Patrick Lacroix

Best book opening I've seen in quite a while.

Image shows sepia tone profile illustrations of four historical figures side by side on a solid red background, followed by the head of a buffalo. From left to right the portraits resemble Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, then a buffalo. Below in white text the caption reads A millionaire trophy hunter has been killed by a buffalo he was hunting in South Africa

Comrade buffalo 🐃

Interesting! The W-A Treaty (the 1842 one) was similarly a colonial endeavor w/ little consideration of the people on the ground. But, then again, so was the granting of lands to Acadians by New Brunswick in the 1780s and 1790s despite the historic Indigenous presence in the region.

A Complete 180? Webster-Ashburton in Hindsight The Webster-Ashburton Treaty cemented a new chapter in Anglo-American relations and secured peace along North America's longest border.

On the other hand, it split the French-heritage communities of the St. John Valley in two. 4/4

From 2022:

querythepast.com/webster-ashb...

Webster and Ashburton settled outstanding concerns and disputes with an agreement signed on August 9, 1842. Ratified as the Treaty of Washington, the agreement created a lasting peace and the precedents for dialogue across the border. 3/4

avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century...

Meanwhile, a cycle of retaliation between officials and armed posses had developed at the border between Maine and New Brunswick. At issue were logging rights and the vague definition of the boundary in prior treaties. 2/4

A big anniversary: August 9 is Webster-Ashburton Day.

In Canada, the Rebellions of 1837 were followed by cross-border raids that threatened to embroil the United States and Great Britain in a full-scale war, roughly the third in as many generations. 1/4

Vermont’s Ladies of St. Anne (1919-1940) The Ladies of St. Anne played a key role in maintaining Franco-American culture and channeling the community engagement of Catholic women.

New on QTP: The activities of St. Anne societies in the interwar period

"Within the Ladies of St. Anne, Franco-Americans socialized with women of other ethnic backgrounds, a chink in the dam of cultural isolation that would crumble in the decades to follow."

querythepast.com/ladies-of-st...

This recurrent infestation forced French-Canadian farmers to adapt and turn to other crops. Unfortunately, calorie-rich potatoes, one potential alternative, suffered from dry rot in parts of the colony in the early 1840s. (5/5)

The 1830s were particularly difficult for agriculture in Lower Canada, though other areas of North America also suffered from droughts and pests. Wheat fared relatively well in 1836, but in most years it was decimated by the wheat midge, which ate the stalk before it could mature. (4/5)

"It behoves the poorer classes to exert all their industry and practise the greatest economy and foresight, to provide the necessaries of life for the ensuing winter." The author, likely William Evans, would state in November, "Every kind of food is dear and money scarce." (3/5)

"The oats and peas are stinted, and will be unproductive, excepting on low lands. Barley is also short and of doubtful appearance . . . never in the memory of the oldest inhabitants have the prospects of the harvest been so unfavorable in this vicinity. (2/5)

The Vindicator, Montreal, Aug. 5, 1836:

"During the sixteen years that we have furnished Agricultural Reports for the Que. Gazette, we never sat down to the task with such unfavorable forebodings as at present . . . The late sown potatoes did not come up, or only here and there a stalk . . . (1/5)

There’s never money for health care but always money for more camps

The fight for justice and equity—with pen and sword—is never ended so long as vice and folly, greed and ignorance, pride and prejudice, influence or possess human minds and hearts.

— Fr. Edward Surtz

One of the best ministers of Transportation we ever had.

🤣🤣

Now I'm imagining Prime Minister Mackenzie visiting as a courtesy and Barry insisting on putting on a lengthy fiddle show for him, to Mackenzie's supreme annoyance.

Vermont’s Ladies of St. Anne (1919-1940) The Ladies of St. Anne played a key role in maintaining Franco-American culture and channeling the community engagement of Catholic women.

New on QTP: The activities of St. Anne societies in the interwar period

"Within the Ladies of St. Anne, Franco-Americans socialized with women of other ethnic backgrounds, a chink in the dam of cultural isolation that would crumble in the decades to follow."

querythepast.com/ladies-of-st...

Two people hold a large white poster board divided into three parts. Top left is a painted portrait of King George III, accompanied by handwritten text that reads we fought a KING in 1775. To its right is a historical photograph of Adolf Hitler with text reading we fought a DICTATOR in 1945. Below these images is a side-view photograph of former President Donald Trump next to text stating we will fight WHATEVER THE FUCK THIS IS 2025.

Fan Submitted

The president is the Britney-dancing-with-knives of U.S. politics.

🤣🤣

Today's been a total 5.

One of my all-time faves (this article possibly tied with the one about Greeks and the instant regret of inventing theatre).

Fascinating analysis! Thank you for sharing this!

Ooo, neat! It's a quirky place. If you're up there again, it's worth stopping in Lyndonville. Their depot has become a little market and cafe, with a museum and gift shop on the second floor, and there is a used book store across the street.

I'm just glad Quebec publishers have finally gotten around to putting the table of contents at the front of the book.

Fascism: "It's not political at all..."

That last line. It hits.

As does the rest of Hugh MacLennan's "The Watch That Ends the Night." Fortuitously a timely read.

One hundred years ago: For the murder of Tennessee high school teacher John Scopes, a rhesus macaque named Banjo becomes the first monkey in U.S. history to be sentenced to life in prison.

A second charge would later be added for possession and sale of a controlled substance.

One hundred years ago: For the murder of Tennessee high school teacher John Scopes, a rhesus macaque named Banjo becomes the first monkey in U.S. history to be sentenced to life in prison.

A second charge would later be added for possession and sale of a controlled substance.