The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-11-21, Page 71
Old Danny Murphy drove from his farm one Friday
afternoon in July, 1916, on his weekly journey to
Redtrees. His landwas five or six miles from the
village and had been settled mainly by Irish.
immigrants escaping the potato famine in the old
country,. Danny had very little in common with people
of Redtrees: They were Presbyterian and .the
prominent among them were Freemasons. There were
also some Orangemen inthe village who wouldn't
pass the time of day with the likes of Danny - he was a
man of the green and what was worse;'' he was a
Catholic. As he lethis horse take its time along the
dusty roads, perhaps he pondered' on the foolish
prejudices of men - the old die hard feuds between
races and religions. He had nothing to be ashamed of,
he told himself. Hadn't he worked hard and
prospered? Didn't he have a wonderful woman for a
wife and his boy, the one who had been educated in
Toronto - he was the finest of them all. There was no
young man who could hold a candle to him. Hewas in
France too:' but he was different - he was an officer of
the King's Commission. There was nobody in
Redtrees who could be called an officer and a
gentleman!
It was a hot humid day and his pants and shirt stuck
to his skin,. Along the roadside, clouds of insects
hovered amongst the trees and crickets abounded in
the parched grass. Danny felt contented and pleased
that all his haying had been done before the coming of
the heat wave. He only went to thevillage once a week
to get supplies - there was very little mail for the
Murphies, just a bunch of newspapers and the
occasional letter from his son. Usually his wife
accompanied him but today he had left her at home,
sitting 'by an open west window covered with cheese'
cloth it was much too hot and dustyfor her to make
the trip on a. day like today. .
On the entrance tothe village„ the horse threw a
shoe. so old Dan took his horse and , wagon -„to the
blacksmiths.
'I'd best get my order filled at the general store -
I'll , be back in an hour," he told, the blacksmith:
"'Might as well give her,a whole new set."
In the.general -store-come-post, office, Don started
to collect his supplies from the shelves and deposited
them on a long broad counter. From time to time the •
post masterglanced at him through th wicket rather
anxiously- he had a special letter for Danny that day.
When at last the old farmer went for his mail, he was
hand.ed.a bunch of newspapers. There wasn't a letter
from his son but there was -one envelope ,- a brown
official looking letter bearing the words, "On His
Majesty's Service". Dan layed down the 'new.sp_aper.s'
and ran a grubby finger through the flap.,, The
postmaster watched his face with morbid antici'.pation.
There was a brief:messa.ge,ending with the statement,
"I join with my grateful people in sending you our
appreciation of a brave life given for others. .It bore
the printed signature George R.I.
'It's -your lad. ain't it? Danny nodded absently -
he wascompletely stunned,
"I knowd it was - I seen them ' before, so I 'ave."
In a .flash it seemed. the tragic news travelled
through the village. Usually gossip was enlarged until`
it bore no resemblence to the truth but with death,
nobody could add or take away - it was final.
Bible: Society
canvass :down
To the Editor:
The Canadian Bible Soci-
ety collected $486.28 during
their recent Lucknow canvass
which is down 20 per cent
from previous years.
The Lucknow executive,
Betty McDonagh, president,
and Ted Collyer, treasurer,
expresstheir appreciation to
the captains and canvassers.
Captains: Lorene Conley,
Marguerite Sanderson, Mild-
' red Loree, Deanna Reavie,
Marg Wilson. Canvassers:
Donna Sutton, Elaine lrwin,:
Christie Davies, Albert Len -
nips, Jean Kaufman, Evelyn
Cook, Mrs. Ralph Cameron,
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lavis,
Shirley Bolt, Margaret Mac-
Donald, Ruth Pritchard, Ber-
nice Johnstone, Mrs. Gilbert
Hamilton Mrs. Roulston,
Deanna Reavie, Mrs. Gar-
ratt, Mrs. Warren, Marg
e
Wilson, Beryl Hunter, Shir-
ley Crawford and Susan Stev-
enson.
The Lucknow Branch
Of the Canadian
Bible Society.
UNICEF
greeting cards
...because
every
child has the
right to smile
1979 'nternational
Year of Child
�he C.
Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, November 21, 1979—Page 7
The news filtered into the Redtrees Hotel. it was
crowded. The heat had drawn 'more than the usual
crowd to the refreshment on that hot day. Amongst
them was James MacCrimmon. He .sat alone at a
corner table, viewing with disgust the neer-de-wells
who visited the bar -room by habit. Windy Perkins and
Hamish Murdoch competed with each other for the
right to hold the conversation - voices raised in their
attempts to tell the biggest lies. The air was filled with
smoke and profanity.
Suddenly, the large figure of the blacksmith filled
the doorway. His voice boomed out above the hubub.
"Young Murphy 'as been killed in France."
Hamish Murdoch seemed almost annoyed by the
interruption,
"That's, a :sonnvawitch - so it is. Here Charlie! -
where's them drinks I ordered."
Old James MacCrimmon wasinfuriated by the
matter-of-fact way in which Hamish Murdoch took the
tragic news. He went to where Hamish was sitting ancl
grabbing him by the front of his shirt, lifted him to his
feet.
"So it's a sonavawitch, is It? You drunken bum - is
that all you gotta say for ai feller who gave 'is life,
doin' what you should bejdonin' right now?" He
shook Hamish . like a dog shakes a rat. "One more
word from you about what yer would do to' the
Germans if you were there, an'. I'll show yer what I'll
do ter yer I'll knock the I rain' daylights out `o'-yer.., so.
will!
James MacCrimmon left the hotel in a huff, leaving
a very shaken Hamish Murdoch and a half -a -pint of
ale untouched. By the general store he• saw Danny
Murphy loading up supplies onto his wagon and went
across to help him. James made several trips back and
forth into the store.carryiri'g sacks and packages. It
was only when the last of the supplies were on the
wagon that he spoke to Danny Murphy. He held out
his hand. .
"Ain't much .l can say," he told Danny, "except
1'm: sorry--aboutYer son. He'shook Danny's hand for
a few 'moments and then added. "`I ain't like some of •
'em around 'ere. l ain't got not,hin'agin the Catholics
your boy sure proved they got more guts than some
of the people around 'ere!
Old Danny Murphywas toofull of emotion to
reply. He went to his horse and pretended to tighten a
loose strap on the harness. Angus watched the old
man struggle with his sorrow in silence. There's a
time for speaking, and times when it's best to say
:nothing. James knew this only too well. Danny
Murphy came back and climbed up onto the seat.
"Thank you James. for the kind words - it's done .
now so it is, and I'll get used to it in time." He forced
a weak smile to his face and in order to change the
conversation, he asked.
"How's the, new .church coming? I heard you're
makin' good time on it.''
"It's almost finished." James said. "We have to
get the shingles on the roof and then we can get to
finishin' up the. inside. A few of us figure we'll.do a bit
of work on it tomorrow."
"I'll drive over and give you a hand, Danny.told
him. "I guess the others won't mind if a Catholic
helps you on the roof. When we're buildin' churches,
we're all workin' for the .same boss, anyhow!
r
Phone
528-2822
The.
Lucknow Sentinel
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