“While the Snow Falls,” by Clara Hopper

Hopper, Clara. “While the Snow Falls.” The Vancouver Poetry Society, 1916-1949: A Book of Days (Toronto: Ryerson, 1946): 86.

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“Wolfe at Louisburg,” by Mrs. Logie Macdonnell

Macdonnell, Mrs. Logie. “Wolfe at Louisburg.” Hearts of Gold: Being Chronicles of Heroism in Canadian History. Ed. Jean Blewett (Toronto: Ontario Women’s Liberal Association, 1915): 17.

I was looking for information about one of our authors, Blanche Lucile Macdonnell (c1847-1924), and came across this poem in Hearts of Gold, edited by another of our authors, Jean Blewett. The full text is available online courtesy of the Internet Archive, but I thought I would post this poem here to see if anyone knows the identity of Mrs. Logie Macdonnell. Blanche Macdonnell, it turns out, never married.

 

“The Northland Regales,” by Elmar [Elma] Machan

Machan, Elmar [Elma]. “The Northland Regales.” Christian Science Monitor (Boston) 12.42.

Elma Machan’s daughter, Vivian Moreau, has sent us a number of her mother’s published pieces, but many of them are from old, tattered copies of magazines and thus missing essential parts of the stories. There is a particularly interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor about the departure of a polar expedition, “Roof of the World: Research Party Leaving Churchill by Snowmobile February 14 to Study Frozen Northland,” but that is missing the bottom of the first page. This story of the Northland, however, we have in its entirety. So here is a lovely tale to share on Christmas Eve.

“Snow,” by Jennie E. Haight

Haight, Jennie E. “Snow.” Selections from Canadian Poets: With Occasional Critical and Biographical Notes, and an Introductory Essay on Canadian Poetry. Ed. Edward Hartley Dewart (Montreal: Lovell, 1864).

This seems appropriate for this week in Vancouver…

“Christmas Song,” by Isa Grindlay Jackson

Jackson, Isa Grindlay. “Christmas Song.” Lethbridge Herald (22 December 1945) 13.

The Sisters McGregor

Tucked deep within our original entry on Gertrude MacGregor Moffat (1884-1923) was the comment that her youngest sister, Enid (b. 1889), contributed poetry to the Canadian Bookman. We, however, did not have her listed, so that needed fixing. I discovered that she not only submitted poetry to Canadian Bookman, but also poetry and prose to the McMaster University Monthly. I also discovered, searching for a bit more biography in the McMaster publication, that a number of our other authors published there as well.

While Enid graduated from McMaster with a BA in 1912, Gertrude attended for only one year (likely around 1901) before ill health forced her to abandon her formal studies.

Here are two poems, one by each sister, published in the November 1920 issue of the McMaster University Monthly.

(Note that, alone among her siblings, Gertrude changed the spelling of her name to MacGregor.)

 

McMaster University Monthly 30.2 (November 1920): 53.

McMaster University Monthly 30.2 (November 1920): 59.

A poem for December 12th by Francis Rye

Rye, Francis. [Entry for December 12]. Canadian Birthday Book. Ed. Seranus [Susan Frances Harrison]. Toronto: Robinson, 1887.

“On the Silk-worm and Other Fibre-Yielding Insects, and the Growth of Their Food Plants in Canada,” by Dr. Lucy Lawson

Here’s a fun article. Well, I guess “fun” might be the wrong term, but at least relatively unique in terms of what I come across while researching our authors. This one I found because her name was close in our list to Alice, Jessie, and Kate Lawson, mother (Jessie) and daughters (Alice and Kate) in a prolific and fascinating family. About Lucy Stapley Lawson we know far less, but she did publish this article in the Annals of the Botanical Society of Canada in 1861, rather early for Canadian female scientists. As always, any other information people can provide about her will be welcome.

Lawson, Mrs Dr [Dr. Lucy Stapley Lawson]. “On the Silk-worm and Other Fibre-Yielding Insects, and the Growth of Their Food Plants in Canada.” Annals of the Botanical Society of Canada (1861): 43-48.

“Christmas Trees,” by Miriam Stein

Stein, Miriam. “Christmas Trees.” Montreal in Verse: An Anthology of English Poetry by Montreal Poets. Ed. Writers of the Poetry Group. Montreal; QB: Canadian Authors Association; 1942. 40.