A poem by Mary Barry Smith

Smith, Mary Barry.  [Entry for July 30]. Canadian Birthday Book. Ed. Seranus [Susan Frances Harrison]. Toronto: Robinson, 1887.

“Bow Down,” by Laura Vivian Belvadere Arnett

Laura Vivian Belvadere Arnett is another of the authors whose relatives have kindly provided biographical information and (in this case, certainly) much more. Arnett’s grandson, E. James Arnett, not only provided information crucial to our further investigations, but also sent along a file of papers, including some hand-written poetry, from which “Bow Down” comes.

Mr. Arnett notes that his grandmother “was born in 1878 in Walkerton, Ontario and died in 1984 in Chilliwack, BC, at the age of 105. She is buried in Brandon municipal cemetery in Brandon, Manitoba. She grew up in Brandon, Manitoba and married Jonathan Hughes Arnett in 1903. They had 5 children.”

Image from Alan Creighton and Hilda M. Ridley, A New Canadian Anthology (Toronto: Crucible, 1938)

“The Day We Missed Grouse Mountain,” by M. Eugenie Perry

Perry, M. Eugene [sic]. “The Day We Missed Grouse Mountain.” British Columbia Magazine 26 (Dec. 1926) 16.

Given the weather these days, my response to this poems was that I, too, would be “glad we missed Grouse Mountain, and picnicked at Lynn Creek.” On a hot summer day, the Grouse Grind seems far less alluring than the cool waters flowing through Lynn Canyon.

“Hikers were first recorded on Grouse Mountain in 1894 when a hunting party shot a blue grouse bird and named the mountain in the bird’s honour. It wasn’t until the 1920’s and early 30’s, however, that Grouse Mountain saw the first big wave of adventurous hikers. Several thousand people flocked to the face of the mountain each year looking to reach the cabins located in the Grouse Mountain village at the foot of what is now known as The Cut ski run.” (Grouse Mountain website)

Much nicer, on a scorching day, to be at the swimming hole at Lynn Creek

“In the Shadows,” by E. Pauline Johnson

Johnson, E. Pauline. “In the Shadows.” Fare Card for the 12th Annual Supper of the Buffalo Canoe Club. The Rudder Magazine for Yachtsmen ([c1894]) 142.

Pauline Johnson is of course well known as a writer and performer of story and poem, with a number of collections published during her lifetime. In addition to these collections, not surprisingly, were a plethora of poems and stories published in initially various magazines and newspapers, collected only (if at all) recently. This is one such poem, printed in The Rudder Magazine for Yachtsmen, which ran from 1891 to 1977 and to which Johnson contributed fairly regularly. It was written as a “fare card” for a dinner at the Buffalo Canoe Club, whose members spanned the border as well as the Niagara River. “In the Shadows” is included in the scholarly collection of Johnson’s poetry, E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake: Collected Poems and Selected Prose, ed. Veronica Strong-Boag and Carole Gerson (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2002).

“The Letter,” by “Harriette”

“Harriette” [Harriett Annie  Wilkins]. “The Letter.” Rose Buds: or, Constantia and Other Poems. New York: Green & Spencer, 1849. 57-60.

“Harriette.” [Harriet Annie ]. “The Letter.” Rose Buds: or, Constantia and Other Poems. New York: Green & Spencer, 1849. 57-60.

“O Love Builds on the Azure Sea,” by Isabella Valancy Crawford

Crawford, Isabella Valancy. “O Love Builds on the Azure Sea.” Later Canadian Poems. Ed. J. E. Wetherell. Toronto: Copp Clark, 1893. 179.

Later Canadian Poems. Ed. J. E. Wetherell. Toronto: Copp Clark, 1893.