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A TRIBUTE
By
OLIVER UNDERWOOD
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 27 June 1922]
Full twenty years have we known Alex Griffiths, and his passing on leaves a gap in the ranks of the Old Guard of Welland, whose acquaintance we first formed that long ago.
Two incidents in connection with him come to memory. One was that he made the first set of driving harness we owned. That was back in the days when a good roader and a red-wheeled, rubber-tired road wagon or runabout, was the equivalent of today’s six-cylinder car; and if the outfit were topped by a set of Alex Griffiths’ handmade harness, the last word was said. And the fact that this same set is still doing service today is pretty good evidence that he tried to deliver the goods in his dealings with his fellow men.
The other follows later, when a little boy, a two or three year old, would sometimes come to town with daddy. Whenever son saw Alex Griffiths, there arose an enthusiastic shout of greeting, and followed a prompt transfer of the charge of one small boy from us to him.
The two would disappear in the direction of the bridge, there to await the coming of what the small son termed “a bid bote,” from which inspection they would return together, a bag of peanuts, popcorn or candy always in the hands of the small boy, and the two of them manifesting every evidence of having had a mighty good time.
That boy is an older boy today, but he remembers and will always remember the kindness of Alex Griffiths; and, when you come to think it over, a man could not leave a much better monument to his memory than that builded upon the affection of a little child.
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