Classic Christmas Stories (14 page)

The petition was tabled in the British House of Commons and went no further,
and while there was some discussion in the House on a motion tabled by Sir Alan
Herbert, an independent member of parliament, which called for restoration of
self-government in Newfoundland, nothing ever came of it.

The Responsible Government League made still another, last-ditch attempt to
stop the move toward Confederation, on the night of Dec. 10, the day before the
signing of the final terms.

At a large meeting in the CLB Armoury, a resolution demanding the Commission of
Government to prevent the delegation in Ottawa from signing the terms was passed
unanimously.

Those at the meeting then marched to Government House and met with the governor
and presented the resolution.

The commission had a special meeting the next morning and then informed the
league that the commission felt it would be improper for it to intervene in the
matter.

For the ceremony of the signing of the final terms on Dec. 11, all local radio
stations were hooked up to present the broadcast.

In the days following the ceremony also extensive coverage was given in the
newspapers.

The
Telegram
printed the terms of unions verbatim and in addition, staff
writer at the time Rupert Jackson—now more commonly known as Peter Simple of the
Daily News
—presented one article each day for nine consecutive days
explaining the various terms and how they would affect the Newfoundland
scene.

The late Eric Seymour, who at that time wrote an editorial
page column for the
Telegram
under the Topics of the Day, with the
by-line Terranovan, suggested following the signing that time was the keynote
and that it would be a couple of years later before the progress “or otherwise”
of the new province could be properly evaluated.

“Only time will tell, ” he said, “whether Dec. 11, 1948, was a new day for
Newfoundland, or one of the darkest in its history.”

A
Telegram
editorial on Dec. 11 called for a frank and honest discussion
of the terms of union.

It said that Newfoundland had taken the first important step leading to a
future in which “she will be partner of the greatest and most progressive of the
British Dominions.

“It is in our power to make that union a success.”

Editor of the
Telegram
at the time was the late C. E. A. Jeffery, M. B.
E, who held that position from 1923-1959.

Mengie Shulman, a broadcaster and journalist, who at that time wrote a column
for the
Telegram
called Satisfactually Speaking, interjected a touch of
humor into the scene shortly after the final terms were signed.

Mr. Shulman told the story of two “inebriates” arguing the pros and cons of
Confederation.

“Said one: ‘Everything will be cheaper—we'll be better off.'

“To which the other replied: ‘Oh, yeah! Just wait and see. The cost of living
will go up $2 a bottle.'”

Despite the importance of the issue of Confederation Mr. Shulman took time out
in one of his columns to remind the girls that as the days of December were
rapidly passing . . . “Leap year is almost over.”

In those days letters to the editor at the
Telegram
were published under
the headline Telegram Forum, and although there were a few letters throughout
the month of December on the Confederation issue, only one or two of those were
in protest of union with Canada or the way in which it was being brought
about.

On Dec. 14, a letter signed G. Broomfield said that the fact that a bare
majority voted in favour of Confederation “doesn't give the majority the right
to proceed roughshod over the rights of a large minority.”

The letter suggested there should first be a freely-elected parliament in
Newfoundland which could then decide on the future of the country.

The writer of the letter said that if union goes ahead in
the manner in which it was proceeding, “I, and I feel I voice the opinion of
thousands, will consider Canada has captured Newfoundland not with guns and
bullets, but with money and intrigue.”

A letter signed by A. W. Smith, Trinity South, also on Dec. 14, urged those who
had fought against Confederation to forget the past.

Saying he was proud to have been a confederate, the letter writer added, “We
are not as bad as we were painted, and we do not intend to give them a one-way
pass out of the country as was going to be given the confederates.”

The signing of the final terms that concluded was the “greatest Christmas box
Newfoundland could ever receive.”

A letter from E. Noseworthy of Halleybury, Ontario told Newfoundlanders that
far from their decision to join Canada being earth shattering . . . “It is
extremely doubtful whether history will record the event as being other than of
minor importance.”

He suggested that in 50 years' time it was doubtful if one Newfoundlander
in 20 would be able to give offhand the date on which union took place.

Another letter signed “Watchful, ” strongly urged Newfoundlanders, once union
was completed, not to vote for the CCF party . . . “better known as
socialists.”

Still another letter from Canada came from an 11-year-old school boy in
Toronto, Eddie Blake, who said Canadians had heard a lot about Newfoundlanders,
“but we don't know much about Newfoundland and her folks. I wonder what they
think of us?”

Young Eddie wanted someone to write and tell him what Newfoundlanders think
about Canadians and tell him about their land.

Incidentally in those days, the
Telegram
sold for five cents a copy, and
the average daily circulation was approximately 11,949.

Regular daily features in the paper at that time included an explanation on the
various films showing at the local theatres, 13 different comic strips, and a
selection of jokes on the editorial page under the heading Will You Smile? The
paper was published six days a week and the Great Eastern Oil Justice Story was
featured each weekend.

The population of Newfoundland in 1948 was around 330,000 and outside of St.
John's there were only 18 incorporated communities.

Whatever the feelings of people who had been opposed to
Confederation, who had lost a bitter struggle, it did not show in the outward
signs of the Christmas season in St. John's.

A report in the
Telegram
on Dec. 28 indicated that there was a “marked
increase” in the number of city homes which were illuminated both inside and out
with colored lights, and it appears the business community did not hold back
with its variety of Christmas displays.

There was no shortage of Christmas raffles, a long-time tradition in the city,
and what few night clubs and restaurants there were, such as the Old Colony
Club, the Golden Slipper, the Octagon Pavilion, the Stirling Restaurant and
Diana Sweets Limited did not appear to suffer any.

Diana Sweets surely could not have gone wrong offering a three-course chicken
dinner for $1.

The Golden Slipper, located out on the Topsail Highway, had a cover charge of
$1 and provided free bus service from New Gower Street.

Entertainment was provided at the various centres by such groups as Bob Norman
and his Merrymakers, the Mickey Duggan Orchestra and Barry Hope and his
band.

Theatres in the city included the York, the Star, Majestic, Cornwall, Paramount
and Capital, and city residents went to see such stars as Peter Lawford and
Elizabeth Taylor—who were being billed as “the screen's most romantic new
team”—George Raft, Jackie Cooper, Errol Flynn, Joan Crawford, Van Hefflin, and
Ethel Barrymore, as well as Philo Vance, Joe Palooka, Hopalong Cassidy and Lash
LaRue.

There was no television here then of course, but three radio stations—VONF,
VOCM, VOUS—presenting such programs as the Barrelman (who at that time was Mike
Harrington, now editor of the
Telegram
); the Children's Savings Program,
Barnyard Jamboree, the Gerald S. Doyle News, VOCM Breakfast Club, Adventures of
Sam Spade and Hollywood Roundup.

There were also shows featuring Silm Bryant and his Wildcats, Sammy Kaye's
Orchestra, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, Gene Autry, Blondie, Ozzie and
Harriet and Charlie McCarthy.

People wishing to purchase new furniture in those days could get such bargains
as a nine-piece dining room suite manufactured in the province from local wood,
for $250.

Houses were selling anywhere from about $3,200 up to about
$10,000; land could be bought out in Kilbride for $15 a foot; and a two-storey
dwelling in town, furnished with nine rooms plus two bathrooms, and an oil
furnace could be rented for $100 a month.

One only had to phone 2147 between 6 a.m. and 1 a.m. in order to find out what
time it was.

In view of the current energy crisis, it is interesting to note that Trask
Foundry was selling reconditioned stoves and ranges for prices ranging up from
$20.

Among the various commercial establishments which have long since left the
scene were such places as Avalon Gardens—Flowertown, 156 Water St.; St. John's
Gas Light Co., Fraser Building, Duckworth Street; Dancewell Ballroom Studio;
6 Prescott St.; Club 21; Dooley's Dry Cleaning and Dry Works, Long's Hill; the
Sunkist Store, 190 New Gower St.; and General Traders Ltd., 85 Bond St.

Reddy Kilowatt, a familiar symbol to all in Newfoundland today, celebrated his
first anniversary on Dec. 13, 1948.

Andrew Carnell, the father of current Councillor Geoff Carnell, was serving out
his last term as mayor in 1948, and James J. Spratt was his deputy.

Employment was not too bad and wages varied, but a letter to the editor from a
“Female Worker, ” on Dec. 7, 1948, complained that some Water Street employers
were paying female staff, particularly stenographers and typists the “measly”
wages of $15 a week, including girls who had two, three and four years'
experience.

The letter pointed out that many of the girls were from the outports and had to
pay board at the rate of $10.50 per week, leaving them only $4.50 a week left
over.

There were some signs of the beginning of women's lib in those days,
however.

An advertisement in mid-December said that a lady painter and paper hanger was
looking for work by day or night.

Those were also the days of the “Newfie Bullet” and large herds of caribou, and
they met up with each other more than once.

A report from an engineer on the railway in late December indicated that a
train had been held up while a herd of some 300 caribou crossed
the tracks in front of it and all the passengers got out of the train to
watch them rumble by.

In view of next year's planned festivities, which include a Miss Celebration
contest to select a provincial queen, it is interesting to note that in 1948,
following a series of contests around the province throughout the year, a Miss
Mary Dawe of Bay Roberts was chosen as the Beauty Queen of the Island on Dec.
29.

This presents, perhaps, somewhat of a glimpse of the scene in Newfoundland,
particularly St. John's, 25 years ago, as Newfoundlanders, whether they liked it
or not, prepared to change their nationality from Newfoundlander to
Canadian.

In an editorial on Dec. 31, 1948, the
Telegram
said that Newfoundland
“stands to gain in many ways, and Newfoundland will make no small contribution
to Canada's prestige.”

The editorial suggested that “with animosities forgotten, ” and a common
resolve to strive to bring to pass “that great and bright future which all of us
believe is rightly due Newfoundland, we shall enter the new era in our history
without misgiving and with hope that in union will be found greater
strength.”

by Jim Furlong

W
E WERE MUCH YOUNGER then and things were simpler. They
weren’t necessarily better but were at least easier to understand. It was
Christmas and we were a long ways from home. We were living, actually, in that
most wonderful of places at Christmas, which is London, England. This was the
same London where the spirit of Christmas was given life through the immortal
pen of Charles Dickens. We lived in South Kensington at the time, which is just
a quick subway ride away from the same Camden Town where Dickens’ Bob Cratchit
lived. It was all very English and Christmasy and special. It was quite
different from Canada’s Christmas, although a lot of our traditions are English
in origin. The shops were all decorated for the season just like here, and the
“Christmas illuminations, ” as they were called, were a matter of great pride
among the big department stores like Marks and Spencer, Harrods, or Heal’s down
on Tottenham Court Road. Santa was different too. He wasn’t called Santa but
rather Father Christmas, and even his clothes differed from those of the Santa
of North America. Father Christmas wore a robe with a hood and the robe went all
the way to the floor. The Santa we know in North America started that way but
changed. The modern fat Santa is really descended from a Coca Cola ad in
the 1920s, but he is still a nice guy.

We didn’t have much money but enough for a present each. We were
poor as church mice but were working and were able to afford a cold water
bed-sitting room that cost all of six pounds a week. It was a lot of money when
you consider that a weekly wage was about twelve and a half pounds. At that time
that would have been about twenty-five or thirty dollars. Our bed-sitter was on
the sixth floor of a six-storey building and the bathroom was on the fifth and
was shared by two floors of people. The “people” were mostly students, drifters,
pensioners, and the odd hooker. I know because one of them ran a flourishing
trade from a room on the same floor as the bathroom. I thought she was just
popular until my landlady told me about the traffic up and down the stairs. The
landlady didn’t care as long as the woman had the six pounds every week.

Being poor didn’t mean we weren’t happy at Christmas, and that is the whole
point of this piece, really. Christmas is a time of plenty in our world, but it
is all a matter of perspective. On Christmas Day we took the tube (District
Line) down to Victoria Station and then walked in the frosty morning up to
Buckingham Palace. We could see our breath in the cold Christmas air. We
wondered if the Queen and Prince Philip and Prince Charles and Princess Anne
were up opening presents. On we went to St. James’s Park and then through to
Trafalgar Square. Between there and our last stop at Piccadilly there was a
coffee shop open, so we stopped and had tea and toast. The shop was open
apparently because it was near a hospital and catered not only to visitors but
to staff as well. London was ours. It was Christmas morning and there were very
few people around, but everyone we met, man, woman, or child, wished us a Merry
Christmas. At Piccadilly we sat for a while and then got the tube back home to
South Ken.

Now, in those days fresh meat was a real treat in London’s working world. Some
things were remarkably cheap, like mushrooms or Danish bacon. Something to do
with the Common market, I think. Some other things were expensive, and fresh
meat was one of them. It wasn’t part of our daily diet. This, however, was
Christmas and a time to celebrate. In our one-room flat there was no stove, just
a hot plate. It operated by way of a meter where when you inserted coins into a
slot it gave you a measured amount of electricity. The meter had to be fed for
the lights and for the hot plate to work. Now, I don’t have to tell you that you
can’t cook a turkey or a roast on a hot plate. That didn’t matter. We had a
pound
and a half of big fresh and large beef sausages
instead. We had creamed potatoes with lots of butter and we even had a Christmas
pudding. The pudding was in a tin, which we heated on the hot plate and then
left in a bowl of hot water while the sausages were cooking.

What a feast! It was wonderful. Was it any less than the Christmas dinner I’ll
have this year? Like most people we’ll have turkey and dressing and gravy and
cranberry sauce. We’ll have a hot steamed pudding with custard. Will that be any
greater a celebration of the Christmas season than sausages, cream potatoes, and
tinned Christmas pudding in a cold water London flat? I don’t think so, because
it is Christmas and it is very special. Celebration and the concept of “plenty”
at Christmas are very much a matter of perspective. Enjoy this happy and holy
season.