A Name for Herself
Page 42
146 Montgomery had experienced this herself when reading the ten-year letter of her adolescent friend Will Pritchard, who had died in 1897, only six years after he had written it. “The letter seemed like a message from the dead – from the world of spirits” (Montgomery, 15 April 1897, in CJLMM, 1: 361).
147 “A vessel to hold burning charcoal or other fuel, for heating anything placed upon it; a portable grate” (OED).
148 Properly, “and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” From Revelation 6:2 (KJV).
[UNLIKEABLE PEOPLE]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 13 January 1902, 8.
149 This paragraph and the six that follow appear with minor variations as “‘Preserve Me from the Candid Friend,’” in McCabe, “Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Table Talk,” 163–64.
150 The quotation “Save, save, oh save me from the candid friend!” is attributed to George Canning (1770–1827), English politician for the Tory party who served as British prime minister during the last four months of his life.
151 “Like to cure like” (“similia similibus curentur,” or “let similar things take care of similar things”), the doctrine behind homeopathy, a form of alternative medicine invented in the late eighteenth century by Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843), German physician.
152 “A sin or weakness which dominates a person’s moral character” (OED).
153 The definition of “a bore” as “a man who will persist in talking about himself, when you want to talk about yourself,” is attributed to George Augustus Selwyn (1809–1878), first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand.
154 “If the cap fits, wear it,” an expression that originated in the early eighteenth century. The cap in question possibly refers to a fool’s cap.
155 The Battle of Paardeberg, a major battle in the Second Boer War, took place in the second half of February 1900. “Bobs” presumably refers to Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (1832–1914), who had been commanding the British forces in South Africa since the preceding December. According to Rubio and Waterston, Montgomery had named her own cat Bobs after Lord Roberts (Rubio and Waterston, in CJLMM, 2: 265n1).
156 Properly, “in season, out of season.” From 2 Timothy 4:2 (KJV).
157 Inferno, the first of three parts of the fourteenth-century poem Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri (c. 1265–1321), Italian poet.
158 This phrase has been used commonly in legal documents since the fifteenth century; “these presents” refers to such documents.
159 This anecdote appears again in Anne of Avonlea (see AA, 31).
[THE FIERCE WHITE LIGHT OF PERFECT TRUTH]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 18 January 1902, 12.
160 Possibly an allusion to the popular song “Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two),” released in 1892.
161 This well-known sixteenth-century melody has been attached to a wide variety of lyrics within Christian traditions.
162 Properly, “Hark! from the Tombs a Doleful Sound,” with lyrics by Isaac Watts (1674–1748), English lyricist; this hymn was sung at the funeral of George Washington (1732–1799), first president of the United States of America.
163 See “Around the Table,” note 124, above.
164 Evidently, Jen did not take Cynthia’s advice, from the first instalment of this column, not to trim her own hat.
165 Properly, “The woman that deliberates is lost.” From Cato (1712), a play by Joseph Addison (1672–1719), English politician and author.
166 A snuggery is “a cosy or comfortable room, esp. one of small size, into which a person retires for seclusion or quiet” (OED).
[SEEING AND PERCEIVING]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 27 January 1902, 1, 8.
167 Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937), Italian electrical engineer who made significant technological advances in radio and wireless telegraphy. In order to experiment with wireless messages between North America and the United Kingdom, he set up a receiver in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in December 1901. An article about him entitled “The Wireless Way: A Chat with Marconi” had appeared in the Morning Chronicle less than a month before the publication of this column.
168 The Portuguese term “auto da fé,” meaning “act of faith,” refers to the public execution of persons deemed heretics in a variety of religious inquisitions, sometimes by being burned at the stake.
169 See “Around the Table,” note 131, above.
170 Two of Montgomery’s most fascinating literary characters are Sara Stanley (in The Story Girl and The Golden Road) and Katherine Brooke (in Anne of Windy Poplars).
171 This definition of humour would be reused in almost identical form in Anne of the Island (see AIs, 290).
172 Martha Washington (1731–1802), wife of George Washington, inherited this cookbook, likely handwritten in England in the seventeenth century, from her first mother-in-law; it is now in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
173 Undated idiom meaning someone who is in extreme poverty.
174 “A soft, lustrous silk or rayon fabric with a flattened pile, resembling velvet” (OED).
[GARRETS AND CHEERFUL PEOPLE]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 3 February 1902, 1, 8.
175 Denizens of Halifax. The etymological relationship between “Halifax” and “Haligonian” is subject to debate.
176 Missionary hymn, dated 1819, with lyrics by Reginald Heber (1783–1826), English hymn writer and parson.
177 Properly, “weep with them that weep.” Romans 12:15 (KJV).
178 The Orpheus Music Hall, on Granville Street, opened in 1886.
179 “Having the ethereal qualities associated with a fairy; delicate, light; graceful; immaterial,” as opposed to the term’s more “pejorative sense: insubstantial; superficial; impractical and foolishly idealistic” (OED).
[A WALK IN THE WOODS]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 10 February 1902, 4.
180 “Rembrandtesque” refers to the work of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669), Dutch etcher and painter.
181 Properly, “And so in mountain solitudes – o’ertaken / As by some spell divine – / Their cares dropped from them like the needles shaken / From out the gusty pine.” From “Dickens in Camp,” a poem by Bret Harte (1836–1902), American author.
182 In “Trying the ‘Rose Act,’” an 1893 short story attributed to “Josiah Allen’s Wife,” the narrator addresses her husband: “I would be willin’ to charm you, Josiah Allen, but I don’t see how I could allure and do housework at the same time.” For more on this author, see “Around the Table,” note 42, above. In Anne of the Island, Philippa Gordon claims this expression as “my mission” (see AIs, 185).
183 Samuel Porter Jones (1847–1906), Methodist revivalist preacher in the southern United States.
184 One definition of the transitive verb “to prink” is “to make tidy, spruce, or smart; to dress up, deck out, adorn” (OED).
[DOUBLE STANDARDS]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 17 February 1902, 4.
Also in Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 18 February 1902, 5.
185 See “Around the Table,” note 154, above.
186 Ellen M. Stone (1846–1927), an American missionary, had been kidnapped in Macedonia by revolutionaries on 3 September 1901 and would be held for ransom until her release on 23 February 1902, a week after the publication of this column. Stone is the subject of Teresa Carpenter’s Pulitzer Prize–winning biography, The Miss Stone Affair: America’s First Modern Hostage Crisis (2003). These two paragraphs introducing the “anti-slang society” as well as Theodosia’s struggles to avoid slang and Cynthia’s final comment about slang appear as “The Anti-Slang Society,” in McCabe, “Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Table Talk,” 164.
187 See “Around the Table,” note 59, above.
188 Possibly a misprinted allusion
to “damned with faint praise.” See “The Alpine Path,” note 204, below.
[TALL TALES AND CLOSE CALLS]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 24 February 1902, 6.
Also in Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 25 February 1902, 9.
189 “Little Red Riding Hood,” a European fairy tale that can be traced back to the tenth century, has appeared in a number of forms, most prevalent of which are by Charles Perrault (1628–1703) of France and Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859) Grimm of Germany.
190 Evidently a variant of tales by Eleanor Mure (1779–1885), Robert Southey (1774–1843), and Joseph Cundall (1818–1895) that featured a female protagonist (eventually named Goldilocks) opposite three bears.
191 “The Old Woman and Her Pig,” a cumulative tale that was collected in English Folk Tales (1890), by Joseph Jacobs (1854–1916), Australian folklorist.
192 “Jack and the Beanstalk,” an early nineteenth-century English folk tale best known as its late nineteenth-century version by Jacobs; “Bluebeard,” popularized by Perrault; “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty,” which have appeared in countless versions all around the world, including well-known versions by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm; “Puss in Boots,” an Italian folk tale whose earliest known version, from the mid-sixteenth century, is attributed to Giovanni Francesco Straparola (ca. 1485–1558), Italian author, and was subsequently rewritten by Giambattista Basile (1566–1632), Italian author, and by Perrault.
193 Montgomery reused this anecdote in Anne of the Island (see AIs, 74–75).
194 A similar exchange appears between Susan Baker and Miss Cornelia in Anne’s House of Dreams (see AHD, 170).
[GRAVES OF THE PAST]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 3 March 1902, 1, 8.
Also in Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 4 March 1902, 3.
195 A twenty-ninth day in February is added to the Gregorian calendar every four years, with some exceptions, such as the year 1900 (hence the eight-year gap between Ted’s birthdays); also known as a leap year.
196 A silvertip bear is a grizzly bear.
197 The phrase “gold of Ophir” is used frequently in the Old Testament as a reference to fine gold.
198 “Billet-doux,” French for “sweet note,” refers to a love letter.
199 Presumably, Theodosia is referring here to her dance card, on which women in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries recorded the names of prospective dance partners.
200 Properly, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comic play by Shakespeare.
201 In Christian traditions, Lent refers to a solemn religious observance in the forty days preceding Easter Sunday, the day that commemorates the resurrection of Christ. In Jane of Lantern Hill, Aunt Gertrude omits sugar in her tea during Lent (see JLH, 218).
[SPRING AND SMILES AND OLD MAIDS]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 10 March 1902, 8.
Also in Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 11 March 1902, 6.
202 I have corrected the original, which reads “comraday.”
203 Wilhelm II (1859–1941), German Emperor (Kaiser), ruled the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 1888 to 1918; he is mentioned frequently in Rilla of Ingleside.
204 Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English biologist, made this point in his book On the Origin of Species (1859).
205 Joseph-Elzéar Bernier (1852–1934), a French Canadian mariner who gave lectures to raise funds for his Arctic explorations; he would not reach the North Pole until 1904.
206 Although several sources attribute this quotation to Brer Rabbit, it appears in slightly different form in Uncle Remus (1881), a volume of African American folk tales adapted by Joel Chandler Harris (1848–1908), American author. In this text, it is “Brer Fox” who “lay low,” while it is the “Tar-Baby” who “ain’t sayin’ nuthin’.”
[OLD HOUSES AND PARLOUR GAMES]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 17 March 1902, 1, 8.
207 The Second Primer: Being Sentences and Verses with Pictures, based on books prepared by J.M.D. Meiklejohn (1836–1902), Scottish author, appeared in a Canadian edition in 1881.
208 “The March Winds Do Blow,” an illustration by G.F. Barnes that appeared in The Poet and the Children: Carefully Selected Poems from the Works of the Best and Most Popular Writers for Children (1882), edited by Matthew Henry Lothrop.
209 For “The Duchess,” see “Around the Table,” note 70, above. Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916), Polish author best known around the world for his historical novel Quo Vadis (1896), set in Rome under Emperor Nero in 64 CE.
210 For Rembrandt, see “Around the Table,” note 180, above. John Everett Millais (1829–1896), English painter and co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
211 Richard Wagner (1813–1883), German composer, librettist, and conductor who contributed enormously to the field of opera. John Philip Sousa (1854–1932), American composer and conductor of more than one hundred patriotic and military marches.
212 Properly, Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), Danish author best known for fairy tales such as “The Little Mermaid” and “The Ugly Duckling.” Numerous collections of his work had been published in English by the start of the twentieth century. See Montgomery, 1 June 1909, in CJLMM, 2: 225–26.
213 This play by Shakespeare was the subject of Montgomery’s 1894 essay “‘Portia’ – A Study,” included in this volume.
214 Sir Wilfred Ivanhoe, protagonist of Ivanhoe (1820), a historical novel by Scott; Lancelot, a knight of Arthurian romance whose story is told in numerous texts, including Tennyson’s poem “Lancelot and Elaine,” parodied in Anne of Green Gables.
215 Little Eva, an angelic character who dies in childhood in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), an anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896), American author. An abridgment of Stowe’s novel for children was published as The Story of Little Eva, from “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” the same year as this column, part of the Famous Children of Literature series published by Dana Estes and Company. Estes’s stepson, L.C. Page, would become Montgomery’s first publisher. Becky Sharp, a social-climbing character in Vanity Fair (1847–1848), a satirical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863), English author.
216 See “Around the Table,” note 155, above.
217 Clara Barton (1821–1912), American nurse and humanitarian who founded the American Red Cross.
218 Also known as Mary I of Scotland (1542–1587). She was ordered beheaded by her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603).
219 “Old Subscriber,” a generic title used for unsigned contributions to magazines or newspapers by their readers; “Vox populi,” Latin for “voice of the people,” referring to public opinion.
220 “Anon.” is a short form of “anonymous,” whereas “ibid.” is a short form of “ibidem,” Latin for “in the same place,” used primarily in bibliographic citations.
221 A play in American football in which seven players lock arms and advance in the shape of a V, apex forward, with the ball carrier inside; it originated with the Princeton football team in 1884.
222 A nurse character in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (serialized 1843–1844), a novel by Dickens. A prig is someone who is overzealous with protocol and propriety.
223 Possibly a reference to Edward H. Hobson (1825–1901), American soldier who fought in the Civil War, or to Frederick Hobson (1873–1917), English soldier who fought in the Second Boer War and who would win a Victoria Cross for an act of bravery during the First World War.
[THE VIRTUES OF LAZINESS]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 24 March 1902, 1.
224 “The Total Depravity of Inanimate Things” is the title of a satirical article, published in 1864, by Katherine Kent Child Walker (1833–1916), American author. This article was included in Ma
rk Twain’s Library of Humor (1888).
225 For Montgomery, a “castle in Spain” is an idealized place of the imagination, a phrase used in Anne’s House of Dreams (see AHD, 6) and more centrally throughout The Blue Castle. For Elizabeth Rollins Epperly, this metaphor can be traced to The Alhambra (1832), a book of sketches and stories by Washington Irving (1783–1859), American writer, that Montgomery read frequently (Epperly, Through Lover’s Lane, 26, 82–83). See also Montgomery to Weber, 8 April 1906, in GGL, 37.
226 Properly, “the pomps and vanity of this wicked world,” a phrase appearing in the Book of Common Prayer.
227 This phrase originates in the letters of Cyrano de Bergerac (1619–1655), French writer.
228 Properly, “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.” From Romeo and Juliet (1597), a tragic play by Shakespeare.
229 “Birds of a feather flock together,” meaning “those of like character” (OED), an idiomatic expression originating in the mid-sixteenth century.
230 See “Around the Table,” note 154, above.
231 Properly, “For Satan finds some mischief still / for idle hands to do.” From “Against Idleness and Mischief,” a poem by Watts.
232 Seventeenth-century English proverb emphasizing the benefits of acting without haste or of rising early.
233 An 1806 poem by Wordsworth.
234 This paragraph and the one that follows appear as “A Photographic Party” in McCabe, “Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Table Talk,” 165.
235 Properly, Ainslee’s Magazine. Montgomery’s poem “Harbor Sunset” had appeared in the January 1902 issue of this New York periodical.
[HOW KISSING WAS DISCOVERED]
“Around the Table.” By Cynthia. Halifax Daily Echo, 31 March 1902, 8.
236 This holy location in the Christian tradition would be the setting for the title poem in Montgomery’s The Watchman and Other Poems (see WOP, 3–7).
237 Properly, “the east wind was out of her soul.” From The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860), by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894), American physician and author. Montgomery would quote Holmes’s books again in Montgomery, “The ’Teen-Age Girl,” 277, 281.