The Shoe

 

By: Veronique

For: Ms. Tracey and Miss. Bisset

March 28^th, 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shoe

                                       

          William Lyon Mackenzie was an immigrant from Scotland in 1820. when William when he was young he married a 15-year-old girl named Isabel Baxter and by the time they had been married they had 13 children.

            In 1837 William Lyon Mackenzie got a group of people to have a rally. As they walked from Newmarket down Younge St. to Lloydtown the rallied to reform government. One of the many people who took part in this rally was named George Medori.

          George was a man who believed almost every word that William said. He was a farmer in Upper Canada who was married to Lee-Ann Medori and had 2 children, Shannon, 9, and Marie, 13. They had an uncommon family, most families had at least one boy child to help with the workload.

          George Medori walked with William Lyon Mackenzie and many other men to Lloydtown, with one shoe. While farming he dropped a heavy shovel on his big toe. It had swollen very big and his foot could no longer fit his shoe without being in pain, so he put a woollen sock on that foot and walked with one shoe.

          In 1844, 7 years after the rally, George died from a heart attack. He had treasured the shoe and Lee-Ann Medori took it. She and her artistic husband Philip Parker came up with the idea of painting the shoe. They painted it half dark blue and half light blue. Soon after they gave the shoe to their son Joseph.

          He decided to add a sun to the light blue side and a moon to the dark blue side of the shoe, to represent day and night. As if it was a tradition everyone added something to the shoe as it got passed down. They continued with the theme of day and night. Every time it got passed down they told each other the story of George Medori and his shoe.

          One day, over 100 years after George died, a small girl named Annie was presented with the shoe and the story told by her mother. The shoe had been transformed into a representation of day and night. Annie redid the colours because they were faded and then put the shoe and a copy of the story written by her into the A.G.A. (Art Gallery of Alberta). 

The End