooring snapped, spinning her around stern-first toward Titanic. A nearby tugboat, the Vulcan, came to the rescue by taking the New York under tow. The two ships avoided collision by a matter of about four feet and the incident delayed Titanic's departure for about an hour.

3.  Canceled Lifeboat Drill

A lifeboat drill was planned for the Titanic on April 14, 1912 - the day it struck the iceberg. For reasons that remain murky, Captain Edward John Smith canceled the drill. Some say it was canceled to allow passengers to go to church. Several historians believe that had the drill taken place, many more lives could have been saved. There were not even close to enough lifeboats on board to hold all passengers and crew, but when they were launched, they were not filled to capacity.

4.  Two Bathtubs
Nearly every passenger on the Titanic had to share a bathroom as only the two promenade suites in first class had private facilities. However, the third class passengers had it rough. There were just two bathtubs for the use of more than 700 passengers.

5.  The Atlantic Daily Bulletin
The Titanic was so impressive for its time that it even had its own newspaper on board. The Atlantic Daily Bulletin was printed every day on the Titanic. The newspaper included news, advertisements, stock prices, horse-racing results, the day's menu, and society gossip.

6.  The Richest Man On Board

The wealthiest passenger aboard the Titanic was Lt. Col. John Jacob Astor IV. Astor, whose family made its fortune in opium, fur trade, and real estate, went down with the ship after helping his pregnant wife escape into the last lifeboat. Traveling with the Astors was their valet, maid, nurse, and pet Airedale. The nurse and maid survived with wife Madeleine, the rest perished. The Astors were returning on the Titanic from an extended vacation in Europe and Egypt where they waited for gossip to calm down over their recent marriage. Madeleine was one year younger than Astor's son Vincent from his first marriage.

7.  The Titanic Orchestra
All eight members of the Titanic orchestra perished in the disaster, though just three of the bodies were found. According to those rescued, the all-male group played until the ship went down. It's been suggested that the last tune was the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee." "I shall never forget hearing the strains of that beautiful hymn as I was leaving the sinking ship," an unnamed rescued sailor told the Western Daily Mercury in 1912. "It was always a favorite hymn of mine, but at such a time and under such tragic circumstances it had for me a solemnity too deep for words." On May 9, 1912, a concert was held at the Apollo Club in Brooklyn, N.Y. to aid the families of the musicians who died in the disaster.

8.  The Mystery Ship
According to newspaper reports from 1912, the SS Californian was just eight to 15 miles away from the Titanic as it sank, but failed to respond to distress calls. Several Titanic buffs believe another ship, the 254-ton Samson, was just five to eight miles away, between the Californian and Titanic. The SS Californian's crew claimed that this mystery ship, which some believe to be the Samson, was steaming away, confusing them into thinking the rocket-flares came from a ship that was, in fact, in fine working order. For its part, the Samson may not have been eager to identify itself because of illegal seal hunting.

9.  Suicides
Ten Titanic survivors would later commit suicide. The first was stewardess Annie Robinson who was sailing across the Atlantic to visit her daughter in Boston two years after the tragedy and jumped overboard. The last was Frederick Fleet, the lookout on the Titanic who first spotted the iceberg. He hung himself from a clothesline in his garden in 1965.

10.  The Lost Titanic Film

One of the roughly 700 survivors of the Titanic voyage was silent screen star Dorothy Gibson. Gibson burst to superstardom in 1911 and her film "The Lucky Hold Up" was released on April 11, 1912 while she was on the Titanic. Surviving the disaster on the first lifeboat launched, Lifeboat No. 7, she convinced her manager to appear in a film based on the sinking. She went on to write the scenario and star in the one-reel drama "Saved from the Titanic" wearing the very clothes she wore on the night of the tragedy. The film was hugely successful on both sides of the Atlantic, but the only known prints were destroyed in a 1914 fire at the Éclair Studios. Many film historians consider this the greatest loss of the silent era. Gibson abruptly ended her film career soon after the film's release. At the time, she was the highest paid movie actress in the world.

Source:  http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/326223/20120410/titanic-facts-history-timeline-survivors.htm

Note:  For further reading, look at the list below.

1.  A Night to Remember (Walter Lord, 1955).
2.  The Discovery of the Titanic (Robert Ballard, 1987).
3.  Titanic:  An Illustrated History (Donald Lynch, 1995).
4.  Titanic: A Survivor's Story (Colonel Archibald Gracie, 1998).
5.  The Titanic for Dummies (Stephen Spignesi, 2012).

Photo of sinking from movie Titanic (1997) courtesy http://static.ddmcdn.com.

Happy Birthday, Daisy!

OUR HOME CHILDREN

Imagine a Child so Small and Wee
Never to Climb on their Mother's knee,
With No One to love them
Or Kiss them Goodnight,
No One to Hug Them
or Scatter their Fright.

Imagine a Ship a Zillion times bigger
Children shipped Steerage Passage litter,
From England, Ireland, and Scotland they came,
Germany, Iceland a Barnardo/Home child, No-Name,
To shores of Canada, US, Australia
And Rhodesia were brought
Emmigrant children - a Little Know Not.

Hidden away from parents and Kin
Cheap Labour for the Farm people Then,
Doctors, Lawyers, and Heads of State
What Pockets were lined at Governments gate,
Yes! We are the Relatives and the Next of Kin
To Forget Who They Were,
Is Canada's Great Sin.
Isabel Hays





It was on this day in 1894 that my great-grandma, Daisy Blay, was born.  She was one of 100,000 home children to immigrate to Canada from England as an indentured servant (see my blog post "British Home Children" dated August 1, 2011).   A third of these children were orphans; however, two-thirds were not orphans, but their surviving parent could no longer afford to raise them. 

Canada opened its doors and offered them a place to live and work, as it was a fast growing nation in need of cheap labour.  Some of the children were fortunate enough to reside with sponsors who treated them as part of their family.  However, others were treated as nothing more than hired help, sleeping in the barn with the animals.  Many of them missed out on the love of their siblings.   Some of them were fed well; however, others were given a minimal amount of food.  Some of them attended school; however, others missed out on an education because farm work took precedence.  All of them missed out on the love of their parents.  All of them missed out on the family traditions that their parents would have passed down to them.  All of them missed out on a normal childhood.

Australia also took in British Home Children.  Recently their government offered an apology to them for the abuse that they endured while working for sponsors there.  The British government also offered an apology for their role in child emigration.  Canada has issued a home child stamp; it has designated a British Home Child Day (September 28).  However, the Canadian government still refuses to issue an apology to the group which helped build this nation.  Not only did the home children contribute to the running of Canadian farms, but they also served in the First World War (11,000).  When Canada industrialized, many of them went to work in our factories. 

While an apology won't undo the harm that has already been done, it would acknowledge that the mistreatment did happen.  I never knew my great-grandma, but by all accounts, she was not a bitter women.  She did not hold it against others that she had a hard life.  She was a kind and loving wife and mother.  And she was indicative of many of the home children.  Happy Birthday, Daisy!

For more information on the British Home Children, visit http://www.bytown.net/homekids.htm

 

International Museum Day

Today is International Museum Day.  Here is a list of museums in Southern Ontario:

1.  Bell Homestead, Brantford (Home of Alexander Graham Bell when he first moved to Canada.  Much of the work for the telephone was done here.)

Photo courtesy http://upload.wikimedia.org.

2.  Casa Loma, Toronto (Home of Sir Henry Pellatt)

Photo courtesy www.concierge.com.

3.  Dundurn Castle, Hamilton (Home of Sir Alan McNab, one of Canada's first premier, this castle sits on the shores of Lake Ontario.)

Photo courtesy www.hauntedhamilton.com.

4.  Westfield Heritage Village, Rockton (Pioneer village with Methodist Church, General Store, former Jerseyville Train Station, etc)

Photo courtesy http://farm3.staticflickr.com.

5.  Fort George, Niagara-on-the-Lake (Site of War of 1812 battle)

Photo courtesy http://4.bp.blogspot.com.

6.  Laura Secord Homestead, Queenston (Laura Secord alerted the British to the secret attack planned by the Americans during the War of 1812.)

7.  Wings of Paradise Butterfly Conservatory, Cambridge

8.  Backus Mill, Port Rowan (The Backus Family owned a farm and mill near Lake Erie.  The area also features a schoolhouse, general store, etc.)

9.  Uncle Tom's Cabin (Escaped American slave Josiah Henson's homestead, the man on whom the novel was based.)

10.  Point Pelee Conservation Area (A conservation area turned cottage resort turned conservation area on the shores of Lake Erie, this is the southernmost point of Canada, excluding Pelee Island.)

For a complete list of Ontario Museums, visit:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_museums_in_Ontario

Brown vs. Board of Education

And I remember going inside and my dad spoke with someone and then he went into the inner office with the principal, and they left me out to sit outside with the secretary. And while he was in the inner office, I could hear voices and hear his voice raised as the conversation went on. And then he immediately came out of the office, took me by the hand, and we walked home from the school, and I just couldn't understand what was happening, you know, because I was so sure that I was going to get to go to school with Mona, Guinevere, Wanda, and all of my playmates.

*This is a quote from Linda (Brown) Thompson, daughter of Oliver Brown, plaintiff in the case Brown vs. Board of Education, taken from 2004 PBS Documentary.

Linda Brown grew up in Topeka, Kansas in the 1950's.  Although she was black, she lived in an integrated neighbourhood where she had many white friends.  The neighbourhood school Sumner Elementary, however, was segregated.  Eight-year-old Linda watched her friends Mona, Guinevere and Wanda walk the seven blocks to the white school while she walked six blocks in the other direction and then hailed a bus to the black school one mile away. 

Black families in the neighbourhood joined forces and with sponsorship from the NAACP, they filed a lawsuit called Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.  The lawsuit tried to undo the case of Plessy vs.Ferguson of 1896 which stated that all schools must be "separate but equal".  As long as the black schools were equal to the white schools, the lawsuit claimed this practice to be consititutional.

Although Brown was the plaintiff, the lawsuit included 12 other parents and was filed on behalf of their 20 children.  Oliver Brown, a lifelong resident of Topeka, was a welder in the shops of the Santa Fe Railroad.  He was also an assistant pastor at his church; perhaps his leadership in the church made him a good candidate to lead the lawsuit.  According to Oliver's youngest daughter, Cheryl, the black school buildings in Topeka, Kansas were equal to the white school buildings (unlike many of the schools in the Deep South).  The black teachers were well educated.  However, for the Brown's, it was the principle of the matter.

The lawsuit was filed in the district court of Kansas on February 28, 1951, but the plaintiffs lost.  However, Oliver Brown took the case to the Supreme Court and on May 17, 1954, Justice Earl Warren and his court ruled 9-1 in favour of the plaintiff.  Segregated schools were declared unconstitutional in the United States.

Linda Brown was able to join her friends Mona, Guinevere and Wanda at Sumner Elementary thanks to the courage of her father, Oliver, and the 12 other parents.

Photo of newly integrated classroom courtesy www.gpb.org.

Ten Things You Didn't Know About Paris

1. The best views of Paris can be had from Montmartre, which is home to the famous Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. It has also been home to Dali, Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh and now has many unusual and interesting shops and cafés.

2. It’s easy to get around by public transport on the Metro, which has a comprehensive network, the RER, to take you out to the suburbs. If you’re going to be making a lot of journeys it’s cheap to buy books of tickets or carnets. You can also use the Vélib’, bicyles which cost €1 a day in subscription, plus charges for every 30 minutes, although if you use them for less than half an hour there’s no additional charge on top of the subscription.

3. There are numerous parks and gardens where you can relax and watch the world go by.

4. On the first Sunday of each month you can get into the larger museums, such as the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Pompidou Centre, for free. The under 25s can also get into the Louvre for free on Friday evenings after 6pm.

5. You can see a lot of interesting and beautiful parts of Paris along the River Seine, either by walking along the banks, or by taking a boat trip.

6. There are some interesting areas of Paris worth wandering around, including the Latin Quarter and the Right Bank with their narrow, winding streets and lots of small shops and cafés.

7. If you’re looking for bargains, the flea market on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays at Porte de Clignancourt in the north of the city is well worth a visit.

8. In the evenings many Parisians like to sit along the banks of the Seine with wine, cheese and bread, but if you prefer a livelier kind of night life, a good place to head for is the area around Place de la Bastille.

9. The Eiffel Tower is the tallest structure in Paris, at night the it is lit up, and every hour after midnight for 5 minutes the lights flash and sparkle. When it was built in 1889 it was the tallest tower in the world. Different shades of paint are used at different levels of the tower so that it looks the same colour to people on the ground.

10. The Promenade plantée is the world’s only linear park. It runs for 3 miles along an old railway viaduct from the Bastille almost to the Bois de Vincennes in the eastern suburbs. Many of the arches beneath the park have been made into arts and crafts workshops.

Photo of Arc de Triomphe courtesy www.freeimages.co.uk.

Shiny Stockings

Count Basie, leader of the Count Basie Orchestra, circa 1955 courtesy http://upload.wikimedia.org.

I'm hip, I'm lucky to have
Someone so endowed;
A girl half as lovely would made
Lots of fellows proud
I love all of her charms
But one's really a ball:
I love those shiny stockings most of all.

(An excerpt from "Shiny Stockings", a jazz tune composed by Frank Foster in 1955 and  performed by the Count Basie Orchestra.)

Everybody has heard of D-Day, but who has heard of N-Day?  It was on this day in 1940 that the Du Pont Corporation first came out with nylon stockings.  The hosiery quickly became a bestseller amongst American women.  European women appreciated them as well:  the stockings were the favourite gift for American soldiers to give to British women when they were stationed overseas.

However, with the entry of the United States into the war in December of 1941, Du Pont stopped making the stockings and started manufacturing war materials like parachutes and aircraft tires.  A severe shortage for the product soon developped.  The stockings which had previously sold for just over a dollar, were being traded on the black market for $20 a pair.  Investigators of a murder in the United States quickly ruled out robbery as a motive since the perpetrator left six pairs of nylon stockings behind. 

In August of 1945, with the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II, the DuPont Corporation returned to its pre-war production of stockings.  However, each time a store had a sale, they were sold out before day's end.  Mobs of women surrounded the department stores; fights broke out and the police had to be called.  These incidents became known as the "Nylon Riots".  In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the mayor received a petition with the names of 400 women on it demanding that the nylon product be more readily available.  The mayor arranged a stocking sale:  40,000 hosiery-hungry women lined up for 13,000 pairs.  Another Nylon Riot ensued. 

It wasn't until March of 1946, when the DuPont Corporation started producing 30 million pairs of stockings per month that supply met demand.  And America's women were happy once again.








Photo of line up for nylon stockings on May 15, 1940 courtesy http://4.bp.blogspot.com.