MAY 2010 - Anne of Green Gables Store

MAY 2010
‘Spring had come
once more to
Green Gables’
This photo
was taken
May 10.
Share where
you are in the
world by sending us a picture
of yourself
holding your
favorite copy of
Anne of Green
Gables, posed against wherever you live —
or wherever you’re travelling to. Feel free to
include friends or family if you’d like, and
e-mail it to us at [email protected]
Include your first name and where your
photo was taken, and any other info you
want to share with Anne fans around the
world. Show us how “Anne Gets Around.”
Hi from New Zealand,
We enjoy reading the Kindred
Spirits newsletter especially the
“Anne gets around” article. Anne
has been here in Christchurch,
New Zealand for many years with
my mother Johanne Ragg. Here is
a photo of Johanne with her
Anne of Green Gables book that
she was given in 1955. She has
read this book so many times
that she could probably recite the
whole story almost word for word. Johanne has the entire collection from Anne of Green Gables to Rillia of Ingleside and still enjoys
reading them as much now as she did back in the late 1950’s. My
4-year-old son Cameron is in this picture with his grandmother.
Regards, Karen Jeffrey
Beyond the
The Macneill Homestead in Cavendish, PEI
“This is a veritable haunt of
ancient peace.”
Orchard
KILMENY OF
ORCHARD
THE
This year, 2010, marks the 100th anniversary of the publishing
of Kilmeny of the Orchard, L.M. Montgomery’s third novel
by Sandy Wagner
M. Montgomery’s third published book, Kilmeny of the
Orchard, arrived May 4, 1910.
Like the mayflowers, it had the sweetness
of the past … Before Kilmeny of the
Orchard was a fond remembrance of
Una of the Garden, published in 1908 as
a magazine’s five-part serial.
L.
Golden rays of sunlight and everchanging mystical shadows lend them-
2
selves to the orchard — this haunt of
ancient peace. One old crone of an apple
tree bursts into glorious bloom each
spring. It is the only one left, a beautiful
reminder of days gone by. One hundred
years after Kilmeny of the Orchard was
published in 1910, this property where
L.M. Montgomery grew up is still
lovingly tended and cared for by the
Macneill family of Cavendish.
The “front” orchard was the oldest one
having been planted by grandfather’s
father, old “Speaker Macneill.” We always
called it “the front garden,” although
there was no garden in it. But there had
been once and the name clung, wrote
Maud Montgomery in her journal. The
transformation of Una of the Garden to
Kilmeny of the Orchard are almost one in
the same. Most of the orchard was grown
over lushly with grass; but at the end
where Eric stood there was a square treeless place which had evidently once served
as a homestead garden.
Maud believed the development of her
own literary gift could be traced to the
incidents and environment of her childhood. And so — we come to that old
orchard — the Macneill orchard, woven
by its seasons into Kilmeny’s orchard.
The springtime rosy blush of apple blossom and royal drifts of lilac’s purple and
snow unfolds to the time of the roses in
their queenly summer fragrance. ‘Sweet’
As a subscriber, you save up to $11.25 on each ticket to Anne of Green Gables the Musical
Benefits
apples loved in childhood bent to the
kindling goldenrod and stars of asters
nodding their farewell to summer. The
beauty of winter drifts over the orchard
and in Maud’s own words — the very
trees are coated with snow until it is like
some fairy court of marble seen in a
splendid dream.
Beyond the orchard, Maud admitted
in her journal to the original sources she
had in mind as she wrote this story.
Queenslea College was in reality Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia
(she attended 1895-96). Professor
Charles Macdonald, acting president for
the Convocation on 28 April, 1896,
became “old Charlie” with his loud, deep
voice praying in Latin for the graduates. Maud pasted his picture in
her blue scrapbook along with the
Convocation programme.
Lindsay School may have been so
named by Maud’s teenage remembrance
of the country schoolhouse in Lindsay,
Saskatchewan. Decorating the building
with orange tiger lilies and wild prairie
roses, she assisted teacher and friend
Annie McTaggart with the closing school
concert, June 30, 1891. Maud bequeathed
the unspeakable beauty of New London
Harbour near Cavendish, PEI, and the
Gulf beyond, to Lindsay Harbour.
Beyond the orchard, Maud shared a
fond remembrance of her Bideford
school year. A favourite student, John
Millar, launched into a composition on
‘Courting’ with the sentence, ‘Courting
is a very pleasant thing which
a great many people go too
far with.’ In writing
Kilmeny, Maud named
him John Reid, whose
teacher Eric Marshall is
as amused over the
sentence as Maud obviously was.
John Millar (18811959) married Lily Pearl
Palmer on September
19, 1906. They operated a farm in Freeland,
P.E.I. all their lives, raising four children: Harold,
Marjorie, Jeanetta and
Roland. One wonders if
John ever knew of his own
contribution to Kilmeny of
the Orchard.
When Nora Lefurgey taught
school in Cavendish in 1901, she
boarded at the James Laird home on
the adjoining property to Maud’s
Grandfather Macneill. Nora and Maud
became lifelong friends. A quarter of a
century later, Maud would dedicate
Benefits
Magic for Marigold to Nora — in memory
of a world that has passed away. It is not
surprising that the Laird home became
the setting for Eric Marshall’s boarding
place — the Williamsons, or that the
woods he walked were beyond Maud’s
beloved Lovers Lane.
Maud’s word painting of Kilmeny’s
beauty is beyond
artistic comparison. Her
loveliness was
so perfect . . .
Her name
she chose
from The
Queen’s Wake,
written by
Scottish writer
and poet James
Hogg. Kilmeny looked
up with a lovely grace . . . The fairytalelike quality of Kilmeny’s story came from
Maud’s own love of such stories. In rereading them as an adult it gave her a
journey back to that part of her childhood. One such tale of a boy at the court
of Alexander the Great who couldn’t
speak until one day he saw his father in a
position of great danger, gave credence to
Kilmeny’s affliction. She can hear as well
as anybody and understand everything
that is said to her, but she can’t speak a
word … To George MacMillan in 1910
Maud wrote Gibbs’ Kilmeny is beautiful
but she is not my Kilmeny. Yet, Gibbs’
lovely illustration of Kilmeny was framed
and hung above her desk along with
Anne and The Story Girl, at the Leaskdale
manse.
The orchard to which Kilmeny
retreated was part of the blossoming
wonder and beauty seen from the window of Maud’s dear old room where she
wrote. Perhaps the beautiful music of the
As a subscriber, you save 10% on Anne of Green Gables Store, and L.M. Montgomery products online
3
violin came to Maud from her remembrance of festive occasions at The Opera
House in Charlottetown. The orchestra
providing music from
1870-1910 was directed
by Professor of Music,
Henry Vinnicombe,
who played the violin.
Maud’s lonely years
were filled writh writing, as Kilmeny’s were
with music.
Could the old sagging bench in the orchard,
be the old remembered side
bench of Cavendish school
days, where Maud sat writing poetry with her schoolmate when they should have
been working on fractions?
The symbol of ‘youthful innocence’ — that swift and enchanting time of life — is
manifested in the sweetly scented
flower of the white lilac branching over
Kilmeny on the bench. The purple lilac
blossoms signify the ‘first emotions of
love’ — the feelings of joy which bloom
with Eric’s first delight of her loveliness.
When she was a young girl, Maud
longed for bangs like the other schoolgirls had. Longingly gazing into the
mirror made no difference because bangs
were forbidden by her grandparents. In
fairness, Maud did have beautiful hair,
yet bangs were all the rage. It wasn’t until
she was sixteen, having returned from
her western sojourn with her father, that
she could look into the mirror and see
her face softened by the longed-for
bangs.
Twenty years later, with the death of
her grandmother and the closing of the
Macneill home in 1911, the mirror was
taken down and travelled to Park Corner
along with the enchanted bookcase.
4
What significance these items of Maud’s
past represent. The bookcase with its
imaginary Katie Maurice and Lucy Gray
‘belonged’ to Anne. The mirror ‘belonged’ to Kilmeny, for there had
not been a mirror in the
Gordon household
for sixteen years.
“I think I am pleasant
to look upon . . . It is
so dreadful to believe
one is ugly …”
blushed Kilmeny, in
her creator’s understanding. Ninetynine years later
the mrror still
hangs on the wall
at the stair landing of Silver Bush
(now the Anne of
Green Gables
Museum in Park
Corner, P.E.I.)
This is the home
to which
Maud was always welcomed as family over
the years of her lifetime. There
with her Aunt Annie, Uncle
John and Campbell cousins she
resided before her marriage to
Rev. Ewan Macdonald. The
rectangular mirror is framed
in dark brown wood. When
writing of it in Kilmeny, Maud
gave it a golden frame.
1780. Of the twelve children born to
them, the one named Neill was considered to be somewhat of a black sheep.
Fortunately, he was never slandered with
an attempted murderous crime of
intense jealousy such as Neil Gordon is
portrayed as doing. However, it does add
speculation to the choice of the name
Neil.
Bessie Stewart Jonsson (1910-2002)
often spoke of her childhood in Cavendish, recalling the gypsy people that came
to the brook for water. Perhaps the
circumstances surrounding Neil’s birth
were not as fictional as one might have
thought. His ability to play the violin as
fiddler for the country dances harkens
back to the house parties in Rustico, or
the wedding dance in Darlington which
Maud was able to enjoy. Neil’s music was
very different to Kilmeny’s haunting
melody. His melodious, though
untrained voice in the church choir
Maud would understandably weave into
Maud credited her literary
appreciation, her storytelling and
ability to write, to the Macneills —
her mother’s people. The Macneill
name was founded in Cavendish in
1790 by John Macneill who had emigrated in 1775 from Argilshire,
Scotland, having married Margaret
Simpson of Morayshire in
As a subscriber, you can enjoy archived articles about L.M. Montgomery’s life and works
Benefits
Maud, left, with her cousin Bertie
McIntyre in Charlottetown, 1910.
Photo courtesy of John and Jennie Macneill
September, 1910 Maud was invited to
meet Governor General Earl Grey in
Charlottetown, due to his admiration of
her books and poetry. It is most fitting to
realize that Bertie was the first to be told
by Maud that the Governor General had
asked her for an autographed copy of
Kilmeny of the Orchard.
Many years ago, when a winter storm
in a blinding white rage brought PEI to a
halt, local residents gathered outdoors
afterward to assess the damage done.
Our nearest neighbour, attempting to get
down her porch steps, was asked how she
had managed during the storm. With a
smile, she replied, “I’ve had a wonderful
day! I spent it reading Kilmeny of the
Orchard.” What a marvellous contradiction to the storm. Like the contradictory
views of Kilmeny found in Maud’s journal, one perceptive critic stated, “Miss
Montgomery is one of the few authors
who never disappoint their readers.”
One hundred years later, beyond the
orchard, her writings are still loved and
appreciated around the world.
his character, in her own role as church
organist. For Maud wrote about what she
knew.
finished rewriting the Kilmeny manuscript, dedicating it to her cousin Beatrice
McIntyre:
The psychological twist to the story,
bringing about a miracle for Kilmeny
through Neil’s action, reveals an influence far beyond the orchard. Being such a
searching and avid reader enabled Maud
to continually expand her choice of plots.
Although she claimed there was little of
her own experience in Kilmeny of the
Orchard, she seems to have unknowingly
shared with us her world of wonder
within, and around, the orchard.
Beatrice A. McIntyre
As 1909 came to a close, Maud
Benefits
TO MY COUSI N
THIS BOOK
I S A FFECTI ONATELY DEDICATED
She and Bertie were Montgomery kin.
Bertie’s mother Mary, whom Maud grew
to love, and Maud’s father were brother
and sister, having grown up in Park
Corner. Maud truly enjoyed her McIntyre cousins and stayed with them whenever she came to Charlottetown. It was in
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Grateful thanks to Janice
Trowsdale for family information of her great
uncle John Millar.
REFERENCES: Kilmeny of the Orchard,
L.M. Montgomery, L. C. Page and Company, 1910
with four illustrations from paintings by George
Gibbs.
The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volumes
1,11,1V. Edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth
Waterston, Toronto Oxford University Press,
1985-1998.
The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career.
L.M. Montgomery, 1917, Fitzhenry and Whiteside
Limited.
Cavendish, Its History Its People. Harold H.
Simpson and Associates Limited, 1973.
As a subscriber, you enjoy discounts on entrance fees to popular L.M. Montgomery sites on PEI
5
Barbara McKnight’s
Green Gables dollhouses
by Doug McKnight
y mother Barbara built several dollhouses and I
would like to share the story of two of them: one of
Green Gables, and one of Orchard Slope. Barbara
kept a notebook detailing the construction of the houses and in
it she wrote of her inspiration:
M
“My Mother’s diary on her 16th birthday, June 25, 1909,
records that one of her gifts was ‘the new book Anne of Green
Gables.’ In later pages Mama mentions reading and loving it. In
Salt Lake City, our 4th grade teacher read it aloud to the class.
Even the boys seemed to enjoy it. Did Mama tell me about it
earlier? I could read at an early age and it seems to me I always
knew Anne.”
Her construction of the Green Gables dollhouse began in
6
Barbara McKnight with
the Green Gables-theme
dollhouse that she built
from scratch. Its dimensions are 50” x 28” x 36.”
July, 1981 and became an ongoing project that also included
construction of the Orchard Slope house, Diana Barry’s home.
Her resources included postcards and photos from friends who
had visited P.E.I. In 1993 Barbara corresponded with Mel
Melanson, Brenda MacDonald and Louise Doucette, of the
Canadian Parks Service, who sent her their own pictures of the
interior of the Green Gables house in Cavendish, PEI.
Of course, the main source of information was the book
Anne of Green Gables. Barbara kept a list of passages from the
book with her when she went to miniature shows and shops on
her quest to find everything mentioned in the book. She also
referred to the 1908 Sears & Roebuck catalogue to ensure that
everything was correct to that period. That became an important reference for the Orchard Slope House. There are few
details of it in the book, so it is really Barbara’s vision of how
Diana’s house would have looked in 1908.
Be sure to send your “Anne Gets Around” picture to us, at [email protected]
She built the Green Gables dollhouse from scratch. The floor
plan was changed to allow for better viewing, based on her past
experience from building dollhouses. The interior details are as
accurate as possible.
Barbara made many things by hand, including Anne’s brown
gloria dress with
puffed sleeves, and
she noted that it
was “a chore to
make.” She must
have enjoyed making rugs, as she
made most of the
needlepoint rugs
and all of the rag
rugs in the houses,
including Marilla’s
Matthew planting flowers outside
six in the garret.
the back step.
Above: The main entry of Green Gables, as you step in
through the front door. Below: The sitting room.
Many of Barbara’s
friends and family members are avid dollhouse builders, and
contributed many items and building tips to the project. Her
niece Susan and Susan’s husband, Mark, supplied the hundreds
of roof shingles and siding boards, which they made by hand.
A co-worker of mine, Ron Palmer, had retired as a toolmaker
and he turned his skills toward making miniature cookware
from copper and brass. Ron’s handiwork is seen in the kitchen
of both dollhouses.
Barbara passed away in 2006 and I began searching for a new
home for her dollhouses. To help me, my friend Lyneen put an
entry, with pictures, in her blog. She also contacted several
museums and shops, one of which was the Springhouse & the
Victorian Rose Teahouse in my hometown of Port Orchard,
Benefits
The two photos below show the Green Gables kitchen
with Marilla rolling out pie crust, at left, and the kitchen
table with three places laid for supper, right.
As a subscriber, you save up to $11.25 on each ticket to Anne of Green Gables the Musical
7
Washington. They referred me to the Doll Shop & Teahouse’s
previous owner, Sandy O’Donnell, who lives in nearby Manchester. I had shown the dollhouses to several people, but
nothing felt right. I didn’t want them hidden away in someone’s
basement. When Sandy came to see them, her enthusiasm
assured me that I had found a good home for them. She was
familiar with the Anne books and she also collects dolls.
I was overwhelmed when I saw Sandy’s amazing doll collection which fills one floor of her house. It is a lifetime passion
that she still pursues. So the dollhouses are prominently displayed under the gaze of hundreds of vintage dolls and if you
are travelling to Washington and wish to visit, Sandy can be
reached at [email protected], for an appointment.
The final coincidence of this story came when George
Campbell of the Anne of Green Gables Museum in Park
Corner, PEI contacted me. George was one of the people
Lyneen had contacted while helping me search for a new home
for the dollhouses, and he inspired me to write this story.
The dollhouses now have a view across Puget Sound of
Seattle, where they were built. They are a great addition to
Sandy’s fabulous doll collection, and they are close enough for
me to visit. They enjoy a large audience of frequent visitors,
providing a nice legacy for Barbara. Everything came full circle
and I met many kindred spirits along the way.
Above: Anne’s bedroom.
Above: Matthew’s bedroom, and below, Marilla’s.
Sandy O’Donnell, above, with the Orchard Slope dollhouse, the home of Diana Barry’s family. Unike Green
Gables, Barbara McKnight built this dollhouse from a kit.
The dimensions are 32” x 32” x 32” and it is wired for electricity, as is the Green Gables dollhouse. Barbara
McKnight’s dollhouses now reside with Sandy at her
home in Manchester, Washington. She can be reached at
[email protected] for an appointment to see the
houses.
8
Be sure to send your “Anne Gets Around” picture to us, at [email protected]
Around our
Kitchen
Table
Calling kindred spirits to the
ninth biennial
L.M. Montgomery
Conference
Rhubarb Relish
Whenever the springtime
breezes call the shoots of new
rhubarb to maturity, I reach for
this delicious recipe for Rhubarb
Relish given me by George
Campbell’s mother Ruth, many
years ago in the kitchen of Silver
Bush at Park Corner. Ruth passed
away recently on April 29, 2010
at the age of 93.
I think of this recipe as
“Silver Bush sunshine”; you
won’t believe the tantalizing
aroma it creates - Sandy Wagner.
1 quart chopped rhubarb (1-inch pieces)
1 quart finely chopped onions
1 cup vinegar
4 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 ts. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. pepper
Boil until thick. Keep stirring to prevent sticking.
Seal while hot. Good luck!
Orchard
Find what is in the orchard by
name, or by its description, in this
orchard crossword puzzle by Sandy
Wagner. Answers in June edition.
in the
1
1
2
2
4
June 23-27, 2010
Presented by the
L.M. Montgomery
Institute of UPEI. You may
register for a session, the
entire conference, or the
banquet. For more details go to:
Coming up in
June
A Real Test
of Friendship
L.M. Montgomery’s short story
of two young girl graduates,
published in June 1898
Benefits
5
5
7
7
l i l a c
8
8
Answers to our May contest:
Trees of Avonlea
H-7
I-5
J - 11
K-4
L-3
M-9
N-2
4
6
6
www.lmmontgomery.ca/
events/conference2010
A-6
B-8
C - 14
D-1
E - 10
F - 13
G - 12
3
3
9
10
14
15
12
13
11
A = across
D = down
a thick fir _ _1A
_ _ grew
an _1D
_ _ sagging wooden bench
a _ _ _2A
_ _ _ _ of a house
lilts of elfin _ _ 2D
___
the laughter of _ _ _ 3A
____
across the mellow _ _ _ _ 3D
_____
flute-like call of the _ _ _4A
___
ferns and wild blue _ _ _ 4D
____
the music of the _ _ _5A
___
a gleam of _ _ _ _5D
____
every soft _ _6A
_ _ of wind
waves of old- _ _ _ _6D
_ _ _ _ _ caraway
the swaying _ _7A
_ _ _ blossoms
the baptism of the _ 7D
__
June _ _ _8D
_ _ _ are the sweetest flowers.
their real name is the _ _8A_ _ _
_ _ _ 9A
______
an evening _ 10A
___
the _11A
_ _ _ cherry lane
along the fence _12A
_ _ _ _ _13A
_ _ _ _ grew
tall gnarled _14A
_ _ trees
odours of a bed of wild _15A
___
As a subscriber, you enjoy discounts on entrance fees to popular L.M. Montgomery sites on PEI
9