Читать книгу No Ordinary Man - Lois Winslow-Spragge - Страница 10

GEORGE AND HIS GRANDFATHER

George’s grandfather, James Dawson,⁶ lived in Pictou, Nova Scotia. There, in his younger years, when sailing ships plied the oceans, he carried on a most profitable shipping business and became a well-to-do man. Like many others, though, James Dawson suffered heavy losses when steamships supplanted sailing vessels, so many that he lost almost everything. About this time, he started a publishing business which soon became a successful enterprise, so that little by little he paid back his debts. This was an arduous task and greatly to his credit.

From the following letters, you will see that James Dawson had deep religious convictions and a great love for his grandchildren. These letters written in 1857 provide rich and detailed observations, and reveal many interesting and worthwhile thoughts. His religious admonitions were rather severe but, nonetheless, his kindness and firm beliefs must surely have exerted a lasting influence.

James Dawson to George & Anna Dawson,⁷ Pict1ou, Nova Scotia, 10 January 1857.

Dr. George & Anna

Twas on three weeks ago, if you recolect I told you of my voyage up the St. Lawrence as far as the Little Scattered Town of Three Rivers – we left it, about nine o clock in the morning and proceeded up stream against Wind and current – the day looked like rainy, and we could not see far around us for the dense clouds that hung like a pall from the skies.

Very soon after we <we> left Three Rivers, we met one of these [...] large Rafts which I had often heard of, but never saw before It was about the size of one of my fields at the Farm, as our Pilot told us that it covered about 4 acres and would contain more than 10,000 Tons of Timber [we] counted upon 19 Temporary Houses – saw upon it Great numbers of Men, Women & children and pigs, Dogs, & Hens – they had long poles erected at the end of some of the houses, with [...] at the Top which they light in the night time to warn vessels going up or down the River to Reef clear – soon after passing this we entered St Peters Lake,⁸ which is merely an expansion of the River, about 15 miles long – The water is all very shallow except a channel which runs straight through the middle of the Lake having on each side at regular Distances [many] posts about 20 feet high with [...] on the Top that look like [...] – but are in fact Beacons on light houses to guide the mariner through in dark nights, when in the middle of the lake we passed another great Raft – hence the appearance of the [Houses] all around us looked very queer. The country all around is very low and level, so that we could see nothing of the land at all, nothing but the Tops of the Trees here and there which looked as if they were growing in the Water, when we were nearly through the lake we came up with 5 or 6 small steamers, which were employed in Dredging up the mud into large leavies to deepen the channel under the command of a Captain Bell, whose death you may have since then seen announced in the Montreal Papers – our Captain spoke to him as we passed – poor man he did not know how soon he would be in the grave & yet we are all equally uncertain how soon we shall Die. The rest of my Travels must be postponed till next letter.

I expect to have a new [volm.] of the “Band of Hope”⁹ in a few days and will send you one – which you both can read and let WB¹⁰ look at the pictures – Good boy!! I am thankful that his Pa says he remembers me and Loves me. I will send him a pretty [...] [...].

Give my Love to mama¹¹ and Miss Bell – yours

James Dawson to George Dawson, Pictou, Nova Scotia, 21 February 1857.

Dr George

I received your long letter of 3rd past, and I am happy to say that it shows unmistakable symptoms of improvement in your writing, composition and Geographical Knowledge – as to spelling, I can only see one word wrong and I am not sure but if you examine 4 pages of my writing, you will find more errors than one – It will give me great pleasure to see the well written copy you speak of sending me. I should like also to see some of the best specimens of yours and Annas Drawing.

If there be a Steam Boat conveyance next summer from Quebec to this, perhaps Papa will bring Mama, Anna & you all with him to see me. If he does so, I will be very glad to see you all – If Papa comes that way and brings you with him will you remind him to take his pencil and make a sketch of some of the beautiful scenery on the south side of the River: this would afford you an excellent lesson in sketching and one that you would not soon forget.

Little Mary Harris some times asks me when George will come back – I give her a sweetie and a Kiss, and tell her that you will come some time and show her some pretty Flowers and Birds in the Garden. When you come back here you will see another Little Boy over there they call him George Crowe. He can not walk nor speak yet, but he is beginning to know people and to know what they say, and before you can see him he will almost be able to Walk as he is growing quite fast.

Do you think you could get me a little plant of the Butter Nut Tree and bring down with you or send it with Papa if you do not come yourself. I should like much to see what like a Flower it has got.

I am sorry I did not pick up some of the Nuts when I was seeing you.

Tell Anna that I have her little Hyderanga quite alive, it has set up a shoot already an inch higher, and there is a young sprout from the foot of it which will in a year or two, do to remove for another plant. I will expect, every time that Papa writes me, that either you or Anna will include a note to me – this will show me that you do not forget G.

James Dawson to George Dawson, Pictou, Nova Scotia, 28 February 1857.

Dr George

I have a letter from you today – without date. I hope baby & you have got quit of your colds. You should take good care not to get your feet wet among the cold snow and water – you have heard the old Proverb I suppose that Waters a fine one Good Servants but bad master.

Every body knows what a comfort it is to have a Fire when bad weather comes, and the wind blows keen & chilly. I alone say you have found it being pleasant of an evening, when you have been out building snow men & snow Houses, to gather round a nice fire with your parents and brothers & sisters. But suppose that one of these evenings, when you were snug and warm in bed, a blazing spark or coal should have flown into the room, and burned away while no body was near, till you were awakened by the crackling noise, and smoke caused by the House being in flames your Papa [...] to you, seizes hold of your arm and rushes out with you in great haste, just in time to save your life, while the roof of the House falls in and all his property is consumed. – “What”! you would say, can this dreadful work all come from that little fire by which I sat last evening,” “Is it possible that that little Fire could do so much mischief.” Yes, it is even so. You remember how, last year, Burnside Hall, together with a number of Papas Books and specimens were destroyed, from some such little spark of fire.

The English cathedral also of your city was very lately consumed by <the> [...] to some such small Beginnings – Now a Text came into my mind when I heard of these things, and I thought that I would write to you about them, so that you could talk about them to Anna & WB, and so that you might all see how much sin is like a fire. The Text is “behold how great a <fire> matter a little fire Kindleth.”¹²

To help you understand and remember it, let us take only the three words, “A little fire”.

There were once two boys who were brothers, they had grown up together, but one was better than the other and more obedient in his conduct than his elder brother. It happened one day that they were out in the fields together, and a little spark of sin in the form of jealousy, came into the elder one’s heart. He did not check it, for he did not like his brother to be better or more beloved than he was. The spark burnt on to Anger, and just as smoke shows when there is fire within, so his face was dark and clouded, and showed that anger was there. But soon it blazed out into Rage, and he lifted up his hand, seized a club, and killed his brother. AH! he did not at first mean to do this; no, but neither did he check the Rage {or fire} of anger, so that it became his master and destroyed him; for God set a mark upon Cain, and there he stood like some blackened ruins, never again to become the fair temple which it had once been. Is not sin then like a fire.

I must tell you of two other persons, they were Husband & wife; at the time they lived Christians were very self-denying, and were ready to give up a great deal of their property, and sometimes their lives even, for the cause of Christ. Now these two persons wished to be thought very good, tho they were not ready to make the real sacrifice; so a spark of sin in the form of deceit sprung up in their hearts, and they began to say to each other, “what can we do to make people think that we are giving up all for Christ, without actually doing it?” Now they were very rich people, and possessed some land, so they consulted how they might deceive about it, was not this like blowing the fire to make it blaze, and so it did, for at last they agreed together to tell a direct Lie. you, no doubt remember what the Lie was which Ananias and Saphira told, and what followed; how it was no sooner uttered than the hand of God fell on them and destroyed them both. How like a fire was this; as rapid in its progress, as fearfull in its consequences? (More of this next week meantime I send my love to you all

James Dawson to George Dawson, Pictou, Nova Scotia, 7 March 1857.

Dr. George

Grandpapa is thinking of coming to stay with you, which I am afraid will be a great loss to you, as you will by that means lose the fine oportunity you now enjoy of corresponding by letter with me – There is no finer way that I know of for cultivating the mind than by writing plenty of letters about familiar things. We must just try to make up the loss some other way.

In my last letter I was telling you and anna about what a Great Fire a little spark sometimes kindles. I told you of Cain & Abel and of Annanias & Saphira. There is just one other character to whom I should now like to refer you.

The spark of sin in his heart, took the form of covetousness, which means an inordinate love of money. It seemed to be always there showing itself in little things, like a Tiny spark. He joined himself to a band of Humble men, who cared so little about money, that they put all that each one posessed into a bag, for General use; and this man begged that he might carry the Bag, and keep it for the rest. He seemed to like to feel that he could Grasp money, and this feeling increased so much, that he could not bear to see the money spent on costly ointment to anoint the feet of his heavenly master. Thus, by degrees covetousness burnt out all his feelings of affection.

He Loved money better than any thing else, and when the Temptation came – “deliver up your master to us, and we will give you thirty pieces of silver” – that master from whom he had received nothing but Love and tenderness – that master with whom he had lived so many years, and to whose instruction and mild councils he had daily listened, – instead of shrinking from the Honied proposal he yielded. The fire of covetousness had been burning so long that he could not check it, and so it raged on to his destruction, for you both know the fearful end of Judas. He went & hanged himself.

In these three instances I have showed you how much sin resembles a fire; if you will take your Bibles and search them, you will find many more, and if you read the History of your own, or any other country, you will see, in the lives of wicked men you meet with there, how much Sin is like a fire. We shall find too, that the men who did such evil deeds, did not become bad all at once, oh, no; if you will go to them and hear their account of themselves, we should find that there was a time when sin was but as a spark in their hearts, and that if they had checked it then, they might have been happy men.

Now there is one thing I want to impress upon your minds. You all possess the spark of sin in your hearts, you know it is so, and whether you do or not, this you know that you feel there is always a readiness to do wrong within you, oh, then be carefull to check it in the beginning. Look into your hearts and see whether it is most likely to break out into Anger, or Lying or selfishness, and set to work at once (asking for the help of Gods spirit) to put out the fire of sin, whatever it may be.

With my love to Anna & WB – I am yours

James Dawson to George Dawson, Pictou, Nova Scotia, 22 April 1857.

Dear George,

I have received your Letter inclosed in one from Papa of 3rd. April, and it is, by far the best written letter you ever sent me. I am very Glad to be thus able to testify to your improvement. – I can read your fine, Large, Round hand without my specs, and I hope you will continue to give attention to your writing, because if you ever allow yourself to Decend from writing a legible round hand, to write a hasty sharp scrawl in place, you will never recover what you have lost – The wise saying of Solomon, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from {it},”¹³ is no less True in Physical than in moral things – in the works of our hands than in the Thoughts of our hearts.

I am most happy to hear that Papa approves of your progress in Drawing – you will, I hope, be encouraged by this to earn a further amount of his approbations.

But you say Papa has bought you a pair of snow shoes, I am not sure that he has done right in so doing. When Grandpa was a young man he was one time journeying along, on a Wintry day, on Horseback, towards Halifax, in company with {a} Mr Patterson and some other Pictonians. – There had been the previous night a fall of snow of about 15 inches which ended with a shower of Rain, that froze into a thin ice on the Top of the snow but not strong enough to carry a man. – After leaving Salmon River, where we had put up all night, we observed the Tract of a person walking on Snow Shoes, going in the same direction we were; when we had advanced about 3 miles our Horses all at once took fright and pricked up their eyes & ears, and were like to run off with us. – we looked in the same direction with the Horses and saw some thing weltering and plashing in the snow – Two of us dismounted and gave our Horses to the others to hold and went ahead on foot to see what it was – and what do you think it Turned out to be? Why, a poor unfortunate Pedestrian who had borrowed Mr Archibald’s snow shoes to take him onto [...], and not having any experience in their use – he fell and his head & shoulders went down through the soft snow while his feet and snow shoes remained on the surface, and in that position he would most likely have soon finished, had we not come to his rescue.

I shall not forget your request about “[Dayands] Book”

Give my love to Anna. WB and Miss Bell.

Yours afftly

The above gives a brief insight into the character of James Dawson, who was evidently a man of keen observation with a variety of interests. He also obviously believed in the instruction of children, even if the practical lessons of life had to be taught with rather vivid stories.

It is also interesting to be able to reproduce a few of George’s letters, written at age eight, in reply to those of his grandfather.

April 23d 1857

Dear Grandpapa

I thank you very much for the seeds you sent us. Dr. Anderson¹⁴ has been visiting us and when he was down town he bought me an Album in four languages German Latin French and English. Mama has planted sweet peas in the crocus pot and they are springing up nicely we each have one side. With love to you {and} give {my} love to Agnes.

May 16th [1857]

Dear Grandpa

I have got my seeds sown and Papa brought <yes> Miss Bell Me and Anna {to the mountain} and we got a lot of Aders tongues trillium sanguinaria & saxifrage.

there are also great improvements going on in the grounds there ar I think 18. men busy: they have planted upwards of 400 trees carried away the surface stones and are going to make a new fence.

Please give my love to Agnes.

June 2 57

Dear Grandpa

it is very hot just now. some of my seeds are coming up I go out every morning to pull up the weeds from their roots; papa’s garden is laid out very nicely, we were very glad to hear that you are a little better and I hope you will be able to go up the Mountain

⁶James Dawson (1789-1862) arrived in Pictou, Nova Scotia, from Scotland in 1811 and became a prominent businessman. James was a devout Presbyterian with extremely strong convictions, who was not always popular in the community. After retirement he spent his last years in Montreal with J.W. Dawson’s family.

⁷Anna Lois (Dawson) Harringon (1851-1917), the oldest of George’s sisters, was also his closest friend and confidant. Even after her marriage to Bernard Harrington in 1876, Anna continued to share an intimate and rich relationship with George. They corresponded regularly and George recurringly offered assistance to his sometimes beleagured sister, who had nine children. Anna remained in Montreal for her entire adult life, eventually dying of a lung tumour.

⁸Lac St-Pierre.

⁹Or The Band of Hope Review and Sunday Scholar’s Friend, which was a temperance periodical for children begun in 1851.

¹⁰William Bell Dawson (1854-1944), Dawson’s younger brother, also became a well-known scientist though overshadowed for many years by George and their father. William graduated from McGill in 1874 with his Bachelor of Arts, obtained a bachelor’s degree in applied science the year after, then went to Paris to the prestigious Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees. Following his studies there William went into private engineering practice then joined the Dominion Bridge Company as an engineer in 1882, staying until 1884 when he accepted a position as assistant engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Finally, in 1884, he began what he considered his main professional undertaking: director of the Dominion Survey of Tides and Currents. Until his retirement in 1924 he recorded and mapped tides and currents in the harbours and on major steamship routes of the Canadian coasts. William married Florence Jane Mary Elliott (1864?-1945) and the couple had three sons and a daughter.

¹¹Margaret Ann Young (Mercer) Dawson (1830-1913) was the youngest of four daughters born to a prominent Edinburgh family. Over the objections of her parents, Margaret married J.W. Dawson on 19 March 1847, and left for life in British North America. Although retiring by nature, Margaret Dawson fulfilled admirably the difficult tasks of a university principal’s wife and mother to five children. Deeply religious, Margaret enthusiastically encouraged Christian values and a Christian faith in all her children.

¹²James 3:5.

¹³Proverbs 22:6.

¹⁴Possibly William James Anderson (1812-1873) a Scottish born and educated physician and journalist came to Canada in the 1830s and worked first in Nova Scotia then Quebec.