...Island,
Among Dad's friends in Garden City was one Charles P. Turner, who was chosen to be one of my godfathers. (I know not who the other was, but Aunt Violet was my Godmother.) For a number of years C. P. Turner kindly sent me a book for Christmas: the books were invariable several years too old for me, but no doubt were appreciated later. When I spent a couple of weeks in New York, on my own, in 1931 (see Chapter gif), I paid a courtesy call on Mr. & Mrs. Turner, and dined with them in their Garden City house. I have never forgotten C. P.'s remark to his wife when we were served stewed peaches for desert: ``If you remembah, Annie, we had stewed peaches for suppah last night!''
...Montreal,
The merger was in 1922. I can remember family conversations with Dad bitterly decrying the perfidy and mismanagement of D. C. Macarow, thw Merchants' general manager, whose policies, evidently long protested by Dad, apparently led to the failure and takeover by the Bank of Montreal.
...old.
from ``Who's Who in Canada''?
THOMAS EDWARD MERRETT
  • Supt. of Branches and Chief Inspector, Merchants Bank of Canada, Montreal.
  • Born: Isle au Noix, P.Q., Barracks of R.C. Rifles, Feb. 2, 1866, son of Capt. Thomas Merrett, formerly of 3rd East Kent of Buffs Regt., Berkeley, Gloucester, England, and Annie Eliza (Ward) Merrett, of Preston, Lancs., England.
  • Educated: Private Schools, Kingston, Ont.
  • Started as Junior Clerk, Merchants Bank, Kingston, Dec., 1880; Accountant, Napanee, 1889; Manager same branck, 1893; Manager Mitchell, 1895; Agent, New York, 1896; Superintendent of Branches and Chief Inspector at Head Office, Montreal, 1906.
  • Served with 3rd Co., 14th Princess of Wales Own Rifles as Private and Lance-Sergeant, 1882--5; did Garrison duty at Fort Henry, Kingston, during Riel Rebellion, 1885.
  • Married Katherine Stuart Campbell, daughter of the late Lieut.-Col. J. T. Campbell, R.C. Rifles, and late of Royal Scots Fusiliers; has two sons and two daughters.
  • Clubs: Mount Royal; Forest and Stream; Montreal; Montreal Curling; Royal Montreal Golf; St. Maurice Fish and Game; Arts; Winter Club.
  • Recreations: Golf (formerly cricket, hockey, yachting, etc.).
  • Residence: 62 Ontario Ave., Montreal.
...old.
Re: The Merchant's Bank of Canada merger with (or ``absorption by'') the Bank of Montreal, for further information see Merrill Denison's history of the B. of M. ``Canada's First Bank'', Volume 2, pages 345--346.

(These books and other less important records of the B. of M. were turned over to either the Bank, the McCord Museum, or perhaps to the McGill ``Book Sale'', when Hazel and I left our Snneville House in November 1991.
16.01.92 JCM)

All the names mentioned in that record, particularly that of D. C. Macarow, the Merchants' general manager, were heard often in our hous during the days when Dad frequently spoke of his worries and of his warnings to top management which were obviously ignored. It was H. B. MacKenzie who supported Dad through the trouble, of which I, aged 12, understood little.

Circular No. 3710. The Merchants Bank of Canada

To the Manager Montreal, December 22nd, 1921
Sir, Staff:

The staff of the Bank will not unnaturally be gald of a reassuring word at this juncture and it is a pleasure to be authorized to send out a message of encouragement.

The absorption of the old M. C, of C. is an epoch-making event which the staff generally, particularly the old tried and loyal members, will hardly view without some measure of regret. We may, however, feel assured that considerate treatment will be extended and we may say that Sir Frederick Williams-Taylor, General Manager of the Bank of Montreal, has so expressed himself.

The aim of everyone, it goes without saying, should and we are confident will be to hand over to the Bank of Montreal all desirable business intact at the conclusion of the arrangement, carrying on meanwhile with the minimum of disturbance.

With all seasonal good wishes, I am,
Yours faitfully,
T. E. MERRETT
Superintendent of Branches
...old.
JCM recounts two sayings of his father, both from the dinner table, which impressed me as a child. One of the soup bowls had a defect in the glaze on the bottom, and he would irritate my grandmother by clicking his spoon over it and saying that he had the bowl with the scab on it again. He would also, after a filling meal, say that if he had any more he would have to hang it on the outside. THM 97/9/2
...knighted
.. thus, according to the cable he sent his wife on the occasion, succeeding at last ``in making a Lady out of a Campbell''.
For those ignorant of Scottish histpry, the quip refers to the famous massacre of MacDonalds by Campbells at Glencoe.
...knitting
During WW1 there was installed at 62 Ontario Ave. a sock-knitting machine which fascinated me, on which Mother & Helen used to churn out heavy wool socks for the Red Cross to send the troops in the trenches.
...Club
The concerts were held then in the Ritz Carleton ballroom and once (aged about 12?) I was taken to one and remember having pointed out to me a Mrs. Howard and two of her daughters who lived on Mountain St. I met one of the girls some 15 years later. Still later, Hazel joined the L.M.M.C., joined by me even later when men were accepted as members.  
...offspring.
I remember Aunt Violet, when I visited her in London in the late 60's, saying, `I know who you are: you're the physicicist.'' It is said of Violet and Katie that, when their children gave them a transatlantic telephone call in honour of an advanced birthday, they had a lively conversation, and then, after a slight lapse in the exchange, Violet asked, ``Now, Dear, where did you say you were living?''. When Katie replied, ``Montreal'', Violet said, ``How lovely! You know, I have a sister in Montreal.''THM 97/9/2
...Hotel
Famile story of Stuart (aged 11?) from the hotel window mistaking the multiple piers of the Victoria Bridge caught by a certain angle of sunlight, for a sailboat race.
...alone
He with the Canadian Seniors Gold Team; she to visit her sisters, and me. And of course there was their honeymoon somewhere, and Dad's early business trips.
...spoon
Well---perhaps siver-plated? All thigs are comparative.
...Hospital
In the midle and latter years of my professional life I had occassion to spend many hours in the Royal Victoria Hospital where had ended my sojourn ``up in camp''---to use the term invented in his childhood by my imaginative elder brother for the embroyonic phase of life---but I cannot recall ever experiencing any vibrations, let alone any nostalgia, which could be attributed to having first seen in it the light of day. It came about that I recommended and designed a replacement for that East Wing which had housed the maternity ward, but the historic landmark still stands ---albeit often & drastically altered.
...26.
The Great North Western Telegraph Company of Canada
Montreal 26/8/09
Little Metis 26/8/1909
Mrs Benson, Boule Rock Hotel
Katie and son doing well tell children am writing.
Ned.
...26.
MERRETT---At Montreal, on Thursday, 26th August, 1909, the wife of T. E. Merrett, of a son.
...arrival
Were one's initials other than ``J. C.'' one might have used the term ``advent''.
...League
The annual Junior League Show was a musical comedy review (amateur) with good songs and pretty girls one or two of whom I annually fell in love with, from the stalls, aged say 10 or 12.

[Dad was amused when the same happened to me the first time he took me to see Gilbert and Sullivan, ``The Pinafore'', performed by the Montreal West Operatic Society, at about the same age.THM 97/9/7]
...,
From a history of The Junior League of Montreal for its 508#8 birthday, 1962. The Montreal League was 109#9 in order of founding, the original being in New York. There are now some 200 or more throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Leagues' object was to aid charity and cultural organizations by volunteering work and by raising money for them.

Helen & Hilda and four others were the Montreal League's Founding Members in 1912.

In Grateful Acknowledgement of
Constance Sutherland McDougall
Margaret Sutherland Skelton
Hilda Merrett Mathewson
Helen Merrett McDermot
Adrienne Hart Heward
Isobell Hart Marler
and their 43 friends who
became our first members and
made possible this story of
The Junior League of Montreal

The first two were known to us as Concie and Miggie. (The Sutherland's brother, Luther, owned the house on Wanklyn Point to our right when we first moved into 232 Senneville Road.)
...Ottawa
Stanton's move to Ottawa came when I was able to get him a job in the Construction Control (gif) following his army discharge. He later joined a broker's Ottawa office---having earlier been a partner with his brother Hugh in their own Montreal firm. He was a heavy smoker, which contributed to his death from emphysema, Ottawa 1957
...today
She died 02.03.85, aged 91 yrs. 3 mos. See gif.
...90.
Aunt Hilda was family away from home while Brian and I were at school in Ottawa in the late 1950s and early 1960s. She lived on Springfield Avenue, a short walk. She had a sequence of three paintings on her stair wall, each by a male Merrett ancestor---my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather--- and she told me that she looked to one of us to add the fourth generation. We never did. THM 970907
...action.
I forgot to record that Stuart also went overseas in W.W.2 with the Can. Forestry Corps, stationed I belive in Scotland.
...charge.)
E. S. Merrett
Funreral for Edward Stuart Merrett, well-known memebr of the Montreal Stock Exchange, will be held at 11 a.m. March 3, in Christ Church Cathedral. Mr. Merrett died suddenly at his home, 10 Richelieu Place, on Saturday. He was 63.

The elder son of the late T. E. Merrett, he was born in Napanee, Ont., and was educated at Lower Canada College, later attending McGill University.

He interrupted his studies at the outbreak of the First World War to go overseas with the Canadian Army Service Corps. He also served overseas during the Second World War with the Royal Canadian Forestry Corps.

He was a prominent figure on the Montreal Stock Exchange for many years and was a keen athelete in his youth, excelling in footbal and field sports.

Always an ardent golfer, he was, for many years, a member of the Royal Montreal Golf Club and more recently of the Mount Bruno Golf Club. At the time of his death he was a member of the St. James's Club and the Montreal Indoor Tennis Club.

In 1947 he married Mrs. Elizabeth Leighton Hingston. She predeceased him by three months.

He is survived by his mother; two sisters, Helen (Mrs. Ernest MacDermott), and Hilda, (Mrs. Stauton Mathewson); and a brother, Campbell.
...Avenue.
We ``lved'' in the 110#10 Floor living room: the drawing room downstairs was used for rare dinner parties and Mother's infrequent teas, Helen's piano playing, and Hilda's wedding. (Helen was married from The Boulevard house.)
...Penfield
``Dr. Penfield'' named for the founder of the Montreal Neurological Institute, whose family were friends of the Howard family. Blvc. Penfiled was originally called McGregor St. and ran only from Simpson to Côte des Neiges.
...Godwin's
Morgan's (founded by our friend Bartlett M's granfather) is now ``The Bay''. Goodwin's is now Eaton's. Other stores inclided Murphy's, taken over and rebuilt by Simpson's; Ogilvy's; Henderson's men's wear; Joyce's confectioners (on Phillips Square south); Gatehouse for fish. Our milk came from Elmhurst Dairy, our bread from Dent Harrison, and we drank Laurentian water delivered in huge bottles every other day or so. (See: ``Les Traineaux de Mon Enfance'')
...remembered.
Notwithstanding this trauma, Dad showed me, in turn, how to make tickers, and, forewarned by his experience, I was very careful with them. Also, we did not live on a steep hill. THM 97/9/8
...years
See gif---walking around European cities.
...1958.
Real Estate Ad, The ``Gazette'', 17.6.87
WESTMOUNT Spacious! With 6 of its 11 rooms 20 ft. long or longer, we're talking space. Combine that with a huge terrace with city views, great character, and recent major improvements and you've got value. Asking $540,000 Exclusive. Brian Dutch, 738-1744
I think Mum got 11#11$100,000 for it.
...demolished.
My last visits to Metis were when for several summers I would drive Helen and Ernest down in their car, spend a night or two at the Boule Rock, and take the train home, returning by train six weeks later to drive them back to town. This about 1970--74?
...years.
The 1612#12 year we broke away and spent a few weeks at Bon Echo in Ontario, but were back at Metis the next year, at the Cascade Hotel.
...me.
I learned, under stress, to swim some years later while on a cruise at Madeira. Having managed a feeble cross between dog-paddle and breast stroke to accompany my ship-board girl friend out to a rather distant raft, I was told that a row of buoys I had not previously noted were supposedly to support a missing protective shark net: returning to shore I seem to have achieved a spectacular fast crawl. 
...Lake
Fleet's Lake was owned (and lent us) by our Ontario Avenue neighbours, who were also Metisites.
...Hilda
Correction---I am sure Hilda played her part in the fun
...parties
One day Stanton Mathewson and I paddled out and went aboard the ``Edamena''. Unfortunately the canoe's painter came loose from the gangplank and the canoe drifted off while we were below decks. Hilda and Mother saw it from our verandah and (and this ma illustrate the bad Merrett trait of imagining the worst) Hilda concluded that we had upset, and knowing my swimming incapability, assumed that we had both drowned, Stanton in an effort to save me. One of the yacht's crew, in its dinghy, retrieved the canoe and we returned home to find Hilda still prostrated from shock, and Mother not much better off.
...settlers.
Evidently some religious disagreement caused a rift, many of the original families switched from the Kirk of Scotland to the Methodist persuasion.
...all
Correction: mostly Torontonians. The Nicols from Montreal had a house next door. Two of the three Nicol boys were about my age and we spent a lot of time together until an incident of childish misunderstanding. For some unknown reason they reported to their mother that I had said something uncomplimentary about their father---which I certainly had not! Mrs. Nicol, a proud martinet, forbade the boys ever to play with me again. They did, of course, secretly, and our respective older siblings remained good friends, but it was at least 20 years before Mrs. Nicol spoke to Mother again.
...Bay
There was no sand at Sandy Bay (Baie des Sables): for origins of names and detailed history of the Metis region see ``Metis---Wee Scotland in the Gaspé''!!
...me.
My own memories of Metis include the lighthouse and the wonderful assemblage of long crystal prisms that focussed the light of an ordinary 100-watt bulb into the sequence of three brilliant flashes that meant ``Metis''.

I also remember an evening of skits at the Cascades Hotel, including one perhaps not now politically correct which featured two ``darkies'' (black men, who, of course were whites made up with burnt cork) who were soldiers, one being challenged by the other: who dat?; who dat say who dat??; who dat say who dat say who dat?? when I say who dat??; who dat say who dat say who dat say who dat?? when I say who dat?? when I say who dat??; and so on. (It was the recursion---like the Old Dutch Cleanser can---rather than the racial aspect that appealed to me, but they are linked in my mind.)

That summer, Granny and Grandad, both aunts and their husbands, and Patsy, but not Audrey, and ``Uncle Tootie'' and Libby, were all there. Uncle Ernest told wonderful impromptu stories about The Wood Boy (I recall no more) on a long walk we took along shore cliffs and through open evergreen woods. Uncle Stanton carried me on his back into the water for a swim. And there was an abandoned old car in a field near the MacDermots' house which made a wonderful playground for the imagination.

I also rode for the first and last time in my life in a rumble seat, proving that Metis still boasted old, elegant cars in 1949.

The ``Australian splash'' into the Boule Rock swimming pool was executed, in the tradition my father describes, by a teenager who was enjoying drenching the ladies by ``cannonballs'' from the high board until a husband became annoyed enough to chase him up and along the three floors of balconies that overlooked the pool, catch him and bring him back for a dunking of his own. I remember the responsible self-control of the man, who did not push his captive into the pool in punishment, but jumped in holding him fast (and probably holding him under just a little, too).

At one meal I was the despair of the Boule Rock chef, and of my parents, by insisting on having a ``jelly omelet'', and then refusing to eat it. THM 97/9/8
...together.
Other Ontario Ave. kids seem to have gone to another similar ``pre-school'', called ``Miss Gascoigne's'' (Hazel, whom I had not yet met, went there).
...Street
For a while I used to get a ride to school every morning with Taylor, chauffeur to the Archie Griers who lived on McKay St. but kept their car overnight in the George Griers' garage across the street from us on Ontario Ave.
...father
On the other hand I doubt it
...Horne
son of Sir William, of the big house on Sherbrooke & Stanley
...Ross
my class:---18#18
...``Buffy''Glassco
later poet and roué expatriate in Paris
...MacDougall
Purvis MacDougall & Gordon Hutchison were dubbed by Mr. Holiday, jointly, as ``The Sphinx'' (neither spoke very much).
...Lyman
Father of Lucinda
...Drummond's
Huntley Drummond was George's uncle and President of the Bank of Montreal. He used to drive a sports Bugatti. The only other one I ever saw in Montreal belonged to Wilson McConnell, a few years later, and I went with him to get his car off the ship (importing from Italy) and drove with him out to his family house in Dorval. (The McConnell's owned the Montreal ``Star'', and ``Standard'', for which our firm built 2 buildings. John McC, the last publisher, was also my friend.

The McConnells lived first on Redpath Street, directly behind our Ontario Ave. house, and later in the huge Italianate mansion on Steyning Ave., below Cedar Ave. and above Pine Ave., where in Selwyn House days John would entertain me with a concert of his newest records. When, married, he lived on Redpath Crescent, he had me do several alterations to his house. One of these jobs was still not complete, as it should have been, when John and wife Peggy returned from a trip abroad. Somewhat annoyed and to avoid the painters, they escaped to a suite, on the top floor of the Ritz, which happened to be directly under a new penthouse apartment still under construction which we were building for Ritz manager Jean Contat. At 3 a.m. one rainy night I had a frantic call from Jean to say there was a leak in the roof causing a copious drip directly onto the bed of a very important guest. It was a while before I had the courage to tell John that the penhouse job was ours too. John, by the way, gsave me my big Emily Carr. [Which he gave to the National Gallery before moving from 232 Senneville Road, where it occupied a prominent place over the fireplace for many years .. THM]
...here.
much later Hazel introduced me to the greatest pioneer---Hermann ``Jack Rabbit'' Johansen, and great all-day trips with him.
...eight
Allen, Bogert, Cameron, Drummmond, Lafleur, Mackenzie, McMaster, Merrett, Robinson, Stevens? [Later notes in pencil .. THM]
...wing
i.e. the 235#35 gymnasium. I was later commissioned to design a new gym and junior school classrooms and dormitories: the project was aborted because the funding campaign fell short of the goal (and our office lost money!) A 336#36 new gym is now (1984--5) under construction
...below.
Memory must exaggerate---probably there was an offset floor below?
...splutter.
Bob Montgomery and I later christened our Singer car in England ``Traq'', because it spluttered like him.
...fighting!
E. Andrew Collard in the Montreal Gazette, Sat., Nov. 14, 1987.

In time some of the older professors, after their training, became useful in training young recruits in the COTC. Notable among them was Dr. A. S. Eve, Prof. A. S. Eve was father of my friend & classmate Dick Eve (father of Liz etc.) who succeeded Ernest Rutherford as professor of physics.

Dr. Eve made an admirable second-in-command of the COTC. The young men in training used to speak of him as ``Daddy Eve.'' He thought highly of his military role, but at times he appeared as ``the absent-minded professor.''

It happened when he set out from his home for a COTC drill on the campus. He felt proud of his full military uniform, Sam Browne belt and all. Fortunately, his wife caught a glimpse of him through a window. She was just in time to call him back. As he left, he had picked up his old felt hat from the hall peg, instead of his military cap.

Another McGill professor who served as instructor was Prof. Ramsay Traquair, of the department of architecture. He was a Scot with a singularly unmilitary figure---small, with an immense head and little legs. His appearance was not improved when he appeared on campus in his kilt.

Prof. Traquair gave instruction in bayonet combat. In his instruction he would leap into the air, clutching his bayonet-tipped rifle, his kilt flapping about his scrawny little legs. ``What you require,'' he would shout to the recruits, ``is more fer-ocity!''
...Christmas)
During that brief Christmas break I must have attended at least 4 debutante dances. My eligibility for these affairs spanned a few years at McGill. They involved tails (which I had to buy for myself because Dad refused, considering me too young---and after all he had never had any such fancy rags at my age---nor probably had Stuart, though the girls undoubtedly ``came out'' at the appropriate age---but my contemporaries all wore them.) A deb dance was usually preceeded by a dinner party for 3 or 4 couples. Having first, de rigueur, favoured their dates with a camelia corsage delivered by McKenna the Florist, the boys called for their dates in a taxi, and after the dance escorted them home. The dnaces were generally at a house (e.g. Morgan's, or Webster's) if large enough.

Sometimes at the Rits, on the strength of champagne at supper, things got a little out of hand, with a bit of bun throwing across the beautiful Adams dining room (not I!). A few of the more worldly (bad) boys were known to carry a flask for the evening, but my particular crowd were too well behaved for that. Then there were also the ``grown-up'' balls---the Charity & the St. Andrews especially---at the Mount Royal or Windor hotels, where some girls (whose fathers could not afford a private do) made their formal debuts. As another facet of this social whirl, it was also the thing to do to take a girl to the McGill Saturday football games at the Moslon Stadium, and afterward to a ''thé dansant'' at one of the hotels. ``Jack Denny and his Mount Royal Hotel Dance Orchestra'' was one of the favourite bands, along with that of Izzie Aspler, a McGill student who played a great clarinet! There were also fraternity parties. It was important not to allow these pleasures to interfere with College work, especially Christmas exams which occasionally fell on a morning after an early morning return from a ball. Of my class of 6 at McGill, Dick Eve was the only other member of the ``set''.
...1946.
OLD McGILL 1931
ARCHITECTURE
 BOUCHARD, VALMER DUDLEY Born Dec. 26th, 1905, at Sherbrooke, Que. Education pursued at Sherbrooke High School and University of Bishop's College, Lennoxville, Que., '26. Sought further punishment at McGill. Activities: Fencing Club ('28, '29), class hockey ('27, '28, '29) and scenery painting. Hobby: Trying to burn the candle at both ends. Slogan: ``Never be too critical.'' Dec'd 39#391975, Bermuda

DORAN, HAROLD (HAL) JAMES Born Oct. 27th, 1907, at Montreal, Que. Thence St. Patrick's School and Mont St. Louis. Hence to McGill in 1926. College boxing champion, 160 pounds, '27--'28. Architectural representative Sc. '30, '26--'27. Secretary Architectural Society '27--'28--'29. President '30--'31. P. J. Turner Building Construction Prize '27--'28. Junior Prom decorating '29--'30. Art Editor, McGill Annual '29, '30. Dec'd 40#401977.

EVE, RICHARD STEWART Born Dec. 14th, 1908, at Montreal. Educated at the Oxford Preparatory School, England, and at Lower Canada College. Entered Architecture with class of '30. Spent year 1927--28 in England, then joined the class of '31. Member of the Playrs Club, Fencing Club, class hockey, English rugby. Hobby: Tea t 4:30. Favourite expression: ``How about a cigarette, Bob?'' Dec'd 41#411970, London. Father of Liz Lounder, and of John, my godson.

KALMAN, MAX MYRON Born May 31st, 1906, at Montreal. Early life shrouded in mystery. Awarded Anglin Norcross prize for Architectural drawing in 1927. Chairman Macabean dance committee, 1929 and 1930. Junior Prom Committee, 1929. Secretary, Architectural Society 1929--30. Could have made Senior football team in 1923 but did not want athletic career cut shrt by four-year rule. Hobby: Telling ``the best one of the year.''

MERRETT, JOHN CAMPBELL Started making noises in Montreal on August 26th, 1909. Was somewhat quelled at Selwyn House School, Montreal, and Ashbury College, Ottawa, but renewed the racket at McGill in 1926. Bit for the scenery painting job of the Red and White Revue of 1929, otherwise strictly confined to the aesthetic.

MONTGOMERY, ROBERT ALEXANDER Born at Beebe, Que., in December, 1907. Educated at Bishop's College School, Lennoxville, and came to McGill with a Greenshield's Scholarship in the fall of 1926. ``Daily'' reporter 1926--27--28, associate editor, 1928--1929. Treasurer, Architectural Society 1928--'29, Vice-president 1929--30, Librarian 1930--31. Class hockey 1927--28--29--30. Dec'd 1957, Montreal. My partner & best friend. (I was his best man)
...1946.
Names of Winners Announced Yesterday by Premier Taschereau
(By The Canadian Press)

Quebec, September 2.---Premier L. A. Taschereau today announced the name of twelve winners of the provincial scholarships. Six were recommended by Laval University, Quebec; three by the University of Montreal, two by McGill University and one by l'Ecole Polytechnique.

The list follows:

Laval University---Gerard Moriset, notary, who will study religious art; Charles Lapointe, music (organ); Jean Louis Tremblay, chemisty; Victor Potvin, medicine; Maurice Lebel, literature; Lionel Groleau, medicine.

University of Montreal---Gerard Garon, Drummondville, medicine; Charles Grignon, medicine; Rodrique Lefebvre, medicine.

McGill University---J. Campbell Merrett, architecture; Eugene Joliat, study of French with the view to becoming a professor.

L'Ecole Polytchnique---Andre Hone, mining engineer.

The twelve successful candidates will leave for Europe erly next month. They will study there for a period of three years, the expenses to be paid by the provincial Government. When the scholarships were first created, by the Hon. Athanase David, Provincial Secretary, they were limited to studies in France, but the privilege has been extended so that the students may choose any European university of established reputation.
...1946.
[THE DIAMOND OF PSI UPSILON]
EPSILON PHI---McGill University

With the opening of a new college year at McGill the Epsilon Phi Chapter emerges from its long ``hibernation'' of summer inactivity. The members of the Chapter have gathered together again for new and better things and everyone seems set for a big year. Many of the brothers---in particular Grayson-Bell ---returned with splendid coats of tan, mute evidence of the effects of basking overlong in the caressing rays of our hot summer sun. And speaking of coats, although just now one must do so in whispers, the house this year boasts a brand new coat of aint throughout, to say nothing of the great improvements on the exterior, all of which is the product of ``Brother'' Ahnert's labours. Yes, the same Ahnert who has blossomed forth this year in his new rôle of steward and purveyor to six fraternity houses---and the field ouse.

At this time, of course, we are very busy looking over our prospective Psi U's. The house is pulling together well and we expect to report a fine list of pledges. Arthur Minnion has been tireless in this regard. The Active Chapter wishes to thank those alumni who are turning out to give us a hand with the rushing and we wish all alumni to know that we greatly appreciate their help and consider their presence at the Chapter House during this time to be of great assistance. Student activities have hardly begun, so not much can be said about the brothers' doings on campus. We do know, however, that Brothers Halpenny, Hammond and Smyth are playing senior football, while Brother Munro Bourne is helping to uphold the well-known honour of Old McGill on the track. Brother Anglin was recently elected Secretary of Arts '33 and Brothers Sellar and Cornell are mapping out programmes for the Arts Undergraduate Society. ``Moose'' Montgomery is still chasing the elusive sheepskin (more elusive than the mountain-goats of his beloved Rockies) but we are pleased to announce that R. B. Call has finally ``become a B. Comm.''

Scholastically the Chapter can look anyone in the eye. It is being whispered about that the Davis Cup for scholarship among McGill fraternities has again been won by Psi U. But we are especially proud of the scholarships won by Brothers Montgomery, Merrett and Minnion.

The first social function of the Chapter will be the rushing banquet on Thanksgiving Day. Meanwhile certain brothers are nobly holding up our end in the social field---notably Brother Hammond, if one should ask the freshmen who answer the telephone!

The Chapter was recently vsited by Brother Edward L. Stevens, Chi '99, President of the Executive Council of Psi Upsilon, who spoke at one of our luncheons. Brother Stevens has given the Chapter many occasions to be grateful to him in the past and we certainly appreciate his visits.

Almuni Notes

Brothers Robert Montgomery '31 and Campbell Merrett '31 spent the summer on a motor tour of England and Scotland, in the course of which, judging by reports, they seem to have visited most of the cathedrals---and more of the taverns---in the old land.

Montgomery was the winner of the McLennan Travelling Scholarship in Architecture as well as the Lieutenant-Governor's Silver Medal for Professional Practice. Merrett won a Provincial Government Scholarship for European Study and the Lieutenant-Governor's Bronze Medal, while he split the Robertson Design Prize with Brother Val Bouchard, our third graduating Architect, who has been all summer working in Bermuda and is now suffering from some sort of a Bermudan fever.

Brother Russell Call, after a hectic ``Grand Tour'' to Budapest and other European centers, is with the Canadian Pacific head office. Brother Jack Taylor, having taken a two monts' post-graduate course as room clerk of The Berkeley, works for Bell Telephone in the daytime and plays football for Westwards in the evening. Brother Palmer Savage, who made his tranastlantic expedition in company with Brothers Howard Nichols, Epsilon Phi '12, and Allan Hickey, has returned to his old love, Dominion Bridge. Brother Claude Morrison flies with the R. C. A. F. at Camp Borden.

H. McK. Fowler, Associate Editor [emphases JCM's]
...passage,
At one point during those last weeks of college, I was feeling a bit cocky and thought I might have a chance at coming first, and actually asked Dad if he would finance my trip so that I could turn down the scholarship in favour of Monty. Dad pointed out that Monty's uncle was the most successful corporate lawyer in town, implying that any subsidy could come from him, if not from Monty's father who was a not-well-off country doctor. There was no subsidy coming up for Monty, however, when his one year scholarship ran out and he had to come home from Europe. (Did his uncle fail him, or was he too proud to ask?
...Monty).
In fact, I don't think I knew about the renewable feature until sometime later. As for Monty's frustration or jealousy it certainly never showed, and being Monty he was probably better off having to buckle down to earn and learn, rather than carry on a subsidized life as I did, which put me two years behind him in practical experience, and very probably contributed to my innate laziness in later years.
...evening).
Östberg got as tiddly as any of us, and at one point was singing his own Swedish translation of ``Mary had a little lamb''.
...Hotel
Strand Palace: b. & b. 9/6; lunch 2/6; dinner 3/6---all good.
...house
The boarding house: full board less 5 lunches, £ 2:10/wk: excellent
...hotel
Paris Hotel: twin room 20 fr. ($0.80 ) each; petit dejeuner 4.50 fr. ($0.18 ) O.K.
...me
The following Christmas at Chamonix-Mont Blanc, almost no snow; and a year later at Kitzbühel for 2 weeks of perfect conditions.
...Sunday
On Easter Sunday 1996, Brian and Lucinda enjoyed the same ``Carrio de Carro'' ceremony.
...Rome
I did finally get to Rome for a few days with Hazel in 1971
...Hitler
Hitler? Did I leter imagine this? My diary says it was a Communist rally in the Lustgarten, but I am sure it was in fact Nazi!
...castles
Hazel, Wendy Dion and I stayed in Schönberg Castle, Oberwesel on the Rhine n 1971, also at Hornberg Castle on the Neckar.
...Blondel
#13 rue Blondel was an internationally known bordello
...tunnel
The railway tunnel was disused, boarded up at each end with a small door, very dark inside, and it certainly seemed like half a mile. Possibly a smuggler's route? (Unlikely, since there was a customs house by the Swiss portal.)
...Montreal)
The Riordons were old friends, almos relatives, of the family. Eric was the painter, then studying in PAris. May Riach was also a competent artist.
...architect's
He was Sir Maurice Webb, one of the ``beknighted'' architects. His office was on ``Thames Eyot''.
...fall,
Shortly after we had scrambled over tumbled trees and rocks we were greeted by the amazed occupant of a lone chalet who had noted our route and told us it was the first time it had ever been traversed in winter!
...Head'',
The ``Melmore Head'' (I was the only passenger) a freighter of the Head Line; my passage arranged by Dad's friend Mr. Eakin, father of my friend Bill who, as Montreal agent of the line, like his father, set up our 1961 trip when Hazel, Brian and I sailed to Dublin in the owner's and pilot's cabins of the ``Inishowen Head'' on ite return maiden voyage.
...campus.
A number of architect and engineer friends and contemporaries were engaged in civilian war jobs, including Montgomery and Marshall, while others were in uniform but following normal 9 to 5 office routines in Montreal and Ottawa. A few others saw active service in the three armed services, and one good friend, George Aulf (whose car I had borrowed for the Cambrideg Ball party) was killed in the Air Force while training in Canada.

Then my boss, John Schofield, was appointed Controller of Construction in the Dept. of Munitions and Supply, in Ottawa, and took me there as ``Assistant to the Controller''. The Control's function was to conserve materials and labour by assessing applications from all over Canada for permits for constuction projects. Since Schofield was also running his C.N.R. office in Montreal, most of the decision making began to devolve on the Deputy Controller, Kearny Fiskin, and me.
...campus.
One permit I issued was for alterations to turn ``Ravenscrag'' into the Allan Memorial Institute. Years later, when our firm was doing an addition there, we received a set of prints bearing the Control stamp under my signature. By the way, the client was Dr. Ewen Cameron, whom I thought a pleasant human being, unlikely to do inhumane experiments on patients for the C.I.A., of which he was later (posthumously) accused.
...Group,
The A.R.G. consisted of Dick Bolton, Dick Eve, Harry Mayerovitch and me (the 155#55 and only president); later joined by John Bland and an American girl---Cloethiel Woodard; still later by Pierre Morency and Roland Gariepy, & others. Bob Montgomery, working out of town, was unavailable to us, but was involved in the McGill memorandum.
...We
Note:---with others; see ``School of Architecture & Urban Planning Prospectus'', 1987:Pp 14,16.
...up.
The day before the exhibit opened I went on the air with a 5 minute plug for it. When Hazel told Mother to turn on her radio at 7 pm., and why, Mother's reply was ``Oh what a same, that's when we sit down to dinner and we'll miss him''. (Dr. Chas. Martin, later a Senneville neighbour, was President of the Art Gallery & allowed the red stair.)

Prof. T.H. MERRETT
Fri Oct 17 16:05:04 EDT 1997