Lucy Maud Montgomery experienced first hand what it was like for her country to be at war from 1914 to 1918. The harsh realities of the world’s events penetrated not just her personal life, but her imaginative life.
Here is an excerpt from her journal, written on Sept. 24, 1915, in which she discusses an encounter with her son Chester, his bad temper over their maid, Lily, and how much the war weighed on her mind.
“Even yet in these woeful days we can sometimes have a laugh. Last night when Chester came to say his prayers he was in a very bad humor with Lily who had done something that displeased him. He always concludes his prayer with a petition to ‘bless father and mother and Lily and make me a good boy’. But last night he omitted Lily’s name. I supplied the omission—‘and Lily’. ‘No’, said young Chester very decidedly, ‘make me a good boy without Lily, Amen.’ But my laugh did not bring me a good night. It was not exactly the war that kept me awake—rather my own discomfort. But since I could not sleep I did think continuously about the war. There is a gleam of brightness in the news that Greece is mobilizing on the side of the Allies. If she will only do so Serbia will yet be saved. But in this war one is sure of nothing until it has happened. Constantine of Greece has a German wife!
To think that I should have to care what kind of a wife Constantine of Greece has!”
Montgomery’s awareness of the intricacies of politics and war in this time period no doubt aided her in the writing of Rilla of Ingleside – the final novel in the Anne series. This novel centers on Rilla, Anne’s youngest daughter, and her impressions of the First World War, which claims the enlistment of her two brothers, Walter and Jem.
This line from the book, spoken from the point of view of Rilla, perhaps encapsulates how Montgomery herself felt during this period: “It seems strange that we can go on with ordinary life just as if nothing were happening overseas that concerned us, just as if any day might not bring us awful news. But we can and do. Susan is putting in the garden, and mother and she are housecleaning, and we Junior Reds are getting up a concert in aid of the Belgians…”
More of Montgomery’s thoughts about the war and other social issues can be found in The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume II: 1910-1921.
