College of Emmanuel and St Chad - Rotunda Yearbook (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada)

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THE SANFORDS OF WESTMORELAND AND THE GIRAFFE PIANO BY: CHARLES SANFORD When you are asked to tell something of yourself and you are from Virginia, the difficulty is all the greater since the be¬ ginning seems so far back — even beyond the day when Light-horse Harry Lee built the ha-ha wall on the south side of Strat¬ ford plantation to keep his cows in the mea¬ dow and off his front lawn, and Charles tipped over the barcarret ink-well with his coat-sleeves while signing the Leedstown Resolutions, and Richard drew up a most un- chivalrous will leaving his nagging relic (such he cal led his wife) a span of mules with the expressed wish that she could now do some travelling. Travel she did (needless to say without the mules) about a month after Richard was laid to rest at Yeocomico Church, marrying a man from Philadelphia who was twelve years her senior and about ready to die. In order to scurry over the years. I ' ll start with Great-granddaddy, or Old Mr. Charles as the folks called him, who brought Great-grqnny a rosewood Giraffe piano hav¬ ing pearl keys while they were up in New York City on their honeymoon in June of 1830. The piano came toRichmond by train and was taken to the grey house on Grace Street by mule cart. It was in constant use and was far from being a dust-collector, as Old Granny followed the Virginia tradition ' enjoy what you have now. 1 Not far from the house, down at Capitol SquareMarse Roberts (General Lee) in 1861 accepted his commission as Com¬ mander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Thus, the family in the grey frame house, and all Richmond, settled down to the grim business of war, while the rolling fields and tangled woods of the surrounding country¬ side took on the aspects of a great encamp¬ ment. Granny joined the ladiesof Richmond and began plying the needle, each lady as it were a self-appointed seamstress for a Confederate soldier. As the War between the States got set and under way in earnest the Capitol city, with its natural protection that of theChick- ahominy swamp just to the north, became a city of refuge. Eventually hospitals appear¬ ed on every one of Richmond ' s seven hills, from Goat Hill to Church Hill. Those who could not be cared for in these hospitals were heartily welcomed into private homes. Granny opened her home and cared for many a Confederate soldier; the Giraffe piano was played each evening and was an important center of festivities. These were hard days indeed. Due to theYankee blockade medi¬ cine was almost non-existent, and thefamily walked to Hollywood Cemetery behind the mule-drawn coffin of many a Georgia boy, or South Carolinian. One of the bloodiest battles of the War was fought north of the Chickahominy at Cold Harbor in June 1864, where the Confederates established their main line of defence against Grant. It was estimated that the Yankees lost 5,000 men in fifteen minutes while attacking our positions. Mr. A sort of waterless ditch or moat, de¬ signed to keep cattle off thefront lawnwith- out obstructing the view of the Potomac River. Bus Sommerfeld (Burneih MEN ' S WEAR The Aisle of Style 1402 COLLEGE DRIVE, SASKATOON, SASK. Just Across the Street from the U. of S. COMPLETE LINE OF MEN ' S CLOTHING AND SHOES Phone 653-1422 COLLEGE BLAZERS IN STOCK

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ENNIS ESSAR B.A. (Hons.) A native of Kindersley, Sask., Dennis is a scholar magnacum laude and has added a spirit of humor and warmth to the life here in residence. In his first year he signed up with the Saskatoon Symphony and was doing fine until someone discovered that he could not play. Next year Dennis plans to attend University of Strasbourg, France, but even¬ tually he intends to make Saskatchewan his permanent home. Anyone wishing tocorres- pondwith Dennis in thefuture should address all mail c o Charles de Gaulle. JOHN BUJEA B.Comm. John is a native of Regina, Sask., and worked for the S.P.C. before signing up for the B. Comm, program. His friends rate him ' Tops ' in the game of chess and John modestly acknowledges that this is probably true. Having already gotten the ' wanderlust ' out of his blood by making a tour of Europe, John will be rejoining the S.P.C. ranks shortly aft er graduation. JOHN BRIGHT B. Comm. John is another commerce man who hails from Regina, but in spite of these drawbacks he has had a pleasant stay here at Emma. Says John, I really enjoyed the fellowship but as for the food . .. Well, thefellowship was good, but man, you can ' t eat fellowship! JACOB POLONICOFF B.A., L.L.B. Jack, with a B.A. in hand, ventured forth from U.B.C. in search of of U. of S. lawdegreeand will bereturningto Bennett- land ' upon graduation. Once established Jack will have a 30 foot red carpet in front of his desk and all clients will be expected tocrawl thefull distance for service. Seri¬ ously, Jack ' s speaking ability and his rare sense of humor contributed a great deal to our residence life. CAM MACKAY B.A. A man of many virtues and even more vices Cam has been an active member of residence for three years. His activities to mention only a few, range from hockey and football to the office of vice-president. Having completed a B.A. in economics he intends to dabble in law next year. Aca¬ demics aside. Cam provided the leadership for the Campus Liberal party this year, but ruined his future political career by shaking Ross ' s hand when he should have kissed it. He hails from Wolesley, Sask., but McMenemy insists that even this fact does not excuse Cam ' s behavior as a member of Essar ' s French resistance movement. BARRY MOORE B.Ed ., B.A. (Hons.) Barry comes to Emmanuel fromYorkton and has been here since the residenceopen- ed in 1962. After three years at Emma and the U .of S ., he taught for one year i n France (1965 - 1966) and returned to Emma in 1966 to complete his B.Ed. He is leaving this year to take a teaching position at Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon. Barry says that he enjoys residence life, otherwise he wouldn ' t have come back year after year. Living in the residence has great advan¬ tages, especially meeting and living with peoplefromall over the world — even from Ireland. This is one aspect of a university education that few off-campus students are able to appreciate and enjoy. ron McMullen b.a. Our sports director has decided to study journalism at Carleton University. We like to tease Ron by hiding his insulin syringe under mountains of paper. Never content to be a mere spectator, Ron, with his familiar hat, has always put on a spec- tactular display in his activities. ALLAN BRICK B.A. B.Ed. Al came to Emmanuel in 1963 from Kindersley. Hecompleted his B.A. (English) in 1966 and entered the College of Educa¬ tion in 1967 and hopes to get his B.Ed. this year. Al will be teaching in Calgary next fall. FRANK M cMENEMY B.A. (Hons). B.Ed. They say that rats always abandon a sinking ship. Does this apply to sinking is- landsas well? England ' s blessing to Canada in her centennial year took theform of one Frank McMenemy. His speed on the soccer field be lies his years, his intelligencebelies the company he keeps, and as for his poli¬ tics ... well we all have our faults. Shortly after this interview Frank intimately though hastily made his first acquaintance with the cold shower tradition. A chilling experi¬ ence he assures us. BRETT CRAWFORD B.Sc. (Mech.Engg.) When interviewed for this yearbook Brett ' s answers to various questions were as follows (1) Yes, I enjoyed the food at Emma ' s, (2) Yes, I are an engineer, and (3) Umm I don ' t know, After a long session Brett revealed that he will be tour- ing Europe next fall ' grub style ' with some fellow engineers bec ause he trusts no one else. He is deeply concerned about the person who stole two cases of beer out of his room, since stealing is clearly against the rules. Brett would like to commisurate with Ross in his position as the new owner of the U. of S. campus. Au revoir, U. of S .

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The Sanfords of Westmoreland (Cont ' d.) Charles and his brother. Old Uncle Edward, helped to bury the bodies of both Yankee and Confederate soldiers who covered the fields for a mile or more around Cold Harbor. So frightful was the loss of life that Grant shifted his plans, and moved to Petersburg to attack Richmond from the South. There followed a grim siege of nine months. It was on Sunday, April 2, 1865 — President Daviswas worshipping in St. Paul ' s Church on Capitol Square — that a messen¬ ger brought word from General Lee that his lines around Petersburg had broken and he no longer cou Id defend Richmond. Great-grand daddy and Old Miss (Granny) left with the others from the church, after President Davis gave the news that it would be only a matter of hours until the fall of Richmond. Great- granddaddy was determined to save the Giraffe piano and the flat silver, so the prized possession was loaded on a mule cart and taken to the edge of the Chickahominy Swamp. Here Great-granddaddy, Uncle Edward and some other men carried the piano to high ground in the swamp. They rubbed the piano with beeswax, covered it with tarpaulin, and made a lean-to of sorts out of small bushes and swamp grass to pro¬ tect the Giraffe from the elements. The grey frame house on Grace Street was de¬ stroyed by fire that next day, April 3, 1865. Some months after, the piano was re¬ moved from the swamp and placed in the house of friends whose home in Richmond was only partial ly damaged and who shelter¬ ed Great-granddaddy and Old Miss during the trying years of Reconstruction — those terrible dark years, far worse than the War, that brought everything but utter despair. In Prohibition times, to scurry over history once again, the Giraffe piano was in the home of an Aunt, Miss Emma. Miss Emma ran a boarding house in Staunton, in the Valley of Virginia. Miss Emma served (as she cal led them) ' her paying guests ' with flat silver and candle light even the most humble of meals such as grits and gravy, or soup-beans and cornbread. The Giraffe was rightfully willed to her daughter Charlotte, who eloped with a trapeze artist who was part of a carnival visiting Staunton, and went with him North, or somewhere, return¬ ing only in death in a pine box with an undertaker ' s seal from Williamton, Dela¬ ware; an envelope was affixed to the box, containing a crudely drawn map of the Northern Neck, and showing the road from Fredericksburg to the turn at Templeman ' s Crossroads for Old Yeocomico Church. The Giraffe then went to Uncle Edward who was next of kin. Uncle Edward didn ' t really care about the piano; however, hegraci— ously willed it to an Aunt, Miss Edythe, in Kentucky — which was indeed frotunate as Uncle Edward took dope diluted in poke- berry juice and wouldn ' t quit. He had been using it for thirty years. Uncle Edward married a Yankee tourist at age forty-one and went off bag and baggage to her home in Chicago. He only wrote one letter back to Virginia in the next twenty years, but by the looks of the mahogany casket that came by train to Fredericksburg he had fared right well. His wife never put in her appearance at the funeral; but flowers were brought fifteen miles from Montross for the graveside service at Old Yeocomico, where Uncle Edward was laid to rest amid the fine old trees and moss-covered crosses. The Giraffe piano is now in Char¬ lottesville. Unfortunately, it had to be placed in a storage company owned by Yankees, after finding a happy home on the Bluegrass for many years. Miss Edythe will¬ ed it to me at her death . I am the last of the line; my inheritance is the beloved pos¬ session, the Giraffe piano, circa 1830. INVITATION TO . . . PLADSEN ' S BARBER SHOP 1402 COLLEGE DRIVE Saskatoon Open 8:15 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed Wednesday