By ERNIE NEUFELD
It is a happy coincidence, from my point of view, that Maclean's
Magazine this year celebrated its 100th anniversary, even as our
province (and Alberta) observed their Centennial of full partnership
in Confederation.
I identify somewhat with these beginnings. I admit to calcifying
the lily just a bit (to coin a phrase), but I feel so at home
with the earliest decades nostalgically recalled by both, that
I find my exaggeration minimal. After all, I am closer to 100
than I am to 20, 30, 40 or even a few later figures.
Possibly because Small Town Canada at the turn of the century
and for some decades thereafter represented the real Canada, an
introductory chapter relates heavily to conditions normal at the
outset of that century - such as aforesaid small town.
One paragraph in particular grabbed my attention and exacted
my subsequent approval. An early editor of the magazine, Ralph
Allen, who hailed from Oxbow and was credited with being one of
the magazine's "most luminous writers", was quoted as
describing Prairie towns "as much idealized by those who
have never lived there, much moved-away from by those who have,
and much mourned by people of both kinds."
Amen! It would be difficult to write a more succinct epitaph,
and more complimentary than it appears at first blush.
I am among those who could not wait to flee the horrors of my
little home village, in large part because I believed that life
in the city automatically would entitle me to all the vaunted
city amenities - real or imagined. Having learned otherwise, I
now appreciate attributes most small communities have in common.
Naturally, Maclean's Centennial opening reflections are based
on the 10 constituent decades, each featuring archival articles
deemed to be most representative of periods bracketed.
Flight - except for birds - was quite new at the time, and a
magazine contributor wrote in 1911 about what it "really
feels like to be 'up in the air'". His was a two-minute flight
"of about as many miles and as many hundred feet from the
earth." It was delayed five minutes while "a loose nut
was tightened on the front running wheel."
Even two decades later, the only planes we ever saw in our town
were home-crafted machines constructed by local geniuses following
instructions contained in mail-order plans. I can still hear the
"Contact!" calls between pilot and henchman as they
prepared to start the engine by a quick turn of the propeller.
My first flight was about 1947. I was persuaded by an RCAF veteran
to take a 15-minute flight for a king's ransom over the city of
Toronto. I don't remember being either frightened or thrilled.
Too busy thinking of the cost, I guess.
My first commercial flight out of Winnipeg came just over a decade
later. I had never been close to a DC-8 before, and I could not
believe that the immense but sleek contraption really could lift
itself off the ground.
The next portion of the Maclean's reflections quite suitably
centred on the thrust toward emancipation of women, and equally
suitably written in 1916 by a movement leader: none other than
Nellie McClung. I won't go beyond noting it was an interesting
presentation, containing many arguments nowadays accepted by most
people in this country as self-evident truths. Not all, of course.
Unthinkably otherwise, the 1925-35 decade dealt with the low
road on which our country (and others) found themselves as they
were caught in the Great Depression that ought never to have happened.
Even the parents of most of today's readers can bring to mind
little about that blighted period.
The next 10 years inevitably were influenced by World War Two
and preceding years. The decade was represented by the description
by journalist L.S.B. Shapiro of his observations when he accompanied
Canadian forces invading Normandy in the bloody and necessary
prelude to the ending of that terrible war.
The next six decades are highlighted by the Richard hockey riot
in Montreal (really!), Canadian kids being "hoaxed"
about sex, Quebec's attempt to "exit" Canada, Charles
de Gaulle's shout of "Vive le Quebec libre", the new
Canadian constitution, and "Canada Strong and Free"
as today.
Want more? Perhaps Maclean's still has a few copies of this very
special issue left. If you value Canada and its past as therein
portrayed, you will enjoy it.
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