In 1931, L.M. Montgomery acted as a judge in a young people’s story and essay contest run by the Toronto Globe’s Circle of Young Canada.
Contents
Preamble
Kindly Criticisms
Notes
Bibliography
Image Credit
Preamble
In March 1891, sixteen-year-old L.M. Montgomery published her first work of non-fiction: a sketch entitled “The Wreck of the ‘Marco Polo,’” which she’s submitted to a national essay prize for young people sponsored by the Montreal Daily Witness. The Charlottetown Daily Patriot reprinted the essay a week later, and it has been collected in book form several times, most recently in A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917.
Forty years later, Montgomery donned the judge’s hat for another young people’s writing competition, this one run by the Circle of Young Canada column in the Toronto Globe. The Nancy Durham Memorial Contest, which ran from 1929 to 1937, included drawings, poems, stories, essays, and letters submitted by readers between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one. It memorialized Agnes Delamoure, who’d edited the column as “Nancy Durham” from 1915 until her death in 1928. Montgomery’s report on stories and essays, published on 17 October 1931 alongside a report on the poetry prize by well-known novelist, poet, and former Globe contributor Jean Blewett (1862–1934), not only includes her selection criteria for the winners, the runners up, and items meriting honourable mention, but also it offers some practical advice to young writers about what constitutes good writing.
Kindly Criticisms
L.M. Montgomery, “Kindly Criticisms,” Globe (Toronto), 17 October 1931, 20.
In judging the stories, I asked myself:
First—Is there a well-defined and original plot in this? A “story,” no matter how well written, is not a story unless it has a central plot.
Second—Is the plot worked out well and logically?
Third—What about the literary style of the story?
Many of the stories measured up fairly well by one or two of these standards. Of only one can I say that it measured up to all three. This is the story “Revenge,” to which I award the prize. This story centres around an amusing and original little plot, with a snappy denouement. It is well written and not too long for its substance. The writer knows when and how to stop, and all through the story gives the impression that she is mistress of her material.
The second place I give to “Laughter.” This story is weak in plot, but is well written, with a delightful sense of humor, which is rare among young writers. The writer should, however, deal with topics of the present day.
“The Fairy Wishing Ring” is awarded third place. It, too, is weak in plot. (This is, in truth, the outstanding fault of the majority of the stories.) But it is pleasantly written, and the plot, such as it is, is worked out with grace and charm.
I would give honorable mention to “Two Hours.” From the point of view of literary finish it is by far the best thing in the story contest. But it is only a sketch, not a story. There is no plot. It shows excellent powers of description and observation, and had it combined plot with these would have merited first prize.
The following stories are not mentioned in order of merit:
“The Mystery of the Lonely House” is brightly and interestingly written. Its little plot, while slight, is consistent, and the story gives an impression of reality.
“Yellow Tea-Cups” has grace and literary charm. But it, too, lacks a central plot.
“Magic of Bluebells” starts out well, with a good idea. The writer makes us feel poor Bluebell’s predicament very keenly, and rouses our sympathy. Then it rather peters out. It is a mistake to picture a cat as swayed by a romantic recollection of bluebells. Had the writer described it as finding its way to its mistress by use of the strange instinct animals possess the story would have been much more consistent and attractive.
“What Shall It Profit a Man” has a plot and shows considerable dramatic power, but the plot needs an older and more experienced hand to work it out properly. It is rather too “heavy” for an amateur. The writer has considerable skill in expression and ought to do well, but should write only of life as she knows it at first hand.
“The Story of Telemachus” is well written, but is merely a transcript of a certain period in Roman history and a very well-known incident in the area. It cannot, therefore, claim any originality of plot.
“Hector, the Half-Baked,” while not a story in any sense of the word, is very amusing and I enjoyed it. The writer has a humorous knack which should serve him in good stead if he depicts the comedy of modern life he sees around him.
“The Secret of Happiness” and “The Gold Medal” were well written, but the central idea in each has often been used before. Young writers generally find it hard to get original plots. Older writers can sometimes use a well-worn plot successfully by freshness of treatment or denouement, but let beginners beware of them. It is one of their greatest dangers.
The selection of the prize essays was a much more difficult task than selecting the stories, since the average merit was much higher. There was not a poor essay in the number submitted, and several of them were excellent. In deciding on the prize essays I asked myself:
“Does this essay possess that indefinable thing called literary charm, which is indispensable in an essay, and does it give the reader pleasure in the mere reading? Is it an expression of the writer’s personality and not merely a historical sketch or a digest of something read? Is there something about it which makes us feel akin to the writer?”
Judging by these standards I give the prize to “My Most Valuable Possessions,” second place to “Why I Am Proud to Be a Canadian,” and third to “The Old Fireplace.”
To “In Memoriam” and “Tree Magic” I would accord honorable mention.
Notes
the Circle of Young Canada column. Montgomery’s essay “How I Began to Write,” first published in this column in 1911, appears in volume 1 of The L.M. Montgomery Reader.
“Nancy Durham.” See Globe, “Nancy Durham Memorial Contest”; Globe, “‘Nancy Durham’ Dies.”
“Revenge.” The text of this story, signed “Perry Winkle (aged 18)” and focusing on the attempts of a group of boys to throw a party on the roof of their boarding school, appeared in this issue of the Globe.
“Laughter.” This story, signed “Mercutio (aged 15)” and focusing on a gentleman’s chivalrous attempt to save a lady from a dragon gone awry, appeared in the following week’s Young Circle column.
“The Fairy Wishing Ring.” This story, signed “Pauline (aged 17),” depicts a farmer’s son who discovers he is not too old to believe in fairies after all and appears on the same page as this article.
“The Story of Telemachus.” In Greek mythology, Telemachus is the son of Odysseus and Penelope, all of whom are characters in the Odyssey, an ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer.
“My Most Valuable Possessions.” This essay, signed “Sally May (aged 17),” focuses on an adolescent girl’s book collection, including Charles Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers and David Copperfield, which were among Montgomery’s favourites (see “What Are the Greatest Books,” 152–53).
“Why I Am Proud to Be a Canadian.” This essay, signed “Canadian Girl,” follows the narrator’s daydream of a variety of locations and historical events, from European–Indigenous contact to the First World War. Rich in allusion (it quotes poems by Bliss Carman, E.G. Nelson, John Greenleaf Whittier) and visual detail, it is not dissimilar to Montgomery’s own adolescent sketches included in A Name for Herself.
“The Old Fireplace.” This essay, signed “Rikkitik (aged 16),” about the history of a house and a family from the perspective of the fireplace, appeared in the 14 November 1931 issue of the Globe.
Bibliography
Blewett, Jean. “Kindly Criticisms.” Globe (Toronto), 17 October 1931, 20.
Canadian Girl. “Why I Am Proud to Be a Canadian.” Globe (Toronto), 17 October 1931, 20.
Globe (Toronto). “‘Nancy Durham’ Dies.” 29 June 1928, 4.
———. “Nancy Durham Memorial Contest.” 4 July 1931, 20.
Lefebvre, Benjamin, ed. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 1: A Life in Print. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013.
Mercutio. “Laughter.” Globe (Toronto), 24 October 1931, 20.
Montgomery, L.M. “How I Began to Write.” In Lefebvre, The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 1: 67–72.
———. A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917. Edited by Benjamin Lefebvre. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018. The L.M. Montgomery Library.
——— [Lucy Maud Montgomery]. “The Wreck of the ‘Marco Polo.’” Montreal Daily Witness, 5 March 1891, 2. Also as “The Wreck of the Marco Polo” in Daily Patriot (Charlottetown), 11 March 1891, 1.
Pauline. “A Fairy Wishing Ring.” Globe (Toronto), 17 October 1931, 20.
Perry Winkle. “Revenge.” Globe (Toronto), 17 October 1931, 20.
Rikkitik. “The Old Fireplace.” Globe (Toronto), 14 November 1931, 20.
Sally May. “My Most Valuable Possessions.” Globe (Toronto), 17 October 1931, 20.
“What Are the Greatest Books in the English Language?” In Lefebvre, The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 1: 151–53.
Image Credit
Illustration by Benjamin Lefebvre, sampling text from the Circle of Young Canada column that appeared in the Toronto Globe on 17 October 1931.
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