"Aunt Philippa and the Men" (1915)
"A Dinner of Herbs" (1928)
"Jessamine" (1909)
"The Pennington's Girl" (1900)
"The Gossip of Valley View" (1910)
"The Pursuit of the Ideal" (1904)
"By the Rule of Contrary" (1908)
"Nan" (1904)
"The Wooing of Bessy" (1906)
"Miss Cordelia's Accommodation" (1903)
"The Twins and a Wedding" (1908)
"Them Notorious Pigs" (1904)
"The Dissipation of Miss Ponsonby" (1906)
"An Unconventional Confidence" (1903)
"The Way of Winning Anne" (1899)
"The Touch of Fate" (1899)
"What Aunt Marcella Would Have Called It" (1935)
"When Jack and Jill Took a Hand" (1905)
Short summaries of the stories follow:
"Aunt Philippa and the Men" (1915)
Ursula is sent by her father and step-mother from Montreal to stay with her
Aunt Philippa on
Prince Edward Island. Her parents believe this will help her learn some sense
and put some distance between her and Mark Fenwick. Little do they
know, she has recently quarreled with Mark. Though Ursula wants to make up
with him, she is unable to from P.E.I., and she hears nothing from him. Aunt
Philippa,
meanwhile, gives Ursula the stories of every horrible man and husband on the
entire Island, so when Mark sends a letter asking Ursula to run away and
marry him,
Ursula must make her decision.
"A Dinner of Herbs" (1928)
After the death of her mother, Robin Lyle's place in her home is at the command
of her sister-in-law Myra, who expects her to marry. While Irving Keyes is interested
in Robin, her heart belongs to her quiet, lame, poor and entirely unacceptable
(to her family) neighbor Michael Stanislaws. When she confides in him that she
is
trying to decide whether to marry Irving, will he understand her true
dilemma?
"Jessamine" (1909)
Jessamine Stacey grew up in her beloved countryside, but now lives with her brother
and sister-in-law in the city. She is stifled, lost, and misses her old life.
The
vegetable-man's nephew, Andrew Bell, notices her while making deliveries, and
brings her flowers and then takes her for a drive, giving the reader hope
Jessamine
will escape
her
caged life in the city.
"The Penningtons' Girl" (1900)
Burton Winslow had a fever and is now recuperating in the country. At Mrs. Penningtons'
he meets
a
beautiful
young
girl,
Nelly
Ray. Though she's the hired girl, he chats with her and takes her on boat rides
each evening. When they run into his friends, and he feels ashamed of her, will
he stand by her? Meanwhile, does she have a secret of her own?
"The Gossip of Valley View" (1910)
As an April Fool's Day prank, Julius Barrett sets the town's gossiping tongues
off, telling the honest Dan Chester that Adelia Williams and Young Thomas Everett
are going to be married. Since everyone believes Dan, the gossip is impossible
to quench, and Adelia and Thomas can do nothing to stop it. In the meantime,
the two begin to look at one another in a new light.
"The Pursuit of the Ideal" (1904)
Roger St. Clair and Freda are great and comfortable chums who spend time with
one another in Freda's snuggery. When Roger meets his "Ideal" woman, Stephanie
Gardiner, Freda hides her jealousy. Then when Tim Grayson, a man from Freda's
childhood
appears
and
seems to take Roger's place, Roger re-evaluates what his ideal woman is like.
"By the Rule of Contrary" (1908)
John Ellis refuses to consent to his son Burton marrying Madge Oliver,
just because she's an Oliver. Then Madge's
Aunt, Miss Susan, faces off with John with the knowledge of how to manage a contrary
man.
"Nan" (1904)
John Osborne is trying to woo Nan Stewart, but she is not interested and her
father, old Abe, does not approve. Nan is really interested in Bryan Lee. Nothing
seems to be going John's way after Bryan tells John he's foreclosing on John's
mortgage. John plans to leave to start fresh in the West. But when John tells
Nan this, will she change her opinion of both John and Bryan?
"The Wooing of Bessy" (1906)
The shy and bashful Lawrence Eastman asks Bessy Houghton if he can escort her
to a dance leading to a sweet romance between the two. Problems occur when Lawrence's
mother, Mrs.
Eastman, learns this and expresses her disapproval of Bessy. Mrs. Eastman lies
to break the two up, but will the two heartsick lovers ever learn the truth?
"Miss
Cordelia's Accommodation" (1903)
Miss Cordelia is a school teacher, who wants to do something good for her young
factory
children students. When her cousin leaves her his horse, Nap, Miss Cordelia plans
summer excursions for the children to the country in her "accommodation"
(a
wagon
led
by
Nap). These enjoyable weekend outings are made all the more fun when
a farmer Abraham Smiles helps Miss Cordelia with the plan. When the summer ends
and the excursions must cease, Smiles realizes he doesn't want to part from Cordelia.
"The Twins and a Wedding" (1908)
Sue and Johnny Murray are precocious twins. When their parents leave them behind
to attend their Cousin Pamelia's wedding in Marsden without taking them along,
they are hurt and plan to take the train alone and attend the wedding. They
decide to
face
their punishment after seeing Cousin Pamelia get married. Unfortunately, the
conductor
directs them off at Harrowsdeane, the wrong stop. Here, they meet
a
couple
(Una
and
Ted)
fighting
over
whether
or not they should marry on two days notice. Una and Ted tell the twins
where
they
are, and when the two realize
there
is
no
chance
they will
make it
to Pamelia's wedding in time, Sue bursts into tears. Una and Ted then come
up with a solution so the twins can see a wedding after all.
"Them Notorious Pigs" (1904)
Woman-hater John Harrington has a new neighbor, Mrs. Harden. After her husband's
death, Mary
Hayden
has been
running
a
farm
alone, with only the help of her two babies Bobbles and Ted. When her pigs
trample Harrington's yard, he goes over the yell at her, making Mary cry. Filled
with remorse, John begins to hope the pigs will escape
again so that he can make amends with Mary.
"The Dissipation of Miss Ponsonby" (1906)
Elizabeth and Jerry (Geraldine) and spend time in a room facing Miss
Alicia Ponsonby, who never leaves home and sews all day. Miss Ponsonby's father
is
strict
and will not let her socialize, though she is thirty-five years old. Elizabeth
and Jerry befriend the lonely woman. Meanwhile, the handsome Stephen Shaw has
returned
to
the
city
after a fifteen year
absence and seems to be looking for a wife. Miss Ponsonby expresses her sorrow
at missing
a party for Stephen because
her
father
will
not
let
her
attend, and the girls
convince
her
to
sneak
out and go with them.
Jerry dresses her prettily, and Alicia escapes from her room by climbing down
a
tree
outside her window. She causes a Glenboro sensation
turning into a belle at the party.
Meanwhile, Stephen Shaw is mesmerized, and Elizabeth and Jerry learn the pair
has a longer history then Miss Ponsonby has told them.
"An Unconventional Confidence" (1903)
The Girl escapes to the shelter of a pavilion from a rainstorm that is endangering
her new, beautiful hat. She meets the Young Man there, who is also waiting for
the
rain to stop. The Girl confides in the Young Man that she's been promised in
marriage to a man "the Creature" from England by her father, and she hates the
idea.
She
confides
all this to the Young Man and determines that she will give the Creature a "no"
after he arrives. The Young Man listens quietly and gives her advice from a man's
point of view, saying she should not be so definite, in case she likes the Creature
after all. The
Girl
appreciates
the Young Man, but will she follow his advice when she meets the Creature?
"The Way of Winning Anne" (1899)
Jerome Irving has been courting Anne Stockard for fifteen years, each year proposing
on his birthday and each year being refused. On his fortieth birthday, Jerome
finally decides he must stop wasting his time and initiates a plan to make Anne
jealous by spending all his time with Harriet
Warren. Will Anne be won?
"The Touch of Fate" (1899)
Mrs. Major Hill is thrilled to play matchmaker with visitor Violet Thayer. Isolated
in a prairie city in the Canadian Northwest, Mrs. Hill is surrounded by a detachment
of Mounted Police led by her husband, Major Hill, and with so few women around,
it is hard for her to make any matches. She believes Violet will fall for Ned
Madison, a handsome and charming man. However, when Violet arrives, she is far
more
interested in catching the attention of John Spencer, the one man there who shows
absolutely no interest in her. A romance develops, but when Spencer disappears
one
day,
Violet
learns that Mrs. Hill lied to him to break them up out of her own dissatisfaction.
But
what can Violet do?
"What Aunt Marcella Would Have Called It" (1935)
Glen is in love with Dudley Wyatt, but the problem is he looks at her as a child.
Glen thinks it would help if she could bob her long braid of hair or at least
put it up, but her Aunt Marcella would never approve. Glen realizes that Dudley
idolizes her older sister Isabel, and when Isabel's trunks are sent ahead of
her arrival and the house is empty, Glen puts on Isabel's dress and charms Dudley
in disguise. When she confesses the truth, how will Dudley feel?
"When Jack and Jill Took a Hand" (1905)
Jack and Jill are ten-year-old twins who decide to match up their Uncle "Tommy"
Bertha Gordon and Reverend Stephen Richmond, who they call "Dick." The
romance works well, until the pair decides to speed things along to a wedding
by making Dick jealous. Instead of a wedding, Dick
leaves
in
despair, leaving Aunt Tommy crying each night. Jack and Jill each have a turn
in telling story and and explain how they worked to bring the pair back together.
Last Updated 03.08.07
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