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24

Despite Rom.

 

Albertans’ Books
Rank High

Among Best Sellers

By BEATRICE DAFOE
‘ ‘NO wonder this country produces wonder-

 

ful poetry and novels when every
place you look there is such gorgeous
scenery and every place you go you hear such
romantic stories." This was said to me by a,
friend while strolling through the countryside
around Ayr, Robert Burns’ birthplace. I have
thought of that often since coming to Calgary
for here we. have scenery which surpasses any-
thing else in the world and a history full of
“thrillers” and romance that certainly should
produce a “best seller.” Many books have been
written of Alberta and many in Alberta. but as
yet the great novel from this great country has
not been produced.

Robert J. C. Stead, “the Poet of the Prairies,"
wrote several novels, “Grain" probably being the
best and perhaps surpassing any other fiction
of Western Canadian life. He was born in Mid-
dlevillc, Ontario, and moved to Manitoba with
his parents at the age of two. His schooling
with instructors stopped when he was thirteen,
but he continued his diligent studying by him-
self, even mastering the Latin grammar. At
eighteen years of age he published a news-
paper, then managed and later owned a lumber

QT-

 

yard. In 1910 he sold out his interests in Mani-.L___

toba, joined in the great rush to Alberta and
went into the motor car business in High River.
Soon after that he came to Calgary where he
did newspaper work for a few months. then
resigned that post to join the CPR. in the
Natural Resources Department, and several
years later became Director of Publicity for the
Federal Department of Immigration and Colon-
ization at Ottawa. He started writing at an
early age, first poetry, but soon making the
name for himself as one of Canada’s foremost
novelists by publishing three volumes: "The
Bail Jumper,” “The I-Iomesteaders” and “The
Cow Puncher,” and later his greatest, called
“Grain,” which I have mentioned. In these
books you see he is well acquainted with west-
ern lifc. He shows the struggles of the early
settlers and the building of the country west
of V/Vinnipeg. He writes with humor and
philosophy in an entertaining manner. His
years of experience on the prairies is shown in
a volume of verse called “Empire Builders," next
followed “Prairie Born" and “Songs Of the
Prairies.” In 1917 he published a poem of
twenty lines called “Kitchener" which was writ-
ten the night the news of the death of this
soldier was received in Canada. This is prob-
ably his greatest and most outstanding poetical
achievement. His work is simple and earnest
and shows a great understanding of our West-
ern provinces.
I I I

N this vast world of ours if any one crosses
our path who has achieved even a small
amount of fame in the minds of outsiders

we are so quick to claim them for our own.
Many writers have lived in Alberta for a short
or longer period,‘ some have written of us and
our country and many have written of other
places.

Laura Goodman Salverson has resided in
Calgary on two differentbccasions, and both
times while here she has brought fame to her-
self and we like.to feel to us also. Mrs. Salver-
son was born in Winnipeg of Icelandic parents
and she writes of her own people in a most
interesting manner. Her book, “The Viking
Heart,” tells of the hardships and sufferings
of the early settlers in Canada, how they existed
and of the makeshifts they had to use for
domestic work and farming. To quote from her
bonl-;-—.n. ninth:-.r coming home from her..’so.ni§
funeral, says that this Canada which had dc-
mandecl so much of thcm——it was her country.
The peace which was hers he had paid for. The
old saying of her father's flashed through her
mind: “All things with blood and toil are bought
—all joys are cleansed in tears,” and the minis-
tcr at the burial said: “Your son is dead, yet
liveth in the life of his country.” So it was and
is of the Canadian pioneers. Mrs. Salverson re-
ceived the Governor General’s prize and also a
French award on a later novel called "Dark
Weaver."

Arthur Stringer is another writer we like to
claim for ours as he owns a ranch in Alberta
and has spent considerable time here. His verse
is unusually attractive; all who have read his
book, “The Prairie Wife,” will always remember
it. In this story, which is really a series of let-
ters, he tells of a couple struggling to adapt
themselves to this new wheat country and to
one another. His descriptions of prairie scenes
show that he is a poet as well as a fiction writer.
Although born in Chatham, Ontario, he too

shows a keen understandi  .

and feelings(_c>’f’t_l1e..vuest'e'F'r1'e1‘s. ‘
__Q1mta‘Watanna, known to many 1n Calgary

‘Ts Mrs. Francis Reeve, is the author of more

than eighteen novels, hundreds of short stories
and several scenarios. She wrote many very
popular stories of Japan. Sunny San, one of the
best, was produced on a New York stage and
later filmed as have been many of her writings.
She has her home in Calgary now, but up to a

short time ago Mrs. Reeve lived at Morley on "

the beautiful Bow View Ranch between Banff
and Calgary. This already famous writer pub-
lished her noval, “Cattle,” in 1923. It is a sincere
conception of life on the plains.

, -r“““’Wiiiiam' G'eo'r§ié'I-IaYdy7‘P1-ofeseor-of~ Glassios

at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, has
written two splendid novels. The first, “Father
Abraham,” which received the Book Guild
choice in England, and the second, “Turn Back
the River,” a Roman novel. Hugh Eayres says
Professor Hardy is the “most promising writer
in Canada.”

Miss Donalda J. Dickie. I feel should be
mentioned here. Her writings and teachings
started over fifteciryears ago and have been
along the lines of the new education. To quote
her she says, “I believe the great fault in the
teaching of history to be that the children are
required to learn a chronological outline of
events, dates, wars and stops in political de-
vclopment before they have been given any
social background to which to relate their
events. Allpolitical events are the outgrowth
of the lives of thepeople and are understand-
able, meaningful and memorable only when
they are thought of in connection with the
social life of the community. The ideas of
social conditions must be grasped before events
are understood.” Our social studies of today
emphasize. this. Miss Dickie, an instructor in
the Calgary Normal school, has written several
text books authorized for use in the public
‘schools of Alberta by the Minister of Educa-
tion. Among them were “Modern Practice in
the Teaching of Composition,” “Learning to
‘Speak and Write,” and several readers and text
books on Canadian History.

In 1926 Mary E. Waagen, a resident of Cal-
gary at the time, although a native of Quebec,
wrote a book called “The Wayside Cross.” This
is a French Canadian Habitant Folk story that
was a prize winner in the English section of the
David Literary prizes. It was a clean, admir-
able contribution to our Canadian literature.
Calgary was proud of this exquisite literary

work.
a 1 '0:

RS. ARTHUR MURPHY, widely known as
"Janey Canuck,” has done a great deal
to spread Western Canada’s fame

throughout the world by her life and works.
She was another native of Ontario, but came to
Alberta in 1907. When in 1915 she was appoint-
ed Police Magistrate in Edmonton she was the
first woman in the British Empire to be so hon-
ored. She worked strenuously for women's
rights, did a great deal of club work and was
always keenly interested in charitable organ-
izations and strived endlessly for better hospi-
talization to be put in the reach of all. Her first
books, "Janey Canuck in the West,” “Open
Trails" and "Seeds of Pine,” are, stories of
pioneer life in the West told in an entertaining
and witty manner. Her book, “The Black

1

faith in the West.

2;.

 .,,_ J

Candle,” which deals with the alarming spread
of drugs in Canada shows, by her keen insight
and accurate portrayal, her study on this sub-
ject. Her books all have literary merit. An
extract from one of them shows her strong
"No man is ever broke,” she
says, “at least not for long in the Canadian
Northwest. Here a man does not necessarily
lie as he makes his bed—when he loses his
reputation he at once gets another—the same
with his fortune.”

I heard some one say a couple of years ago,

when the Board of Governors for the Canadian-

Broadcasting Corporation was named with eight
men and one woman, but as that woman was
Nellie Mcclung they thought it was properly
balanced. For the last I have purposely left
this author, lecturer, humanitarian, and I am
proud to say, friend. Mrs. McClung was born
in Clr.»».swoi'th, Ontario, in 1873, and came West
in 1880 by train to St. Boniface, then by boat
across the river to Wirféiipeg. A short time
later traveled for two V!’ ks by ox-train to Mill-
ford, a distance of one h dred and eighty miles.
The first school was opened in Manitoba, in
1884 when the author started her education. In
July, 1889, she went to Brandon and wrote the
teachers examinations and passed and attended
Normal school in Winnipeg for five months that
winter. She taught the next year in Hazel
school, three miles from Manitou. Aft-er teach-
ing for several years she married in 1896 and
moved to Alberta in 1914 and resided in Calgary
until four years ago. The best known of her
books were written here —- “In Times Like
These,” essays published in 1915——“Sowing Seeds
in Danny,” "The Second Chance,” “Purple
Springs” and "Clearing in the West,” which is
autobiographical. Mrs. McClung was one of the
first women’t3 be elected to a seat in the pro-
vincial legislature of Alberta. She is the most
widely known woman platform speaker in Can-
ada. She always shows a keen interest in
public welfare and-hcr opinions are always
honest and candid. Calgarians are always proud
to say “Our Nellie McClung."

Theer has been much more written of and in
Alberta‘ than"'I ‘have mentioned here as many
writershave chosen the prairie and foothill
country as the locale of their stories and the
majority of the most popular Canadian writers
have at some time called the West their home.
There has not in my estimation been a great
poem or great novel written as yet of this
wonderful province of ours. Certainly the ma-
terial is here. A few years ago a very popular
novel was written in the United States called
“Oil.” so perhaps a story with Turner Vallev
for its background will be the one to surpass all
others. Or perhaps a native son or native
daughter will write as Margaret Mitchell did
in "Gone With the Wind,” or Laura Krev in
“And Tell of Time." Just stories told to them
and put together in such an interesting way that
they became “best sellers."_ '

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