For most of us the pathway is forward. This is so whether what we achieve by that prospect is actually an advance or an improvement. We instinctively prefer going ahead, looking straight in front of ourselves as opposed to sideways. And yet we may inadvertently discover by a sideways glance that we have overlooked something of value.
There is nothing predictably surreptitious about a sideways glance; it is however indirect and unconventional, maybe even unorthodox. The sideways glance is assured however to reveal what we may have been missing. Nor is the sidelong regard limited only to the physical sphere of our lives – though that too can be unveiling. Once again the commonality is the unanticipated fizz of perspective.
In my limited experience with this particular viewpoint I have discovered that it enhances the relative importance of things, affording an overall sense of proportion. The journey forward can be mistakenly marked by peril or unintended destiny. The venture may as well oblige far greater energy and other resourcefulness than that which a sideways glance might conveniently occasion. The sideways glance is by definition the road less travelled; it is frequently a hitherto unopened source of interest and reward.
With this enthralling element in mind this sunny morning, I undertook an adventure on my tricycle to the other side of town – that is, over the Maclan Bridge in the centre of town by the Old Town Hall to Jamieson Street where we used to live and where now resides my friend and erstwhile legal assistant. It is her 80th birthday today, a celebration I feel confidant neither of us predicted when we began working together on March 1, 1978, the day we opened the law practice together. She sat in the place of the esteemed Evelyn Barker, LA and I in the place of Raymond Jamieson, QC (who was about 84 years old at the time, having retired from 54 years of law practice). The old office at 74 Mill Street on the second floor was about as antique as they get! Little did we imagine our perspectives would change so extravagantly over the ensuing half century.
Propelled by the novelty of my excursion to the other side of town, I was kept alive by the sight of so many long-forgotten landmarks and associated personal recollections as I streamed by one hint after another, past the Elizabeth Kelly Library, onto Church Street and Tait McKenzie Street, then past Thoburn Street and Vaughan Street before finally connecting with Jamieson Street – all critical names in the history of the Town of Almonte. Benji excitedly barked and greeted me as I knocked upon the door but no one was home. So, in keeping with the purpose of my outing, I struggled to secure the envelope containing my birthday wish in the brass door handle. Then I reversed the position of my tricycle and pushed off – back towards the other side of town, over the bridge and around the corner at the Doctor’s House made locally famous by Dr. William Mostyn, MD who built the place around 1863 and where thereafter lived an uninterrupted succession of qualified medical practitioners.
As I was about to navigate the turn onto Brougham Street in front of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, a sideways glance informed me of a gentleman with a set of keys in the act of opening the door of the former Land Registry Office where I began my legal career in the Town of Almonte a half-century ago. The gentleman had his back to me. I called out, “Sir, may I ask a question?” He turned and revealed himself. He was by coincidence a chap for whom I had worked many years before. After sharing the usual congenialities, he advised that he was the new owner of this ancient building, the construction of which I believe pre-dates the Old Town Hall. He and I both knew as well that the architect of these initial Land Registry Offices (I believe he said there are about 24 of them throughout the province) had constructed them upon an identical model.
What however he confirmed distinguished this particular Land Registry Office is that it is the only one in the province not located next to a court house. This seemingly inconsequential fact is however pregnant with meaning. In the County of Lanark the county seat is the Town of Perth where the ancient stone court house is located and adjoining which is a Land Registry Office virtually identical to that in the Town of Almonte . The fact that the Town of Almonte had its own Land Registry Office independent of that in the county seat speaks to the thriving importance of the town at the time of confederation. The vibrancy at that time was of course the wool growers’ trade – nurtured by the position of the Town of Almonte along the roaring waterfalls of the Mississippi River and the railway line which Bennett Rosamond had exacted from the Montreal board of directors.
Reportedly the construction of this monumental building has sustained itself to perfection over the many years. I am excited to witness the evolving work to restore the building to utility (both it and the new Land Registry Office are now closed – a response to technology and on-line electronic registration). It forms a part of what is already an historic society in the immediate neighbourhood, including George Slade’s old house at one end of Clyde Street (initially converted by Ian Lecheminant from a wood burning home to a magnificent antique once owned by my erstwhile physician), along with the Doctor’s House, Judge Hugessen’s former mansion (now The Monte), the Anglican Church and Grant Campbell, QC’s former mansion along the Mississippi River.