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Page6B THE HERALD Wednesday June 5 Arts and Ideas World War I letters a virtual treasuretrove By JOHN A Georgetown lady Mrs Dorothy Marshall gave me earlier this year a huge collec of letters to read Letters her father Jack Ballantine had writ ten to her mother when he was with the Canadian forces in England during World War I There are about 500 letters in the collection written over a period of two years Some of the letters are very long a letter of six or even 10 pages is no ranty and no letter is shorter than two From these letters the portrait of a young man appears that has come to haunt me Jack Ballan tine joined the army 1916 a reckless moment He was a shoemaker by trade and the my took him and his business and transferred him to Milton from there to Camp Borden and even to Hamilton He was given the rank of Sergeant and his task was to keep the boots of the soldiers in good repair On April 11 1917 he left Canada together with his unit on board the Carpathia bound for England In England he was sta tioned at Camp near Witley in Surrey for most of the next two years In 1918 he hoped to be sent to France but that never happened The war ended in November 1918 and Jack returned to Georgetown in April These are the bare facts that brought the letters into existence But underneath these facts a per subtext runs through them that made me want to find out ore about the man who wrote them I had the strong feeling that his enlisting was an act of rebellion against his family and hometown and the role he was forced to play in it England opened his heart to the beauty of an older and more tolerant culture Soon however he realized that without his beloved wife Annie his life had no focus The writing of letters and the receiving of letters from her became his sole obsession and a counterbalance to the slaughter nearby It is unfortunate that the letters of Mrs Marshall s mother do not exist anymore Much that is men tioned and hinted at in Jack Ballantine letters remains obscure to the outsider because of the missing voice of his wife To bnng light Into the darkness I have asked Mrs Marshall about her parents and what she told me is the stuff of which great novels are made Ideas and The Arts Wu by i John Sommer There lived years a go a stern Victorian couple in Georgetown John A and Margaret Ballantine Mr Ballan tine was a wealthy dealer in coal cement and wood He was also a builder of houses Quife a few of the stately houses in the area near the railway station originated with him His office was in the little building that is now 39 King Street Margaret Ballantine was the proud and possessive mother of seven children Jim Cathnn Florence Harriet Jack Pauline and Norman Jim her first born was the apple of her eye He was a real boy clever and ambitious and he could do no wrong as far as his parents were concerned All the Ballentme girls were very beautiful and of the three boys the most hand some was Jack But Jack was dreamy and self absorbed and not the best pupil in school Nothing could prevent Jim from doing what he wanted to do In his teens he left Georgetown for an adventurous life Even tually he became an officer in the armed forces But Jack got stuck in this little town He did not finish school and he became a shoemaker When Jack was 19 years old he fell passionately in love with 16- yearold Annie Wheeler and she with him Annie Wheeler also came from a welloff family Her family owned a store in Glen Williams Her fathei and young Timothy Eaton had been friends long before Timothy started his later so famous store in Toronto Annie Wheeler was a lovely and well brought up young woman but John and Margaret Ballan tine did not want her as a daughter in law The Wheelers of Glen Williams voted for the Liberal Party whereas the Ballantines of Georgetown voted for the Conservatives In those days that created a gulf that could not be bridged The opposition of his parents made the romantic Jack even more eager to devote himself to his beloved Annie and one day in the year Jack was 20 and Annie 17 yearsold the two went by train to Toronto and got mar The story I have started to tell you is a long one much too long for one column When you tell a story by installments you are wise to break off at a high point and that is what I am going to do now The story is to be continued next week Newman exhibition underway By BETTYANNE Herald Special One of County s elder statesmen will be honored in June with a retrospective of his work Paintings From Six Decades at the Hills Cultural Centre gallery in Georgetown A former resident of Ballinafad Hararld J Hal Newman is well known throughout the area A veteran of two wars he taught painting in several area communities He was Director of Recreation in Georgetown in the 1950s curator of the Halton County Museum Milton from to 1973 worked with the Canadian Red Cross Society an dlater the Oakville Harbor Development Authority The exhibition of 60 years of work will hang in the gallery from June to July with various dignitaries from throughout Halton County ex pected to attend the Opening Gala sponsored by the Friends of the Halton Hills Libraries The artist painted scenes throughout the Milton Georgetown area Toronto Holland Marsh and Georgian Bay Many familiar landscapes will be featured in the retrospec live and will be offered for sale with several portraits included from his private collection various drawings wood cuts and photographs from his long career and world travels Now years of age the artist presently resides with his step daughter Rosemary Campbell in Toronto A former Georgetown librarian Mrs Campbell will at tend the opening in the gallery on June 5th being held from to p Mayor Miller will of ficially open the exhibition with other local residents and friends of the artist taking part Serving in two World Wars Hal Newman attained the rank of ma He was discharged in 1944 with a war injury In he painted the portrait of Lt Col Gordon Cousens for Branch 120 of the Canadian Legion in Georgetown Members of the various branches of the Legion have been invited to attend the Opening Gala Major Newman was bom in Montreal 1899 He travelled throughout the world as an artist archeologist and historical researcher He lived in Toronto during the 1920s studying and painting with various artists Short story competition Writers of humour sharpen your wit and your pencils The Hentage Festival an the third annual Humorous Short Story Competi tion for writers of original un published short works of humour Sponsored by Sunday the short story competition is one of several literary events presented by Onllia s Leacock Hentage Festival in 1991 A grand prize of and honourable mentions will be awarded by the judging commit and a selection of stones will be published in Sunday The stones must be l words or less Wnters must be in the mail and postmarked no later than midnight the 17th of July 1991 A fee of per sub mission must also be in the envelope along with each story In 1990 in its second year the Humorous Short Story Competi tion attracted double the number of local and national even though it was only promoted on a regional basis This year with national promotion the Hentage Festival committee ex pects increased participation The winner of the competi tion and the pnze was Win R Addison of Onllia for Acquaintances and Other People The Leacock Hentage Festival is 13 days of Good Old Fashioned Fun Celebrating Leacock s Onllia This year s Festival runs from 24 to August Other Leacock Festival literary activities in elude four nights of humourous readings by acclaimed Canadian authors Children s Storytelling as part of the OldFashioned Children Festival and the Leacock Limenck Awards an in ternational limenck writing com petition Entries in the Leacock Humourous Short Story Competi tion should be sent along with a cheque or money order for per to the Leacock Hentage Festival O Box 2305 Orillia OntanoL3V6S3 OSBORNE DECOR Custom Made 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