The Lansdowne Letters: Stressed to the Max

The Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia is full
of news and photos about the Royal visit,
and one of yesterday's articles reminded me of how much time
has passed since our family moved North in February, 1961.

Canada's Governor General David Johnston,

Prince William, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

September 24, 2016

(Yes, I took this photo!)

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

On Wednesday Prince William and Kate visited MacBride Museum

in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory.

While there, they sent a royal welcome on Twitter via a telegraph

that is part of a communications exhibit at the museum.

The exhibit shows how Whitehorse contacted the outside world

from the remote North more than a half century ago.

The royal couple were also the first to sign the museum's digital guest book

using telegraph-to-tweet technology developed by Make IT Solutions.

On hand to assist them was ninety-year-old wireless telegraph operator

Doug Bell, a legendary Yukon operator from that time.

Long before Twitter and the internet, Canadians all across Canada

used wireless telegraph technology to communicate important messages quickly,

like when my father telegraphed his wife and mother
to inform them that freeze-up had started.

The Telegraph Office

Nakina, Ontario, September 1960

Photo by Don MacBeath

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

  

Telegrams were flying back and forth between my parents

as they made arrangements to move our family north.

My mother was under a great deal stress over the move and its cost,

and my "Nana" MacBeath was worrying about us living

in such a remote place as Lansdowne House.

On Wednesday, February1, 1961
My mother wrote to her
mother-in-law, Myrtle:


Myrtle MacBeath
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Dear Mother,

I am afraid I worried you by telling you I had lost a lot of weight.
I didn’t mean to.  It slipped out.

I was in to see the doctor today,
and actually he was pleased with my tests.
My blood and B.M.R. were normal.
Not only that, but my B.M.R. was 415,
and in Halifax last summer,
it was 414 which shows it is constant.

It’s the nervious strain I’ve been living under that has caused the loss of weight.
I have been worrying, so I haven’t been sleeping or eating properly.  

He gave me a prescription for tranquilizers.
He says the Maritime Medical is the best.
It didn’t cost me a cent for the tests or doctor.

My Father Traveling in Snowshoes

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

Winter, 1961

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Don likes it up North,
and I’m sure that he wouldn’t ask us to come if it wasn’t all right.
It will give us a chance to live as a family instead of
everyone rushing their separate ways as they do so often nowadays.

Don is a far better teacher in my opinion than the children have had for a long, long time.
Extra curricular activities can become too much,
and I am sure the children would learn a lot up North.

Don sent me a picture of himself, and I haven’t seen him look
so rested in years, and he has lost a lot of weight.

So far as doctors go, the nurse can do as much as a doctor,
except for operations, and they have a flying doctor,
and in an emergency we would more likely get to the hospital faster.
Certainly it isn’t any more risky than
living near a street in most places or driving in a car.

Flying doctors reached remote places by bush plane.

Wikimedia

As far as Don’s pay goes, we would be doing fine
if we didn’t have to pay back old bills incurred last winter and summer.
Even though they haven’t paid him his full pay,
we have been able to pay back a lot of those bills.
Don just wasn’t able to manage things last winter.  

It is certainly wonderful to know that we have more than enough
to live on which is a situation we haven’t known.
If Don’s pay had been through, we more likely would have spent
more at Christmas, and it has forced us to save.

However it has worried me, especially when I had expected it
to be through in time for us to leave.
I sent Don a letter today to see if he can prod them.
The government is just plain slow at paying.

The man in the telegraph office was saying
there just isn’t any way to speed them up.
They are that way with all their employees.

One consolation is you know you will get it eventually,
and most people realize this, especially up North
where most of the people are government employees.

I must get to bed.
With love, Sara.


Sara MacBeath
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

An Old-Time Telegraph Office

Restored CN Telegraph counter on display at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum

Wikimedia

People can still send telegrams today, 
and they are an effective communication method,
especially where there is no electricity or internet access.

Having a telegram delivered to your door was an exciting event;
but always an anxiety-inducing one until you knew what it said.
Too often a telegram carried news of illness or death.

My mother experienced a great deal of stress during her life,
and she constantly struggled to keep weight on.
My father likewise experienced great stress,
but he constantly struggled to keep weight off.

Money and financial stability were always issues,
but somehow my parents realized their dream
of all five of their children graduating from university.

I wish they were alive today to see how well each of us has done.
They would know their sacrifices and difficulties were worth it.
I am forever grateful for their love and support.

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

Crossing Petite Passage
Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia
Photo Copy by Roy MacBeath 
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Notes:
1.  Victoria's Times Colonist newspaper: 
     Thursday, September 29, 2016, p. D1
     (For press photos click here and here)

2.  Basal Metabolic Rate: 
     The B.M.R. is the amount of energy needed to support the body’s most basic functions to stay
     alive.  The test is meant to be performed when a person is at rest in a neutral, or non-stressful,
     environment.  That likely explains why Mom spent the night in the hospital.  One thing the test
     measures is the status of the thyroid, always a concern for my mother who had Graves Disease.



For Map Lovers Like Me:

Location of Canada's Yukon, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island   
Wikimedia

Location of Smith's Cove

where Mom and We Five Were Living

 Harbourview Inn

Location of Lansdowne House

Where My Father Was Living

Northern Ontario, Canada

Wikimedia