The Lansdowne Letters: Playing with Fire

flickr ~ Per   license

If you wanted to work in the 
Northern Ontario bush in 1960, 
you had to be self-sufficient, 
or you didn't last long.

You could count on the help 
of others who lived in 
the remote village with you, 
but you had to be ready 
to make quick decisions and 
solve problems on your own.

Sometimes your decisions 
could mean life or death, 
and sometimes you were 
just plain lucky.

On this day my father was lucky, and so were the children who relied on him for their safety.










On Wednesday, October 19, 1960 
My father wrote:

Hi there everyone,

flickr ~ lance robotson   license

Well, we still haven’t mastered 
the big stove yet.
  
Last night Uno and I 
were successful in making 
the stove stay on all night, 
but it kept the house so hot 
that we were unable to sleep at all. 






I was up most of the night standing in the open door 
or sitting by an open window in an effort to keep cool.  
Tonight we are going to try banking it with ashes. 
I will be quite self-sufficient 
when I get home this spring, won’t I?

All my troubles seem to come in clusters.  
Today I had some more trouble 
with the oil stoves at the school.
  
When I got to school this morning, 
it was as cold as charity inside the school, 
in spite of the fact 
that the fires had been on all night 
with the stoves set at three.  
There are only six settings on the stove, 
so three is quite a high setting.

  

flickr ~ Jesse! S?   license

I looked in the stove, 
and you could just see a little flame.  
I set the stoves to five and one half, 
but they didn’t get any warmer, 
and the flames didn’t increase one iota. 






Well, we all kept our parkas and caps on, 
and I also kept my overshoes and mitts on, 
and we held school anyway.  

About ten-fifteen it started to get quite warm, 
and by the time recess was over, 
the school was comparatively warmer.  
I could no longer see my breath, 
and I could take my mitts and cap off.

  My Father's School

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario
Photo by Don MacBeath,  October 1960
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

About eleven ten the stoves started 
making whooshing and whomping noises, 
and when I rushed down 
to the back of the room to investigate, 
the stoves were red hot, and flooded, 
and just kept jumping off the floor 
with every whoosh and whomp. 

I got the kids out of the school pronto, 
and I turned off the oil supply myself.
Then I left the school and went over to the nursing station.  
I figured that if she was going to blow up, 
I was going to watch it from the nursing station 
rather than from the inside of the school.

wikimedia

The black smoke 
was just pouring 
from the chimney, 
and I expected to hear an explosion any minute.  











In about twenty minutes the smoke died down, 
and Mike and I went over to the school 
to have a look at the stoves; 
but, they were too hot to go near, 
so I just made sure that the oil was shut off completely, 
and I locked the school and went home for dinner.  

The stoves were cooled down 
when I came back after dinner.  
In fact, the whole school was ice cold again.  
Mike came over, and we examined the stoves superficially 
but could see nothing wrong.  

I rang the school bell, started the stoves, 
and started my afternoon classes.  
I kept a sharp eye on the stoves though, 
and as soon as they showed signs 
of going out of control again, 
I shut them off – before they started 
whooshing and whomping again.
  
We did without any fire in the afternoon, 
but by three it was so cold that I let the kids go.  
It was damned cold today too.  
It never rose above fifteen all day.
(15º F or -9.4º C)

On yes, the chickenpox has worked over 
from the island to the mainland, 
and two of my children had the pox out on them 
when they arrived at school this morning. 

wikipedia

I thought that it looked like 
the pox, but I wasn’t sure, 
so I sent them over to Mike.
  
I should be able to recognize 
the chickenpox after last winter,
shouldn’t I?
  








Mike told me that if too many children get it, 
he will have to close the school.  
The Indians have a hard time with the chickenpox, 
especially if they get it this time of year.  
It has a tendency to turn to pneumonia, 
and that kills them off like flies.  

Father Ouimet told me that in 1947 
forty-nine died at the mission at Ogoki 
with chickenpox turning to pneumonia.  
So you can see that it is a real threat up here.

flickr ~ Lyndsay Esson    license

This morning it was snowing quite heavily 
when I set out in my untrustworthy canoe, 
and it was very little above zero.
  
I’m telling you it isn’t any fun in a canoe at this time of year.
  
I would sure hate to fall in the water these days.















Duncan is pretty well over his mumps 
and is feeling just as chipper as a young puppy.  
He is a sweet child, 
but then I am so lonesome for my own children 
that any child looks sweet to me, 
even some of the dirtiest Indian children on the Island.

Well, that ends it for tonight.

Bye now,
Love,
Don.

I remember only too well when my brother, 
three sisters, and I caught the measles 
just before Christmas in 1959.
  
I recovered fairly quickly, 
but my siblings developed scarletina (scarlett fever) 
and were seriously ill.  

It was a difficult time for my parents, 
especially for my mother who took care of all of us 
while my father worked.  
But at least we had access to doctors 
and good medical care. 

Mike Flaherty was an excellent nurse,
but doctors and the Sioux Lookout Hospital
were about 225 miles (362 kilometers) away.
By bush plane, 
and a plane had to fly into Lansdowne House 
before it could transport anyone to the hospital. 

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

Note:  Measles:  In 1960 there was no vaccine for measles, a highly contagious viral respiratory
                           disease that causes a fever, cold-like symptoms, and a body rash.
                           Children who caught the measles were susceptible to complications like pneumonia,
                           deafness, permanent brain damage, and death.  ctvnews

                           The Ojibway children in Lansdowne House lived in crowded, squalid
                            conditions and were malnourished, so they were especially vulnerable to this
                            contagious disease.