In the early Grades of Public School I
stuttered terribly. My older Brother was my interpreter because no one else
could understand a single word that I tried to say. My Grade One teacher
thought that I was the proverbial “village idiot”. I do not need to go into the
details but my family supported me and their efforts still inspire me. I won
the Grade One Silver Dollar for academics. The learning trend continued. I even
went to school with Jill Matheson in Grade Seven and had no idea that I would
be working with her Dad on the 50 Years of Our Flag Project. My stuttering
stayed with me through university but it mattered less and less overtime.
This was the first royal visit to what was
then the Province of the United Canadas. A United Canada and Confederation was
just a dream that wouldn’t happen until 1867. Edward Albert, the son of Queen
Victoria was the Prince of Wales and the future King Edward VII. He toured
Canada West in 1860 and Brockville was one of his stops.
From early on I excelled at art and the subjects
that I liked to draw the most aside from fire trucks, were the Canadian and
British flags. This was pre-1965 and I had the flags memorized. I didn’t need
the real flags to look at… I knew them
by heart. Who could have guessed that 50 some odd years later I would again be
drawing the Canadian flag for this very special occasion in honour of John Ross
Matheson. I certainly did not.
It would be nice to have some of those
early drawings. They were certainly hung on the fridge for a while or sometimes
included on the wall of honour in the classroom. It really is not that big of a
step from coloured pencils and crayons to oil paint. The oil paint might be a
lot more expensive but they are still just colours. I have some tubes of paint
that cost more than $50 but you have to use the good stuff if you want it to
last. It is only paint but you don’t want it all to be brown paint in 100
years. What would Great Great Great Uncle Austin Chadwick think if I “cheaped”
out now? His 1860 poster featuring the Maple leaves still looks great.
Austin Chadwick, an Ontario Judge designed the
Toronto Welcome Banner for the September 7th and 8th,
1860 visit of the Prince of
Wales – Maple Leaves, Snow flakes and a Beaver branded with a large and very
modern looking “Welcome”. What could be more Canadian? It is unknown how many
of these exist but one is in Brockville!
The Maple Leaf in the banner was adopted as
the national emblem of the Province of the United Canadas. In 1896 Austin’s
nephew Edward M. Chadwick concluded that "it would certainly seem that the
Maple Leaf ... is pre-eminently the proper badge to appear on our flag."
Back to the Demons … My heart goes out to
those who have ever stuttered. I have been there and I know what it is like.
How do I survive the large group presentations that come along now? Maybe you face your
demons and find they are not that scary after all. Our parents and John Ross
Matheson faced a lot of demons including a world war or two and rose above them
all. As MP for Leeds and Grenville John Ross Matheson quietly and humbly did a lot of good for Brockville and Canada. It would appear that a long line of Chadwicks helped to lay
the foundation for John’s work. It is an honour to play a small part in
honouring John. Of course the goal is to encourage others to face down the
demons and make Canada even better…
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