“N” is for “Newspaper”
By Phyllis Knox
This blog is part of a very special series created and written by Phyllis Knox, “Alphabetic Musings”, whereby she chooses a word starting with a particular letter from the alphabet and injects it with her storytelling magic.
Note: The Saint-Maurice Valley Chronicle was the only English-language paper published in the Mauricie from 1918 until its last edition in 1970. It included everything from local business news, to society news, to the victories and disappointments of sports teams in the valley, including rowing, curling, tennis, and its beloved baseball teams, among others. Many old editions can be found on “Google News” and are a great source of detailed information and colourful anecdotes about the community’s history and heritage.
As I look back now (in my imagination) to the 1950’s and 60’s, I realize that my childhood years were ‘chronicled’ within the pages of our much-loved and much-needed newspaper, the St-Maurice Valley Chronicle. All events, whether sports-related, school, church, municipal plans, governmental decisions or social ‘happenings’, were written about in our six or seven page weekly newspaper. It connected us all. Everybody I knew waited anxiously for their personal copy (2$-a-year per subscription) of this rendition of... Life within our Valley, as I call it. Whether the publishers, for example, simply mentioned – or better still, included – a picture of our Brownie Troop, our class graduation or our basketball team, we were so excited. Clubs of all kinds, such as the PTA (Parents Teachers Association) or the CWL (Catholic Women’s Association), were written about in a manner which elevated our daily lives and seemed to connect people from miles around. We all knew that the St. Jean de Batiste parade would be marching through our streets in June and that the Circus would be taking place in the Fall. We watched from different locations along the St. Maurice as the Canoe Race arrived at its destination after paddling down the St. Maurice from La Tuque. Golf tournaments were written up in detail; swimming and curling clubs were not forgotten. All of us had all the information we needed in order to get out and enjoy these many, many activities. Which united us throughout those many years. The newspaper’s publishers respectfully made space on its pages for so many details of public and community life, much of what might be considered quite mundane in today’s world. Sadly, the Chronicle went out of print decades ago, but it is not forgotten!
I’d like to go back some one hundred years to May of 1923! (You can find the link here.) The look of the pages is different, the drawings show a simpler style, and the captions appear to be less, say, “professional” or “sophisticated”. What really stands out to me is the details included in an advertisement. An ad for a sale includes: the name of the store, the address and telephone number (3 digits only), and all the details about the prices and the objects which can be bought inexpensively – this is all part of the ads. The Imperial Theatre on des Forges Street put an ad in the May 22, 1923 newspaper. The ad shows that a movie was offered on Friday and Saturday, it was called “Nobody’s Money”, described as A rollicking comedy of book agents and bootleggers, bribes and brides. In those days, there was an intermission and a second movie was shown on the screen. In this particular case, it was the Fourth Episode of the “Timber Queen” and as if that weren’t enough, the theatre also presented: Paul Parrot in “Shoot Straight”. A different movie was advertised for Monday and Tuesday of that same week.
The newspaper was really the only way that the public could find out about upcoming and current events. In today’s world of 24/7 news, cable television, cell phones and computer devices, nobody is listening to nor watching the same news outlets. One could say that we get to choose our favourite news and that that is a good thing, right? We are instantaneously aware of what is happening - everywhere - at every moment - every day. Contrary to a hundred years ago, we need not wait a full week to find out about events that have happened across our planet. In all honesty, we now have the whole world at our fingertips. We click our way through hundreds of channels to watch and find out about the most minute details of politics, the latest events in wars between countries, or the very questionable actions or comments of our politicians, both here and abroad. You can zero in on anything!
The St. Maurice Valley Chronicle kept us aware of our Valley, but did it let us in on all the good and the bad ‘stuff’ anywhere outside of our comfort zone? No, I think not; not very much. I, for one, prefer not to be cushioned but to know what’s happening out there. However, we do pay a price when we read about and/or listen to the news, because it is more often than not sad and frightening. Despite the lack of a broad scope in local papers back in the 1920’s, people would have been completely unaware of the threats from diseases that ran rampant in that period, were it not for the regional newspapers. Measles, smallpox or scarlet fever could kill back in the day, and there were others harmful diseases – diptheria, whooping cough, polio, or tuberculosis. (A hundred years later from that edition of 1923, we would get information about another devastating epidemic – COVID-19 – in a different way, but media was still the key to sharing life-saving information – and also in modern times, misinformation too, but that’s another story.) Thankfully, our dispatch newspapers spread the “word” since the diseases would have spread even more quickly otherwise. I invite you to take a look at some old issues of the St. Maurice Valley Chronicle – you can pick any year or month, to see a slice of life in all its colour back in the day.
P.S. As I sit at my desk, I can’t help but think of all the people who must come together in order to gather the information we have come to rely on. They are certainly a very important part of the chain of information out there. Hopefully, truth, honesty, and integrity are at the top of the list of the qualities needed to communicate the bulletins that are passed on from them to us, the members of the public who count on being well informed.
-Phyllis
