To Scotchmen in the Colonies...

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Printing in Victorian Canada was often a very time consuming process. Just one paragraph from the paper shown here would take about 90 minutes to set up - letter by letter, space by space on a setting stick. The entire sheet adds up to almost 21 hours of work, done by the Printer, or divided amongst any apprentices. Add to that the effort of printing each sheet individually (a speedy professional could press 40-50 sheets an hour), and the drying time for the ink as well as the time needed to bring all the printed sheets together into what we would recognize as a "newspaper", and, well... let's just say you've got a lot of work cut out for you.

All of that work would of course be completed after the author had written their piece, and had paid the Printer for the space in their publication. As the many supplies required for a printing press (including paper) began to be manufactured in Canada in the 1830s, prices dropped, and the entire process became more accessible. More printers, a greater number of publications, and increased readership led to staggering amounts of personal opinions becoming public. During times of political and cultural tension these opinions tended towards the lengthy, but were anything but prosaic. Grandiose Victorian language simply meant more work for the apprentice, and more money for the Printer.

Sources
Toronto Reference Library 2015, "To Scotchmen in the Colonies and at Home"
The Canadian Encyclopedia 2013, "Print Industry"
YouTube, "BCPrinter" A brief video showing a visit to the Print Shop at Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto.

Waste Not, Want Not (When Mackenzie Came to Town)

No matter where you're from, being able to make a connection to a (in)famous individual through a specific location can be a source of pride. While I'm not personally for violent rebellion, I was nonetheless a bit starstruck that William Lyon Mackenzie had once visited the fair little village of Galt. His effigy was there too... and as it turns out, neither of them fared too well.

William Lyon Mackenzie

It was 1833 and William Lyon Mackenzie was touring the province; speaking to small crowds of men from all walks of life, attempting to drum up support for political reform. He was a well known critic of the ruling Family Compact and its individual members, and indeed had been expelled numerous times from the Upper Canada Assembly (only to be re-elected back in each time). What he wanted were investigations into past alleged abuses of power on behalf of the government, and better representation for the people of the growing settlements in the province.

While support for Mackenzie continued to exist throughout Upper Canada, it began to wane as his ideas became viewed as too radical, or disloyal to the Crown. Thus, when he decided to speak at the little (and only) tavern in Galt in 1833 there were both fellow reformers and adversarial Tories in attendance. From neighbouring townships there amassed a crowd estimated to be a few hundred strong, but as we all know, it only takes one to ruin a party.

As supporters were eagerly listening to Mackenzie in the afternoon sun, there could be seen an unusual pair of shapes coming toward them from Main Street. Those shapes were in fact, "a person with a blackened face and fantastic dress... carrying a hideous-looking effigy" (Young). Supposedly to continue the theme, the effigy (meant to be Mackenzie) was also fully dressed for the occasion with the addition of a parcel of gunpowder hidden within. A group of Mackenzie and reform detractors were looking to make it quite clear that such men and policies were not welcome in their village.

Men's Leather Shoe, 1799
Bata Shoe Museum Collection

The gun powder lit and the effigy exploded into flames in front of its horrified audience. Mackenzie meanwhile continued his speech completely unfazed - shouting his words with a smile on his face from the tavern window to the crowd below. Among his supporters, and a member of that crowd, was a young farmer by the name of Marshall. By his attendance at Mackenzie's speech that day Marshall demonstrated his desire for political change. Equally, by his exceedingly hasty exit from that speech along with the very boots that adorned the inflamed effigy, he demonstrated his desire for decent footwear.

Why let good things go to waste?

Sources
James Young's 1880, Reminisces of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries in the Province of Ontario.
James Young's 1912, Public Men and Public Life in Canada: The Story of the Canadian Confederacy
Historica Canada, 2013, "Rebellion in Upper Canada"
Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 1976, "William Lyon Mackenzie"

Further Reading
Bata Shoe Museum, 2014