On May 25, 1883 George Chaffey wrote a letter to William
Johnston. George Chaffey relays various information about the Ontario Colony:
Rent is double what it is in Kingston, Canada. The schools are “first class.”
Other than the cost of rent, the cost of living is the same as Kingston,
Canada. Employment is readily available for hard workers. This last point
George Chaffey emphasizes, writing, “the principle trouble with the men who
come here is they are a vexing lot–cut shady therefore, a level man is always
in demand.”
Next, George Chaffey mentions the “Plain Statement” letter
published in the British Whig (see my last post for more information about
this). Apparently George Chaffey tracked down the author of this anonymous
letter. George Chaffey expresses his disdain for the author by explaining that
he never met George Chaffey or even visited Etiwanda and Ontario, even though
the author lambasts Etiwanda in “A Plain Statement” specifically. Furthermore,
George Chaffey explains, the author has been sick with typhus fever which
George thinks means the author “has been induced to evil and allow himself to
be used as a catspaw.”
“Catspaw.” This word gave me pause. What is a catspaw?
Apparently this is a reference to a fable called “The Monkey and the Cat” in
which a monkey convinces a cat to use its paw to retrieve food that is roasting
over a fire. Once the cat uses his paw to get the food, burning his paw in the
process, the monkey steals the food. In this way the monkey uses the cat (and
his paw) to the monkey’s benefit while the cat gets no benefit.
George Chaffey continues, writing, “I will catch the monkey
however and warm his jacket.” Apparently, George Chaffey believes that the man
who wrote “A Plain Statement” was writing on behalf of someone else entirely!
The intrigue continues to build. Maybe a future letter will reveal who the
Monkey is! By the way, I wasn’t sure the meaning of the phrase “warm his jacket”
so I looked that up as well. So far I haven’t found any explanations for that
phrase but perhaps it is another reference to “The Monkey and the Cat” fable.
In any case, it sounds threatening to me!
George Chaffey ends the letter writing that many of the
settlers are writing to the British Whig to rebut the words of “A Plain
Statement.” George Chaffey hopes that these letters will be published in the
periodically shortly.
George Chaffey signs the letter “Yours & etc.,” which
incidentally is now my new favorite sign off.
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