Page 51 - quebec
P. 51

Maud was also an orphan, in a way.  Her moth- Chester became an attorney, their younger
                                     er died when she was not yet two, and she re-  son Stuart a successful gymnast and physician.
                                     called later, even at that young age, the dress   Maud died at age 67 in 1942, and is buried in
                                     she wore as she was held in her father's arms,  the local cemetery near Green Gables.
                                     viewing her mother's open coffin in the par-
                                     lour.  “Why was Mother so still?” she remem- “She's certainly our favorite daughter,” Mike
                                     bered thinking, writing at age 23 in a detailed   commented.
                                     journal entry about that sad day.
                                                                            Two great books about Maud's life are Lucy
                                     Little Maud moved in with her grandparents,  Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings, by
                                     who loved her but were somewhat stiff and   Mary Henley Rubio, and The Lucy Maud Mont-
                                     emotionally distant.  (Her father moved to   gomery Album, edited by Alexandra Heilbron.
                                     western Canada when Maud was six, and re-
                                     married).                             “To write has always been my central purpose,”
                                                                            Maud once said. “Were it not for those Caven-
                                     Maud—who had a sparkling, out-going per-  dish years, I do not think that Anne of Green
                                     sonality, sense of humor, and a story-telling   Gables would ever have been written.”
                                     gift--loved to read and write, and spent care-
                                     free days in the heavenly outdoors when she  And that would have been most “tragical!”-- as
                                     wasn't at the one-room country school, earn- Anne would say.
                                     ing excellent grades.  She was active in the
                                     Presbyterian Sunday School and later played   IF YOU GO
                                     the church organ.  After high school she at-
                                     tended college, became a popular school teach- The Green Gables House is open May to Oc-
                                     er, and worked at a newspaper.         tober.  Closed December to mid-April.  Open
                                                                            a bit in November, especially for cruise ship
                                     Maud sold her first short story in 1895, when   tours.
                                     she was 21, and was paid $5—launching her
                                     career  as a  freelance writer.    Ten  years  later   For more information: www.pc.gc.ca/eng/
                                     she penned Anne of Green Gables, inspired   lhn-nhs/pe/greengables/visit.aspx
                                     by her idyllic life in Cavendish with family and
                                     friends.  It was rejected by five publishers and,  www.gov.pe.ca/greengables/
                                     discouraged, Maud stored the manuscript in
                                     a hatbox for nearly a year before re-reading it   www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/pe/greengables/
                                     and sending it out again.              visit/visit3.aspx
                                     A Boston publisher offered her a contract.     Right: Views of the haunted woods and the setting of
                                     Published in June 1908, it sold some 19,000   several scenes in Montgomery’s Anne books. Bottom:
                                     copies in the first six months.  Two huge fans
                                     were British Prime Ministers Stanley Baldwin   Memorial plaque commemorating the house and farm of
                                     and Ramsay MacDonald.  In 1935, Maud was   Anne of Green Gables.
                                     awarded the OBE honor—Office of the Order
                                     of the British Empire--in Canada.
                                     An ambitious, multi-talented visionary and
                                     prolific letter writer (corresponding with a
                                     couple of pen pals for decades!), Maud wrote
                                     20 novels, over 500 poems, and over 500 short
                                     stories, as well as hundreds of letters to fans.
                                     She also kept journals, which were published
                                     after her death.  Maud was also a gifted cook,
                                     photographer and gardener—and she loved
                                     cats.

                                     She didn't marry until age 36, following the
                                     death  of  her  widowed  grandmother,  whom
                                     she had cared for.  She and her husband, Ewan
                                     Macdonald, a Presbyterian minister, had three
                                     children (the middle was stillborn)--born
                                     when Maud was 37, 39, and 41. Her writing
                                     sales provided them a comfortable life, usual-
                                     ly with a live-in housekeeper.  Their older son




                                                                                   Wine Dine & Travel Summer 2014  51
   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56