Kids on the grass at Tighsolas. The older girl looks like Edith, but since they are posing at Tighsolas, with (it looks like) Floss, then it must be around 1900 or later. Tighsolas was built in 1896.
Hmm. So I’ve reached the end of July 1908, with Margaret and Norman particpating in the Tercentary Celebrations at Quebec; Flora on her way to visit Henry and the Beach at Hyannis, even though she did fail some courses at school; Edith at home at a loss for what to do; Marion about to take a giant leap forward in her career and her life, move to Montreal.
There are not many 1908 letters in the Nicholson collection, but what I do have sets the stage for the Nicholson Family Saga of 1908-1913, which I am turning into Flo in the City, a story about a young girl coming of age in that exciting era.
I printed out the remaining 1908 letters and read them over. Not only is 1908 Tercentenary year, it is an election year. Norman goes home to Richmond for the election. (He has worked on elections for Liberals in the past.)
Marion leaves for Montreal in early September and has trouble finding a room. Mother Margaret does not want her to ‘eat out’.
Herb does not call on Marion, Margaret asks if they are fighting… Hmm. I can turn that into something.
Edith, it is clear, is in Montreal from October on. (She tears her blue dress at the cattle fair on Richmond in September.)But I have no letters from her and have no idea what she is doing. She does not start work at Ecole Methodiste for another year… So I will have her be a governess or English tutor in a French Canadian home… I’ll make that home my grandfather’s… It will fit in, as Ecole Methodiste is a school that hoped to convert Roman Catholics to Protestantism.. Edith was a convincing teacher, according to one of her pupils, whose diary is on another blog.
And of course, living and working in a RC home is an embarrassment for the Nicholsons and won’t be written about much.
In September, Margaret says she will go into Montreal to buy a suit for her and Edith. I have an invoice for a suite. 12.00. A nice Montreal hat costs about 7.00. Imagine!
Herb is transferred to Ormstown in February 1909. He claims he has no time to visit his mom. (I will suggest that he is transferred because the Nicholsons were worried about his behavior in Montreal, which is why he doesn’t visit Marion in September in Montreal and why the Nicholsons reluctantly agree for Edith to go live in Montreal, to keep Marion company.)
The fact is letters were important to the Nicholsons. Many letters ended with WRITE ME A HUGE LETTER. They were another form of entertainment, I guess. But people left very controversial things out of letters or they burned them. I’m just filling in the blanks here.
Now, as I may have mentioned, the Nicholsons seldom talked on the phone from what I can see, but it is twice mentioned to use the phone in the 1908 letters, for local calls.
Later on, long distance phone calls are made, but for important events. Edith’s loss (her boyfriend is killed) and Flora’s graduation from McGill Normal School.
