Dr. George Frederick Clarke's
TOO SMALL A WORLD
Since today was June 23 and the school year was drawing to a close,
I couldn’t understand why we still had to have lessons. Tonight’s assignment
was to write a paragraph on what did the date of June 24 mean to us. I didn’t
have a clue what to write. Naturally this would be the evening the minister’s
wife was visiting with Mum.
I was sitting at the kitchen table chewing on the end of my pencil when
Gram and Gramp walked in so I asked for their ideas. Gram knew that Addie’s
birthday was that date but that was no help.
Gramp thought for a moment and then he said, “All I know is that tomorrow
is Saint John the Baptist Day and it was on the twenty-fourth of June of
1604 that Champlain sailed into the Saint John harbour where the river flowed
into it. He landed on a sandy point and set up a high cross with the fleur
de lys on it, claiming the country for the King of France. The river, which
the Indians of the valley called Wul-ahs-tuk - Champlain named Saint Jean
and now we call in the Saint John River.”
Now if I had been the granddaughter of dentist Dr. George Frederick
Clark of Woodstock, he could have told me lots of things about the exploring
of Acadia by de Monts who had a ship of 120 tons with several servants,
besides 120 men who included artisans, soldiers, a mineralogist and, for
the king had allowed de Monts to take malefactors from the prisons of their
‘soul’s’ good, a fair sprinkling of such. One gentleman who accompanied
him was Jean de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt. There were Catholics as
well as Huguenots, and since it had been stipulated that religious tolerance
and freedom of worship should prevail in the colony, they were accompanied
by both priests and ministers. And last, and greatest among the crew was
Champlain, who had become close friends with de Monts and had the official
position of King’s Geographer. Champdere was the chief navigator. The vessel
set sail from Havre de Grace on 7 March 1604. Another vessel left three
days later.
Champlain chose the small island that he named St. Croix, now called Dochets
Island, to settle his colony. But this was an unfortunate choice.
When spring arrived, Champlain was on the mainland when he noticed an Indian
woman picking some short green ferns and putting them into a basket. He
thought they resembled fiddleheads.
Dr. Clarke retired from his dental practice in 1953 and devoted himself
wholly to writing. In 1958, his four hundred page book. “TOO SMALL A WORLD”
was published. This publication chronicles the Acadians, Norsemen, Jacques
Cartier, Port Royal, Revoking of De Monts’s Charter, the colony of Madame
De Guercheville, the Pilgrims and Sir William Alexander, Claude LaTour and
his son Charles, Rival Governors, Thomas Temple, Phips takes Port Royal,
Boston aroused, No Peace in Acadia, Attack on Port Royal and many other topics,
ending with, “They Sailed Away”. This comprehensive history of the events
that helped shape our land and its people is a book to read and pass on to
our descendants.
“TOO SMALL A WORLD” by Dr. George Frederick Clarke is available
in several research institutions in New Brunswick.
* *
By the way, this is one June 24 that will be remembered by many
in Saint John, not only for all the festivities of it being the 400th anniversary
of Champlain’s visit to our area, but the fireworks show over the harbour at 10:30
p.m., synchronized with a soundtrack, will be unlike any other seen before
in Saint John, New Brunswick.
