Old Man Savarin Stories (Illustrated)

Old Man Savarin Stories is a collection of 17 short stories and a preceding poem. Of the 16 stories, nine of them are about Canada or Canadians, and five of the other seven, set in the U.S., South Africa, and England, are narrated by Canadian natives. In an extensive review of the book, Glenys Stow says that action is the central theme of Thomson's stories: "a heroic father is swept over Niagara Falls; a lumberman's son works feverishly to salvage a broken crib of logs in order to support his starving family; ten soldiers in the Army of the Potomac gallop through the night carrying despatches at the risk of their lives," Canadian Literature, No. 66, Autumn, 1975, p. 122. In sum, the book provides a view of early Canadian life from a number of different perspectives.

Edward William Thomson (February 12, 1849 1924) was a Canadian journalist and writer. He was born in Peel County, Ontario, the grandson of Edward William Thomson, a member of the York militia who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada.

When Thompson was 14, he was sent to Philadelphia to work in a mercantile office; he enlisted in the Union Army in October 1864 (at 15), and saw action during the American Civil War as a trooper in the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry.

Thomson returned to Canada when discharged in August 1865. He saw combat again the next year, at the Battle of Ridgeway during the Fenian Raids. Thomson took up civil engineering in 1867, and worked as a Land Surveyor from 1872 to 1878, spending time working on the Carillon Canal project. Entering journalism, he was chief editorial writer on the Toronto Globe in 1879-91; went to Boston where he was editor of Youth's Companion (1891-1901); returned Canada, became Ottawa correspondent of Boston Transcript, and contributed to many periodicals.

Thomson published Old Man Savarin and Other Stories (1895); Walter Gibbs, the Boss and Other Stories (1896); Between Earth and Sky (1897); Aucassin and Nicolette, a versification of M. S. Henry's translation (1898); Peter Ottawa (1908); When Lincoln Died Other Poems (1909); and, The Many-Mansioned House and Other Poems (1909).

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