He rode on a donkey before he rode in a car
Posted Jul 22, 2010 By Bill Sherk
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Tweet ThisEMC Lifestyle - Camille Peters was born in 1946 and spent his first few years in his family's native land of Lebanon. When he was around five, he remembers a neighbour on their street who owned a donkey, and all the young children were eager to go for a ride.
One day, the donkey was parked beside a big rock and this enabled some children to climb on. Three of them sat one behind the other and told Camille (the smallest and youngest) to step down off the rock and ride at the back end of the donkey.
Apparently the extra weight was too much for the donkey and he kicked his hind legs high in the air. Camille went flying off and crash landed on the ground with cuts and scrapes and bruises. He was bleeding from his forehead and was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was bandaged up and sent home. Years later, all four children on that donkey are now living in Canada and Camille makes his home in Leamington, the Tomato Capital of Canada.
Some of our readers might think it odd that this column would include the story of a boy who fell off a donkey. Actually, there is a close connection between cars and horses, and by extension donkeys too. We speak of a car having headlights and taillights, and yet where is the head and where is the tail? These terms have come down to us from the days of horses and buggies.
And speaking of buggies, if you rode in one pulled by a horse (or donkey), you would notice a board sticking up at the front of the buggy. That board was there to protect you from the mud flying up from the hooves of the galloping animal, and the mud got dashed against the board instead of all over you. When people began building automobiles, they needed a board in front of the driver and passenger to hold the instruments. To this very day, we still refer to that instrument panel as a dashboard.
When Camille was a teenager living in Leamington, he was eager to drive a car and take his girl friend to the local drive-in movie theatre. His dad was not too eager to loan him the family car - a 1949 Ford. But after his dad fell asleep and was snoring, Camille would reach under his dad's pillow where he had hidden the car keys and go for a ride. As he got older, he bought a car of his own, but that's another story.
As a thank you, if your story is published in this column you will receive a copy of Bill Sherk's book "60 Years Behind the Wheel: The Cars We Drove in Canada 1900-1960". To share your stories or photos e-mail billtsherk@sympatico.ca or write Bill Sherk, 25 John St., P.O. Box 255, Leamington, ON N8H 3W2.
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