6 Reading, writing, and arithmetic, the fundamentals of skills-based education.
7 I have corrected the original, which reads “to think that the attainments.”
8 Hypatia of Alexandria (ca. 370–415 CE), an Egyptian philosopher and mathematician who had been tutored by her father in astronomy, mathematics, and science. According to Joshua J. Mark, Hypatia was “seen as a ‘stumbling block’ to those who would have accepted the ‘truth’ of Christianity were it not for her charisma, charm, and excellence in making difficult mathematical and philosophical concepts understandable to her students.” She was killed by a Christian mob because her teachings “contradicted the teachings of the relatively new church.” See Joshua J. Mark, “Hypatia of Alexandria,” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2 September 2009, https://www.ancient.eu/Hypatia_of_Alexandria/.
9 Euclid of Alexandria (lived ca. 300 BCE) “systematized ancient Greek and Near Eastern mathematics and geometry”; he was the author of The Elements, “the most widely used mathematics and geometry textbook in history.” See N.S. Palmer, “Euclid,” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 23 October 2015, https://www.ancient.eu/Euclid/. In Anne of Green Gables, Anne refers to her geometry textbook by Euclid’s name (see AGG, 362).
10 I have corrected the original, which reads “they would persist,” as per Montgomery’s handwritten corrections in her scrapbook copy.
11 Cecily Devereux, annotating this piece as an appendix to her critical edition of Anne of Green Gables, states that this phrase means “to remain a virgin,” referring to Longfellow’s poem Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (Devereux, in Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, edited by Devereux, 373n1).
12 One of the definitions of “bluestocking” offered by the Oxford English Dictionary was popular throughout the nineteenth century: “A woman devoted to literary, scholarly, or intellectual activities,” and later, “with derogatory connotations, applied to intellectual women in general.”
13 Philippa Fawcett (1868–1948), English mathematician and lecturer. The title “senior wrangler” was given by the student at Cambridge who received the highest score in mathematics; because women at the time were not permitted to receive a B.A. at Cambridge, Fawcett could not earn this title even though her score in 1890 was much higher than that of her male classmate with the highest score. I have corrected the original, which reads “wranglee.”
14 Agneta Frances Ramsay (1867–1931) received the highest marks in the classical tripos, Cambridge’s program in classics, in 1887.
15 Margaret Florence Newcombe (1857–1937) and Lillie B. Calkin (1862–1952) were first cousins. Newcombe married James Starr Trueman in 1890 and would become principal of Halifax Ladies’ College. Calkin married George S. Carson in 1886, and their daughter, Annie, would graduate from Halifax Ladies’ College.
16 Established in 1887, the Halifax Ladies’ College is where Montgomery boarded while a Dalhousie student.
17 Bachelor of Laws degree. Eliza Ritchie (1856–1933), who taught at Wellesley until 1899.
18 Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York, began admitting women as students in 1870, the same year as the founding of Wellesley College, a women’s liberal arts college in Massachusetts.
19 Master of Laws degree.
20 Bryn Mawr College, a women’s liberal arts college in Pennsylvania that was founded in 1885, was the first American college to offer women advanced degrees, including the Ph.D.
21 Annie Isabella Hamilton (1866–1941), the first woman to graduate with a medical degree from Dalhousie University, set up a practice in Halifax after graduation and, in 1903, moved to China, where she worked as a medical missionary for the rest of her life.
22 I have corrected the original, which reads “into reading room.”
23 I have corrected the original, which reads “that will – certainly not.”
24 I have corrected the original, which reads “which as frequently discussed” and “time above.”
25 Properly, “Her children arise up, and call her blessed.” Proverbs 31:28 (KJV).
TO THE EDITOR
By L.M. Montgomery. Excerpted from “Gleanings from Our Mail Bag,” The Editor: A Journal of Information for Literary Workers (Franklin, OH), March 1899, 125–27.
A HALF-HOUR IN AN OLD CEMETERY
By M.M. Halifax Daily Echo, 26 September 1901, 1. Also in Scrapbook 3.
Also in Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 27 September 1901, 3.
1 Gerson, “L.M. Montgomery,” 69; Montgomery, 13 November 1901, in CJLMM, 2: 23–24. See also Lang, Women Who Made the News, 47–51.
2 From “The Solitary Reaper,” a poem by William Wordsworth (1770–1850), English poet.
3 The original reads “34 years,” but Montgomery changes the 3 to an 8 in ink in her scrapbook copy.
4 The phrase “scope for the imagination” would eventually become one of Anne Shirley’s signature expressions, beginning in Anne of Green Gables.
5 From “Ye Mariners of England,” a poem by Thomas Campbell (1777–1844), Scottish poet.
6 The Stars and Stripes, otherwise known as the flag of the United States of America, had forty-five stars until 1908. St. George’s Cross, a red cross against a white background, forms part of the basis of the flag of England.
7 The Battle of Boston Harbor took place on 1 June 1813, during the War of 1812, between the HMS Shannon and the USS Chesapeake, resulting in a British victory.
8 The Battle of Inkerman, the Battle of the Alma, and the Battle of Balaclava were all fought as part of the Crimean War, on 5 November, 20 September, and 25 October 1854.
9 Properly, “those bleak heights henceforth shall be famous in story.” From Lucile (1860), a book-length poem by Owen Meredith, pseudonym of Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1831–1891), English poet.
10 Properly, “After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.” From Macbeth (1606), a tragic play by Shakespeare.
AROUND THE TABLE
This entire column is arranged to appear as one continuous text in Scrapbook 3, with the instalments appearing in the following order: 1–14, 16–17, 22, 20–21, 23, 18, 15, 19, 24–27, 29–35; instalment 28 is absent from this copy.
1 Montgomery, 14 November 1901, in CJLMM, 2: 26.
2 Montgomery, 28 November 1901, in CJLMM, 2: 36.
3 Montgomery, 14 November 1901, in CJLMM, 2: 26.
OVER THE TEA CUPS
“Over the Tea Cups.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 28 September 1901, 10.
4 These descriptive phrases, referred to in newspaper terms as a “deck,” are omitted from the copy of this column in Scrapbook 3.
5 Dating back to the eighteenth century and sporting a variety of styles, an elaborate hat for women with a wide brim.
6 Possibly an allusion to “The Frequented Village,” a poem by Thomas Dermody (1775–1802), Irish poet.
7 From “A Dream of Fair Women,” a poem by Tennyson.
8 American graphic artist Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944) created a visual icon of white feminine physical attractiveness that became known as the Gibson girl.
9 Properly, “a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.” From Thomas Denman, English judge and politician, in his judgment on the 1844 case of Daniel O’Connel vs. The Queen. This phrase appears also in chapter 1 of Rilla of Ingleside (see RI, 3) and in Montgomery, “The Importance of Beauty in Everything,” 296.
10 This phrase is included in a letter from George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824), English poet, to Augusta Leigh (1783–1851), 18 September 1816, in Byron, Byron’s Letters and Journals, 232.
11 The Halifax Public Gardens were started by the Nova Scotia Horticultural Society in 1836 and merged with a civic garden in 1875; they remain open today.
12 From “The Lotus-Eaters,” a poem by Tennyson.
13 The title of a speech given in Chicago in April 1899 by then-future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), in which he argued that great effort and labour were necessary for success.
14 “Clove Pinks” (Dianthus caryo
phyllus), a type of carnation; “Adam and Eve” (Aplectrum hyemale), a type of orchid; “Bouncing Bess” (Saponaria officinalis), also called “soapwort,” a plant with clusters of pink or white flowers used as an alternative to soap; “Scarlet Lightning” (Lychnis chalcedonica), a plant with scarlet or white flowers whose petals are shaped in a way that resembles a Maltese cross; “Sweet Balm” (Melissa officinalis), a perennial plant with hermaphrodite flowers and tremendous medicinal value; “Butter and Eggs” (Linaria vulgaris), a species of toadflax whose flowers are similar to those of a snapdragon; “Bride’s Bouquet” (Poranopsis paniculata), also known as “Christmas Vine” and “Snow Creeper,” a climbing vine of green leaves with thick clusters of white flowers; “Prince’s Feather” (Amaranthus hypochondriacus), an ornamental plant with plumes of reddish-purple flowers; “Bleeding Heart” (Lamprocapnos spectabilis), a plant with heart-shaped flowers. For a journal entry on old-fashioned gardens written only a few months before this column, see Montgomery, 28 August 1901, in CJLMM, 2: 20. See also Montgomery, The Annotated Anne of Green Gables, 437.
15 An infectious (and often deadly) disease with no proven treatment. In Anne of Green Gables, Anne ruins a cake while fantasizing that she nurses Diana from smallpox only to succumb to the disease herself (AGG, 174). Smallpox is a major plot point in “The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham’s” (in Chronicles of Avonlea) and “In Her Selfless Mood” (in Further Chronicles of Avonlea).
16 A serious infection caused by the pathogenic bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae. In Rilla of Ingleside, Mary Vance saves the day when Rilla’s ward, Jims, becomes gravely ill with “dipthery croup” (RI, 270), referring to a type of diphtheria that leads to serious respiratory problems that are similar to those of croup, even though the diseases are unrelated.
17 This expression, which refers to someone who sleeps with a clear conscience, can be traced back to Abrégé de l’histoire de Port-Royal, a non-fiction work by Racine: “Elle s’endormit du sommeil des justes.” It also appears in Vanity Fair, by Thackeray.
18 This hairstyle, named after Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (1721–1764), mistress of King Louis XV of France, involves sweeping the hair away from the face and wearing it high over the forehead. This hairstyle returned to fashion for women as part of the Gibson Girl look in the 1890s.
[LETTERS, BOOKS, AND NECKWEAR]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 5 October 1901, 3.
19 A main street in Halifax and the location of Halifax City Hall. As indicated in Montgomery’s advertisements for the Christmas season included later in this volume, many of the major shops in Halifax were located on this street.
20 A fichu is “a triangular piece of some light fabric, worn by ladies, now as a covering for the neck, throat, and shoulders, formerly also for the head” (OED).
21 The term “substance” refers to “maintenance, (means of) subsistence” (OED). In “[Seeing and Perceiving]” below, Polly mentions receiving a monthly allowance from her father.
22 The phrase “all sorts and conditions of neckwear” is an allusion to All Sorts and Conditions of Men (1882), a novel by Walter Besant (1836–1901), English author. Chapter 6 of Anne of Avonlea is entitled “All Sorts and Conditions of Men … and Women.”
23 The Love Letters of Honoré de Balzac, 1833–1842 and The Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652–54 had been published in 1901.
24 Robert Browning (1812–1889) and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), English poets. The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning had been published in 1897, The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1845–1846 in 1899.
25 Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), first Chancellor of Germany between 1871 and 1890. The Love Letters of Prince Bismarck had been published in 1901.
26 Victor Hugo (1802–1855), French novelist, poet, and playwright. The Love Letters of Victor Hugo had been published in 1901.
27 Properly, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind.” From 1 Corinthians 13:4 (KJV).
28 Love-Letters from King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn had been published in 1714; The Life Romantic: Including the Love-Letters of the King, by Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947), English author, had been published in 1901.
29 The Love-Letters of a Worldly Woman by Lucy Clifford (1846–1929), English journalist and novelist, had been published in 1892 under the name Mrs. W.K. Clifford.
30 An Englishwoman’s Love-Letters, a novel published anonymously in 1900, was deemed scandalous due to its content, but the scandal dissipated after the revelation that the book had been written by Laurence Housman (1865–1959), English playwright.
31 Popular catchphrase form of “Advice to persons about to marry – Don’t!,” attributed to Henry Mayhew (1812–1887), English social researcher, journalist, and co-founder (in 1841) of the London magazine Punch, which took as its masthead the character of Mr. Punch in the traditional puppet play “Punch and Judy.”
32 The term “parlous” is referred to here in the sense of “perilous, dangerous, precarious” (OED).
33 “Ye olden tyme” and “ye olde tyme” are Old English phrases referring to times past. Ye Amherst Girl of Ye Olden Tyme, a nonfiction book by Alice M. Walker (1855–1928), American author, had been published in 1901.
34 A Nova Scotia town 85 kilometres northwest of Halifax.
[CHARITABLE FITS AND DESPERATE MEASURES]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 12 October 1901, 1.
Also in Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 14 October 1901, 7.
35 Founded in 1802 and located at the corner of South and Robie Streets, the Halifax Poor’s Asylum was a workhouse for orphans, the elderly, and the unemployed that would close in 1947. This anecdote was excerpted and appears with minor variations as “Polly and the Poor’s Asylum,” in McCabe, “Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Table Talk,” 162.
36 From the colloquial phrase “to beg, borrow, or steal.” The earliest usage of a version of this phrase listed in the Oxford English Dictionary is from Tristram Shandy (1759–1767), a nine-volume novel by Laurence Sterne (1713–1768), Irish novelist.
37 See “‘Portia’ – A Study,” note 2, above.
38 Plural form of a variant of “knick-knack.”
39 An expression derived from one of the titular characters in traditional Punch and Judy puppet shows.
40 The Duke of York (who would reign as King George V between 1910 and his death in 1936) and the Duchess of York (later known as Queen Mary) visited Halifax as part of an extended tour of the British Empire in 1901, an event that received considerable coverage in both the Halifax Daily Echo and the Morning Chronicle. See, for instance, Halifax Daily Echo, “A Royal Welcome”; Morning Chronicle (Halifax), “Grand Welcome”; Morning Chronicle (Halifax), “Nova Scotia Welcomes.”
41 The first contingent of soldiers who had fought in the Second Boer War returned to Canada in December 1900. That event was celebrated in Halifax with parades and concerts.
42 This phrase appears in Roxy (1878), a novel by Edward Eggleston (1837–1902), American novelist, and in Samantha among the Brethren (1890), signed “Josiah Allen’s Wife,” a humorous novel by Marietta Holley (1836–1926), American novelist.
43 From “Lochinvar,” a poem by Scott.
44 In the United Kingdom, this gold coin has a nominal value of one pound sterling.
[COLLISIONS AND CROSSED WIRES]
“Around the Table.” By Synthia [sic]. Halifax Daily Echo, 19 October 1901, 4.
Also, by Cynthia, in Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 21 October 1901, 2.
45 Properly, “Fools and children should never look at unfinished work,” American proverb.
46 Built in the 1860s and located at 1723 Hollis Street; possibly was undergoing renovation at the time Montgomery was writing.
47 Term for October found in a number of Indigenous nations, including Abenaki, Cree, Ojibwe, and Sioux. Montgomery would use this term again in The Golden Road
(see GR, 321).
48 In The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), by John Bunyan (1628–1688), English writer and Baptist preacher, the protagonist, Christian, falls into a bog called the Slough of Despond due to the weight of his sins.
49 Montgomery later reused this anecdote in chapter 6 of Anne of the Island, involving Philippa Gordon (AIs, 58). This anecdote was excerpted and appears with minor variations as “Polly’s Postscripts” in McCabe, “Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Table Talk,” 162–63.
50 Both original versions read “properly furnished,” but Montgomery crosses out “furnished” and replaces it in ink with “punished” in her scrapbook copy.
51 Laura Jean Libbey (1862–1924), American author of popular romance novels.
52 I have corrected the original, which reads “ood for it is to pin up hair!”
53 One definition of signet is “a seal, usually set in a ring, regarded as an item of jewellery and featuring distinctive lettering or design. Also: a ring to which such a seal is fixed” (OED).
54 Properly, “What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder,” a saying traditionally stated at the end of a wedding ceremony to indicate that a marriage can never be dissolved. See Matthew 19:6 (KJV).
[“AFTER THE BALL”]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 26 October 1901, 1, 12.
Also in Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 28 October 1901, 3.
55 Title of a popular song by Charles K. Harris (1867–1930), American songwriter, written in 1891.
56 Compare this to Montgomery’s assessment of the Duke and the Duchess in her journal: “Our future king is an insignificant man with a red nose. The duchess looks to be the best man of the two. She was a big, rather fine-looking woman dressed rather dowdily in black” (Montgomery, 23 November 1901, in CJLMM, 2: 34).
57 “Beaux yeux” is French for “beautiful eyes” and is also a possible pun on “bijoux,” French for “jewels.” I have corrected the original, which reads “Dolly admires.”
A Name for Herself Page 40