{"id":18,"date":"2011-03-04T08:19:27","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T08:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/?page_id=18"},"modified":"2024-06-03T15:19:09","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T19:19:09","slug":"about-maud","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/?page_id=18","title":{"rendered":"About Maud"},"content":{"rendered":"

About Maud<\/strong><\/h2>\n

LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY wrote 11 of her 22 novels at home in rural Leaskdale, Ontario, north of Uxbridge. Her personal journals tell her story. Her poetry reflects her feelings. Here she wrote… and here she dreamed. The Leaskdale Manse was the first home the author could call her own. In 1911, L.M. Montgomery moved to Leaskdale, a prosperous farming community, soon after marrying Ewan Macdonald. He was a Prince Edward Islander who had become the community’s Presbyterian minister one year earlier. \u00a0Montgomery lived at the Manse for 15 years and raised 2 sons, Chester and Stuart. Her journals paint this period as full and happy.\u00a0 A gifted story-teller, Montgomery nurtured her literary talent against the backdrop of the rolling hills of rural Ontario, ensconced in her limestone-bricked, vernacular-style house. \u00a0The spiritual beauty of the landscape stoked her creativity. \u00a0Her garden gave her great joy and a sense of serenity. \u00a0Her home provided comfort. \u00a0The Leaskdale Manse holds the author’s memory and spirit. \u00a0The story of this remarkable woman is waiting to be told.<\/p>\n

Lucy Maud Montgomery was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by King George in 1935. \u00a0She was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Letters of England, a member of the Canadian Author’s Association, the Canadian Women’s Press Club, and the Literary and Artistic Institute of France, which presented her with a silver medal for her literary style.<\/p>\n

Her Canadian Heritage Moment:<\/p>\n

Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Heritage Minute<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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The Leaskdale Years<\/h3>\n

L.M. Montgomery came as the bride of Ewan Macdonald, the minister of St. Paul\u2019s Presbyterian Church, Leaskdale, in 1911. \u00a0She was already famous, having published \u00a0Anne of Green Gables <\/em>three years before. \u00a0The village was agog, and welcomed her with enthusiasm. \u00a0The Leaskdale Church, only 5 years old when she came to the community, was a small country church, but well designed and built, with beautiful stained glass windows, and polished pews. \u00a0Ewan\u2019s congregation had two sections, Leaskdale and Zephyr. \u00a0She describes the Leaskdale congregation as being “all quite nice, being for the most part well-to-do farmers”.<\/p>\n

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Of the manse she writes in her journal:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“[the manse] is quite prettily situated. \u00a0It is not an ideal house by any means, but it will do, and it is certainly much more comfortable and convenient than my old home. \u00a0It is built of white brick in the ugly ‘L’ design so common among country houses. \u00a0My greatest disappointment in connection with it is that it has no bathroom or toilet. \u00a0I had hoped that I might have a home with these at least. \u00a0But what is to be will be! \u00a0It is Allah! \u00a0We must submit!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From the Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery \u00a0Vol. II page 82<\/strong><\/p>\n

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September 27, 1913 [after a visit to Cavendish, P.E.I] <\/strong><\/p>\n

“Up to the very moment of getting here I was not reconciled to coming back. \u00a0The drive from Uxbridge home depressed me. \u00a0The air seemed dull and languid after the tang of the gulf breezes. \u00a0But when our gate shut behind us it vanished. \u00a0I was suddenly glad to be back – to be home! \u00a0Glad to see again my garden, grown out of all recognition in my absence, glad to see my flowers, gray Daffy, my books and pictures, my own comfortable room. \u00a0My house looked pretty nice to me. \u00a0I saw it with a stranger\u2019s eye after my absence and when my impression of it was not blurred by familiarity, I liked it! \u00a0Yes, it was good to be home again among all my own household gods.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Vol. II page 132<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Maud and Ewan\u2019s sons, Chester and Stuart, were born in Leaskdale, in the upstairs master bedroom. \u00a0Another son, Hugh, was stillborn, and is buried in the cemetery at the Thomas Foster Memorial, south of Leaskdale.\u00a0 While living in the village of Leaskdale, Montgomery wrote eleven of her twenty-two novels.<\/p>\n

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Thursday, October 5, 1916<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Today I finished \u00a0Anne\u2019s House of Dreams.<\/em> I never wrote a book in so short a time and amid so much strain of mind and body. \u00a0Yet I rather enjoyed it and I think it isn\u2019t too bad a piece of work. \u00a0I am glad it is done however. \u00a0It has taken a lot out of me.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Vol. II page 193<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

While they lived in Leaskdale, Ewan Macdonald began to show symptoms of what was known as religious melancholia. He experienced severe headaches. “…for the most part he sat or lay in gloomy silence. \u00a0He was so utterly unlike himself that he seemed to me like a stranger. \u00a0He never took the slightest notice of the children and seemed to have absolutely no interest in them or anything…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Vol. II page 323<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Montgomery’s years in Leaskdale were rich in joy and sorrow for her. \u00a0It was here that she lived some of her happiest times as a wife and mother, even during the war. \u00a0She had a healthy husband and an intact young, loving family, the support of her beloved companion Frede, and a community that appreciated and admired her. \u00a0She would never forget her friends’ sorrows at the loss of their grown children in the Great War or the wooded haunts that might have inspired the environs of Rainbow Valley. <\/em>When the time came for her to leave Leaskdale, she wrote “The beautiful woods behind Mr. Leask’s, the leaf-hung corner of the side-road, the lovely hill field beyond with the elms on its crest. \u00a0I love these things and grieve to leave them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Vol. III page 265<\/strong><\/p>\n

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But more than that, it was the home that held her memories she grieved the most:<\/p>\n

“I could hardly keep the tears back. \u00a0That dark silent home seemed to be entreating me. ‘Oh, come to me. \u00a0I am lonely. \u00a0Though you have stripped and forsaken me I am still your home. \u00a0I have things of yours here you can never find elsewhere – your children’s baby days, the ghosts of two little toddling lads – of Frede – come back – come back.’ \u00a0And it was anguish to turn my back on it and go.” \u00a0 (Unpublished Journals, May 11, 1926<\/strong>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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About Maud LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY wrote 11 of her 22 novels at home in rural Leaskdale, Ontario, north of Uxbridge. Her personal journals tell her story. Her poetry reflects her feelings. Here she wrote… and here she dreamed. The Leaskdale Manse was the first home the author could call her own. In 1911, L.M. Montgomery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":63,"href":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6097,"href":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions\/6097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lucymaudmontgomery.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}