few months ago, I was tidying up a bookcase in my home that is dedicated to all the beloved and much-read books of my childhood and youth, books that should have long ago been passed down to my nieces or my grandnieces but that I have never been able to part with.
One shelf holds the eight novels that make up the Anne of Green Gables series, authored by Prince Edward Island’s most famous Presbyterian, Lucy Maud Montgomery. A ragged, dog-eared paperback on that shelf caught my eye – a copy of the fourth book in the series, “Anne of Windy Poplars.” I pulled it out and as I leafed through the pages, a folded sheet of paper fell out. It turned out to be a clipped article written by one Heather Jones, who in 1996 when the article was written was minister of St. Paul’s, Winchester, and Knox, Mountain, Ontario. How it came to be in that book I do not know. I had never seen it before. The original form of the article was presented at the 1993 Canadian Society of Presbyterian History conference. This version appeared in the July/August 1996 Presbyterian Record, perhaps prompted by the fact that the 122nd General Assembly was held in Charlottetown that year.
I have adapted it and added some comments from an article I wrote for Graceviews in January 2007. It was interesting to note the similarities between her article and mine.
Presbyterianism Through the Eyes of Lucy Maud Montgomery Heather Jones
Adapted, with excerpts from an article by Kathy Twynam. Heather Jones’ words are shown in Helvetica font; excerpts from my article are shown in italicized Calibri font.
Lucy Maud Montgomery (known as Maud) was an active and committed Presbyterian all her life. In her hometown of Cavendish, P.E.I, she taught church school, played the organ and directed the choir. In 1911 she married Reverend Ewan MacDonald and moved to Ontario.
As a world-renowned author she portrayed all aspects of rural Canadian life in her novels and short stories. Denominational loyalties and church activities played a significant role in her tales. Most of her characters are Presbyterians…
Her most popular works are the eight novels of the Anne series. When first introduced to the reader, Anne Shirley, an eleven-year-old orphan from Nova Scotia, is adopted by a middle-aged brother and sister in Prince Edward Island. Through Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, Anne receives an introduction to Presbyterianism.
From Anne’s first appearance at church in Avonlea at age 11, when she scandalized the prim ladies and well-brought-up little girls of the congregation by bedecking her plain straw hat with wild flowers along the way and wearing them to Sunday School, to the end of the final book in 1918 when Anne is nearly fifty and Church Union looms on the historical horizon, we are given a picture of rural life where the church is more than a place of worship, but an all-encompassing social outlet, and truly the conscience of the community.
Anne’s initial impression of the church reflects many of the stereotypes which exist about Presbyterianism. Anne explains to Marilla why she didn’t pay much attention when the Sunday School Superintendent was leading in prayer. “He was talking to God and he didn’t seem to be very much interested in it, either. I think he thought God was too far off to make it worthwhile”. Anne makes similarly incisive comments about the sermon: “The sermon was awfully long too…The trouble with him seems to be that he hasn’t enough imagination…” Montgomery seems to support this criticism through Marilla’s reactions: “Some of the things Anne had said, especially about the minister’s sermons and Mr. Bell’s prayers, were what she herself had really thought deep down in her heart for years but had never given expression to.”
Throughout the series, we are given a vision of how the clergy is viewed by society, and how societal behaviour is regulated by the church, backed up by school and family. The child Anne’s insightful comments reflect many of the stereotypes of Presbyterianism. Anne deplores the minister’s long texts and sermons, and is critical of Miss Rogerson, the Sunday School teacher, who “does all the asking” and doesn’t allow time for a curious child to ask any questions.
Early in Anne’s stay at Green Gables, the Avonlea church experiences a vacancy and calls a new minister. Mrs. Lynde, the community busybody and pillar of church and village life, summarizes the views of all other members of the community. Her criteria for a new minister are “sound theology” and appropriate marital status – married.
Throughout this series, we see how the clergy were viewed within society. Referencing the town doctor’s lack of tact, Anne’s friend Miss Cornelia says, “If he’d been a minister, they’d never have forgiven him.” When Philippa, one of Anne’s college classmates, becomes engaged to a candidate for the ministry, the chaperon aunt says Rev. Jo is “very nice, but ministers ought to be graver and more dignified.” Phil counters with “Can’t a man laugh…and still be a Christian?” The aunt replies, “Oh men, yes, but I was talking about ministers.
Ministers’ wives also faced expectations different from other mere mortals. After Phil and Rev. Jo’s engagement the aunt comments, “If you are going to marry a minister, you will have to give up such expressions as ‘dig in.’” Phil responds, “Why? Oh, why must a minister’s wife be supposed to utter only prunes and prisms.?”
Mr. Meredith, an eccentric widower with four children, is called to the local church in Glen St. Mary where the mature Anne lives with husband Gilbert and their six children. During the search process, the Glen St. Mary people make the mistake of assuming that because Mr. Meredith speaks of his children he must be married. As Miss Cornelia says of Mr. Meredith’s widowed state, “There’s no Mrs. Meredith. That’s just the trouble…If we had known that I don’t suppose we would have called him, for a widower is even worse in a congregation than a single man.”
The last four books of the series portray the rivalry between Methodists and Presbyterians. Miss Cornelia, a major character in these four books which tell the story of Anne’s adulthood and motherhood, espouses a deep-seated contempt for anyone who is not Presbyterian, with special venom for Methodists. Other characters attempt to moderate Miss Cornelia’s views, but for the most part denominational rivalry is taken for granted. Toward the end of the final book, (whose time period is the first World War, 1914-1918) a Union prayer meeting is proposed to mark the sending of the latest crew of (soldiers to the battlegrounds of Europe). Miss Cornelia attends, explaining, “I used to hate Methodists but I don’t hate them now. There is no sense in hating Methodists when there is a Kaiser or a Hindenburg in the world.”
Montgomery painted a word picture of rural Canadian life which included the church. While we may laugh over the descriptions and shake our heads as we realize how little has changed in our church, we can also be thankful for the work and witness of Lucy Maud Montgomery…and her love for our church.
In Montgomery’s beloved novels, we are given a delightful picture of village life in the years surrounding the turn of the twentieth century. Everyone was known and accepted, no one was burdened by the sense of anomie that seems so pervasive today, and the church was always there to guide people through life, to baptize and teach children, marry sweethearts, and help say goodbye to loved ones.
…The church in the twenty-first century plays the important role of providing us with that kind of “village mentality” in a world where standards of behaviour are changing by the minute and the concept of morality has almost disappeared. By “village mentality” I mean the kind of caring and involvement that is evidenced in Montgomery’s novels. The interest in each other, the noticing and responding to problems of others even if they are “not our business”, the willingness to pitch in and help, the kindness and decency that good, like-minded people easily and compassionately display to each other. Our church involvement gives us a respite from the world at large, where everyone is hurrying, head down, eyes glazed, too busy to look up and see the people around them…