The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 59
59 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN an afternoon party in the grounds of Donald Farms, which were kept in spick-and-span condition; the lawns were as smooth as velvet, a very rich green. A police or military band was in attendance. After tea we were asked if we would like to visit the barns. We went down, and when we approached the building I thought this must be the manager's residence; their were wire gauze windows, with flowerpots on the window wills. We went in and found it was the cow house. The cows were provided with every comfort. There was an arrangement even for music, brought by radio, and we were told the cows were so accustomed to the music that one of them resented being moved from her stall near a loudspeaker to a more distant stall, so much so that it affected even the quantity of milk she would yield. So she had to be brought back to her original position. A valuable calf of a particular breed, which had been purchased somewhere in the Middlewest was brought to the farm by airplane, and was lowered down by a parachute arrangement and landed safely. Mrs. Dunlap was a very gracious woman. She had set up this luxury farm in memory of her husband. He was a qualified lawyer and had either not set up in practice at all, or could not make much headway at the law, and he took on the job of teaching. Some people who had formed a corporation for the purpose of prospecting for silver, approached him and asked him to draw up the legal documents. They told him they had not much money and could not pay him a fee, but that they would allot him some paid up shares. If they struck silver, he would be well off, and if not, he would lose nothing. He agreed to draw up the documents on that basis and see them through registration, etc. In the end they did not strike silver but they struck gold. The shares rose in value and he found himself very rich but unfortunately he developed TB and died of it at an early age. He had wished to set up a farm and live the life of a farmer in the open air. So his widow - they had one son, Moffat, who succeeded to the farms later - bought and established this farm in memory of her husband. The log cabin in which Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap had started life had been taken down and had been reconstructed inside one of the principal rooms of the farmhouse, which was a veritable mansion. When I went back again to Toronto in 1942 I met Mrs. Dunlap in the house of Mrs. Starr. I had met Mr. Starr during my first visit; he was an eminent surgeon. By the time I went back in 1942, Mr. Starr had