Date: 1895

Origin: Keith Walden, Becoming Modern in Toronto: The Exhibition and the Forming of a late Victorian Culture. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997) pp.208-209

This 1895 cartoon characterizes the divide between urban and rural visitors at Exhibition time in Toronto. During this period, Toronto became crowded with “farm folk” and “city dwellers” took great joy in watching them negotiate the complexities of city life. As Keith Walden points out in his book, Becoming Modern in Toronto: The Industrial and The Shaping of Late Victorian Culture, “Successful navigation of urban perils drew little comment. Mistakes, on the other hand, were joyfully broadcast. Torontonians never tired of hearing of rural confusions, misunderstandings, inexperience, ineptitude and other shortcomings. Country visitors’ unfamiliarity with trolleys was a continual source of mirth. Faith Fenton saw a woman demand a transfer after another passenger got one. When the conductor asked where she wanted to go, the woman replied, “I don’t want to go anywhere. Land sakes, I am clear beat out as it is. But I might as well have one of them cards since I paid for it”.