A 100 Year Old Letter _To the Day

Edith Nicholson and Herbert Nicholson, 191o ish. Well, I’ve written Threshold Girl, about Flora Nicholson in 1911/12 and I’ve started in on The Diary of a Confirmed Spinster about Edith, above which involves opiates, the Rossmore Hotel Fire in Cornwall and the Suffragette Movement, and I’m taking a pause on my play about Montreal City Hall in 1927, so here’s a letter from Herb, whom I have no plans to write about, not yet anyway. I still have his sister Marion’s story to plot out, it’s a love story so EASY!!

The Strassburg Hotel

Sugatt and Arbo, proprietors

Strassburg Jan 7, 1912 (It was  a Sunday)

Dear Father,

Was more than pleased to get your letter and must thank you for the Xmas present which is the best present I would wish for. (Paid Mason dues.)  I never get my notice of  Masonic meetings now so I did not know how much to send. You are very fortunate to be having such mild weather.

It turned cold here a day or two before Xmas and at times has been 45 and some say a low as 52 degrees below zero here. Today is considered a very mild day, only about 23 below. It  makes it very bad in my line as the farmers can not haul their grain and as a result I have not been able  to do any business this year so far. Do not know how long the company (Massey Harris) will want to pay my salary and expenses the way things are, although they seem well satisfied so far.

I suppose you see by the papers how serious the car shortage and terminal elevators blockade has become. It looks far worse to me than most people here are willing to admit and what makes it worse is the fact of so much of the crop being threshed after the snow and if it cannot be marketed before the soft weather in the spring. The whole trouble is that the increased acreage each year in crop is more than the increased railway facilities are and will be for years to come.

In other words, they can put the crop in on new breaking faster than they can build railroads and the very way out of the difficulty is to shop our grain south. Take  down the American duties and you will see about twenty miles of railway built across the line instead of stopping at  this time for no reason in the world. It would be of course only a short build in each case and each one would be a new outlet in itself which with our own. It does not matter how many branches they build as there will only be one outlet and the more branch lines the greater will be the block as soon as they strike the main lines running to the terminals.

I tell you the defeat of reciprocity was the worse thing that ever happened to all even the manufacturers as they are forcing a Depression on to the country and when that comes they will suffer like the rest and in the end it is bound to come. Well, do not know of any news so will have to close. Am going to write this to you at home and should you be away mother will forward to you. Hope you are all well. I am getting to fat I can barely move around, weight 187. Dinner ready so will close with love to all around and best wishes for 1912

Your Son Herbert

A Family’s Yearly Expenses 1900

The Nicholsons in 1893 or so.

Here is a list of their expenses of the year 1900:

January

 

1/3 of a beef, 106 pounds  6.35

Skating rink         10

6 lbs pork             25

2 beef tongues 20

Marion for Rink 10

Postage 12

79 lbs pork from Bromfield  4.35

Sunday School 04

Church plate 05

Scribbler for Flora  05

1 lbs sulphur  05

Hairdressing 15

Membership Board of Trade 1.00

Treat of cigars  25

Fare to Sherbrooke and return  1.35

Copy book Flora  08

Scribbler Edith 05

Marion skaing rink 10

½ lb Black tea  18

Sunday school 04

1 Ladies Jacket 8.50

1 pair gents overshoes 2.00

¼ lb candies  05

1 lb frosting sugar 08

1 lbs baking soda 04

¼ lbs peppermint 05

Sunday School 04

Church concert  60

Postage 20

1 paper of pins  05

I pocket handkerchief 08

Herbert 05

Postage 25

1 jar molasses  14

Mending Marion’s boots 25

February

Sunday School 04

Bridge toll 02

¼ pound candies 05

Times for one year 1.00

Maggie 25

½ pound Black tea 18

Marion for rink  10

Sunday School 03

¼ lbs cream of tartar  09

1 lbs currants 10

1 bottle Powell’s medicine 25

Maggie 50

W. Daigle for hauling bark 15

1 writing pad  15

1 pair rubbers Edith 45

1 pair rubbers Marion 45

1 loaf break 05

1 lb crackers 08

1 pint oysters 20

Cough candies  02

Scribbler for Marion 05

Postage 02

Maggie 50

1 loaf bread 05

1 bag fine salt 10

Sunday school 02

Church Collection 10

100 lbs salt 05

1 whisk  15

1 loaf bread 06

¾ pounds walnuts 10

Maggie for Church 2.10

1 lamp chimney 07

1 bottle M. Liniment 25

Maggie 06

½ black tea

1 pair laces 04

4 gallons coal oil 75

10 lbs corn meal 15

10 lbs Graham flour 25

5 gallons Coal Oil 95

1 hockey stick  30

Herbert for Dictionary 15

Maggie 10

½ loaf bread 06

1 lbs ginger snaps  10

¼ pound Ceylon Pepper 10

Postage 06

Flora and Marion 05

1 package Corn Starch 09

¼ lbs cream of tarter

Hair dressing 15

Marion for rink 10

March

1 jar molasses 12

1 doz eggs 20

Maggie 10

Chinaman for laundry  14

Sunday School 04

Patriotic Fund for Hockey 60

1 pair rubbers Herbert 60

Maggie 40

Marion and Flora 10

Sutherland for Miss Wilson 1.00

Postage 20

Mending tins 05

Missionary meeting 05

Skating rink 05

Maggie 25

¼ pounds cream of tarter 10

Sunday School 03

Maggie for concert 10

1 cake shaving soap 07

1 lbs soda 04

½ lbs Black tea

¼ lbs cream of tarter 09

1 bottle vanilla 10

5 pounds sugar 25

Maggie 25

5 lbs butter Mckee 1.00

Marion 05

Herbert for Sharpening skates 05

Maggie 1.00

5 lbs G Flour 10

6 ½ lbs butter 1.45

Mending Herbert’s boots 25

1 loaf bread 10

Cough candies 05

1 quart milk 05

Skating rink 20

Maggie 22

9 ½ lbs butter 2.00

Flora 05

1 bags fine salt 10

Maggie 50

1 bag flour 2.25

49 pounds oats 49

5 lbs sugar  25

Sunday School 04

½ lbs Black tea

Postage 10

Postal notes 05

Subscription to Herald `1.50

Subscription to Westminster

Pady Jim 25

12 ¾ cords wood 35.25

I scrubbing brush 10

April

5 lbs sugar 25

Maggie 10

1 pair of rubbers Flora 35

Sunday School 04

½ gal Coal oil 10

1 bottle ammonia 05

1 lamp burner 10

1 doz herrings 25

20 lbs Graham Flour 50

1 bag rolled oats 25

5 Gal Coal Oil 95

20 pounds corn meal 30

Flora 05

Small writing pad 05

1 box crackers 25

½ pound candies 10

Scrubbing floor 25

Herbert for sugar 10

Maggie 20

Hair dressing 15

1 jar molasses 15

½ lbs Black tea 18

2 lbs tapioca 10

Postage 27

Sunday School 07

Herbert for Birthday 25

Maggie 10

1 Gallon syrup 65

3 lbs sugar maple 24

3 pairs shoe laces 08

2 pair stockings 60

5 lbs sugar 25

Sugar scale 40

Maggie 2.60

1 pair rubbers 60

Maggie 35

To Sunday School 03

2 dozen eggs 30

1 package pop corn 05

F Lyster for milk 95

Fir dressing Herbert 15

5 lbs sugar 25

Maggie 1.00

Hauling manure 20

Postage 10

Sunday School 03

Bill of goods bought by Dan 32

1 box crackers  25

1 spool thread 10

1 can corned __beef? 25

3 ¾ lbs steak 47

Sunday school 04

Candies 04

May

5 lbs sugar 25

½ lbs Black tea 18

¼ pounds ginger 09

1 bag potatoes 45

¼ ream bill paper 05

Daigle for manuring 40

Edith 50

Herbert suit of clothes 4.00

Spading garden 1.00

Mending M and F. Shoes 70

Garden seeds 40

2 pairs shoes Edith and Marion 3.00

1 necktie for funeral 25

Maggie 25

Seeds got by Dr. Cleveland 50

1 package envelopes 07

Post office box 1.00

Sunday School 03

2 scribbers 10

1 bag oatmeal 1.90

1 lb flour 4.50

Mending boots 1.25

Pass Book 10

Postage 09

10 lbs graham flour 30

¼ lbs cream of tarter 25

2 lbs steak 25

3 ½ pounds S. Ham 25

Military dinner 75

3 gallons Maple Syrup 1.95

Flora 05

1 ¾ lbs Grass seed

Sunday school 05

Bridge toll 05

Church Collection 05

Maggie 20

Sawing 6 cords wood 3.90

2 scribblers 10

Hairdressing 15

Postage 10

1 can green paint 25

1 paint brush 10

5 lbs sugar 25

1 pint varnish 25

4 lbs steak 40

1 bunch lettuce 05

2 packages rubarb 10

2 lbs butter 36

½ pound black tea

Mending Edith’s boots 45

Sunday school 04

1 sitting of eggs 25

Box of Royal yeast 05

1 package carrots 05

1 doz screw nails 05

Maggie 5.00

Herbert for Fire Crackers 05

Military demonstration 1.00

Maggie 65

1 package of peas 10

1 package of carrots 05

Fare to Sherbrooke and return 80

Supper at Hoel 40

Initiation fees to Knight_(Masons) 21.00

Waiters at hotel 25

1 can Con. Lye 10

13 lbs veal 18

1 straw hats 12

Postage 20

Carting trees 75

5 lbs sugar 25

Maggie 2.00

Postage and registration 22

Sunday school 04

2 lbs raisins 20

4.1/2 lbs molasses 14

½ pounds cream of tarter 18

1 lbs baking soda 05

1 broom 22

Missionary collection for church 25

Bridge toll 05

1 wash board 25

1 box starch 15

2 lbs steak 25

1 bag fine salt 25

Maggie 1.25

Mending Maggie boots 60

Edith for scribbler 05

1 package powdered borax 10

2 cake cutters 10

June

To Herbert 05

Sunday school 03

Church collection 05

5 pounds sugar 25

½ pound black tea 18

1 loaf of bread 06

Bridge toll 06

1 pair braces 30

Mending Herbert’s boots 10

2 lemons 05

1 ½ lbs bacon 18

½ dozen tomato plans 13

1 ½ pounds steak 18

1 pin holder 05

Sunday school 04

Insoles for boots 20

2 cans paint 30

½ pounds emery powder

5 lbs oatmeal 15

1 bottle sweet oil 10

5 lbs sugar 25

2 lbs steak 25

Cutting H’s hair 15

Bridge Toll 02

Hair dressing 15

Sunday School 03

Sunday School 03

Postage 10

½ pounds Black tea 18

1 ½ pounds bacon 17

Church collection 05

Horse hire (Boast)1.50

Postage 25

5 lbs sugar 28

1 loaf bread 06

Maggie 50

Mending jewellery 05

1 straw hat 25

Present for Dan 1.00

1 ½ lbs bacon 18

2 cakes Sapolio 15

1 cake soap 10

1 bottle ammonia 10

2 lbs steak 25

1 bunch rhubarb 05

Horse hire 1.50

Sunday school 03

Church Collection 05

Fair to Windsor and return 30

Dinner at hotel 35

1 loaf bread 07

1 bottle turpentine 09

½ black tea 18

¼ pounds cream of tarter 09

1 ½ lb steak 18

July

Knitting yarn 03

Sunday school 03

1 box Royal yeast 05

Postage 08

Postage 51

12 lbs strawberries 1.25

Maggie 25

5 pounds bacon 60

2 lbs steak 25

Herbert for pocket money 23

Sunday school 03

Church collection 05

Hair dressing 15

Edith 10

3 lbs steak 30

2 quarts black currants 16

½ lbs black tea 18

Herbert for passing school 25

Maggie 3.00

20 pounds graham flour 50

20 lbs corn meal 30

Subscription to filling road 50

1 set cuff buttons 20

2 quarts black currants 16

Maggie 50

Mending Herbert’s boots 10

½ dozen pins 05

Sunday schools 02

Maggie 10

1 bottle vanilla 25

Note paper 05

I package envelopes 10

½ lbs Black tea 18

Marion 05

3 ½ lbs lamb 44

1 yd elastic 15

August

1 bottle perfume 25

Sunday School 04

Church collection 05

5 bars soap 25

¼ pounds cream of tarter 09

1 jar vinegar 14

1 ½ lbs bacon 18

1 pail berries 36

1 ½ pounds steak 18

2 lemmons 0 6

1 lbs currants 10

1 ½ pounds bacon 18

Edith 20

Sunday Schol 03

Church collection 05

1 lbs starch 06

½ black tea 18

Maggie 25

2 ½ pounds steak 30

2 pairs laces 04

Margaret 25

1 can salmon 15

Mrs. Parker’s Centennial 2.00

1 bushel basket 35

1 ½ pounds bacon 15

1 bushel basket 35

Edith 35

½ bushel potatoes 13

3 ½ pounds steak 35

1 bottle vinegar 14

1 lbs soda 05

8 lbs raspberries 30

4 lbs blueberries 25

Church collection 10

Hair dressing 15

4 dozen clothes pins 10

Bridge toll 10

1 lbs nails 05

1 yeast cake 02

2 lbs beef 1 6

1 ½ pounds bacon 18

1 bottle vinegar 10

1 ½ pounds steak 18

Cartage of valises 10

Mending Herbert’s boots 10

I pair  pants for Herbert 90

Sunday school 04

5 lbs soap 25

Herbert 15

2 ½ lbs steak 30

½ lbs tea 13

3 lbs lamp chops 30

5 lead pencils 05

1 school scribbler 05

September

1 ½ pounds steak 15

School book 1.48

Maggie 15

1 can corn beef 25

3 ½ pounds steak 35

½ pounds b tea 18

¼ pound cream of tarter 10

1 package jelly 09

1 pail plums 40

Sunday school 94

Maggie 10

Latin book for edith 50

Postage 10

I scribbler 05

Post cards 10

1 book school edith 85

1 box matches 12

1 peck apples 10

6 ½ lbs steak 65

1 lbs soda 04

50 pounds sugar 2.75

1 bush flour 5.00

5 gallons coal oil 95

1 0 lbs graham flour 35

1 bag rolled oats 25

Scribbler for marion 05

4 fair tickets for children 40

1 membership ticket 1.00 (agricultural fair)

4 cakes bluing 05

1 peck apples 20

½ bushel apples 20

Ticket to fair 25

1 school book Edith 75

1 boot brush 18

1 doz lemons 02

8 preserving jar rubbers 08

Hair dressing 15

1 box boot blacking

Funeral at Gould 3.60

Sunday school 02

Church plate 10

Postage 20

School book Edith 30

2 lbs steak 20

3 ½ pounds steak 35

3 pounds mutton chops 16

1 __jar 10

1 copy book Flora 08

1 scribbler Herbert 05

Bible society 25

Marking at target 15

Missionary society 25

½ lbs Black tea

Postage 02

October

Subscription to Montreal Witness 2.50

5 ½ lbs steak 55

Football match 1.00

1 felt hat gents 1.00

3 __ packages 30

Maggie for C. B fund 1.00

Sunday school 04

Children for anniversary 20

1 peck apples 10

Church collection 10

Church concert 85

2 baskets grapes 18

Postage 15

2 flower pots 32

6 ½ pounds beef  63

1 ½ lbs lard 15

Sunday school 02

Maggie 05

Papers 02

4 ¾ pounds steak 48

½ doz oranges 15

1 basket grapes 25

Mending 2 pairs boots 1.15

Psotage 04

Edith 06

4 Laurier Buttons (Election year!)

Mending M boots 40

1 ½ lbs bacon 24

2 pints vinegar 15

5 lead pencils 05

4 ½ lbs beef 45

1 lbs butter 20

Post staps 10

Fare to Danville 55

Dinner at Danvile 40

Fare to Sherbrooke and Return 50

November

Dinner at Hotel 40

Masonic supper 1.00

1 lbs bacon 15

Hair dressing 15

Sunday school 02

Maggie 25

Ticket to S of E supper 50

10 lbs steak 98

2 lbs butter 40

Postage 08

Sunday School 03

1 Latin Book Herbert 40

Postage 07

Bridge toll 02

Postage 05

½ bushel apples 20

School Paper 05

Mending Herbert’s boots 10

5 ½ lbs steak 53

4 lbs butter 72

1 ½ doz eggs 23

1 scribbler 05

3 note books 03

Mending H. Boots 05

Hair dressing Herbert 15

16 lbs oats for hens 16

Lamp chimney 07

Bridge toll 02

Herbert for scribbler 05

Maggie 10

12 lbs steak 1.25

1 package B. Seed 10

1 sacred history Marion 30

15 lbs oats 15

Postage 10

Edith for Miss Lankin 05

December

6 lbs steak 60

15 lbs oats 15

Herbert 05

Maggie 10

Bridge toll 10

20 lbs oats 30

Foolscap paper 05

2 lbs bacon 23

4 lbs pork and lamb chops 40

Consert in College 25

20 pounds oats 20

½ yard ribbon 04

Postage 10

Postage 10

Pass book 05

Hair dressing 15

5 ½ cheese 65

Aylmers Presentation 50

Marion 10

Flora 05

1 lbs currants 12

7 ¼ lbs steak 72

1 lb suet 10

Sunday school 04

Marion 15

Maggie 5.00

I pair ladies gloves 1.25

Herbert for change 25

Maggie 1.00

1 package tobacoo 10

Peppermints 05

Postage 10

Postage 04

2 tickets to Christmas Tree 20 (event)

Tickest to D and return 55

Flora 05

9 ¾ pounds beef 75

10 lbs salt 10

1 doz eggs 25

1 bottle ammonia 10

Laundry 16

½ pounds candies 10

3 ¼ lbs m. Sugar 28

½ lbs nuts 10

Marion 05

Postage 08

¼ beef 87 pounds  4.78

2 beef tongues 22

Laundry 10

Sunday school 03

Church collection 05

1 yeast cake 02

1 writing pad 06

½ dozen pencils 05

½ doz pins 05

10 lbs oats 10

Scribbler for marion 05

Sunday school 05

Maggie 10

Miss Jessie Kellock 15

Postage 08

Mckee Bill (groceries) 16.33  (same as on this list but also stove polish, pane of glass, can of beef, cod.)

1 bag flour 2.50

Dentist’s bill 9.75

Children schools fees 11.00

McMorine bill 15.80 General store

McRae Bill (groceries)6.58

John Bushnel for cie 6.00

Masonic chapter dues 2.00

Municipal tax 18.50

Minister Stipend 5.00

Municipal tax 35.20

 

Nicholson Family Saga: Letter 2. Mangling the Lawn and Baking Bread

Margaret and Flora Nicholson 1910
Dufferin Street,

June 6, 1911

Dear Norman,

Your letter with your address just recd this evening so I thought I must write at once.

Seems such a long time since you left.

I also recd a letter from North Bay and one also from Cochran. You certainly have done very well about writing, only I was longing for the address.

I came home the Sunday after you left, came out on the late train. Edith and Flora had retired but they were not long in coming to the door.

It had been a very hot day in Montreal but when I got here it had rained and was quite cool which was a pleasant change.

Came up in the bus.

I stayed with Marion all the time in Montreal (Boarding House on Tower) and only stayed at the Cleveland’s the day you left. Dr. C. said he had not seen you for such a long time.

I am very glad that you are to be on the rails (and not 50 miles into the bush). Hope you will like the Scotchman better than the last (supervisor, an Englishman). You will because he is Canadian.

I have figured the distance.. over seven hundred miles.

Still, I see this letter recd tonight is stamped Cochran the 5th was not long in coming that distance, the delay was East of Cochran.

I have not heard from Herb since you left. I am looking for a letter in two days as he would likely write Sunday.

Although, he missed writing one Sunday.

I wrote him after you left, but you better write and send him your add. Anything I get will mail to you.

I have not heard from Marion since I came home. I think she will come to Richmond as soon as school closes.

I got the cheque for 10.95 from your man. Edith took it to the ET Bank and had it cashed so we will be all right for a while. I also got receipt for money sent for Westminster and Presbyterian. (Magazines, both Presbyterian.)

Sorry you forgot the mirror. The other things I will mail you at once.

The weather has been cool here just as you have it there.

Evenings we are glad to sit in the kitchen. The days are fine to wash so we have got our washing and ironing done.

We could not get a man to cut the lawn last week so Edith, Flora and myself thought we would try it on a nice cool day. We mangled the front but could not attempt the back.

Charlie Moore did the back lawn Saturday and is to do the front tomorrow night. He has promised to do it once a week in the evening as he works in the Boston and Last Factory. (With Grand Trunk Railway the major employer in Richmond.)

We really were too tired, we will not try it again. I don’t think.

Tonight Flora and I went up to Bella’s (Sister, Isabella Hill, around the corner on prestigious College Street). Edith walked down to the mail. Clayton (Isabella’s husband) took us down to the mail in his auto, then brought us home. It is running fine now.

He was out in Kingsbury Sunday. William left Monday on his trip out West. He has a ticket on the CPR. He came down to bid us goodbye, did not know you had gone till he came to the house. Seemed disappointed he really seemed so lonesome going. Too bad he was going alone. I told I wish you were going with him. I gave him Herb’s add (ress).

Montgomery (next door neighbour) is working at his house (renovations). Says he has all the men he wants now. Skinners (other next door neighbours) are having the same pleasure in their auto. Going all the time. Earnest and wife left Monday for Montreal. We had them in for tea. Saturday eve then we went over and played cards until near Sunday morning.

They took Edith to South Durham one day last week, stayed for tea there. They all seemed to enjoy our tea as they are all fond of my home made fresh bread.

Now I am glad that you are particular about your diet and that you are feeling well. I trust you will take good care of yourself around and about the trains.
Tell me how you like this work.

Flora is keeping very well. She comes home every afternoon at 3 o’clock studies for a change and stays out on the veranda. The vines have filled in so we can sit there the whole afternoon.

Our Church sale is Wednesday and Thursday so they will be by about that this week. Edith is feeling well and is getting with the housework all right…Later….

Miss Denton called me to go down to the hall at 9 am. I thought Edith would finish this letter and send it on. Sorry it was delayed. The great crowd that was expected did not turn out. We are going back this afternoon will tell you how much we make.

Had a letter from Marion said she got your letter.

Hoping to hear from you again very soon,

With much love Margaret.

Town life for women in Richmond, Quebec, in the 1910 era, consists of walks to the mail, afternoon teas, both given and received, and a long list of daily household chores, if you weren’t lucky enough to have a servant. (Margaret was a gifted homemaker who won prizes for her baking and crafts at the local fairs. Indeed, the family genealogy has this fact written after her name.)

There are also card parties and church socials. And church, of course. A person could go twice a day if she wished.

Daughter Edith, 27, is back at home, from her teaching job in the city. She has been employed, for two years at French Methodist Institute in toney Westmount. Edith has no diploma and works for a small wage of $250 a year. Flora, the youngest daughter at 19, is in the crunch year at St. Francis College, a distinguished local institution, which, until 1900, had been affiliated with McGill University. Flora must pass her exams if she is to be accepted at Macdonald Teachers College and earn a diploma and a decent living as a teacher. The problem, she freezes from nerves at exam time.

The Nicholsons live in a posh area of town, which explains why both neighbours – as well as the brother in law – have brand new automobiles. Motorcars in 1911 could cost as much as a house ($2,000 range) and you couldn’t get them on credit. But they were definitely, the “in” thing, especially in towns like Richmond, especially with middle class men. And everyone seemed to enjoy car rides, men and women alike. The Nicholsons are in no position to buy an automobile. Their financial situation is extremely precarious. Well, they are broke, basically, and ‘house poor’ as they owe a large mortgage on Tighsolas, their charming brick Queen Anne style home, built in 1896, the year Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberals came to power, by Norman for 2,718.00.

In 1909, when Margaret first learns that her neighbour is looking to buy a ‘motor’ as they called them, she writes to her husband “Mr Montgomery is going to buy an auto. Nothing but will satisfy him now. He is going to sell his horse. Mrs. Montgomery doesn’t want to buy one. Too bad he is so foolish.” In 1911, brother-in-law Clayton Hill’s new auto is breaking down a lot, which amuses Margaret greatly.

The Clevelands are family friends who live on Lorne, east of McGill University. Mr. is a dentist so referred to as Dr. C.. The Clevelands are are the descendants of a handful of pioneering families in Richmond County of the Eastern Townships.

These Clevelands are wealthy enough to have a live in maid, a young English woman, newly arrived from the UK. The 1911 census reveals that most people on Lorne had maids. Still, there was a serious servant problem in 1910 in Canada, which was worrying the upper crust and forcing the middle class to increasingly make-do.

The 1911 Census reveals that only two families living in the Nicholson’s Richmond neighbourhood have a live-in maid. (Not the Hills or Montgomerys or Skinners. And certainly not the Nicholsons.) But in 1901, according to that Census, virtually everyone on the street had a live-in domestic, including the Nicholsons. (Maggie Mclean, age 58)

Something changed between 1901 and 1911 – and it is affecting the Nicholsons.

Are You As Smart as a Fifth Grader, (Victorian Edition)

I have posted some of my essays and articles online on my http://www.tighsolas.ca/ website and one of the most popular is YouTube and Yams www.tigsholas.ca/page479.html.

That’s because it’s about Bunga of Malaya, the first character study in the social studies book Visits in Other Lands, which was a staple of Protestant Schools across North American from the 1940′s to the 1970′s.

Lots of people (Boomers, I assume) enter the keywords “Bunga” + “Yams” into Google or whatever search engine because they are feeling nostalgic for Grade Four Geography. A Canadian poet, Carl Leggo, even wrote a poem called Grade Four Geography about Bunga and the other characters in the book.

In short, Canadian children in middle of the 20th century grew up with a standardized curriculum, sea-to-sea, which promoted a common worldview, as well as a rather narrow view of Malaysians and other Third World Societies.

In my case, this was especially odd as my father was born in Kuala Lumpur, the son of a rubber planter, and his mother, a librarian and Changi survivor www.tighsolas.ca/page745.html still lived there.

I’m writing this because this morning I went back and re-read two reports about Protestant Education in Quebec available online at archives.org.

One report was from 1893-95, the other from 1914-16.

The war-time report was of especial interest. Flo and Edith Nicholson were teaching in that era and were listed as attending Teachers’ Convention. Flora lived at 281 Old Orchard (with sister Marion).

It was an era of war, curriculum reform, and standardization of textbooks, although the new Royal Crown Readers were hard to come by, as they were from Britain.

The report also mentioned the 1914 Lachute Summer Teaching School that Edith attended. She must have got a provisional diploma to be able to teach at St. Francis College in Richmond.

Many articles printed here are extremely interesting in relation to the social issues of the day: I’ll discuss them in future blogs.

But the earlier report had something that I might actually weave into Flo in the City: a list of examination questions for first and second year model school, the 4th and fifth grades. Edith and Marion and Herb would have studied this same curriculum -and likely Flora too a few years later.

So, here goes: Are you as smart as a Victorian Age Canadian Fifth Grader?

The Nicholsons 1893 or 4.

What is a proper noun? A common noun? And give an example of each.

What was the nature of the religion of the early Britons? When did it give place to Christianity?

Queen Victoria? Whom did she succeed? What relation was she to him?

Derive the following words and form two others from each of the roots: subterranean, aqueducts, contributes, radiate, adequate, tenacious.

Translate. Je ne l’ai pas. Jean, tu es bien ennuyeux aujourd’hui. Va t’essuyer les mains, Baptiste.

Write out the subjunctive present of savoir and etre.

Translate: Incolae Britanniae aunt agricoloe. Magister agentum peuro dat. Graecia valles augustas habet.

Kuala Lumpur in 1964, the year I learned about Bunga. When my grandmother visited us in 1967 for Expo, Montreal must have seemed like a provincial backwater compared to bustling, multicultural Kuala Lumpur.

Of course, had the curriculum contained information on Rubber Estates in Malaya, they could have shown us a picture of Tamil women tappers working with their children on European owned and run plantations. And then we could have learned about the economics of Imperialism.)

Hear ALL About It. Big Tater Dug out of Garden on Dufferin

Ok. The last clipping, posted on the previous blog, was heavy duty – and complex, from an historical perspective. Justifying war always is.

But not all of the Nicholson clippings, left behind with their letters in an old trunk, were about suffrage, or child-labour, or a king`s abdication, or war.

Take the clipping above.

It’s from the Social Notes section of the Richmond Times, date unknown, although it pre-dates 1911, as JC Sutherland sold his store to Bedard that year, before he went to work as Education Supervisor for the Province of Quebec. And it is after 1898 when Kodak started selling the folding pocket camera.

Still, there’s more than meets the eye here. I think the Nicholsons were making fun of the Social Scene, by putting in this notice about the GIANT 2 1/2 POTATO found by Norman in the Nicholson garden.

And J.C. Sutherland, why has he posted two notices about cameras available in his drug store? Shouldn’t he have taken out an advertisement.

(I guess the Nicholson bought their 5.00 Kodak in 1904 at Sutherland`s.)

If this column was free, then, I guess, it is savvy marketing on Sutherland`s part. Or maybe he felt that people would be inclined to purchase their first camera to preserve the memory of a special visit.

Whatever, there were few secrets in communities like Richmond back then. Notices like this, in local paper or the city paper, announced all the comings and goings of the more prominent citizens.

Marks from St. Francis College were posted in the paper every June and standings too. This must have made Flora Nicholson, who failed a few subjects, shrink a little to think the entire town knew about it. (I will have it so in my book, Flo in the City. Actually, I already do in my first chapter…)

And when Herb Nicholson leaves Richmond in disgrace, he begs his parents in a letter “to tell no one where I am.”

So no notice saying, “Herb Nicholson has left for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to stay at Mr. Newall’s under a cloud of suspicion. ”

Flo in the City Chapter 1 Draft 2 (episode 2)

Any other day, Flora would have had her mother right there at her side at homework time to help keep her on task. She’d be working at the kitchen table and her mother would be busy nearby with some end of day chore, sweeping out the ashes from the stove or wiping down the icebox. Mother Margaret had a sharp memory and even sharper opinions on a slate of popular topics, from eugenics to church union to suffrage, with the latter being her very favourite, that would woman suffrage, or universal suffrage – women’s right to vote – an interest that got her in hot water with many of the other church ladies and just about all the church men.

Margaret, a pleasing looking woman of 54, was famous in her birth family for being ‘the one who knows things.’ She had worked, in her youth, as the Eastern Townships’ first female telegraph operator.

But today, no homework help was forthcoming. No sewing help either. “It will have to wait,” Margaret shot back from her sewing room off the kitchen, “I hardly have time enough to sew this pocket into my corset for tomorrow’s train trip. To protect my cash. Father’s orders…And come in from the verandah, Flora dear, the wind is picking up and you’ll catch a chill.”

That was not like Margaret, refusing to make a quick repair on a frock or stocking, especially on a school night. Mother must be very nervous about her trip, Flora figured. She was heading off to Three Rivers to visit her oldest daughter, Edith, who was teaching in a company school at Radnor Forges, near that place. There, she would meet father Norman and then accompany him back to his railway camp near La Tuque.

By the determined sound of her sewing, the steady tap tap tap on the pedal, and chug a chug a chug of the needle, Flora sensed there was some anxiety associated with this trip.

Just a change of colour. There it was again. That silly sentence, popping into her head, right out of nowhere. And if she didn’t do well on her exam, or if she failed, heaven forbid, she was in for it.

Fire and Death

Cameras in 1909. From Eaton’s Catalogue. I have an advert from a magazine for a Brownie Camera, showing two boys out cross country skiing as with a camera. Nature Photography, the ad says. Good Wholesome Fun!
Of course, the ad wouldn’t mention ‘wholesome’ unless there was a taint of unwholesomeness about the product. Well, we know what it – many new technologies have that taint. I recall in 1977, I was in a ‘cinema class’ and an enthusiastic student was talking to the prof who was a film maker, about the new ‘video camera’. The prof was not impressed:he remarked that the video camera would just be used for porn.

OK. More wonderful finds with the Gazette archives. For a few years now, I’ve been wondering some things related to Tighsolas, my social studies website at www.tighsolas.ca which features the letters of the Nicholsons, a Canadian family in the 1910 era. (This novel in progress, Flo in the City, is based on the letters.) Both questions I have are fire related.

1) A few years ago a book came out on Protestant Education in Quebec and it claimed Royal Arthur School closed in 1909 because of fire. I was confused as that is where Marion taught, and she wrote back on Royal Arthur Stationery for a long time after that.

Well, I found the notice of the fire. Just a few minutes ago. The school partially burned down. One wing, the east, remained open. Some of the 500-600 students in the school were sent to another local school and others were taught in a church. I’m have no way of knowing, but I will assume that Marion worked in the east wing.

Now, I know that Edith lost her great love in a fire. She told her niece as much. In a 1910 letter, she writes about her loss. A while back, I had visited McGill and looked up May 1910 to see about a fire in Cornwall. I saw that a Charlie Gagne was killed and I knew she had a boyfriend, Charlie G.

Well, I have confirmed it. An article from the Ottawa Citizen archives describes Charlie Gagne as a bank teller at the Bank of Montreal in Cornwall, originally from Levis, who had just arrived from Danville,which is, of course, near Richmond. I wonder if he was French Canadian? And I wonder if he is in any of the pictures I have posted on this. Maybe he is that handsome young man in the pics on the trip to Potten Springs.

The fire was a big one, with 12 dead, including a family. The Rossmore Hotel among other buildings, burnt down. It remains Cornwall’s major fire.

Well, I have details for my story. Hmm. A Bank Teller. Not exactly marrying up. Maybe that’s why they weren’t engaged, but had only ‘an understanding’.

Teacher Sings the Blues

A drawing in the 1909 Delineator, illustrating a romance printed within. The image is of men saving women… I uploaded this one for this blog, because, well.. read on..

I just ‘found’ this letter. It has no date, so I kind of overlooked it. I have not posted it on Tighsolas, only just now figuring out that it is from 1908.

It is significant for many reasons. 1) It is from a fellow teacher at Sherbrooke High, who sounds very much like a bright young thing. I will use many of her figures of speech in future installments of Flo in the City, a work in progress, based on the letters of http://www.tighsolas.ca/.

This woman is also very depressed! The Nicholsons were in terrible trouble in the 1910 era, but no letter survives that reveals any of them to be depressed, not like this girl. (Mrs. Coy, in Boston, is the person who sounds depressed like this woman.) I wonder who she is, I have posted a picture of the Sherbrooke High Teachers on this blog.

She’s a woman who has suffered a loss of some sort and dreads being an old maid teacher. In my next installment I will allude to this letter. I’ve already reached early spring 1909, but I think I can tie this letter in with another event that happened. A young man’s body was found in the river. Little is said, but there is a suggestion he committed suicide. Depression or the blues, as they called it: it existed back then, and here’s the proof.

Marion had many, many friends all her life. Her life wasn’t an easy one, no not at all. But Marion wasn’t a dreamer, and she didn’t look back. She soldiered on at all times.

Megantic, Sunday Night.

I got your letter the morning I was leaving. You must think me horribly rude, but I have been in such a rush since I got home. I wanted to let you know that I was going to Richmond, but I didn’t know until the very last moment which was I was going. Got a telegram. I would have loved to have stayed with you, and I was so sorry not to have seen you. The Martyr came as far as Richmond. He was on his way to Montreal, but of course his train left ages before mine. What have you been hearing, Marion? Now fess up and play straight. I am consumed with curiosity.You have got the idea all crooked, for no pleasant prospect. I am going back to Sherbrooke next Saturday, I expect by the TCR, I don’t in the least look forward to it. I assure you the Mabel Trosu who is going there is a girl from Quebec and I never had the dimmest use for her in the days that we were youngsters. Believe me, the winter that stretches in front of me will be no pleasant one. Perhaps it may be more than commonly unpleasant. Anyway, I dread the very thought of school, and unless things change in a way not common to everyday life, I’ll not stay in Sherbrooke another year.

Now Marion. Things are not serious with me in the way that you imagine. I really think he is awfully nice but we are just friends. And I will miss you so much next year. I hate the thought of it without you. The Summer has been very quiet. Lal and the Martyr came down. He was on business, of course. A very flying visit. Then Lal stayed a few days later. I wish you were here tonight.

I really miss you very much as you are the only person I ever talk to. And I am quite sure you don’t miss me as I do you. I never really like a person, but 7 degrees of separation. And I have got down to where I kick. I am kicking hard these days. Bess and I reviewed the barren future and the dreamy post in a very searching way the other day. We are both getting old and I fancy we will both continue to get old. And I see myself a ___ Old Maid. For my __, I cannot understand or get on with Mankind and I feel the desire to do so is lessening.

I am beginning to take a most active and intelligent interest in the Pension fund. It really is up to me. I made certain from the Inspector that it didn’t matter whether you got your receipts or not. Fancy me growing into Miss Mitcheldown. I could be nice and tall and angular. I wonder if I could look as cross. I am making a new kimono and it’s hideous. Then reading a book of Scott’s, the Abbot. It is stupid and I am going back to Sherbrooke High and that’s the limit. Now pray tell me what is to become of one totally bereft of humour and sympathy. You really must write to me, Marion. You must. This letter is so horribly blue. And I know that you will think I am silly and put a wrong construction on it. But you know me too well. You will just shake your small, wise head and say “Florrie’s got the blues.” Remember my numerous attacks. But really, I do feel very very blue and I think, as I have outlined to you, I have good reason.

Now I must to bed. I hope you have a nice summer.

Your most sincere and forlorn friend, Florance J.P.
PS.I do hope you are preserving that obituary carefully

BLUE UMBRELLA YELLOW MACKINTOSH 10th installment

That baby again. I assume it is Mrs. Montgomery’s. This is the only Tighsolas photo with images of local workers. 1910 era.

I have a list of trees and shrubs planted on Tighsolas grounds in 1897. “Purchased from H.W.Beebe, Plain, Quebec, Grower, Dealer and Importer of Hardy Varieties of Fruit and Nursery Stock. One current tree, one McIntosh Red Apple, one Bismarck Apple, one Bradshaw plum, 6 Floyd currant, 6 white grape currant, one Norway Maple, one Weeping Birch, one Paul’s new double thorn, one hydrangea, one purple Clematis, one Malbara raspberry and a partridge in a pear tree.”

Next day, in the evening mail, a letter finally did come from brother Herb in Montreal. Flora handed it to her mother in the vestibule first thing. As Flora removed her raincoat, Margaret ripped it open, read it, turned white, and told Flora, “I am going to the Hills. I am not sure when I will be back.”

And then she whipped her own frayed yellow Mackintosh from the stand inside, wrapped it tightly around her, and stomped out the front door, grabbing Flora’s wet umbrella, open in full bluish bloom on the porch, by its upturned handle as she blew by. Flora closed the front door.

No homework help tonight, either. That was clear. Flora had hoped her mother would have the time to ask her her Latin verbs.

But no. Margaret didn’t even have the time to ask about the other envelope in Flora’s hand.

What has Herb done now? Poor Mother. She seemed to bounce from one family crisis to another.

Flora casually hung her slicker on the newly naked hook of the rickety coat tree and looked again at the envelope in her hand. It was addressed to her and postmarked Newton Center, Massachusetts. Cousin Henry! But she already knew that.

She decided to brew herself a cup of tea to warm her blood before taking the letter opener to it.