The Ballad of the Cobourg-Peterborough Railway

By Janelle Kelcey

The following is a song I wrote about the Cobourg and Peterborough Railway which was inspired from attending one of Dr. Al Kirby's Traditional Music Workshops at the Village. I am hoping to set it to a tune in the near future. Enjoy!

Oh, the year was 1854 - was built a railway, new
From Cobourg on to Peterborough, the train made its trip debut
O'er the largest trestle in the world, two miles ‘cross Rice Lake
Harwood o’er to Hiawatha, a short trip it did make

But eventually the winter came
The snow and ice surely to blame
Shifted the bridge’s wooden frame
The C+PR - what a shame

Mr. Fowler he fixed up the bridge, and opened up next spring
But the southern portions of the line , they did the strangest thing
The pilings weren’t held down with rock, the bridge started to sway
And on the shores of Tic Island, it washed up there one day

And eventually the winter came
The snow and ice surely to blame
Shifted the bridge’s wooden frame
The C+PR- what a shame

Then along came John Dumble, the most successful keeper,
He anchored the entire bridge, and drove the piles deeper
That winter it moved naught an inch, nor the winter after that,
But in 1859 Dumble fell prey to a rat

For Fowler had been busy o’er at the PHL & B
He hatched a plan to get rid of his competitor’s lucky spree
Dumble thought he was leasing his line to the ol’ Grand Trunk
But now instead the C+PR was very surely sunk

It was in 1861 or maybe ‘62
They took the pins, ripped out the rails, took nearly every screw
So when winter came around, and froze the lake once more
The bridge’s middle wound up moving to Rice Lake’s south shore

So eventually the winter came
The snow and ice surely to blame
Shifted the bridge’s wooden frame
The C+PR - what a shame

Cobourg & Peterborough Railway Bridge on Rice Lake (Source: Wikipedia)

Cobourg and Peterborough Railway Locomotive (Source: Wikipedia)

Rice Lake Bridge (Source: Wikipedia)

Janelle has been a seasonal interpreter at Lang Pioneer Village for three years. She is a recent graduate of Queen's University and her areas of historical interest include local histories, ethno and historical musicology and history education. 

A Man in the Field

I wrote this to let you know a little about me and why I decided to work in the museum field. It is about my most memorable museum experience.  Please think of “museum” in the broadest sense of its definition:

My most memorable museum experienced occurred at Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian war cemetery in France. This cemetery is like most Canadian World War II cemeteries. It appears abruptly just off a country road and is surrounded by fields and hills. It’s beautiful, but seems out of place in its environment, a cemetery in the middle of the countryside. Many of the Canadian war cemeteries have pillared entranceways which invite visitors into the pristinely kept burial grounds; white marble gravestones are surrounded by gardens of roses. I walked into the cemetery and through the rows, reading the name engraved on each and then moving onto the next one. I had been thinking about this place and these names long before I had arrived.

Months earlier I was chosen to be part of the Canadian Battlefield Study Tour. This tour involved visiting various WWI and WWII battlefields, cemeteries and sights of significance. As a part of this group of twelve students, I was supposed to do a presentation on a Canadian soldier who had died at war. I spent weeks at Bowmanville’s Museum and Archives, researching soldiers and their families. I chose a local man named Wilfred Edward Flaxman, a soldier who died during WWII. He grew up in Bowmanville, on Lover’s Lane, which is very close to the street that I grew up on. Wilfred and his twin brother worked alongside their father constructing many of the street’s English style homes. I learned about his family’s involvement in the war effort and about his death and who he had left behind. The archives contained letters to his family, his medals and some photographs of him and his family. Through all this research and time at the Museum, I became connected with someone I had never met or previously known even existed. I was disappointed to hear that there were no living relatives of Wilfred, there was no one for me to interview, no children or grandchildren, no family historian or old grandmother. None of his siblings had had any kids. I decided that I was going to remember him and share his story, even though I had never really met him. I think that museums can present an opportunity for visitors to connect with someone from history. This potential is what I consider to be one of the values of the museum experience.

In the cemetery, as I walked by the names, dates, and verses, I counted them until I reached row G number 12. There, engraved on the stone was Lieutenant W.E Flaxman, 22nd August 1944, age 31. Teary eyed, I gained my composure and read the group my story about W.E Flaxman. I finished the presentation on a side note about remembrance. I noted that many of the young men who died in WWII were dead uncles; a perspective passed on to my dad and then onto me by my veteran grandfather. Many of these soldiers had died young, unmarried and without children. Their siblings went on to have families; they were remembered by nieces and nephews, many of whom had never met them. In Wilfred’s case, this was not possible, so I requested that as a group, we could act as his nieces and nephews remembering him and his life. This task I continue to do today, sharing his story with others and visiting his family`s tombstone annually. I think I will always have a connection with him.

Sometimes when we are learning about history it is hard to remember that it was people like you and I who lived through it. We often look at the big event and the overall conditions. In WWII history we learn about Dieppe, D-Day landings and the closing of the Falaise pocket. We are given death tolls and POW (prisoner of war) figures. In all of this it is easy to forget the individuals. It is easy to forget that when one person dies, it is a tragedy for an entire family and community. At Bretteville-sur-Laize I was given the opportunity to recognize this. As a visitor I saw thousands of almost identical tombstones, many with the same date, age, rank and regiment, however, each had a different name and family message. Each of these people had stories like Wilfred, they had people who loved them, cared for them and missed them.

At most museums visitors are shown objects and told stories about people. They are invited to connect with individuals, learning about how they lived and what they did. I believe this is one of the greatest impacts museums can have on a visitor. Museums tend to bring history alive, as they show the objects, possessions and pictures of actual people. They make history less of a story and more of an experience. The history of the Falaise pocket is no longer just a tactical operation that resulted in the separation of Nazi forces and the death of thousands. It was an operation that Lieutenant W.E Flaxman was a part of and one which he died in.  

Ruth began volunteering at Lang Pioneer Village in 2012 at the event craft tables. She is currently the Acting Administrative/Volunteer Coordinator and has played several roles at the Museum this year including the role of the Keene Hotel Hostess. She likes to consider herself a perpetual student as she always enjoys learning new things, taking courses and joining clubs.

In Flanders Fields

The following entry was originally posted May 5, 2015 on Village Vignettes. In honour of Remembrance Day, we have decided to re-post this entry entitled "In Flanders Fields". May we never forget the many men and women who fought for freedom in our Country.

Centennial Anniversary Event – May 3, 1915 – In the immortal Words of …

By Joe Corrigan

The 2^nd Battle of Ypres, the first time Canadian troops had been engaged in a major battle of the First World War, was in its twelfth day and the casualties had been very heavy. The field hospitals were all but overwhelmed with the flood of wounded and gassed soldiers they were faced with. In the midst of all this chaos, a senior medical officer took the time to preside over the funeral of his close friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer. The doctor had been treating casualties in an 8’ by 8’ bunker just behind the Yser canal about two miles north of Ypres. After the service, the physician, who was also a poet and author, wrote a 15 verse poem to express his feelings on the loss of his comrade and the need to carry on the fight so that his sacrifice and those of the fallen would not have been in vain.

Major John McCrae

It only took twenty minutes to complete and the poet was not pleased with his work and tossed it aside. Fortunately, someone was able to convince him of the worth of the piece. In December of 1915, the poem was published in the British magazine “Punch” and its verses have been a part of almost every Canadian commemoration of Remembrance Day ever since. The physician poet was Major John McCrae originally of Guelph, Ontario and his poem was “In Flanders Fields”.

I recently read an article that compared McCrae’s poem with Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Both pieces are brief and powerful, pay homage to the fallen and urge the audience to carry on the struggle. It is ironic that, given the continued popularity of both works, neither of these two men felt their words could adequately express the sentiments they wished to convey. As noted, McCrae discarded the poem at first and, in his own words, Lincoln concluded that “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.” Yet today, both these literary works live on and, in the commemoration of their subject events, bring generation after generation a newfound appreciation of the “brave men, living and dead, who struggled here.” As a Canadian and a hockey fan I should like to note that both the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, teams that were founded in the early 20^th century, take inspiration from the sacrifice of Canadians in the Great War. The Toronto Maple Leafs crest is based on the “CANADA” maple Leaf badge pictured with this article and worn by the vast majority of our soldiers in World War I. Les Canadiens make use of the torch as a symbol to urge their players to carry on the great tradition of the team; one that has 24 Stanley Cup Championships. Far and away the most of any team in the NHL.

John McCrae, by then a Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer of No. 3 Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne, died on January 28, 1918 of pneumonia and meningitis. He was buried with full military honours in Wimereux Cemetery in a service that was attended by Sir Arthur Currie, Commanding General of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. A collection of his poetry entitled “In Flanders Fields and Other Poems” was published shortly after his death in 1918.   

In the immortal words of John McCrae:

 “In Flanders Fields”

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row.
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow.
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
in Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.  

John McCrae with his dog Bonneau

To learn more about the writing of the poem “In Flanders Fields” check out the April-May edition of Canada’s History magazine which has an article by J. Andrew Ross entitled “Born of Fire & Blood.” Ross contends that “When John McCrae wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ a hundred years ago he unleashed a force more powerful than any weapon of war.” As mentioned in my previous blog; Steve Guthrie of CHEX Television News produced a two part segment on the 57th Regiment of Militia, Peterborough’s militia regiment prior to World War I, and the participation of local troops in the 2nd Battle of Ypres. The two YouTube videos are posted on Lang Pioneer Village Museum’s Facebook page. Other interesting documentaries on the First World War include historian Norm Christie’s series entitled “For King and Empire” and the BBC documentary entitled “The Great War’ which dates from the 1960’s and includes interviews with people who experienced the events first hand. Canada’s History magazine has published “Canada’s Great War Album” which includes historical perspectives from a number of noted authors along with a collection of personal stories passed down from descendants of the soldiers and others who lived in those times. During the next three years, we will continue to mark notable anniversaries of Canada’s involvement in the Great War.

Joe Corrigan has been Museum Manager at Lang Pioneer Village since February of 2003. He has been a lifelong student of history. His specific areas of interest are Canadian and world political, military and sports history with a particular focus on biographical works. Joe has been interpreting Sir John A. Macdonald at the Museum's Historic Dominion Day event since 2007. 

Facial Hair & Victorian Male Elegance

By Jill Chapman

Victorian Moustachery

Victorian era gentlemen’s style saw facial hair as fashionable, much alike today. Males took great measures to look presentable & well-manicured, applying wax & stiffening their ‘staches.

Gentlemen today may benefit from the use of an object derived from the 1800s for use with a face clad in hair. British potter Harvey Adams (1835) is credited for developing the drinking vessel known simply and affectionately as the “Moustache Cup” in 1860.  Originally, these cups had a semi-circular opening against the side of the cup with a guard to protect a pampered moustache. Men who wore stiffening waxes would essentially have a small rest upon which to place their moustache while taking a sip of a hot drink. This would avoid the inevitable wax melting mishap & hairs out of place, & all would be okay in the world of men’s etiquette. 

Moustache Cup Expansion

The creation of these helpfully masculine porcelain pieces flourished, seeing international manufacturers like Royal Crown Derby, Imari and Royal Bayreuth catch on to the production trend. In the United States, many early Moustache Cups were marked with names that led buyers to believe they were purchasing England-made products (that were very much in fashion).

The International Copyright Act of 1891 made it so that manufacturers and authors could not falsify information about the origin of their products and intellectual property (books, music, etc.). This created honesty in sales. 

Our collection contains four moustache cups; one that can be viewed in the General Store building during full operations. You can purchase antique moustache cups and replicas alike online at varying price points. With the holidays around the corner, a Moustache Cup would make a lovely gift for the barber in your life, or simply for loved ones who have a genteel respect for a well-manicured above-lip strip.

Today we respectfully tip our real and hypothetical Victorian era moustaches; in honour and support of those taking part in the Movember fundraising campaign for men’s cancers throughout the month of November.

The Canadian Movember Campaign

If you would like to donate or register to participate in your own Movember 2015 campaign, please visit: https://ca.movember.com/. You can choose to donate by simply clicking a link to ‘Donate” to the cause or to an individual’s page at this time.

Sources:

 http://mymoustachecup.com/process/4578532362, http://www.torontoantiquesonking.com/2010/08/11/moustache-cups-a-brief-history/

Jill Chapman is the Visitor Experience Coordinator at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. She has been a member of the Lang team since May of 2012. Jill is a passionate advocate for education, the arts and fitness. When not at work, Jill might be found running through the North Cavan foothills or on one of the County’s rotary trails.