Maclean's

RIVERS OF CANADA

The languid and St. John

Loved more deeply than mightier streams, the historic Iifethread of the St. John Valley pulses slowly to the sea past the Loyalist farms and happy towns where progress can still be a naughty word By HUGH MAULENNAN19 min

10

ARTICLES

The scandal of our lost art treasures

While our museums were hoving Chinese and Greek antiquities foreign eollectors practically swept this country hare of irreplaceable native relics and pioneer art. And the plunder still goes on, almost unheeded and unchecked By FRED BODS WORTH18 min

20

ARTICLES

THE UNKNOWN YEARS OF Stephen Leacock

All but abandoned by a restless father, Canada’s best-known writer drew his humor and humanity from a strong and serene mother and from the fascinating world around him. Here, for the first time, is the full story of By RALPH L. CURRY17 min

24

CANADA HOUSE:

Everybody’s hom away from home

Our London branch doesn’t mind telling visiting Canadians what to tip a cabbie or how to get bailed out of jail, but when somebody demands a room with bath or return fare home — well, there has to be a limit to what an embassy can do By DAVID MACDONALD15 min

26

ARTICLES

How I came to burn Sir John A

To relieve his conscience this Dominion Day, a historian not unknown as a humorist confesses to his boyhood crime against the ghost of our first prime minister By BRUCE HUTCHISON15 min

JOHN DIEFENBAKER SHOWS HIS SOUVENIRS OF JOHN A. MACDONALD

14

ARTICLES

JOHN DIEFENBAKER SHOWS HIS SOUVENIRS OF JOHN A. MACDONALD

THIS EXCLUSIVE ALBUM OF A PM’S PRIZED N REFFECTS PRIME MINISTER DIFFEN13AKEE’S HOMAGE: “MACHONALD IS AS VITAL TODAY AS IF HE WERE ALIVE” By Peter C. Newman12 min

18

ARTICLES

THE DAY CANADA WAS BORN

Booming cannon fire, carried on a warm breeze, sounded the birth of our nation 92 years ago. Although a handful of its 3.5 million people lived with surprising elegance, Canada was essentially a raie and rural land of dirt roads, oxen in the fields and — inevitably—squabbling politicians By W. G. HARDY10 min

Non-profit groups—even churches—should pay taxes

6

For the sake of argument

Non-profit groups—even churches—should pay taxes

Recently the leaders of a religious denomination launched an ambitious charitable project. After a campaign which raised substantial cash donations the group bought a choice suburban tract and built an institution for the benefit of its members. By ERIC HARDY CONTENDS8 min

THE GOVERNMENT’S SECOND BIRTHDAY A quick inventory of the pros and cons

2

BACKSTAGE

THE GOVERNMENT’S SECOND BIRTHDAY A quick inventory of the pros and cons

POLITICIANS disagree with each other so expertly in public, it’s always a shock to discover how nearly alike their private opinions are. But one way to prove that they don’t really differ much is to ask them for a frank appraisal, now that the Diefenbaker government has had its second birthday and its first major cabinet shuffle, of the assets and liabilities in its record. By BLAIR FRASER6 min

Bruce Bairnsfather and his friend, Old Bill

8

London Letter

Bruce Bairnsfather and his friend, Old Bill

It is just possible that some of the younger readers of Maclean’s have never heard of Bruce Bairnsfather and his immortal Old Bill of the 1914-18 war. Let me admit that for many years I heard no mention of his name and, indeed, was unaware whether he was still alive. By BEVERLEY BAXTER6 min