There were other members of the district who were well known as writers of poetry. Tom Lewis , who had come from Scotland where he had lived in the neighborhood of Robert Burns , settled on the Greenwich road with his parents.* A shoemaker by trade, Lewis proved to be a substantial poet. Many claims have been made that Lewis was a better poet than Doyle was. (14) Edward D. Ives , who wrote a book about Doyle in 1971, stated this claim was pretty accurate as: Doyle made up songs, which circulated largely through oral tradition. Tom Lewis wrote poems, some of which were published in the newspapers, and some of which were circulated in other ways, but they were meant to be read, not sung. (15) Lewis' best known poems include "A Story of the Sea," written in March of 1903 and "Vanished Joys." Peter Riley of was also a poet, whose works include 'The Battle of the Cans," "Veterans ," and "A at the Bay." JOHNNY BELINDA Elmer Harris , who built a home in Bay Fortune in 1908, came to the Island every summer after that for many years. Returning to the United States after one particular visit to the Island, Harris developed a play out the story of a young woman's life from Dingwells Mills . He called this play " Johnny Belinda ," which played center stage at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown for many years. A movie was later made, which won Jean Wyman an Oscar for her performance as Johnny Belinda in 1948. This movie, shot in , used as the setting for the story. The play turned Belinda into a dancer and had her befriended by a doctor who taught her sign language. Both the movie and play couldn't have been further from the truth. Lydia Dingwell , the person Johnny Belinda was based on, was in fact from Dingwells Mills . Like many people of the time, her life was rough with few comforts. Lydia could not hear nor speak. This, and belief that a man probably raped her, are the two aspects of the play that were tragically true. Unlike Johnny Belinda , however, there were no happy endings for Lydia. Oscars were won, and money was made, but for Lydia, her tragedy is perhaps best represented in the fact that she currently lies in an unmarked grave beside her parents in a cemetery in Bay Fortune : far removed from the money and fame her story brought many. (16) The site of Tom Lewis ' old home is currently on the farm now owned by Albert Termeer . 177