1910 — John Diefenbaker, 15, and his brother Elmer have just moved to Saskatchewan with their family and are earning spending money by selling newspapers at Saskatoon’s railway station. A dignified-looking gentleman disembarking from the train pays John 25 cents for a paper and chats with him about his aspirations.
After laying the cornerstone for the College Building at the University of Saskatchewan this afternoon, Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier comments on the impressive quality of the local newsboys. “After I talked to a newsboy this morning, he told me: ‘I can’t waste any more time on you, Prime Minister. I must get about my work.’ “
This is such a wonderful anecdote about John Diefenbaker…and it says so much about his perseverance and work ethic!
I just finished writing a book for children about John Diefenbaker at 12 years old called The Mystery of the Moonlight Murder: An Early Adventure of John Diefenbaker. It’s historical fiction and set in Borden, Saskatchewan where he grew up.
We plan on covering all the prime ministers and other great Canadians eventually. It’s my great hope we can get young kids interested in our leaders, who have given of themselves to serve.
Roderick
Nice to hear from you, Roderick. In researching my fact book on Canadian Prime Ministers, I have been particularly impressed with the Warts & All series for young people, for which you wrote the Meighen bio.
Thank you Gary…writing the Meighen book for the Warts & All series was a great deal of fun.
Fireside Publishing House is the publisher of the new Diefenbaker book and we anticipate reaching a whole new audience of kids. It’s exciting to think of getting kids hooked early on Canadian history and leadership themes.