Mental Notes taken at UPEI Library

Old Lady

After browsing the various LMM exhibits edging around the room of the UPEI library, I made my way to the coffee shop in order to buy a badly needed cup of java.  The nice lady at the counter noticed my Southern accent and asked me in a friendly manner the purpose of my visit to UPEI.  I was grateful for the coffee and also for the rapport so I gave my truthful reply that I was on an LMM Odyssey.

She then regaled me with a short story:

"My Mother saw LM Montgomery once.  She was here at the train station-- visiting a cousin, I think."

"--What did your Mother say about her?",  I asked with interest.

"My Mother said she looked like an old woman.  She had on long skirts (the Coffee Lady pointed to her ankles).  She was very famous then."
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Now, this is the second time that I have heard LM Montgomery being described as looking old..  In "Remembering Lucy Maud Montgomery" (Alexandra Heilbron-2001- p 55)  Maud's grand-daughter, Luella, describes her grandmother similarly:

"I remember my grandmother as just an older person, and she had that older-age palsy kind of thing ..."

Maud was only 67 years old when she died--not so very old when seen from my vantage point-- and she was vain about her looks.  Was she completely oblivious to this "old fashioned" look which other people saw on her?  Or, was it simply stubborness that held her back from entering into the trends of a time which she did not feel to be a part of?  I wonder if life had simply beaten her down so much. 
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The Hammock

I was very shocked upon my perusal of the model of the Leaskdale Manse to see "Ewan's Hammock" placed under the trees of the front yard in full view.  I simply do not understand the wisdom in the placement of this hammock.  It seems that it might have appeared unseemly for the minister of a congregation to be viewed as leisurely when he and his family are being supplied with a roof over their heads. I've always suspected that Ewan was lazy (or unmotivated) and the sight of the hammock just underscored that feeling for me. 

While reading Journal I on the airplane ride home,  I found the following::

"Ewan sat among us in silence and gloom.  He got someone else to motor Mr. Mutch to Zephyr and remained at home lying in the hammock....

...Ewan had been perfectly well right up to that week and he certainly had not been working hard all winter.  Ewan is not the type of man who overworks--he "takes things easy" in all respects."
The Selected Journals of LM Montgomery, Vol I, p. 322, Rubio & Waterston

(I can't help but ask myself, why would Maud feel surprise in noticing the same characteristic in Chester?  Why would it seem acceptable for her to "push" Chester, and not push Ewan? Would Chester, or anyone for that matter, be able to understand a fairness in this approach?)