From the earliest days of memory, I have been curious about the meaning of the name given to the street where I was born and lived and the place I proudly call home. That name’ Rattlyrow ‘ rolls of the tongue with poetic beauty. I have never permitted it to fade from my mind, and to this day, it remains part of my e-mail address! I have sought its meaning, unsuccessfully for the most part, but I have heard suggestions concerning its derivation. Our next-door neighbour gave me the most memorable explanation.
He was an old retired sea-captain. I can still feel my child’s hand being swallowed up in his massive weather-beaten one as we took another of our many trips to the waterfront. “Skipper Affie, why do they call where we live ” Rattleyrow”? I inquired of my best friend. From our short walk down Barrett’s Lane, the old skipper tired sat down on a gump at the wharf head and looked out towards the Squid-Jigging ground! The activity on the waterfront this morning was considerable. But above the noise of the crowd and the call of a hundred seagulls, one sound is audible above all others, and it came from the direction of my friend’s gaze. There, a schooner is weighing anchor, and the rattling chains bring a visible mist to my dear friend’s eyes.” Little buddy,” my skipper friend, following a long pause, finally ventures, “that sound is music to me! and that music is what’s behind why people call the place where we live, ‘Rattleyrow.’ I remember this harbour being full of schooners, and sometimes, all night long, you’d hear the chains rattling as they got ready to put out to sea or they might be moorin’ there, after their voyage home.”
Sights and sounds relating to the sea enter into many a man’s soul as unforgettable music and brings a tear to the eye of those who have finally disembarked. My old ‘skipper’ friend was only one of the many from ‘Rattleyrow’ swelling the numbers of men from Brigus, who could not escape the mysterious lure of the sea. And many of them joined the crew of Captain Bob Bartlett’s famous arctic expeditions on The Effie M Morrisey. They then continued their own saga, still fraught with danger but ever with unremitting courage.
As unavoidable as the sea call is, there is another call that echoes through the hills of this old town and finds its way throughout its streets. It is the call of God to Christian Service. That ‘Call’ meets with a fantastic response as well, from every corner of this town. But let me record the rather remarkable facts of this matter, as they relate to “Rattleyrow,” since this is my present undertaking.
At the top of “Rattleyrow,” directly across the road from the house once occupied by my grandfather Curtis and his family, there was the house of George and Mary Meaden. On February 16, 1892, a son JOHN ALFRED was born to them. John was a man of outstanding intellectual ability. He became an ordained minister of The Church Of England and in 1956 was elevated to be Bishop of Newfoundland, a service he discharged with distinction.
Sights and sounds relating to the sea enter into many a man’s soul as unforgettable music and brings a tear to the eye of those who have finally disembarked. My old ‘skipper’ friend was only one of the many from ‘Rattleyrow’ swelling the numbers of men from Brigus, who could not escape the mysterious lure of the sea. And many of them joined the crew of Captain Bob Bartlett’s famous arctic expeditions on The Effie M Morrisey. They then continued their own saga, still fraught with danger but ever with unremitting courage.
As unavoidable as the sea call is, there is another call that echoes through the hills of this old town and finds its way throughout its streets. It is the call of God to Christian Service. That ‘Call’ meets with a fantastic response as well, from every corner of this town. But let me record the rather remarkable facts of this matter, as they relate to “Rattleyrow,” since this is my present undertaking.
At the top of “Rattleyrow,” directly across the road from the house once occupied by my grandfather Curtis and his family, there was the house of George and Mary Meaden. On February 16, 1892, a son JOHN ALFRED was born to them. John was a man of outstanding intellectual ability. He became an ordained minister of The Church Of England and in 1956 was elevated to be Bishop of Newfoundland, a service he discharged with distinction.
In later years a very devout Roman Catholic family that lived next door to our house on “Rattleyrow” saw two of their daughters leave home to pursue callings within their church.
In 1974, I became an ordained minister of the United Church Of Canada.
In 1976 our beloved neighbours, Richard and Ethel Rose, who live directly across the road from our home on Rattleyrow, celebrated their son Melvin’s ordination to the ministry of The United Church Of Canada.
The fact that amazes me here is in consideration of the number of young women and men who chose, or more accurately were chosen to serve, from this small segment of our town!
The total number of those chosen throughout this town from various Christian Communions, however, is most remarkable for a township of its size.
In the final analysis, everything I have written here is further confirmation of the significant role the Christian Faith plays in establishing the lasting beauty of any place. Let us ever remember to offer prayers of thanksgiving for St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, St. George’s Anglican Church, and The United Church Of Canada, that their guiding light will continue to shine upon the path that leads us all to our Eternal Home!
EDITORIAL NOTE
The Photo: is a stock photo from the House- Of- Mirth: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/house-of-mirth.html
It is meant to capture something of the day I felt the meaning of ” Rattleyrow.”
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