Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-04-26, Page 2s i Page 2,-Lgclmow Sentinel, Wednesday, April 26, 1978, The Lucknow Sentinel t LUCKNOW, ONTARIO 'The Sepoy Town" On the Huron -Bruce Boundary Established 1873 - Published Wednesday • Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd." Robert G. Shrier - president and publisher Sharon J. Dietz - editor Anthony N. Johnstone - advertising and general manager Subscription rate, $10 per year in advance Senior Citizens rate, $8.00 per year in advance U.S.A. and Foreign, $14 per year in advance Business and Editorial Office Telephone 528-2822 Mailing Address P.O. Box 400, Lucknow NOG 2H0 Second class mail registration number - 0847 N 4 . Dogs, dogs, dogs Dogs in this village are more than a nuisance. They are a serious problem. They run all over town. Small children cannot go out to play in their backyards without meeting someone's pooch at the back porch door. They dig up flowerbeds and tear apart"garbage bags, left out for collection, spreading the contents across lawns. They roam at night and make a neighbour's doorstep their own. They run along main street as if the town was theirs. Most of the stray pooches are family pets and do not cause anyone physical harm, but, the threat of a serious situation is always therewhen a dog is not supervized by his master. Two rabid foxes have been seers on the northern boundary of the village and. one was seen running with a dog. It is possible that it was the same dog which attacked Duffy McQuillin last week and he is sure the dog was rabid. It could be the dog belonged to a farmer and was allowed to run loose on the farm before it joined up with the fox and headed to town. But, there is the possibility that, with all the dogs that do run loose in the village, this dog was owned by someone in town. Why is it that., with such an .imminent threat of rabies, people do not safeguard theirr family pets and their children by keeping their dogs at home? Rabies shots for dogs are effective but, even if it is protected by a rabies immunization, why take the chance your dog may be running at night with a rabid animal? Rabies shots for humans are a grisly affair and no child should have to suffer them because he was playing with a family pet that had contacted rabies. The county dog catcher works in Lucknow one day a week but, as yet, his efforts do not seem to be curbing the numbers of dogs running loose. It is up to the owners to take the responsibility for owning a dog in town where it cannot run loose. If you do not like to see your dog tied all the time, you should . arrange to spend time with your pet. Perhaps you could take your pooch to a farmer's field for a run a couple of timesa week. But, allowing a dog to run loose around town, does nothing for the dog except make him the neighbourhood nuisance and increase the risk of death by being hit by a car. And now, he may be running with a rabid animal, especially if he is left out to roam at night. Being tied up in the backyard all the time is a dog's life, but, it is a decision the owner makes when he chooses to have a dog while living in town. The master must be prepared to take responsibility for exercising the pet in a way that does not . infringe on other's rights. • Land sale at Black Horse BY SANDY NICHOLSON In the summer of 1852 Martin McInnis, Norman Nicolson, An- gus and Donald McKenzie left their wives and children in a deserted cabin about half way between Port .Albert and,their homesteads. As mentioned prev- iously, concession 1 Kinloss and Huron and the farms from the boundary between Huron and Bruce Counties and Kincardine, had been surveyed a few years earlier. By\ 1852 practically all these had been occupied. Malcolm McKenzie was already on the south half of lots 71 and 72, he had reserved the north halves for his brother, Angus. Angus Mc- Dougall and family who had crossed with them from Scotland, had come directly to Goderich where they spent the winter with the Dunlops. They had located on lot 1, concession 2. Martin McInnis, Norman Nicolson and Donald McKenzie squatted on lots 7, 8. and 10. They built their shanties before returning to Ashfield to bring the families and possessions to their first home in the New World, Norman Robertson, in his "History of Bruce", has an interesting section about the "big" land sale, September 27, 1854. According to the 1852 census there were only 47 people in Kinloss, 236 in Huron, and 1149 in Kincardine townships. None of these had been given authority to live .on the land until they had paid an instalment and had received a receipt. Nor could they be sure that someone else might have made a claim. Apparently more than 2000 settlers arrived in the village of Southampton the day of the sale. Such a small place could not supply sleeping space for so many. Hundreds slept in sheds, under buildings supported by posts, or under trees along the beach. Mr. McLaren, the only baker, worked around the clock baking bread. He had to keep the door of his shop closed and sell the bread by the loaf through the window as it was baked. A York shilling or a quarter was the price for a loaf. The Land Agent, Alex Mc- Nabb, had to follow the same practice and keep his office door. shut. As the money came in, he threw it into' a large clothes basket. When the basket was full he covered it with a cloth and started another basket. In two days he took in the equivalent of $50,000 in cash and $8,000 in drafts, The strain on the Agent was so great that after a few days he was completely prostrated. Doctor Haynes would not allow him to do any more work for a week or so. This will explain why a number of Kinloss folk had to return home with their money. They paid it later when Mr. McNabb came to Kinloss where Thomas Hodgins had a store and post office, and William Shelton a tavern which he called "The Black Horse". The following is a list of settlers from the Kinloss Township pap- ers, Ontario Archives, Toronto: Martin McInnis, Norman Nicol- son, Alexander MacDonald, John McDonald, Alexander Ross, .Pet- er Ross, Roderick McKenzie and Peter Milne. The following were issued at Kinloss or Black Horse. Charles Milne, Peter McKinnon, Donald McKinnon, Thomas Lock- hart, Donald McDirmid per Lachlan McLean, Roderich Gol- lan, Murdock McKenzie per James McLeod, Alex Campbell, 1 Angus McDougall per Norman Nicolson, Murdock McDonald per Norman Nicolson, Norman Nicol- son, Adam McDonald, Malcolm McKenzie, Angus McKenzie per Malcolm McKenzie, Eli Stauffer per George Craniar. My next article will tell of an unusual document. ofczed Oil- Temoi by I.A. Campbell Last October I had the urge to see the old farm again, before the urban sprawl engulfs it in brick and concrete.The land which Angus had worked since he came back from the war in 1919, was now in the grip of the specylators. To the south, a few new houses had already been constructed and a realty billboard proclaimed that soon the entire hundred acres would be lost to agriculture forever. The old frame house had long since been the victim of vandals and fire. Only the charred walls had been saved. Here, thick clumps of brambles, clawed possessively at the siding and thrust their green tentacles through the broken windows. To the left of the derelict barn, the driving shed lay in a state of complete collapse. Nothing remained to whisper of iingling harness and pawing feet, except a few pieces of black and twisted lumber, pointing like crooked fingers to the fall sky. I told myself that all things must wither and decay. Just as the maple leaves change from green to flaming glory and thence to dust, so all living things must one day return to the earth. Angus had said his last goodbye to me almost twenty years ago, but the memory of his rough kind- ness and his dogged determination will remain with me eternally. I looked down the overgrown pathway and saw his ghost urging the rheumatic body towards the barn. Angus never complained of the pain, but from the first time I met him, he had suffered and fought against it. That was a long time ago. "Can yer drive a team?" he asked me. I must have looked confused. "A team!" he yelled impatiently, "horses dammit - horses!" How could anybody reply to Angus in any other way? "Sure!" I lied. The only horses I had handled had been ' wooden ones on rockers! Angus limped towards a small field behind the house where the dried hay lay in windrows. Two Belgian horses stood impatiently in the hot sun - tails attempting to swish away the torment of the flies. There was a wagon of dubious' vintage, with a haylifter to the back end. "Keep 'em movin steady," he ordered. "Not too ,fast - gimme time to spread the hay." I climbed up onto the seat and Angus made a clicking sound with his mouth. Away went the horses and. I gingerly held the .reins. We hadn't gone far before a plaintive cry from the wagon told me that things were not going too well. I stole a quick glance rearwards in time to see the furious face of Angus protruding out of a pile of hay, and the haylifter continuously discharging upon his head! "Ho!" he screamed. The horses came to an abrupt halt. I sat petrified and Angus dragged his aching body over the hay and thrust a not too clean-shaven face into mine. "You sonnavawitch" he screamed. "You never seen a horse before - did yer?" I shook my head. "Yer all the same, you Limeys - think yer can do everything - git down off there! I should have told the truth in the first place - that I was green to farming. It was a long time before he said another word to me. Then one day he passed me on the driveway. "Yer full o' sugar," he said, (or words to that ef- fect) . I used to call the farm the "Hungry Hundred"- - it gave grudgingly. Generally, it was a thin layer of sandy loam on gravel, but in some places it. was completely eroded. It should never have been carved out of the bush, but nobody would have dared to tell Angus that! Soon the bulldozers will level out the rolling land and the world of Angus will remain only in the mind's eye of those who knew and loved him. I walked sadly away. Amongst a pile of stones and scrap, an old plow which once had shone with abrasion, now lay broken and rusted, like a monument to a lost cause. But we still go on farming, don't we? People like you, and me, and Angus. As he once said. "If there's nothin' worth fightin' fer - there's nothin' worth livin' fer." I think he was right! - ,don't you? Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday, April 30. Don't forget to set your - ,clocks ahead 1 hour this Saturday before retiring