ROCKWOOD ERAMOSA BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
Rockwood Eramosa: Off the beaten path ... On the way to everywhere
Rockwood Eramosa: Off the beaten path ... On the way to everywhere
›› Excerpt From - Anecdotes of Eramosa
by Deb Quaile
Writer W.F. MacKenzie was a well-liked raconteur of Eramosa tales for the Guelph Weekly Mercury and Advertiser in 1906. He spoke with sons and grandsons of pioneers and gathered tales of the settlement of the township. Several local citizens had been called up on charges of treason during the Mackenzie Rebellion, which reminded Mr. MacKenzie (no relation that we know of between the raconteur and the rabble-rouser) to tell a tale of an upstart officer who most likely bought his position with family money.
One Guelph gentleman used to ride into Speedside to regularly drill the farmers in armed tactics in case their services to fight for the country were ever required. Unfortunately, the officer’s pompous manner didn’t win him the respect of Eramosans, who were irked at the fact that he lacked a record of distinguished service for Crown or country.
For some time the officer attempted to properly teach the men in various battle strategies, but the pressing demands of field and forest kept the farmers busy without taking time to cater to the whim of a fancy gentleman on horseback, especially when no real emergency service appeared in the offing.
One wintry day the officer rode into the village for the usual drilling and the men appeared punctually, but had devised a plan to rid themselves of the upstart. When they were asked to fall into line, they scattered like chipmunks and hid behind large tree stumps around the field. With practiced aim, the farmers – whose well-honed muscles were used to the vigours of wood chopping – hurled hard-packed snowballs at the most tender spots of the officer. He made an easy target. Although he vainly attempted to maintain his dignity and pin the blame on one individual, the persistent volley soon unnerved him and he beat a hasty retreat “in a manner quite out of harmony with the urbanity that should characterize a military officer of the Royal town, and never made his appearance in the vicinity again,” noted Mr. MacKenzie. [1]
Other amusing examples of pioneer foolhardiness were related by Mr. MacKenzie.
A scant few years after Eramosa Township began to be settled, an eccentric bachelor known as Old Jimmy took up residence and lived a solitary lifestyle. He was characterized by “striking personal peculiarities” and “entertaining strange notions and fancies.” One day, when his quiet, routine existence was shattered by the slaughter of a pig by a bear, Old Jimmy decided that he had to set his eyes on the bruin. He had found the partly-eaten pig near a bush swamp only a short distance from his clearing, and Jimmy kept returning, unarmed, in hopes of encountering the creature.
To his misfortune, he soon met the bear in decided bad humor and unwilling to retreat from his delicious prey. He rushed at Jimmy, who beat a hasty retreat up the nearest small sapling. The bear attempted to follow, causing the tree to sway to and fro. Jimmy suddenly came to grips with his precarious position. He shrieked his distress, but because the area was sparsely settled, no one heard his cries.
Jimmy became part of the old sentiment put forward by Mr. MacKenzie that “a wish accomplished is sometimes the grave of bliss.” Finally the bear tired of the sport and lumbered off into the woods, leaving both pig and Jimmy behind. Jimmy cautiously descended the tree, sped home as quick as his legs could carry him, and probably never cared to satisfy his curiosity about a bear in such close quarters again. [2]
Encountering bears was one problem, but getting lost in the woods was by no means an infrequent occurrence in the early days of the settlement. James Peters, another noted pioneer, recalled an amusing incident that befell an English Quaker who kept a bachelor's hall on the second concession of Eramosa.
The Quaker only had one cow, and early one morning he heard the cow bell on the next lot. In order to save himself the trouble of bringing Bossy home before he milked her, he decided to go to the cow and carry the full milk pail home for his breakfast.
To his dismay, he became lost in the bush on the way home. As a neophyte in the Canadian backwoods, he didn’t realize that he could follow the sound of the cow bell to start over again. Had he done so, the Quaker would also have been able to follow his cow home. He wandered the woods the entire day, and as night dropped down over the dark bush he found himself about three miles from home. Unknowingly, he had crossed a cranberry bush and the Speed River while prospecting for his shanty. He tramped home in a hurry, had a speedy supper to fill the want of three missed meals, and went to tell his nearest neighbour about his escapades.
The puzzled neighbour listened to the tale and then questioned, “Well, James, if you were so hungry, why did you not drink some of the milk?”
The astonished man pondered the query before answering, “Why, now Betsy, thee sees, I never thought of that!” [3]
[1] W. F. MacKenzie. “ Township of Eramosa: Rebellion of 1837 continued.” The Guelph Weekly Mercury and Advertiser, July 12, 1906, and The Guelph Evening Mercury, July 12, 1906.
[2] W. F. MacKenzie. “ Township of Eramosa: Rebellion of 1837 continued.” The Guelph Weekly Mercury and Advertiser, August 9, 1906, and The Guelph Evening Mercury, August 7, 1906.
[3] W. F. MacKenzie. “ Township of Eramosa: Rebellion of 1837 continued.” The Guelph Weekly Mercury and Advertiser, August 9, 1906, and The Guelph Evening Mercury, August 7, 1906.
