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R8MINISCENCES
by FRANK TAYLOR, of the
COBOURG CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH reporting
from about the time of 1914 to 1929.
From your occasional letters to the COBOURG SENTINEL-STAR , I have
gather~d that you, like myself, live
a great deal in the past. It's
a pleasant and inexpensive escape from the conflicts and tensions of the
modern day rat race.
I am writing, as you might have suspected, with regard to the
notice in the current issue of the Sentinel Star, about the Congregational
Church history that you are working on. The item escaped my notice in my
usual paphazard perusal of the paper, but my attention was drawn to it by
both Mother and my sister, Ivey.
Since then I have been thinking about the Church at odd moments,
and although I doubt that any of my recollections will be new to you, I
decided to write down what I remembered on the odd chance that you might
find something of interest, or be reminded of some name or incident that
had slinped your mind.
To be~inn with, my mother and father came to Cobourg from England
in 1907, four years before I was born. They were followed, several years
later by my Mother's brothers Archie and Bill Hewitt; and her two sisters,
Olive, who married Bert Barton, and Ada, Mrs. Joseph Gale. My uncle Bill
settled in Peterborough, but the rest of the !aylors, Bartons , Gales
and Uncle Archie all began to attend the Congregational Church. As we
came alon~, I and my two sisters, Ivy and Myrtle; my two brothers, Jim.
and Vie, went to the Congre~ational Sunday School; as did our cousins,
Alfie Barton, and Marjorie, Harold and r1arion Gale.
Actually, our parents were all brought up Anglicans, but most of
the friends they made when they first arrived in Cobourg, went to the
Con~re~ational Church, and they got into the habit of going there too.
I shoulo ima~ine that the W3.rm, friendly, and informal atmosphere had a
lot to do with the fact that they stayed with the Congregational Church
until it dissolved shortly after Church Union in 1929. After that, the
Bartons attended the tlnited ~hurch, and the Gales and Taylors returned
to the Anglican fold.
Although, like#most small boys, I usually went to church and
Sunday school under pressure from my parents, I have many pleasant memories of the place, with its flikering gas lights and the wheezy ,old,
hand-pumped organ. I believe you helped to pump that organ at one time.
r seem to recall seeing you and Billy Armstrong emerging from the curtained
alcove, one hot Sunday evening in the summer time, streaming with perspiration after pumping valiantly through a particularly long anthem. I
believe Dr. Daley made some sympathetic comment and commemorated you for
your efforts. The new, electrically powered organ had been installed
by the time the Carsons moved into the parsonage, at the east end of the
terrace of red brick, adjoinin~ the church property.
A-cob:v~ ~y.:yQ
ff'-h! tC~rel, (O?-/4)
a e 2.
By the way, when the church was closed, the electric- powered organ
was sold and moved to St. Theresa's,Shrine of the Little Flower, 10 ted in
Scarborous;h Towm~hip, that cre!'lm-colouredSpanish rtission-type church, not
far from the big Catholic Seminary.
Speaking of the organ, we must not for~et rofessor Fisher, who was
certainly gifted musically, but somewhat of an odd ball in other respects,
to put it mildly.
Architecturally, the exterior of the Congregational
hurch mi~ht
have been a bit drab, squat, an'"llninsniring, somewh"lt lackinC' the majestic,
soaring lines of some of its contemporary laces of worship in Cobourg. But
its very squatness O"ave it a snu!'"
, homey look, an a)pearance of Harmth and
fellowship that more than made un for its l~ck of ~an~eur.
I recall it
having an air of genteel poverty, poor, but proud. r<ertainly, we had no
wealthy members. It was a place where neople of mor'!e~tmeans nd social
standin) could feel comfortable anrI wel('ome, un wed by the splendor of rich
Wrflt
ecclesiastic fabrics and furnishinO"s, 0 ~ilded altar ryieces, or Italian
frescoes.
e didn't even have
carr a e shed at the back, just a woodshed
and a privy. Nor did we have a bell in the b rn-ty e ventil tor belfry,
that ,racer'!
the apex o~ the north faca e. It wa ju~t
sim Ie lace of worshin with no frills. And while it mil1'hthave lacked the delicate pernendicu~ar tracery of an EnO"lish cathe~ral, lt~ simple basic honesty of design,
gave it an appearance that was infinitely pleasin to the eye; at least to
the eyes of those of us who met re lar v under its expansive roof. To me,
it will always be the tynical r<anadian small-town church. Over t~e years,
in my travel"', I have sometimes founn my elf
omnarint'"it 'lithother small
churches in other places.
None of the~ ever quite measured up, articularly
inside. They were all a bit too severe, stark, or au tere .• There seemed
to be something lacking. They just did not loo~ riO"ht. Or feel ri~ht.
Or,
maybe it was I who did not feel' i ht about them.
erhans, if I h d been
brou~ht UP in them, I might have felt d ferently.
The interior of the church was nicely laid out and very well proportioned. The ~entle sween o~ t e gothic arches alonp. the sides an around
the vaulted apse lent a touch o~ old-world charm, and seemed to soften some'
of the more severe Colonial aspect~ of the design, a harmonious blendinG of
curved and straight lines.
On the concave wall of the apRe , ahove the ninister's chair or
setee was the Biblical inscri tion , set out in artistic , coloured letters,
"One is your :t-Iaster,
even Christ; and All Ye are Brethren."
I don't think I would be wren in sayin~ that the interior wa.s
pleasant, invitin~,and restful. Restful to the eye at any rate, and perh ps
to the spirit. I have yet to sit in R comfortable pew, and I qeem to recall
those in the old Con re ational hurch, if not the hardest, at least the
creakiest in which a small boy ever squirmed and fi ited through a long,dull
sermon(That is to the boy).
I also seem to recall the interior bathed in a mellow, O"ol~en glow,
which might have been a combination of cream-honey plaster, varnished woodwork, diffused sunli ht, or the yellow rrleamfrom early electric, or earlier
gas-light fixtures. The turkey-red carneting and old baize doors lent an
added touch of warmth.
Speaking of warmth, in terms of degrees of temperature, reminds me
of the old wood
furnace, in the shallow, dug-out cellar under the
street-end portion of the church. Having personally stoked this castiron, sheet-metal monster in my time, I recall it with anythin~ but warmth.
My father, the late Charles Taylor, served as caretaker at the church for
several years, and as number one son, I got to help him with the cleaning.
hanyrs the time I have cut the ~rass and swept, vacuumed, and dusted the
place from stem to stern, and shovelled the snow off the walks in winter.
On one or two occasions during my father's term as caretaker, he was
laid up in Christie Street Hospital, in Toronto, (veterans' hospital) for
a couple of months. At such times I took over the full duties. It was
during one such occasion in the winter time, that~~ substitute sexton , I
assumed temporary charge of the temperamental old furnace. I was about ten
or twelve at the time, and had a lot of trouble with the drafts. The thing
smoked a lot, sometimes when the wind was in the wrong quarter, and sometine, I believe, out of sheer ornmriness. In very cold weather, the furnace would be lit saturday night to thaw the place out for the sunday
morning service. Late Saturday evening, I would go down and pile on
enough cord wood to last all night. If I set the draughts so that the wood
did not burn away too fast, the fyrnace would smoke badly. If I got it adjusted so that it did not smoke, the wood would be all burned away by
morning, leaving the place as cold as a barn, and me with the task of kindling a fresh fire, and getting some heat into the place before the service
started. I recall, on one occasion, when, much to my humiliation, the
mornin~ service had to be cancelled because the church was full of smoke.
Some charitable soul kindly pointed out that even under the previous
caretaker, the church was sometimes smo~Y and/or cold in the winter time,
and that cheered me up a bit.
n
arm.
The previous caretaker was Mr. Charles Jones, who had only one
The missing arm had been lost in a threshing machine accident.
Do you remember how different houses and institutions had different
odors. If you had blindfolde1me years ago, and led me into the George
Street School, the Collegiate, the Armouries, my aunt Olive's place, my
aunt Ada's place, or the homes of various friends and neighbours, I would
have instantly known where I was. Tell the old Congregational Church had
its own particular fragrance, and I think it was compounded of equal or
varying parts of pulpit flowers, ols Bibles, musty hymn books, wood smoke,
cooking gas, Sunday Clothes, Moth Balls, three-in-one shoe polish, Lifebuoy
soap, cosmetics , and dusty carpets.
I was in the choir for several years, although I don't know why, for
my voice was never very strong, nor particularly melodious. It's a bit
stronger now, but still a muffled monotone with little range. Harold Gale
and George Page, Jr. were also junior members of the choir, at that time,
which was during Lenore ood's tenure as Organist. I remember her chiding
Harold and George and me for horsing around during choir practise.
My sister, Myrtle, was in the choir, as were my aunt, Mrs. Barton,
,adeline vood,(Lenore's sister), Fred Friend, and George ~age, Sr. who
often sang solos. ~y cousin, Harold GaleJhad a good voice, and sometimes
sang solos at Easter and Christmas, at the latter usually"Star of the East".
)
Page 4.
Another pillar of
the Choi~t one time was R.D.P.Davidson, who you no
doubt recall fondly or otherwise from your Collegiate days as "Red Devil
fercy" , or"Hawkeye ," but a master mathematicia.n, none the less. I recall
sitting in the congreeation and watching him, in his black choir gown,
as he rasped his way through the bass part of a vocal offering. ~ith one
eye fixed on the hymn book, and the other staring fixidly at some point
outside the west window, possibly the Collegiate, from force of habit, or
some subconsciouR reflex action. I suppose you know that R.D.f.D. passed
away earlier this year, ann that there is more fondness than malice or
disrespect in the above menoir.
I cannot remember now whether .rs. George Page was in the choir,
but her sister-in-law. Mrs. Fred Friend, nee Ina 0cOtt, I believe was in
this >?;roup,
It was generally believe1 by many, particularly us smaller fry,
that Mrs."Ma" Ross, who had a stronO' voice, aspired to be a member of the
choir; but since she was never aske~ to join, sat down front, as close as
possible, and did her best to draw them out.
I also recall a bitter controversy that at one time threatened to
split the choir into two opposing factions, a common occurance among the
temperamental choir singers I understand, although I have no idea at this
time as to the cause or the outcome.
Perhaps my most vivid memory of choir days is of one bitter cold
Sunday morning after a particularly heavy snowfall when
only two
members to show up. aside from the organist, \-tere11adeline Hood and myself.
Hadeline and I were all for sitting in the congregation that morning, as
we were both a bit shy and self conscious, but Lenore talked us into filing
in as usual and occupying adjoining seats in the choir as if ~e were the
whole body. There were not many more people in the congregation.
Do you remember Charlie Cockburn, a cousin of Fred, the insurance
man, who had a bit of a farm out the front road West?
He used to attend
the Congregational Church quite regularly. sometimes wearin~ his wig, and
sometimes not. He usually came in company with Tommy Hall, one of Cobourg's
more colourful lawyers, who was related to J.T.Field. I believe Bob Harvey
also came to church with Tommy Hall. Bob, as you might recall married
Elizabeth Pollock. Tommy and Charlie are dead now, but I still see Bob
around quite frequently, and we sometimes stop when we meet for a chat about
old times in Cobourg.
Other names that come to mind of people who attended the church
and Sunday School are the ~ark rishers of Orange Street. Besides Mr. and
Mrs. Fisher, there were Electa, Lulu, Winston and Allan. The ~ilburs who
lived on Furnace Street, up by the pole yard had a son , Harold, who was
quite a hockey player, I believe, in either mercantile or Lake Shore league,
and a daughter, Ruth, who was about my age.
The Robert Watsons, of Victoria
Street, whose daughter,Eva, is now Mrs. Jack Doherty. There was an invalid
son, Clifford, who I used to visits and whose death I remember being announced at the conclusion of a Sunday chool concert. The Ben Hircocks, the
Sid ~ages, the Fields: J.T, Harry, Fred, also Thurza, Stuart, Allan, Lenah,
Ruth, Bessie and Ethel; Arthur Hayden and his sister, Golda; the Barstows,
there were two boys as
recall, older than myself, and a daughter, Betty.
±
Mr. Mc~llenborough, who had a little truck farm on Burnham Street, and
used to peddle vegetables around town with a horse and bu~~, also his
daughter, Hazel.
Lilly Harvey and her mother, who were known to share a
common pair of dental plates that actually belonmed to the old lady. The
Bearses: Harold, our Chief of Police, ~is twin brother Geor~e, William,
Jim. Frank, Lyle etc; the Mitchells; Grace, George Jr. and Jack; the
Brinnings I Gerald and Felicia. Gerald had the reputation of being accident
and sickness prone when he was a chil~. If he was not laid un with a broken
leg, or arm, or a sprained wri t, or dislocated shoulder, he was usually the
first to come down with measles, scarlet fever, chicken pox, mumps, whooping
cough or any of the other uvenile maladies that swept the community in
mild ~pidemics from time to time. The Minifies, who lived on the south
side of the bend at the House of Refu~e; the Daniels, of Ontario street:
Billy and Marian. When we sang "Dare to be a Daniel" in Sunday School, the
Daniels were the objects of much pointing and snickering.
The Mantons :
Ishmael and his sisters; Old Mrs. Scott and her daughter
Ina, who married
Fred Friend ; The Rosevears; the Ellisons ; they lived out Ontario Street
opposite the Anglican cemetery, of which Mr. Ellison was the caretaker.
One of the daughters, a slim, dark girl, sometimes played the piano for
hymns in the Sunday School. The Armstrongs : Billy and Elmer, Amy and
Grace; the Spooners; the Murphys; Dick Turpin and Queeny, and Gerald;
Mrs.
Heastie and her daughters, Meg and Bess. Bess was drowned
while swimming off the pier one rough day in 1918. Mr. Heastie worked on
one of the ferries, as an engineer, I believe. They moved away to Vancouver not long after the tragedy. The Fayles : ,ona and Eddie. Eddie
went to England during the depression of the thirties. I went to see him
during the war. He was a police constable in a suburb of Bournemouth, on
the south coast. His wife died after the war, and he returned to Cobourg
for a short time about ten or twelve years ago. I think he went back to
England again. Mrs. "Ma" Ross, and her daughters, Daisy and osella.
Having been associated with the church longer and more closely,
you probably remember many more names than these.
Ny mother has produced a list of names, of ·rorld 'far I vintage.
containing the birthdates of the ladies belonging to the Ladies Aid or
the Ladies Missionary Society of the Cobourgtongregational
Church. It
was customary to send birthday cards to the member when their turn came
up. I will copy it out for you on the odd chance that you might find it
of interest :
OCTOBER-Mrs. Taylor- 13th; Mrs. Daley- ?7th. ; Miss Lauretta Harper27th; 1iss Norah Eagleson - 28th;
NOVEHBER- Mrs. A.F.Pollock- 5th; Miss Norah Murphy- 16th; Miss ay
Jones- 19th; Mrs. Gale - 27th; 11rs. Heastie- ?9th.
DEC2~~~R- Mrs. Ross- 5th; Mrs Watson, Ball Street- 11th.
January - Mrs. Neal- 2nd.
February- Mrs. Frank Spooner- 6th; Miss Norah Daley- 11th.
1arch - Mrs. Ernie Boyne- 21st; Mrs. Murphy- 29th.
A~RIL - Mrs. Grinlinton- 13th; Miss Jenny Davidson- ?6th. Mrs. Thomas
it.'ilson31st.
l1AY - Mrs. George .-age- 3d.; Mrs. Robert \atson- 4th; Niss Flossie
Minifie- 21st; ,11ss Mable bagleson- 24th; i'iissI-lay·ffiend25th; Mrs. Henry Climo- l:rst.
kcc;?ry
C0o/t-e;~t\~ c«()r(;~
c 7-t0
0
JUNE - Miss Ida Harper 28th.
JULY - Miss Aileen ~urphy - 16th.
AUGUST - Mrs. Bert Barton-9th; Mrs. Clark- 21st; Miss Lillie Harvey-28th.
3~prSMB~R - Mrs. Heald- 21st.
Mother doesn't remember who made out the list, but the writing is not hers.
Mother and T believe that Mrs. ~rnie Boyne should be Mrs ..~rnie Bourne.
\Je were able to date this list a"'Jhaving been written durl.ng the Kaiser
war by the names. Mrs. Barton and Mrs. Spooner were married in late 1913,
therefore it was later than that date. Hiss Mabel Eagleson was married
and had twin sons (Harold and Howard Nichols) by about 1918, so
it was
some time between.
The
Mrs. Robert
my a~, and
you know, a
Mrs. watson, Ball Street, on the list was a sister-in-law of
datson, Victoria Street. She had a daughter, Dorothy , about
one or two older sons, I believe.
l'1issMay Friend was, as
sister of Fren, and of Mrs. George Uage.
The Mrs. Taylor at the head of the list i~ my mother, and she was
83 on ,ednesday, although she doesn't like people to know she's that old.
she is quite active, in better shape than i am, in fact, still does her own
washin~, cooking, mending, housework and shopping, and goes out several
afternoons and evenin~s every week, playing bridge with some o~ her cronies.
As the only unmarried one of the family, she pampers me a lot. (NOTh ADDEDMrs. Taylor died July 14, 1983, aged 100 years, 9 Months.)
My father died eleven years ago at 81. Mrs. Barton died this past
r-:ay,and Ilr.Barton in Harch, 1961.
i.eha.ve a picture of the church, a commercial photo post card size,
taken from King Street showing mostly the front , and a bit of the east
side. The only other picture we have is a snapshot of a ~roup taken at
a church picnic or outing, on the steps of someone's house in grafton
around 1917 or 1918. It is not a very good picture.
I have just remembered that we also have a good group photo of the
wedding party and guests, taken in front of Hircock's house, out by the
Golf Clu b(Di vision Street near ,'::l'?;in
Street.), at the reception after the
double wedding in the Congregational Church of Ben Hircock and Bella Faulkner,
and Sid. Page to Mary Faulkner. That would have been ~arly in W.W.I. Sid.
is in his battery uniform. fr. Daley , who performed the ceremony . is in
the photo, as are ,jrs.Daley and a couple of the girls, along with sundry
Taylors, Gales, Bartons, Pages, Austens, Harshalls, HircoC'ks, and goodnes
knows how many other friends and relatives. Quite a large group including
yours truly, as a chubby faced lad of kindergarten age.
Before leaving the church proper, we must not for~et the annual
fowl supper, which I recall as usually being held at the Armouries, owing
to lack of space in our modest ~unday School rooms, about which latter, I
shall hold forth at some length in the next instalment.
(NOTE_ - The
Annual Fowl Suppe~fore
approximately 1920, was held in the Sunday School
rooms, followed by a concert in the sanctuary of the church. This event
was known as 'The High Tea").
Cobourg Congregational
Church Sunday-School.
Many of my pleasant childhood memories are associated with the Congregational Church Sunday School. I can recall being 1n your mother's Infant Class
where we sat on those Chinese-red Kindergarten chairs that were trimmed
with fine black stripe. We used to get a paper, "Dew Drops", and a coloured card bearing a reduced facsimllie of the _~Bible scene on the large
folio-size wall chart, the pages of which were turned each week to reveal
a different picture. There was also a "Golden Text" which we were supposed
to memorize and use as a sort of spiritual guide for the week, but I doubt
that any of us remembered much of it once we were turned loose.
Your mother's infant class was segregated from the main body of the
Sunday School, in the little room leading to the thoir, as you will remember. This room could be closed off with folding doore, and it also served
as a kitchen when refreshments were included in the programme for a concert,
or a social evening.
I recall a gas stove, some blue granite-ware coffee
pots and tea kettles, some rather substantial crockery, and a copper wash
boiler for heating water for the washing of dishes.
As the
to the kitchen,
which was soon
freshly brewed
concert neared its conclusion, several ladies would withdraw
and presently there would be a strong odor of cooking gas,
followed by the tantaliZing aroma of bubbling coffee and
tea.
All the ladies brought something in the way of refreshments, and
that the fare ran pretty strongly to salmon and ham sandwiches,
followed by home-made cookies, tarts and layer cake2.
I remember
Some of these feeds were buffet style where people helped themselves, and sometimes everyone remained seated while the young ladies and
girls passed around with plates of sandwiches and cake, andpoured tea.
There were more substantial banquets when long tables were set up on
trestles and covered with white cloths. When everyone was seated, the
ladies of the refreshment committee would bustle about with the servings.
Those long tables always looked very Biblical to me, possibly
because of similar furnishings in paintings and engravings of the Last
Supper.
When I outgrew your mother's little red chairs, I passed out into
a class taught by Mrs. Robert Watson, located in the main room. We sat
in a circle. I do remember that I liked, respected and admired Mrs. Watson,
as I had your mother.
When we graduated from your mother's infant class, "Dew Drops"
was replaced by papers more suitable for older boys and girls; the titles
of which I recall were, "THE BOYS'WORLD"
and"'fHH GIRLS COMPANION".
I
would like to see a copy of one of those papers from the early or midtwenties period. I remember that most of the stories had a definite moral
tone, as might be expected in a Sunday~chool
paper. I am an inveterate
attender of rummage sales, where I keep an eye peeled for old books and
magazines; but t have never seen a copy of THE BOYS'WORLD or THE GIRLS'
COMPANION at one of them. (David C.Cook Publications, Chicago.)
A-CdJ,OlIf9 CO"'7"-f\ ~·~l cJ.-v
reA
C97~/tV
I passed out of Mrs. Watson's hands into those of Mr. Harry Field,
who taught a class of older boys. We all liked Mr. Field too, possibly
because he varied his Sunday School lessons with personal anecdotes about
fishing and duck shooting in the Rice Lake area, and accounts of hockey
and baseball games that he had taken part in as a youth and young man.
I believe my aunt, Mrs. Gale taught a class of girls at one time, and
I have a hazy recollection of Mrs. Brinning teaching as well. (Added Note
Miss Eva Watson was a teacher of girls for a number of years, Mrs. George
Greer, sister to Mrs. Watson, was a teacher of boys for several years.
Other teachers were s Miss Gladys Minifie, Mrs B. Barton, Mr. and Mrs.
Harris, Miss Ethel Field, Mrs. Nichols, Miss E. Austin and Miss E. Coffee).
I remember that you occupied a unique position in the Sunday School,
as a sort of secretary-treasurer cum librarian, after you became too old
for the boys classes.
(Added note I About 1920, I outgrew the boys'
classes in the school. For two years 1 attended the Presbyterian Sunday
School in company with some of my chums. Here I became involved with the
C.S.E.T. movement, the Tuxis Boys and Trail Ranger activities.
About 1922
the Sunday School needed a Secretarr. and I returnedJoccupying this position
until 1927) when I left Cobourg for ttRiversity. For a while I was leader
of mid--week groups of the School and in 1923 elected to the Ontario Older
Boys Parliament)
In the eyes of us smaller boys your job was an important
one, particularly when you got up to make your weekly reports or announcements. You sat down at the west end of the room, in solitary grandeur,
between the book cupboard and the stove, sometimes with your feet up on
your table in a relaxed attitude that seemed a trifle undignified to me,
in my infinite juvenile wisdom,
i4 not a bit sacriligious, for a person
occupying such an exalted position.
I remember that the books in the library cupboard, that had deep,
self-lined doors that rolled open on casters, ran pretty much to Alger,
Henty, and Ballantyne, at least on the boys' side. I think the girls'
titles included the usual run of the Red Fielding, Five little Peppers,
Bobbsy Twins, and 1 uisa May Allcott series.
I believe you were also custodian of Doctor Tucker, the mechanical
coin bank, that represented the gentleman of the same name who headed the
Congregational
Mission in Chi samba , Angola, Africa.
(Added Note I in
the School, it was customary for those who had birthdays, to drop pennies
into the machine, ahe number of pennies to equal the age of the pupil).
Were you aware that many of the pennies intended for Dr. Tucker, and his
ignorant)naked charges in darkest Africa wound up, instead,in the gum
machines at Platt's Grocery store on the corner at Spring Street?
My
sister, Ivy recalls that when a boy or a girl had a birthday they were
allowed to go up and deposit the numerical equivalent in pennies in Dr.
Tucker, much to the envy of the rest. Dr. Tucker, I remember , sat in a
chair with his right forearm raised. When a penny was placed in his hand,
he dropped it in the left breast pocket of his coat, and nodded a mute
"thank you" with his head.
Sunday School concerts and other entertainments
were always red letter days(or evenings)
for us small fry, whether they included refreshments
or not. I remember one social evening, after the Kaiser war, when one
of your older brothers (CECIL) gave an account of his experiences in France.
All I remember of his experiences is an anecdote about moving into a new
position, which they had just got sandbagged, when the Germans started
A-Co~u,~ Cbnyr~ <.-fte,.,/ cl.u'C4
O>,7.-,4j
shelling them, and blew it all up, making it necessary to do it allover
again. (Added Note:
August 9, 1917, a number of Cobourg boys were in
an amunition shed, a G~~an shell hit the shed, blowing the place up,
killing a number, and wounding others. Cecil was in the shed, and was
severely burned, and was later sent back to Canada for convalescence.)
Part of the entertainment scheduled for another Sunday School concert was a movie provided by George Mitchell, Sr. who ran the old King
George theatre, next to his butcher shop, or had a financial interest in
it. He brought over an old silent projector and a two-reel comedy, but
either the power was inadequate, or the machine faulty, for the picture
was so dim and foggy, that this part of the programme was abandoned. I
remember wondering at the time if Providence had intervened, for movies
in thosendays were considered a bit lewd, and not suitable for people of
gentle, ~hristian upbringing.
That, of course , didn't stop me from
attending the Saturday matinee at the King George, whenever ~ had a nickle
to spare.
I also remember Dr. Daley, in the course of one of his sermons,
mentioning that he had always considered the movies as hardly fit fare for
a gentleman of the cloth, however, he went on, his daughters had recently
talked him into accompanying them to a picture show, and he ha
not only
gone along with them, but enjoyed himself thoroughly.
At Sunday School concerts, I usually got roped in to recite some
long poem, which was generally referred to as "saying a piece". I don't
know Why I was chosen, unless it was because I had a good memory for poetry,
for I was, as mentioned before, very self-conscious, and spoke softly
that no one beyond the third or fourth row ever heard a word I said. When
I was on stage, Mrs. Carson, or the concert director, would usually be in
the Wings hoarsely whispering, "Speak Up,Frank!"
Mother says she remembers me as being so shy on stage, that I not only mumbled inaudibly, but
did so with my back half turned to the audience.
I woild still cringe at
the idea of appearing before a gathering.
At one concert in the Sunday School, a group of us boys,(Mrs. Watson's class, I believe) put on a musical military routine that was well
received.
With Mrs. Carson at the piano playing "The British Grenadiers",
we marched onto the platform singing the words and went through some sort
of a drill, which I doubt could be found in any army manual. We wore paper
hats and carried wooden swords, all except me, that is. I beat time to
the piano on a toy drum that
had got for Christmas.
I could still sing
the lyrics to"'fhe British Grenadiers".
That Christmas
successful~ sufficient
Congregational Church.
do a so~, recitation.
concert was one of those that was considered
to take out and "put on" "t the Cold Springs
Those were pleasant trips, if
did not have to
I remember another concert that was put on in the Cobourg church,
possibly because it seate~ more than the Sunday School room. All that I
remember of this is that - was part of a tableau in wtjich a num~r of
boys and girls stood in a row across the front of the pulpit platform
holding red letters that spelled out some word. I do not remember what
the message spelled out, but each of us spoke a couple of lines in turn,
k
C4~~/
Col3Y9'4~'
Ct.cJ/c.l,
Ce17-11f)
Page 10.
relative to the letter we were holding. I was near the middle of the
WORD, holding a big letter "R", cut out of cardboard, and my lines were
"Oh, I am the rollicking Rollo,
My brothers and sisters I follow ."
Baybe we each had more to say than the two lines, but that is all
remember. laybe it was a Christmas concert and the word was "Christmas".
±
We always looked forward eagerly to the Christmas concerts and
Christmas tree at which we each received a gift. I suspect that each
teacher bought the gifts for the children in his or her class. I believe
that presents could be put on the tree by parents for their children. I
recall that the boys' gifts ran pretty much along the lines of hockey
sticks, pucks, and Alger books. 1 do remember one Christmas concert at
which the jovial voice of Santa Claus, in a rented costume and jingling a
set of sleigh bells, was unmistakably that of Fred F'riend. D14 you ever
serve in this capacity?
the
~ The night before Christmas
Concert, we all would go down to the
Sunday SChool for a final rehearsal, and to help decorate the tree.
At one social evening a wire was stretched across the Sunday
School room and apples were hung from it on lengths of string attached
to the stems. Contests were conducted in which we stood by an apple at
mouth level and tried to eat it with our hands behind our backs. It may
have been a hal:'owe'en party. Anyway I won my particular age group. I
finished my apple first, no hands, and had already been awarded the prize
by Mr. Carson, who was also one of the j~ges of the contest, when Mrs.
Page came forward and claimed that her Gergie had finished his apple, if
not slightly ahead of me, at least at the" same time. The contest should
therefore be declared a tie, and the prize divided between us. Several
people sided with Irs. fa~e, but the majority were pro-Taylor.
However
sO e of the ladies in charge took me aside and tried to persuade me that
t would be gentlemanly enough to split the prize with George. However,
possession being nine points of the law, I steadfastly refused to yield
any part of it, and spent the rest of the evening sitting in a corner
clutching my prize and glarin~ at the Pages, who were sitting in another
corner glaring at me, and no doubt thinking uncharitable thoughts about
me, as
was of them. I have no idea now, what the prize was.
Do you know what became of the stained glass window behind the
lee turn in the Sunday ~chool when the building was torn down ? ( Added
note I The window in question was removed and re-set in Trinity United
Church, Cobourg, where it is to-day)
, or the old wrought iron lamp
that was outside the east door of the school room ?
The hymns we used to sing in the Sunday School, were much more
spirited or "singable"
than those usually sung in church. A few that I
recall are z "Jesus bids us shine";
"Onward Christian Soldiers."
J
"What a friend we have in Jesus."
J "God sees the little sparrow fall. ft
ftBri htlY gleams our banner ft, etc.
(lote I?t was 1Pstomary to sing about four hymns at each Sunday School
service. Each scolar had a hymn book of words
and a piano player led
the singing.)
I
~~~
CoYSf?4t1o#".<1 ('()rc~
(07-1 clj
Now to mention the Sunday School picnics to Bud's 'Woods(Preclous Corners ))
to Grafton, and other rural retreats. (Added Note t In earlier years
the picnics were held at Car's Woods, on the lake shore about two miles W£s¥
from the town. The children would be conveyed on hay wagons drawn by a
team of horses ). A big feature of these was always the races. There were
ordinary races, the three- legged race, the wheelbarrow race, the egg
and spoon race,and so on. The prizes were small, about ten cents for
the winner, and a nickle for the first runner-up or second.Everyone got an
ice cream cone, or two if you were luckYI and sometimes an o~nge or
banana, which latter commodities were then considered much more of a rarety,
del~cacy, and treat, than they are to-day.
We always looked for the
orange in our stocking come Christmas mornin~.
On one church picnic at Budd's woods, my brother, Victor, who was
about a year and a half old, or two at the time, stumbled into or sat
down on a bees' nest or wasps nest, and was badly stung allover. The
ladies present grabbed Vic and rushed him down to the creek b$d whe~
they stripped him and plastered him allover with mud, which was supposed
to have a palliative effect on bee or wasp stings. Maybe it did, as
modern science is continually finding a lot of truth in old wives' tales
and quack remedies.
One would think that n experience like this would have soured Vie.
for good on the outdoor life, and turned him into an incurabl$ indoor
recluse. Such was not the case. Vie. on the other hand, is the naturalist
of the family, and has always spent most of his spare time taking long
walks, studyin~ birds and small animals, and identifying the various wild
flowers and other forms of Ontario plant life. Ernest Thompson Seaton is
his idol, and Peterson's Bird Guide his bible.
,
Let us not forget our Trail Rangers group. How proud we were of our
proficiency badges, and hOH we used to work and connive to earn them. We
did not have a gymnasium and a lot of equipment like our more affluent
and larger contemporaries, at the Presbyterian and Methodist ~hurches, in
fact we did not have a volly ball, but we had a lot of fun with our bean
bags. We played a lot of different games with them. Also there was arm
wrestl~ng, Indian wrestling, and other tests of feats of skill and strength.
I remeMber George Page, Sr. acting as ~.T.lnstructor for the Trail Rangers
for a time.
Speaking of Indian wrestling reminded me that you once had us
memorize an Indian prayer that you read out from the Trail Ranger manual,
which i recall as a blue co~red book, limp cloth cover. I still remember
the prayer which went phonetically t
'WAH KHAN DAH DAY DOO,
WAH PAH DIN, AH TONE HAY,
and translated meant:
Father, a needy one stands before thee,
I that sing, am he.
Well, I was always more or less needy, usually more so, and the fact that
I have always had a lousy singing voice might account for the fact that I
am still not blessed with an abundance of lucre.
One of my pleasant memories is of a hike or outing that you took
us on one sunny Saturday in Mayor June. We did not go far, just out
along the Factory Creek, (or Factory Crick)
to the ~neral area of the
House of Refuge, where we had a good time building little camp fires
A-(oj,r;f,,? ce'''Yr? Ct t7 .,,·1
(~Vc~ ("(77.(4)
Page 12.
to cook, or warm our lunch, and fishing in the creek with improvised
willow rods, grocery store string, and bent pins. I seem to recall a couple
of the chaps using safety pins for hooks. This is the only occasion on
which I ever caught a fish, a minnow I suppose, in this hallow d schoolboy
tradition using makeshift g~ar. As a matter of fact, it was one of the
few fish I ever caught, as
have never cared much for fishing, or hunting.
I have always been inclined"to look at th
sort of thing from the point
of view of the fish, duck, deer etc, and
often wonder how many
of these intrepid hunters, who head for the woods every fall with guns
and dogs, would go out there if the deer had guns and could shoot back.
There were the combined Scout, Trail .anger , and Tuxis Boys'
annual summer camps that were sponsored by the Rotary Club. I believe
that we of the Congregational Trail Ranger group had half of our camp
fees paid for us out of our weekly dues. Was it 5 Cents a week ?(Yes).
I attended two of these ten-day camps around 1923 and 1924; one at Pine
Tree Point on ice Lake, and the other at Richardson's
oint, on Lake
Ontario between Cobour and Grafton.
ly recollections of the e camps
are most pleasant, and I think of them when I smell Life Buoy soap, or
Oil of Ci tronllla.
Every one had a cake of the former and a bottle of
the latter, which was supposed to l'rardoff mosquitoes.
I did not go to camp in 1925, or afterwards, as I was working
full time that summer and the next as delivery boy, using a bicycle, for
Stuart Walden, who had just taken over Allport's corner store at the top
of Ball Street. I got two dollars a week.
Speaking of Scouts, also reminds me I have an idea that there was
a troop of Congregational Boy Scouts at one time, before I would have been
old enough to belong to it. (.OTE- There may have been in the 19051912 era. )
I remember being at a gatheri~g of church people at your ho~e
on Stuart Street, in the early Twenties.
It was in the evening and
those present were mostly adults, for it seems to me that my cousin,
Alfie Barton and 1, were the only children there. I have no idea what the
gathering was about, ut 1 do recall that you took Alf and I under your
Wing and entertained us by showing us some of your brothers' war souvenirs,
as well as some of your own treasures, which included a rusty old muzzleloading pocket pistol that you sai~ had been dug up in your back garden.
lNJlt:THEIZ.
I cannot say for sure that I remember Mr. Pollock, or wea~
I
he rd my folks talking about him so much that I just think I remember
him. My earliest clear recollections of church services are Qf Dr. Daley
in the pulpit, and Mr • Daley and the girls sitting down near the front
in the mid Ie part of the church.
e Taylors, Gales, and Bartons usually
sat near the back of the section of pews north of the choir on the west
side.
Dr. Daley was definite my favonrite minister.
He seemed to
me like a good man, with a warm, kindly nature, an intelligent, learned
man, with a broad-minded outlook on life, and a nicely balanced sense of
humour. He has always been my ideal of a perfedt, small-town, small-church
minister, and over the years, I have found myself using him, or his memory,
f
A-Page
(~"C)r~?f;fi.:,,~1
C 'cJrC~ Co7-t.tj)
C(';)~c;tI:P'
13.
as a yardstick to measure other members of the clergy, just as I have
I"ompa.redthe Co ourg Conp;regattona1 Church with other places of worship.
fter he lef to t ke char,e of the Chi1dren~' Shelter in }ort Hope, the
church never seemed quite the sa.me to me.
Th~ qev rend Herm n C rson w s a.good man in many way~, but after
Dr. D~la , he im ress d me as being
little too piou
nd straight-lac d,
and nerhaps a bit narrow minded in .orne respects.
r remember the Reverend Adam Hamilton a~ b Ing mo of a ~hoh~n,
or lecturer, than a Minister of the Gospel. He certainly filled the
church to overflowing, w th chairs n the aL les, and standees at the
back. I thinll:he would have done well e:::: an early-day Billy Grah m type
of an evangelist on a lecture circuit. Of cour e that is ju~t my opinion.
~ell the old church iC'!gone now, torn down to~ake room for a part
of a gymnasium and parkin lot for one of the recent additi DS to the
Collegiate,
for which it has served in its time as an annex. The Colle iate is RTadually mobbling up the entire block, and one arm of the
~und
ha~ already reached H bernia Street.
In a wey, I sunpose, it is bet er that the church prop rty should
e
converted nto a parking lot for an in tltution of hi~her
learnin , than to be use as a dance hall as it was by t e Orange l,odge
f r many years. I am not a very reli lous person, but it never seemed to
me quit right, when I passed by the place on Saturday nights and heard
the measure stomping of feet to hillbilly music, and the occa ional wild
yell from a high pirited or crunken yokel.
In r.eadin~ over t i letter, I find that I forgot to say anything
about the amateur dramatic' production\:staged by the choir and oth r
members of the church. The more ambitious plays were presented in the
opera house at the town hall (Victori9. HaJl) • I don't think that the
Con re~ational Church went in for this sort of thing a eagerly, or as
often, a some of the other denominations such a~ the Methodists, who
seemed to have an unlimited supply of budding thespians among their
members.
I can only remember one such effort by the Con~gational
dramatists , and that was a typical church-type comic melodrama entitled,
"DEACON DUBBS of ORGHUM CENTRE". George Page, Sr. played the deacon,
if I remember correctly, although I cannot recall the rest of the cast,
unless Fred riend took part in the inevitable dull-witted farm hand,
or hired man. Hy s1 ter, Nyrtle, had a small part a an "extra" or
so ething like that, min~ling in the crowd scene.
The theme song of
the 1'0 uction was "See1'nR:Nellie Home"
as I well remeJ'lber,for Myrtle
practised it endlessly at home in the weeks before open1n~ ni~ht.
Mother remembers another production in which the cast all
took the parts of comic trip character such as M ~ie and Jpggs, Toots
and Casper, ~u~ and Jeff, Harold Teen ; and so on. Myrtle was Tilly
the Toiler. (Added Note I I was in this presentation, teamed up with
Myrtle as Tilly the Toiler and Mac. The event was a Mag iw and J ~~s
Dinner, with Corned beef and c bba~e, held at the Armoury BUildin~.)
eo
f: "".1 C 4(,1~ ~
(o7-t~
(dde
Note s Frank circulated his reminiscences amon~st his family
with the result the
mes of others connected with the Congregational
Church were mentioned.
An edited addition is given here.)
The Greer families
s There was the George Greer family who owned the
livery stable and later the garage on King Street an lived on George
ctreet. There were two sons, 'red and Harry, who m~~ried Lenore iood,
and a aughter, Iarjorie, who was a beautiful 'Gibson Girl- type. Also
the Joseph Greer family, from the farm own by the Kingston Crossing,
with sons Oscar, Merwin and others in thi family. The farm is still
o erated by descendents.
Next is the name , Golda J-T~yen Carr, another
hurch member. Ivy ha reminded me of Dr. Armstron , ~n aunt to Billy and
Zmmer, who lived in one of the houses in the terrace to the west of the
church. Other ongre ,ationalists were the Services, and the ~eado s.
,1r. Meadows worked at Pratts fUll and had a daughter, Carolin,e.
One of Ivy's more colourful memories is that o+'11r. eorge(?)
Swadlin , who was Sunday School Superintendent for some ti.e before
Harry 'ield took over the position. Swadling had a garage just east of
the rmory. Mr. Swadling always referred to it as 'Swadling's Garridge·.
f-1r.Swadlin ,'En lish .accent sometimes drew a snicker from his youthful
Canadian congre ation, articul~rly at the conclusion of one Sunday School
ession when he announced, "We will now sing 'Oly, 'Oly,'
ly and f!.0
'orne" • That is the way it was remembered, but Ivy says it was ffiore
cockney • ",'e will now sing, 'Owly. 'Owly. •Owly and O'ow r Owme." In
either case, it was singularly uncluttered by'aitghes.
I seem to recall that when Mr. Swadling left the garage, just
east of the armoury, he moved into a mall shop adj ent to and east of
the ConP,re~ational Church, and set back from the street. There were
George. Charlie and a daughter. ueenie.
The only time
can remember attending a service in another
chureh was when the ent re eon~re ational body went t the )re~byte:-:ian
Church. and the following Sunday the resbyterians visite us. (Added
Note:
At the time the new church organ was dedicated, both the rresbyterian no the Congre~~tional Churches purchesed new organs ftow. the
s me con~any. ~he ced1cation serv ce~ were comb ned. There may h ve
~en al~o . ~onbin tion of ~umner servi e one year. )
One evening Miss Elizabeth Fall visited our place, and she
reports having a Deacon's Chair from the Congregational Church. Ber
!!Teat-uncle. J. T. leld accuired it when the church ilO'bR.nded,
and it
ssed into the hand of the H 1 mily when he died. I have made R
s etch of it, and ~ ,m enclosin~ a more finished copy for you. (Added
note: The chair in question wa.""tho one that wns placed behind the
Communion Table at the front of the ('hureh <>-anctuary. It was used by
the m! lster at Communion serv ces. Two Deacons occupie other chairs
, one on each side of the Mi istor,durin~ the Communion Service.)
Betty Hall tells me that her father, Thonas li'ieldHall. had
fond memories of a Mr. Brad. Appleby, who taught a class when he attended
the Congre ational Sunday School. Mr. Appleby was a great favourlte
w th the children becaus of hi pleasant i position ~nd lively sense
of humour. He had the
knack of rolorine his stories with a good deal
of :'1a,tive
wit, and his version of Jonah and the whale is one ~hat Nr.
Hall remembered best.
As a mall girl at the time of chu ch union(1925) Betty recalls
h rin muc talk about Preshyterians, !ethodists, and ongregationallsts.
She aske her father, " hat is a C:ongregationali t 7"
is reply was, "A
Con reg t onalist is one who, with a bit of luck, can reach Heaven by the
easiest route." I gather that what T.F.H. meant by this/was that the
rongregationali ts not there with a minimum of fuss, feathers, fanfare,
pomp, ceremony, and expense, i not hu ility. My sister Ivy uses the
wor "uncluttered".
This, she thinks, best describes the architecture
decoration, an
rnishin s of the Co~~gational
Church.
(Added notdl
h yes, it also refers to the Congrebational Church form of worship.
Th r gular service consisted of Hymns, Prayers, Scripture e~ding,
s ere music, a sermon, and receivin of the offering and announcement~.
Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper was observed at regular intervals.
The on ,re ation was inde enoent, t had a finance committee to look after
te poral matters, an the ~on~egational
r~eting decided on all matters
pertaining to t at partiLular church. Christ was the Head, and the
outlook was very missionary in nature. )
several pages of new information to the main letter. In all)
e up to forty eight
eets
han written material. I have reviewed
ate 1al carefully, making selections an ed ting in places. The
letter w s started Octo eT 0, 965. ~or several yearu the o~jectwr t ng a history of the ~o our
ongregational Church has had to
"~ait ue to circ.umsta,ncesan pressure of other matters. This story of
Fr n Tay or's Reminiscences of the church -rom about 1914 to ~929 is
now set out in typescript for.l in January 198h. The :research and writing
of the church his ory snow proceedino' The object va is a record for
po terity 0 ninety-five years of Christian litne s by Congregationalists
n the Town of Cobourg.
C"
'rank as ed a question:
"I would be interested in learning the name of
the architect, or architects, who designed the Consregational phurch, alsO
the builders."
The First Chapel as erected in 1835-1836 and erected by John Pearse,
Carpenter.
he enlar ed church,built of white brick wa
rected around
the original frame chapel and aF 0 ened and de icated, August 23, 1874.
" .r. John ':'boffi;Json
was the builder, which do v him credit in style and
workmanship."
The Sunday School ullding. complete with the Minister's
~estry and the Infant Class Room was finished in February, 1878. The
Contractor was Mr.
fred ~obert •
I
Sinc~
itin thes reminiscences,
rank Taylor has passed over the great
divide, ut e is fondly remembered as a small boy, as a pupil in the
Congre~ tional Church at Cobourg, and as a member of the Tral~ Ranger
group I had the privilege to lead. '-Iewas a very kink person, and a good
friend.
He has left us a wealth of detail about the former church in
these Reminiscences.
Thank You ~rank.
Percy 11.. Climo
___ January 9th, 19 4.