Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20sHam, George H. (George Henry)
History
Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20s
Ham, George H. (George Henry)
Canada; Ham, George H. (George Henry), 1847-1926; Journalists -- Canada -- Biography
There was no better liked man in the House than the last of the “Jims” I
have mentioned—Jim Sutherland, of Woodstock, Ontario, the chief Liberal
whip and afterwards Minister of Public Works in the Laurier
administration. He was a Grit, first, last and all the time. But he had
lots of friends among the Tories, and I was one of them. To show his
kindness to me, he one day led me into his private office and told me he
wanted to enrich my library with one of the greatest volumes that had
ever been printed. Thereupon he ostentatiously presented me with that
beautiful little red covered book which contained the Liberal platform
of 1893, with a full and presumably accurate account of the proceedings
of the Liberal convention of that year. Gratitude was fully expressed by
me, and I treasured the valued volume. Later on, Ned Clarke, the member
for West Toronto, and ex-Mayor of the city, came to me and begged me to
give it to him. Imagining I could replace it I gave it to him. Several
months afterwards I met Jim and told him Ned Clarke had swiped my
precious present and asked for another copy. By this time, as many will
remember, the platform had been pretty well shot to pieces. Jim
expressed his deep regret at my loss of the pamphlet, and told me that
the party had a family gathering a few nights previously and had
celebrated the event with a bonfire for which the red covered books
furnished the fuel. It is impossible to beg, borrow or steal a copy of
his famous work that the unregenerate Tories declared rare fiction, and
that is why my library is not complete today. When the Liberal Committee
met in Ottawa in 1919 to make arrangements for their convention the only
copy available was one borrowed from a former Conservative newspaperman.
A Soured Senator
While in the House members on both sides were, as a rule, kindly
disposed toward their opponents, the same conditions were not general in
the Senate.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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