The Yellow Briar. Patrick Slater

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      The dust jacket of The Water-Drinker (1937), a collection of poems attributed to Patrick Slater.

      The book was a healthy success, going into several printings in 1933 and 1934. Good reviews helped to reinforce public opinion, which was readily charmed by the combination of love story, pioneer fortitude, and regional appeal. Even the Times of London succumbed to what it described as the story of a “gallant old man with his spirit and his keen sense of humour, his deep love for the country and his genuine religious feelings, his wisdom and his charity,” all of which had gone into the making of an “unusual and engaging” book.

      The truth, of course, was that John Mitchell had absorbed much local lore at his family’s dinner table to which he had added gleanings from conversations with his mother who had contributed the story of her own family’s struggles in the pioneer setting of Mono Mills. The result was a rich weaving together of genuine folklore combined with Mitchell’s commentary on the beliefs, ways, and customs of the rural folk from whom he was descended. Even though Mitchell’s father had drifted away from his own family and the family homestead, becoming a “horse doctor” with the North-West Mounted Police in the West, settling to die on a fruit farm in British Columbia, and even though John Mitchell had gone to university and had articled to become a practising lawyer in that city, his roots remained ever strong and vigorous enough to inspire the creation of Paddy Slater, raconteur par excellence, and keeper of the soul of Irish Ontario.

      Mitchell continued to connect to the countryside by investing in land near Port Credit and working seriously at being a gentleman farmer deeply involved, if only on weekends, in the running of his fields and cattle. What captivated his readership was that The Yellow Briar was an unusual mix of anecdote and narrative. The narrative, with its measured sadness, carries the love that Paddy has for the Marshall family and its individual members, together with the ups and downs of pain, happiness, and disappointment. The anecdotal, or the “yarn” element, entertains the reader with a variety of things, from a peppering of old-fashioned words, to shrewd comment on rural politics, to “old-time” songs and ditties, to recipes and the menu for a hearty country breakfast.

      In 1935, following as it were on the success of The Yellow Briar, Mitchell suffered a serious setback in his business affairs. The death of his beloved mother in 1928 had been a severe shock to him. Although a private matter, it seemed to open the doors for Mitchell as a writer. Now, in 1935, he realized that he had managed his office poorly and that he had misused the money of some of his clients. Here followed an extraordinary series of events. A contrite Mitchell betook himself to the local police precinct where he confessed to his wrongdoing and asked to be charged and arrested. He also dispatched a letter to the attorney general of Ontario in the same self-accusing vein. In spite of the efforts of his friends who attempted to rescue Mitchell from his situation, he was charged and tried for the misappropriation of his clients’ funds and was sentenced to six months in jail, which he spent in what today would be a medium-security facility with a large agricultural operation where he was befriended by the head gardener and where he honed his skill at raising vegetables and flowers.

      Released from incarceration and professionally disbarred, Mitchell began his gradual downward spiral. He eked out an existence at odd jobs, including gardening, and worked at his writing, which resulted in a collection of sentimental poetry, The Water-Drinker, handsomely produced by Thomas Allen in 1937, and a novel, Robert Harding, the story of a man falsely imprisoned for a murder, also published by Thomas Allen in 1938. In both instances Mitchell and his publisher had hoped that the success and popularity of The Yellow Briar and its author Patrick Slater would carry over to the new books. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Mitchell’s health and prospects declined, and he died all but destitute in Toronto in 1951 and was buried in Clarkson Cemetery in Port Credit, Ontario.

      The obituaries, while honouring the achievement of The Yellow Briar, mentioned with deep regret the tragic circumstances of Mitchell’s troubles with the law, observing that he had been respected by his profession and that senior members of the legal community had rallied to his cause and had tried to save him from himself, all to no avail. It is interesting to note that Mitchell’s stirring envoi with which he ended The Yellow Briar became part of a speech of welcome on the radio addressed to Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh: “Here’s to the worn-out hearts of those who saw a nation built, and to the proud, fun-loving young hearts that have it in their keeping.”