BOOKS BY LOCALS Wendy Elliott
Woman on a Mission: Katherine Bell Fraser in Armenia, 1892-1897: From Christian Missionary to Refugee Advocate by Andria Hill-Lehr These days it’s common for twenty-something women to seek adventure and life experience through travel. Some people are moved to work in other countries to gain an understanding of other cultures, or to help in humanitarian crises. Katherine Bell Fraser’s reasons for going to Armenia in 1892 weren’t much different. The young woman from Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia, travelled as a young Christian missionary full of zeal, but relatively ignorant of the world and informed by untested ideals. Within a couple of years she witnessed events that were previously unimaginable—well beyond the poverty and want she was told to expect. Such affronts to her notions of justice and human decency shaped her, and gave her credibility and a voice to speak passionately about crimes against humanity she witnessed. Her story, told with the help of historical photos, diaries, and personal letters, sheds important light on the efforts by missionaries, many of them women, to provide relief and to save lives during the Armenian Massacres of 1892 to 1897.
Wendy Elliott (WE): How did you hear about Katherine’s life story? Andria Hill-Lehr (AH): One day in 2005, while waiting in the Nova Scotia Archives for a box of research materials, my gaze wandered to the card catalogues lining one wall. In the days before internet search engines and computerized catalogues these were how we looked for information. They offered a serendipitous, tactile opportunity to find something one wasn’t necessarily looking for. At least, that’s how I sometimes used them, rather like when you open a book to a random page to seek guidance or an answer to a question: a bibliophile’s divination. I scanned the labels on the drawer fronts. I can’t now recall whether the label that caught my eye said “biography” or “people,” but whichever it was, it evoked “story.” I slid the drawer open, ran my fingertips lightly along the tops of the cards, and randomly selected one. On it was Katherine Bell Fraser: papers of her missionary work in Armenia, 1892–1897. I recorded the call number in my notebook and returned some weeks later to see what was there. Two small archive boxes containing a few photographs, a journal, and almost two hundred letters drew me into a tale of travel, adventure, hardship, and atrocity, seen through the eyes of a young Nova Scotia woman who went to Armenia as a missionary and then coordinated relief work for nine thousand Armenian refugees in Bulgaria—all before she turned thirty. In this book I quote extensively from Fraser’s papers, letting stand her misspellings, lack of punctuation, and sentence fragments, all of which allow us to hear her voice and get a sense of the person behind this remarkable story. WE: What about her gumption appealed to you AH: My initial interest in her was what moved her to make the choice to move halfway around the world simply on the basis of her untested ideals. I can’t say that I fell in love with her or have become so thoroughly engaged with her as I did Mona Parsons. Mona had privilege but had lived enough not to be naïve about her choices to become involved in risky business during the Nazi occupation, whereas Katherine’s choices were based on thoroughly untested ideals and black-andwhite notions of what the world should be. WE: How did the recent book signing in Sherbrooke, her home town, go?
AH: The signing in Sherbrooke was amazing, both for the opportunity to share her story with those who had never heard of her, and for two encounters with people who had! I was at the Village Treasures Gift Shop. I’d ask people where they were from, and if they said they were the local area, I’d point to the enlarged copy of the book cover and ask whether they knew her story. Two-thirds of the book order was gone in three hours. But the best part was when I saw a couple who had passed my table chatting with one another, and then the fellow made a call on his mobile. Eventually, he and his partner came back to the table. He said that he’d been talking to his cousin, who is a GP in Sherbrooke, asking if he’d heard about the book. Then he told me that he and his cousin are both related to Katherine Bell Fraser. I was stunned! I’d made trips to Sherbrooke in the hopes that someone would know of her—even ‘stalked’ a guy who lives near the Air B&B where I was staying because the surname on his mailbox was Fraser. Nothing. And then this fellow turns up: Sandy MacDonald. The synchronicities that came about because of Mona were numerous and remarkable, but even this little connection was amazing! The other person, who knew of her, identified her when I asked if she was aware of a woman in the Riverview Cemetery with the epitaph “Doing a man’s work with more than a man’s capability.” Her eyes widened and she said, “Why, yes, I know of her. I cleaned her headstone a few years ago, and I wondered what that epitaph meant!” Katherine Bell Fraser’s story might not captivate or endure in the same way that Mona’s has, but hers is a remarkable story, given the times in which she lived. As we continue to learn just how much women’s stories have been overlooked, or eradicated from history for the last 2000 years, hers is an important piece in the narrative, and it’s wonderful to see how her black-and-white view of the world changes as she moves from her familiar, 19th century Christian Nova Scotia where, as a woman, she is educated but not emancipated, to a country where women are even more inferior to men (e.g. women are not allowed to practice medicine, so are limited to midwifery), and she was a minority Christian working among the minority Christian population.
Hill-Lehr, who lives in Port George, is published by Nimbus in Halifax. She is the author of two previous non-fiction books: Mona Parsons: From Privilege to Prison, from Nova Scotia to Nazi Europe and A Mother’s Road to Kandahar.
The Pegasus Bridge Show by Michael Bawtree This story, told in “free-cantering” verse, is a dramatized account of the critical operation to capture Pegasus Bridge by Allied forces in 1944, in the opening stages of D-Day. It is based on an earlier show and DVD presentation by Wolfville’s Michael Bawtree, with original words and music that set the event within the history of previous cross-Channel campaigns. This account draws on the memories of some of those involved and the author’s own experience of serving in the same regiment. Profits from the sale of this work have always gone to the support of veterans. For this Canadian edition, as an active member of his local Royal Canadian Legion Branch in Wolfville, Bawtree has donated all net proceeds to the Branch’s “75” Fund, which is dedicated to the renovation of the century-old Wolfville Legion building. The renovations will make the building fully wheelchair-accessible and provide new spaces for resources and workshops for veterans.
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Images courtesy of Wendy Elliot.
JANUARY’S HIDDEN GEMS Margot Bishop
With the holiday season neatly over and the first weeks of winter under our belts, try for some hidden gems that are truly just for yourself. Not being selfish in a bad way but taking time for self. There is an old expression: every day, in every way, I am getting better and better. Try for those things that make you feel better about yourself. Do not try for big or impossible or impractical things. These types of goals seldom work and are often very discouraging when they fail, as they often do, through no fault of the person. That is why I never make New Year’s resolutions. I prefer the power of positive thinking. It is a lot more fun and encouraging and gives a great sense of self worth. A much better way to start a new year.
identify the specimens that you see. It is a hobby that you can either do alone or with people in your bubble. With the good photos that can be taken with cell phones, you can capture your observations and then share and compare them with others. Just think, you might be the first person to observe a rare (or seldom seen in our area) species. How cool would that be?
What things could be our hidden gems? What would we like to do for ourselves? Baby steps are better when trying something new. Start small, and if you really like the activity, then you can make bigger advances. Deciding something is not as interesting as it was when you started is easier to stop if you do not have a lot of effort put into it, and there is no shame in stopping something if you want to. After all, this is something for your self.
What about trying a new language? Not conversational or perfect grammar, but just a few words and phrases. It is fun and gets the brain working in a different way. It will help with memory retention also. Surprise and interest your family when you ask them for a cup of tea in Gaelic. My ancestors are Irish, French, and Flemish, maybe that is a good place to start? Or get a pen pal—what we used to call a person living in another country that we started a letter-writing relationship with. Now with so many nationalities living in the Valley, we have a perfect opportunity to get to know people from other cultures, but with the restrictions on meetings, maybe you will have to resort to the internet. Newcomers’ clubs are fun, but also are suspended from meeting just now. Check things out in your area.
What to do? How about going for a walk? With the mild weather and no ice under foot, going for a walk around the block has been easier than in most Januarys. If there is a January thaw, it will pass, so take advantage of the weather while it lasts. If you do not like to walk alone, find a neighbour with a dog and offer to walk with them. Very quickly it will become a habit and something to look forward to. Bird watching is a great pastime. Either Miner’s Marsh in Kentville or the Guzzle near Evangeline Beach are wonderful ‘birding’ spots. There are good field guides at the library, or use the internet to look up and
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Maybe learn a new skill. Knitting or crocheting or simple sewing projects are all fun ways to challenge yourself and add another accomplishment to your list of positives. Learn from a patient baker or cook, one or two simple-tomake but wonderful-to-eat dishes. Then wow your family and friends.
You could start some seeds indoors. Many herbs are easy to grow in little pots on your windowsill. You could use a grow light and be as fancy as you want to be or just use a wide mouth jar and some cheesecloth and grow mung beans for your stir fry. Anything goes. If you cannot visit with fellow gardeners in person just now, visit on the phone or social
media. All positive contacts with friends and family can and should be extended to those people that you do not see on a regular basis, but probably would love to hear from you. There are computer tutorials and board game nights at most libraries. Check with your local library to find out about and register for some free classes or activities. There is even a recording studio upstairs at the Wolfville library. Board game nights are fun with the family as well or movies or card games. All of this can help with early evenings and a sense of winter blues. I have also tried the only stand-up tanning booth in the Valley at The Golden Tan in New Minas. It is only $1/ minute. Remember every day, each day is actually getting longer with more and more daylight. Spring is less than three months from now, less than 11 weeks, but there are things you can do this winter season, with help from your community’s recreation department. They lend equipment. Just call and find out what is available, and go from there. Yoga is good for you and fun. There are classes locally and it is also on TV. I have friends in the construction business, and also a couple of retired police officers, who say that they start their days with yoga. The regime has now become a way of life for them. Remember to be pleasant during these trying times. A smile and a kind word will go a long way to cheer not only yourself but another person. St. Teresa (our lady of flowers), believed that it was the little things that mattered. Sometimes the best things that we can do for ourselves are very simple but hard to do in our busy lives. Take time for yourself, read a book, have a nice soak in a bubble bath, have a nap, go for a walk, or sit back and do absolutely nothing at all. Positive thinking for your ‘self’.
Another old expression comes from Shakespeare: to thine own self be true. Please stay safe, wear your masks, sanitize your hands, and think good thoughts. We will get through this together. Positively.
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