On the Shoulders of Giants

While I don't intend to do a lot of blogging about my Kingston-based manuscript, while looking over some articles from the 70's (that's both the 1970's and the 1870's), I realized that there were two giants that had come to mind. (It was the great Isaac Newton who said that if he had seen farther than other men, it was due to standing on the shoulders of giants.)

In my case, it was Kingston's most illustrious citizen, one Sir John A Macdonald who served in the Frontenac Militia during the 1837 Rebellion, was instrumental in the establishment of Queen's University, championed local civic, religious and charitable causes and was successfully re-elected in ten consecutive provincial and federal elections. He was Kingston's most illustrious citizen, by far. In this morning's paper, I read about some misguided efforts to erase the man from our history. Sad!

Then there was this snippet about Mel Easton, Kingston's most ardent chronicler of the Kingston & Pembroke Railway. Clearly, it was from a time when downtown bookshops were flourishing, and I visited them regularly as a youngster. I took the snippet as a pinch of inspiration!