The Emigrant Mechanic, and Other Tales in Verse, Together With Numerous Songs upon Canadian Subjects

The Scottish-born tinsmith and poet Thomas C. Cowherd (1817 1907) of Brantford became president of the Brantford Mechanic's Institute and Literary Association, hence his title "Emigrant Mechanic." The Cowherd family were friends and associates of the scientist and telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell. In fact, Bell used the Cowherds' tinsmithing services to produce prototypes for the telephone. Cowherd's poetry book begins with the autobiographical "Tale of Humble Life" and includes his "Song to Brantford," "Stanzas on the Fearful Struggle in Europe" (the Crimean War), "A Canadian National Song," "A Call For Help for Garibaldi" (unifier of Italy), and many poems to his wife and children, etc.