{"id":5638,"date":"2014-07-18T01:38:08","date_gmt":"2014-07-18T05:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5638"},"modified":"2018-08-24T15:43:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T19:43:33","slug":"friday-july-17-2014-we-have-seen-thee-queen-of-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5638","title":{"rendered":"We have seen thee, queen of cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"

The orig\u00adi\u00adnal 7,300 lb Mam\u00admoth Cheese of 1866, depart\u00ading its birth\u00adplace in Inger\u00adsoll, Ontario.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m doing a lit\u00adtle research on Cana\u00addi\u00adan lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture of the 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry. This is not a field that over\u00adwhelms the researcher with an abun\u00addance of mas\u00adter\u00adpieces. Cana\u00adda, at this time, was an emp\u00adty, rugged, pio\u00adneer\u00ading place, vague\u00adly British in the soci\u00adety of its small urban elite, but for most peo\u00adple cul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adly clos\u00ader the the west\u00adern parts of the Unit\u00aded States. Mon\u00adtre\u00adal had a mod\u00adest lit\u00ader\u00adary life in French, draw\u00ading on sev\u00ader\u00adal cen\u00adturies of folk\u00adlore and even pro\u00adduc\u00ading a few operas. These works were unknown in the rest of the French-speak\u00ading world. Eng\u00adlish-speak\u00ading Mon\u00adtreal\u00aders were more inter\u00adest\u00aded in com\u00admerce than cul\u00adture. Out\u00adside of Mon\u00adtre\u00adal, the only real city, there was not much oth\u00ader than small towns, farms and wilderness. <\/span><\/p>\n

But in the Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan Age, Cana\u00addi\u00adan farm\u00aders and lum\u00adber\u00adjacks read quite a bit. Many years ago, I worked as a farm hand in rur\u00adal Ontario. I often made deals with elder\u00adly farm cou\u00adples to take in hay, or tend live\u00adstock, in exchange for the col\u00adlec\u00adtions of old books that their par\u00adents and grand\u00adpar\u00adents had hid\u00adden away in base\u00adments and barns. Most had been gath\u00ader\u00ading dust (or hay twigs) for as much as a cen\u00adtu\u00adry. In this way, I built up an impres\u00adsive col\u00adlec\u00adtion of nine\u00adteenth cen\u00adtu\u00adry books, includ\u00ading a beau\u00adti\u00adful com\u00adplete set of Wal\u00adter Scott, and I also got a good impres\u00adsion of what ordi\u00adnary Cana\u00addi\u00adans actu\u00adal\u00adly read. There were, of course, numer\u00adous books of ser\u00admons and exhor\u00adta\u00adtions to reli\u00adgious piety, and pop\u00adu\u00adlar mag\u00ada\u00adzines. Some of these, like The Strand<\/em>, and Lip\u00adpin\u00adcot\u00adt\u2019s Month\u00adly<\/em>, had very high stan\u00addards of con\u00adtent and style. Farm\u00aders were much involved in nation\u00adal pol\u00adi\u00adtics and the urgent reforms of the day. But they also read more lit\u00ader\u00adary stuff. The same books turned up over and over again. These were the Sacred Texts, the four cor\u00adner\u00adstones of Cana\u00addi\u00adan Cul\u00adture of the time: the poems of Robert Burns, the nov\u00adels of Wal\u00adter Scott and Charles Dick\u00adens, and the plays of Shake\u00adspeare. The first two tes\u00adti\u00adfy to the over\u00adwhelm\u00ading influ\u00adence of Scot\u00adtish cul\u00adture in Cana\u00adda, at the time. The Amer\u00adi\u00adcans Longfel\u00adlow, Emer\u00adson and Mark Twain were pop\u00adu\u00adlar, but they did not have the same exalt\u00aded sta\u00adtus. Among more con\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary Eng\u00adlish writ\u00aders there were Ten\u00adnyson, Brown\u00ading, and the now for\u00adgot\u00adten, but at the time immense\u00adly respect\u00aded Edwin Arnold, who wrote a book-length life of the Bud\u00addha in verse, and who was inor\u00addi\u00adnate\u00adly fond of excla\u00adma\u00adtion points. Dour Cana\u00addi\u00adan pio\u00adneers were strange\u00adly famil\u00adiar with lines such as:<\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! Blessed Lord! Oh, high deliverer!<\/span><\/em>
\nFor\u00adgive this fee\u00adble script, which doth thee wrong,<\/span><\/em>
\nMea\u00adsur\u00ading with lit\u00adtle wit thy lofty love.<\/span><\/em>
\nAh! Lover! Broth\u00ader! Guide! Lamp of the Law!<\/span><\/em>
\nI take my refuge in Thy name and Thee!<\/span><\/em>
\nI take my refuge in Thy law of good!<\/span><\/em>
\nI take my refuge in Thy order! OM<\/span>!<\/span><\/em>
\nThe dew is on the lotus! \u2014 Rise, Great Sun!<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd lift my leaf and mix me with the wave.<\/span><\/em>
\nOm mani padme hum, the sun\u00adrise comes!<\/span><\/em>
\nThe dew\u00addrop slips into the shin\u00ading sea!
\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It is hard, how\u00adev\u00ader, to imag\u00adine that the doc\u00adtrines of Sam\u00adsara, Kar\u00adma and Mad\u00adhya\u00adma-prati\u00adpad exer\u00adcised much influ\u00adence on the flinty Pres\u00adby\u00adte\u00adri\u00adans and Methodists of Ontario farm coun\u00adtry, no mat\u00adter how many excla\u00adma\u00adtion points were hurled at them. <\/span><\/p>\n

For teenagers, the adven\u00adture nov\u00adels of G. A. Hen\u00adty and R. M. Bal\u00adlan\u00adtyne (who spent his youth in Cana\u00adda, and set much of his fic\u00adtion here), were ubiquitous.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only Cana\u00addi\u00adan-born nov\u00adel\u00adist read inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly in the mid-19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry was John Richard\u00adson (Wacous\u00adta<\/em> [1832] &<\/span> The Cana\u00addi\u00adan Broth\u00aders<\/em> [1840]). In Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan era Cana\u00adda, even the hum\u00adblest cit\u00adi\u00adzens were not only expect\u00aded to read poet\u00adry, but to write it. Some even man\u00adaged to find read\u00aders out\u00adside the coun\u00adtry. Pre-emi\u00adnent among them was Pauline John\u00adson [Tekahion\u00adwake], the Mohawk poet whose cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtions of Native Cana\u00addi\u00adan cul\u00adture in verse reached an inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal audi\u00adence. It is inter\u00adest\u00ading that the two inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly known writ\u00aders in Cana\u00adda were both of Native Cana\u00addi\u00adan ori\u00adgin (Richard\u00adson was an Odawa). Richard\u00adson\u2019s work has fad\u00aded into obscu\u00adri\u00adty, but John\u00adson is still read, and her poems have con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable charm. <\/span><\/p>\n

But out\u00adside of these mod\u00adest lit\u00ader\u00adary achieve\u00adments, there was a del\u00aduge of ter\u00adri\u00adble verse, ground out by local eccentrics in small towns across the land. Of these, few can have reached the Olympian heights of hor\u00adri\u00adble\u00adness achieved by James McIn\u00adtyre of Inger\u00adsoll, Ontario. McIn\u00adtyre wrote most\u00adly about cheese, a sub\u00adject which he con\u00adtem\u00adplat\u00aded with the same enthu\u00adsi\u00adasm that Bun\u00adyan con\u00adtem\u00adplat\u00aded sal\u00adva\u00adtion and Wordsworth con\u00adtem\u00adplat\u00aded the infi\u00adnite. Cheese was the cen\u00adter of McIn\u00adtyre\u2019s epis\u00adte\u00admol\u00ado\u00adgy, escha\u00adtol\u00adogy, and meta\u00adphysics. One poem, The Oxford Ode to Cheese<\/em>, reads:<\/span><\/p>\n

The ancient poets ne\u2019er did dream<\/span><\/em>
\nThat Cana\u00adda was land of cream,<\/span><\/em>
\nThey ne\u2019er imag\u00adined it could flow<\/span><\/em>
\nIn this cold land of ice and snow,<\/span><\/em>
\nWhere every\u00adthing did sol\u00adid freeze<\/span><\/em>
\nThey ne\u2019er hoped or looked for cheese. <\/span><\/em>
\n <\/span><\/em>
\n And since they just\u00adly treat the soil,<\/span><\/em>
\nAre well reward\u00aded for their toil,<\/span><\/em>
\nThe land enriched by good\u00adly cows,<\/span><\/em>
\nYie\u2019ds plen\u00adty now to fill their mows,<\/span><\/em>
\nBoth wheat and bar\u00adley, oats and peas<\/span><\/em>
\nBut still their great\u00adest boast is cheese.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"14-07-18<\/a>

The orig\u00adi\u00adnal 7,300 lb Mam\u00admoth Cheese of 1866<\/p><\/div>\n

But his mas\u00adter\u00adpiece was undoubt\u00aded\u00adly Ode on the Mam\u00admoth Cheese Weigh\u00ading over 7,000 Pounds<\/em> (1866), which I must quote in its entirety:<\/span><\/p>\n

We have seen thee, queen of cheese,<\/span><\/em>
\nLying qui\u00adet\u00adly at your ease,<\/span><\/em>
\nGen\u00adtly fanned by evening breeze,<\/span><\/em>
\nThy fair form no flies dare seize.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

All gai\u00adly dressed soon you\u2019ll go<\/span><\/em>
\nTo the great Provin\u00adcial Show,<\/span><\/em>
\nTo be admired by many a beau<\/span><\/em>
\nIn the city of Toronto.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Cows numer\u00adous as a swarm of bees,<\/span><\/em>
\nOr as the leaves upon the trees,<\/span><\/em>
\nIt did require to make thee please,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd stand unri\u00advalled, queen of cheese.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

May you not receive a scar as<\/span><\/em>
\nWe have heard that Mr. Harris<\/span><\/em>
\nIntends to send you off as far as<\/span><\/em>
\nThe great World\u2019s show at Paris.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Of the youth beware of these,<\/span><\/em>
\nFor some of them might rude\u00adly squeeze<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd bite your cheek, then songs or glees<\/span><\/em>
\nWe could not sing, oh! queen of cheese.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019rt thou sus\u00adpend\u00aded from balloon,<\/span><\/em>
\nYou\u2019d cast a shade even at noon,<\/span><\/em>
\nFolks would think it was the moon<\/span><\/em>
\nAbout to fall and crush them soon.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

What can one say? McIn\u00adtyre was appar\u00adent\u00adly a very nice man, beloved in his com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty, and sin\u00adcere in his ded\u00adi\u00adca\u00adtion to the muse. In poem after poem, he cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00aded the delights of tur\u00adophil\u00adia, and pride in the agri\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal achieve\u00adments of Ontario. If you have ever sam\u00adpled some of the bet\u00adter coun\u00adtry cheeses of this province, such as Har\u00adrow\u00adsmith or Balder\u00adson\u00ad\u2019s, you might be tempt\u00aded to place them on the same plane as sal\u00adva\u00adtion or the infi\u00adnite. In fact, I would dare to place them on a high\u00ader plane. I don\u2019t real\u00adly have a han\u00addle on the infi\u00adnite, and I don\u2019t believe in sal\u00adva\u00adtion beyond the grave, but I can appre\u00adci\u00adate a good cheese.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"14-07-18<\/a>

A repli\u00adca of the Mam\u00admoth Cheese made by The Inger\u00adsoll Cheese Co., for Ingersoll\u2019s Cen\u00adten\u00adni\u00adal cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion in 1952.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The orig\u00adi\u00adnal 7,300 lb Mam\u00admoth Cheese of 1866, depart\u00ading its birth\u00adplace in Inger\u00adsoll, Ontario. I\u2019m doing a lit\u00adtle research on Cana\u00addi\u00adan lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture of the 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry. This is not a field that over\u00adwhelms the researcher with an abun\u00addance of mas\u00adter\u00adpieces. Cana\u00adda, at \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,942],"tags":[1426,1416,1423,1422,1417,1425,1424,1420,1415,1421,1419,1418],"class_list":["post-5638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bm-reading-2014-2","tag-cheese","tag-edwin-arnold","tag-ingersoll-ontario","tag-james-mcintyre","tag-john-richardson","tag-ngersoll-cheese-co","tag-ode-on-the-mammoth-cheese","tag-pauline-johnson","tag-queen-of-cheese","tag-tekahionwake","tag-the-canadian-brothers","tag-wacousta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5638"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9848,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5638\/revisions\/9848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}