This page lists all known shorter works (poems, short stories, and miscellaneous pieces) that L.M. Montgomery published in 1894. All items appeared under the signature “L.M. Montgomery,” unless stated otherwise.
« 1891 | 1892 | 1894 | 1895 | 1896 »
Overview
L.M. Montgomery had several publications throughout 1894. Many of these appeared in The College Record, a new (and ultimately short-lived) student periodical published out of Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, where she was studying for a teaching licence: “The Usual Way” (a playlet), “Extracts from the Diary of a Second Class Mouse” (a sketch), “High School Life in Saskatchewan” (a sketch), and “The Last Prayer” (a poem).
Two more pieces from her Prince of Wales College year appeared in Charlottetown papers: the valedictory address she ghostwrote for her classmate James “Jim” Stevenson and an essay on the character of Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
Montgomery’s remaining publication for this year—another poem, this one entitled “The Violet’s Spell”—also proved to be a milestone for her, since it appeared in the New York magazine The Ladies’ World.
The Usual Way (playlet)
The College Record (Charlottetown), March 1894, 5–8. Scrapbook 7 (“Written March 1894 / Published March 1894 / In ‘College Record’”).
Synopsis
A humorous playlet concerning the futile attempts at studying of a pair of “co-eds.” Montgomery wrote this piece while a student at Prince of Wales College, and it was published in the second issue of The College Record.
Collected
A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917, 27–31.
The Last Prayer (poem)
By Lucy Maud Montgomery. [The College Record (Charlottetown), March 1894]. Scrapbook 7 (“Written Feb. 1894 / Published March 1894 in ‘College Record’”).
First line: “The carnage of the battle day was done.”
Collected
A World of Songs: Selected Poems, 1894–1921, 47–48.
Notes
Although Montgomery claimed in her scrapbook that this poem had appeared in the March 1894 issue of The College Record, it does not appear in the copy of the March and April 1894 issues that Montgomery preserved in one of her scrapbooks.
Extracts from the Diary of a Second Class Mouse (sketch)
The College Record (Charlottetown), April 1894, 2–4. Scrapbook 7 (“Written April 1894 / Published April 1894 / In College Record”).
Synopsis
Montgomery wrote this sketch, told from the perspective of a mouse living in a building at Prince of Wales College, while a student at that institution. It appeared in the third issue of The College Record.
Collected
A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917, 32–34.
High School Life in Saskatchewan (sketch)
The College Record (Charlottetown), [May 1894]. Scrapbook 7 (“Written May 1894 / Published May 1894 / In College Record”).
Synopsis
A short memoir of Montgomery’s experience as a high school student in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, in 1890–1891. Montgomery wrote this memoir while a student at Prince of Wales College, it was published in its short-lived student paper, presumably in the May 1894 issue.
Collected
The Years before “Anne,” by Francis W.P. Bolger (n.p.: The Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation, 1974), 68–69.
A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917, 35–37.
Valedictory (address)
By James H. Stevenson. Daily Examiner (Charlottetown), 9 June 1894, 2 (as “Prince of Wales College”). Scrapbook 7 (“Written June 1894 / Published June 1894 / In ‘Examiner’”).
Synopsis
An address given by L.M. Montgomery’s classmate James H. Stevenson at the end of the 1893–1894 academic year at Prince of Wales College, where she was undertaking her teacher training. As she reported in her journal, Stevenson persuaded her to write it for him because he didn’t have time to do it himself.
Collected
A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917, 38–40.
“Portia”—A Study (essay)
By Lucy Maud Montgomery. Island Guardian and Christian Chronicle (Charlottetown), 14 June 1894, 3. Scrapbook 7 (“Written June 1894 / Published June 1894 / In Ch’Town ‘Guardian’”).
Synopsis
An essay on a character in Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice that Montgomery wrote and delivered at her graduation ceremony at Prince of Wales College in June 1894. The full text was published, with minor variations, in three Charlottetown newspapers.
Alternate Versions
Daily Patriot (Charlottetown), 11 June 1894, 2 (as “Portia”).
Daily Examiner (Charlottetown), 11 June 1894, 2 (excerpted from “Prince of Wales College”).
Collected
The Years before “Anne,” by Francis W.P. Bolger (n.p.: The Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation, 1974), 140–43 (as “‘Portia’—A Study”).
A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917, 41–43.
The Violet’s Spell (poem)
By Lucy Maud Montgomery. The Ladies’ World (New York), July 1894, 5. Scrapbook 7.
First line: “Only a violet in the trodden street.”
Reprinted
The Avonlea Traditions Chronicle 1, no. 4 (Summer 1992): 14.
Collected
The Years before “Anne,” by Francis W.P. Bolger (n.p.: The Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation, 1974), 143–44.
Cite This Page
“Shorter Works: 1894.” L.M. Montgomery Online, https://lmmonline.org/shorter-works/shorter-works-1894/.