Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal immortalised as the "Cheeryble Brothers" in Charles Dickens' book, Nicholas Nickleby. Donald's mother was the sister of the Canadian explorer John Stuart, partner of the North West Company who rose to become Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Smith was educated at Anderson's Free School and on leaving at age sixteen he was apprenticed to become a lawyer in the offices of Robert Watson, Town Clerk of Forres. By the age of eighteen, Smith chose another career path: offered entry into mercantile life at Manchester, and a career in the Indian Civil Service, his choice was to pattern himself
Dickens in America completely restored. Miriam tells us that when Dickens came to the hall for his public reading there was a poultry show going on downstairs and when the janitor turned on the lights for the show, the roosters thought it was morning and started to crow. They continued to do so throughout the reading. Dickens was quite put out. Miriam finishes her tour of America with a special meeting at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library on Saturday, December 18, 2004. Everyone who appears in the series, from Boston to St. Louis to Montreal, was invited and