Sender: Rare book and manuscripts <EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Dear Germaine,
And indeed there was my Baptist missionary. They know things about
him but are faulty where I have the whole thing. This lot includes
his Journal from 1848 to 1873, as well as some later notes and
several documents about his stay in Canada, in the Toronto area. They
do have something, but they need this, and I am glad I persevered so
I can get it to the library and archives which needs it. And, of
course, with your gracious help.
And by the way he can be very poetic about such things as preaching
in the early morning, everyone staying in their wagons, shays and on
horseback. The horses making horsey noises from time to time,
otherwise the whole congregation mum unless the text requires
response. They are all standing in a clearing in the forest,with the
light slanting down with the early morning slant we city dwellers
rarely see any more. This happens to him over and over, and it is a
shame that it didn't get into his sermons. So they need to have this
evidence of his romantic response to Canada and to his work.
When called to return to England, of course, he went.
I have read a good deal of the book, much more than anything else I
have [and through his handwriting, which is OK, but not great to
read.] I have been sending things out to auction as I close up most
of the shop [too old, too sick], but I have been trying to get some
things to the absolutely right place if I can manage it.
Sincerely,
Gabriel
PS He spent most of his time in the Toronto area. Most of the towns
were just starting, and the scene with the horses happened in a town
on the lake a few miles away.
--
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Germaine Warkentin // English (Emeritus)
VC 205, Victoria College (University of Toronto),
73 Queen's Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1K7, CANADA
g.warkentin@utoronto.ca (fax number on request)
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