Homebodies - Much delight in the everyday

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Published on Saturday, October 14, 2017

Rita Friesen 
Neepawa Banner & Press

Looking for an easy read before drifting off to sleep, I selected “Roughing It in the Bush”, by Susanne Moodie. The opening page is simply titled – Advertisement–  and it explains that “Though known as an authoress in Canada, and a member of a family which has enriched English literature with works of very high popularity”, the writer is still resident in the far-west of Canada.

The book was first published in 1852, and recounts the trials and testing that gentry from England suffered in settling Canada. It is well written and certainly thought provoking. So much of today is taken for granted. Cholera was sweeping the settlements, discrimination was open; serving persons did not sit and eat with the family, even in a small log home. And travel was tedious. Whether by land or by sea.

Mrs. Moodie was well educated, accustomed to fine dining, music, poetry and writing. To travel with a babe into the unknown to be a just and loyal wife was her call. One paragraph half way through the book was marked, and so it was here that I began to read. The theory is that if I like the middle and the end of a book, it is worth reading all through. I borrowed the book from my daughter for it met my criteria.

“We found that manual toil, however distasteful to those unaccustomed to it, was not after all such a dreadful hardship; that the wilderness was not without its rose, the hard face of poverty without its smile. If we occasionally suffered severe pain, we as often experienced great pleasure, and I have contemplated a well-hoed ridge of potatoes on that bush farm, with as much delight as in years long past I had experienced in examining a fine painting in some well-appointed drawing-room.”

I have a deep appreciation for manual toil. It has provided me with ample time for deep contemplation. Whether punching down bread dough, shoveling the eye-watering chicken manure, chopping wood or stacking bales, my thoughts were free to wander and explore life.

As a child, I worked with my father and it was common to work hard, stop and think hard. And get back to work. As a young girl, I was posed with questions as to my opinion on faith topics, politics and family dynamics. Great introductions to problem solving and walking softly.

I worked side by side with my partner for 40 years. There was satisfaction with crops grown and harvested, homes purchased and inhabited, families raised. Used some of my problem solving and walking softly skills! And learned more about myself in the process. I have worked with youth– my children and others. There is satisfaction with the use of gentle words and leading by example. More use of early lessons and more learning about myself!

I understand the beauty in a job well done. I appreciate the beauty of a great work of art. There is as much delight in the everyday as anywhere. It is indeed, in the eye of the beholder.