Bloomsday

Bill Whelan 2007

reported The Freeman’s Journal in Dublin. The steamer General Slocum, carrying about 1000 members of a Lutheran Sunday School party on an excursion, caught fire at Hell Gate in the East River of New York on the 15^th of June. The Dublin papers and the St John’s papers reported the tragedy on the 16^th.  James Joyce remembered the Slocum disaster when he wrote his book.

On that 16^th day of June in1904, James Joyce of Dublin met   Nora Barnacle of Galway.  Young Joyce wrote a book, after he and Nora went away together. His book described the doings of a single day in Dublin. For his day Joyce chose the day he met Nora Barnacle.   He called his book Ulysses.  His main character is a man called Leopold Bloom. The 16^th of June is Bloomsday. [illus—photo-Nora and James Joyce]

On Bloomsday in the morning, in Dublin, Leopold Bloom makes tea for his wife Mollie. Yes, Mollie Bloom.  Then he makes his own breakfast and feels a loosening of the bowels. He goes outside to the bog rather than upstairs to the flush toilet. After some meditation, Bloom wipes himself with a sheet torn from a sort of newspaper, the Titbit.   Then he goes off to Paddy Dignam’s funeral and the rest of his day.

On Bloomsday in St John’s the people had the benefit of the Evening Telegram and the Evening Herald, which each sold for one cent.   These were small newspapers, tabloids, running to four pages. The front page of each paper was given over to advertisements.

The Royal Stores advertised crockery of various sorts and prices. Best Barbados Molasses  might  be had at The LeMarchant Store at 30 cents the gallon.  Smallwood advertised boots and shoes whereas T&M Winter advertised kerosene oil by the cask, direct from the ship’s side. The tailor John Maunder wished to employ two vest-makers. He offered constant work and liberal wages. Mister Richard Squires, LLB, offered his services as a Solicitor.

On page 2 the Telegram had Chapter XXXII of A Woman’s Wiles, the Herald Chapter XXXIII of My Lady Pride.  It must be said here that Leopold Bloom wiped himself with just this sort of story when he went to the bog.   He used Matchams Masterstroke, a prize winner.

Page 3 of the Telegram had some news to tell, along with advertisements for flour and rust-proof corsets and other necessary goods. Dr Lehr advertised his dental services. Dicks and Company advertised books. T Peel at 220 Water Street offered 760 pairs of corsets at from 35 cents to one dollar the pair. In the Newfoundland way, corsets were sold by the pair, partridge by the brace, trout by the dozen.

The Telegram did its civic duty by pointing out the dirty state of the trough at the head of Prescott Street, meant to water horses but also used by dogs and by men to wash their boots. The Telegram called for clean water for horses.

The news was on the last page, dominated by extensive shipping news.  It was pleasant to read that the schooner Ethel had arrived at Oporto after a 15-day passage from St John’s.

That was good time.  Call it 1950 miles.  

The Freeman’s Journal was the chief Dublin newspaper. It was a broadsheet, a big newspaper that ran to eight pages and was Nationalist in politics.   Its frontpage advertisements were much more numerous and diverse than those of the St John’s papers.   That is not surprising in view of Dublin’s population of 250,000 souls against St John’s 32,000.   Dublin was a more important place, called by some the Second City of the Empire, after London.

In the Situations Vacant column in The Freemans Journal were the usual advertisements for maids, clerks, grocer’s apprentices and, more interesting, one for a Billiard Marker.   The St John’s papers had the same sorts of advertisements, though none for a Billiard Marker, and also had an advertisement for highly skilled mining jobs, well paid.   The York Harbor Copper Mine in the Bay of Islands required Six Expert Machine Drill Runners, paid $1.75 for an eight-hour shift.   An exceptional wage!

Music was very important to James Joyce. He was well aware of the six musical events advertised in The Freeman’s Journal that day, including Lily of Killarney, sung by an opera company.   He was himself a fine tenor and Mollie Bloom a singer of professional stature.

St John’s had its own minstrel, Johnny Burke.   His latest offering was The Old Home Week Songster, price 10 cents at city bookstores and the author’s home on Prescott Street.   An Old Home Week was planned for Regatta Week in August with   the object of bringing back some of the many emigrants, the people who had left Newfoundland for Boston and New York.  Emigration was a problem for Dublin also, or perhaps a solution. Third class passage to New York was available for £2, according to The Freemans Journal.  

In the evening before Bloomsday, the training ship Calypso provided a concert, well attended by St John’s townspeople.  They had a varied entertainment, including songs from HMS Pinafore. The usual two large icebergs were grounded at the harbor entrance.  Also in the evening before Bloomsday, St John’s witnessed a remarkable display of Northern Lights.

Dublin weather was unsettled on Bloomsday, dominated by a fresh to strong southerly breeze, veering westerly.   There was nothing in it to bother James Joyce and Nora Barnacle very much.   In St John’s the people were well aware, from the faint but persistent smell of smoke, that there were substantial forest fires in the hinterland. But there were no roads, no way of knowing where were the fires.

A serious fire threatened Birchy Cove in the Bay of islands. The people, including Mr Peters, Manager of the local branch of the Bank of Montreal, had begun to remove their furniture when the wind shifted a few points and rain began to fall. Birchy Cove was spared.

In St John’s the Herald reported good fishing at nearby Petty Harbor. In a day’s fishing, line-men jigged 2 to 4 quintals per boat and traps averaged 8 to 10 quintals.

Law Intelligence was to be found on Page 2 of The Freeman’s Journal.   Various rather ordinary cases were reported, such as stiff fines for selling watered milk.  The legal news from St John’s was more exotic. Two Assyrian traders, Amion Basha and his son Joseph, pleaded guilty to twice attempting to avoid payment of import duty in the previous year.  Judge Conroy imposed a stiff fine, $400, more money than most men made or saw in a year. Amion Basha paid the fine without delay, out of hand.  The case against 15-year-old Joseph was dropped on account of his youth.

The St John’s Free Press was a weekly.   The issue of Bloomsweek reported

In one incident, fisherman surrounded a herd of 3000 caribou, pinned them against the seashore, and killed them all. Venison made good bait.   Squid and caplin, the usual bait, were very scarce that year. More than 4000 caribou were killed, in all.  The original report appeared in the Lunenberg Argus, told to that paper by the crew of a little Nova Scotia schooner that had seen much of the slaughter. In the Newfoundland way, the St John’s papers had little knowledge of outport affairs.       FP14June1904   Argus 2June1904

En route to Canada aboard the steamship Carthaginian were 95 boys and 43 girls from Mrs Dr Middlemore’s Home in London, reported the Free Press. These homeless children will be distributed among the farmers of Western Canada, said that paper.

Bloomsday was the first day of all life for the son born to the Albert Griffith family of Dublin. Bloomsday  was the first day of all life for the daughter born to the Otto Emerson family of St. John’s.    Bloomsday was the first day of married life for Nellie McNiel and Alan Goodridge, offspring of prominent St.John’s families.  Nellie McNeil’s people owned McMurdo’s, the druggists. Alan Goodridge was Alan Goodridge. Flags and bunting flew from these firms’ premises.

Bloomsday was the last day of all life for Bride Manning.  She died of consumption on Bloomsday in the evening, in her 30th year.   Although her name might as easily place her in Joyce’s Dublin, she was the beloved wife of Constable Manning of the St John’s force. She left five children.

On Bloomsday in the evening, James Joyce went to his own troubled home after meeting Nora Barnacle.   On Bloomsday in the evening, Leopold Bloom ended his journey by getting into bed with Mollie, positioning himself quaintly with his head at her feet. He brushed away some crumbs and shreds of meat left by a previous visitor, one Blazes Boylan.

Mollie Bloom ended her day with a long soliloquy and then a single word.   Of course all days and all stories end with a word.   That is trite.   Mollie’s word was not trite.   It was:

Yes

end bloomsday 1552 words