To Kill a White Dog

Helen M. Dobie was a teacher-librarian living in Woodstock, Ontario.

John B. Lee has retold in poetry the pioneer story of Chagard, who came to settle in Brant County in the early days when the native Indians were still in possession of the land. The local band had a celebration which involved the ritualistic killing of a white dog as a sacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving for the end of winter. They killed winter in the killing of the dog. Chagard had no understanding of or sympathy for these beliefs and unfeelingly built his farm right on the spot where their festivities took place, putting his barn on the very spot where the dog was traditionally killed. Lee implies in his telling that this was done with full knowledge of the implications; that Chagard did it deliberately because he despised the Indians and their way of life. Whether or not this was true, the Indians retaliated by attacking, killing his wife and children, burning his barn, and leaving him for dead. He recovered and rebuilt. The Indians burnt him out again. Again he escaped when left for dead. The story, or ones very similar to it, could probably be repeated untold numbers of times through the early history of our country. But Lee gives Chagard the imagination to see into the future, to see the tourist boats on the river, to see Pauline Johnson, to see the town as it will be in the future. The poem ends with a picture of the Indian as he has become today. Does Lee blame Chagard?

Chagard, this town, the bastard child

Of your seed pumped into the ground,

A bullet into a rifle.

The story is written in blank verse with a great variety in length of stanza and line. Each stanza is printed on a separate page, which makes the book appear to be a collection of short poems. Some of the stanzas are short and crisp (only six lines in one), others nearly a whole page. The dream sequence is a completely different style, read down and across, very difficult to figure out but interesting.

Lee’s use of words is quite lovely in places. He describes the river “Stuttering in its shallows over unfamiliar stones.” Chagard’s thoughts are “Dream within dream — Within dream.” Here is Lee’s description of Chagard’s picture of himself:

You saw yourself striding a tree top trail

To this place. Galvanic.

Lifting marble arms to the heavens.

The wilderness a ruffled dandy waltzing before you.

This is an interesting, mind-stretching piece of reading. It takes several attempts before its full implications are realized.