HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-00309and Snn- .'1`l
Y, SEPT. 19, -_
STO R RY_ STORIES''
4 By Second Storry
1lYAN BEHIND THE SCENES
Last Saturday hundreds of people came to our village
Vto see ".History in Action" — the theme of a demonstration
of old machinery, of early arts and crafts, and exhibits of
pioneer days.
A tall, quiet man stood on the museum grounds where
the demonstration was held, unnoticed by the crowds . Who
,` milled around the old steam engines, the gas engines, the
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r . ` threshing machine, the sturdy team of horses, the drag
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;aw, the hewer of logs, the old, cumbersome, incongruous
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tractors, the buggies, the .cutters. He listened with hap-
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piness to the toots and whistles, the hisses;'rumblings,
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groans, screeches of engines. He paused to see how:the.but
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ter making was coming, and had a word `with the bonnetted
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.`. i women who, turned the thick white cream into :butter, He'
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walkedthrough the buildings to see how the quilting bees
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were progressing, and to watch the men and women and.),.
children studying objects in cases, on the walls; and all
over the place, that took them back into the pioneer past
of early Ontario. He glanced at the weaving, the rug making,:; .
the old rope bed; at the baby who perpetually slept in the:
cradle of the past.
r
This was Robert Miller's dream fulfilled. `
It was in 1959 that the village school celebrated its
100th birthday. Robert Miller was on the committee to`.
plan the celebration, and it was his will and determination
lr.� 4s
'that -filled the old school, which was vacated that year for.
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a bigger school, with relics of the past. The success of the
occasion led him to work towards the establishment of a
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museum on the ground:- He worked, figured, instituted
Arai, y
meetings, telephoned, wheedled, walked, drove, rummaged'
through barns and attics, put his hand down deep in his
:pockets. He negotiated, dickered and horse traded.
He became someone who was just seen by his wife,-
Fern, and five children, at meal times — and not always
'"
then — at the substantial brick house of his ancestors. ;
FEW WORDS, MUCH ACTION
He didn't work alone, of course. He had the Historical
1 Society behind him;' the Township Council, arid, a lot of
people who said "No" but invariably changed it to "Yes", .
A slow talker, a man of few worsts, he is.
I He would come to see you, and 'after an unbearably
long pause, would utter a brief sentence or two, .usually
asking you to do something — something that was within
your scope or talent. Even when you told him you didn't:
have time, were absolutely too busy, you knew you would
do it when you saw his tall, lonely, yet undisturbed form
striding out of the driveway. You might even forget, but,
soon he was back to remind you. And back again _ and:
again. E
He always remembers to say "Thank You and insists
that everyone who helps, even in the littlest things,,are paid ,
'suitable tribute.
Endurance, patience, tenacity, determination, strength„
and sheer stubborness are his qualities. Patience to wait,! "
strength "to heaveand lift and load and push. Endurance
to engineer a seemingly impossible feat' of bringing to the`,
site a century old log barn, which looked so settled, solid
i and substantial in -its settlement in the -forest at least- 150
miles away, that it seemed to have deep roots in the soil.
It came down in three tractor trailer trips. Much sweat was
spilled — and blood, too — many words were used and
eloquent, long hours volunteered, in its transition and re -
erection,
EVEN THE CAT.
I heard someone say the other day, "Bob Miller is stir
the best •pitcher around here."
Bob, who is only slightly on this side of the half cen�
fury mark, pitches in the softball games. With the same'
tenacity: of the spirit .that built the Museum, he was the'
force . behind -the establishment of the :.comlmunil y : _parli :
with lights, and amid many obstacles and setbacks, brought;
this project to fulfillment — a project which is conspicuous'
in such a small village as ours.
He works six ways a week -in his "Mendit Shop". j
welding and "repairing, .cleaning grain, and in between, dick'
ering pleading for more 'artifacts for the Museum.
He is a mixture of strength and gentleness,.
You can .see him every morning striding 'along the , t
•stfeetitowards'the shop, with his little dish of.?food for