Chapter 60

From the Journal of Honey Sutton June 21, 1938

We had Jim and Pritchard Flett over for supper tonight. Jim is glad that Joe's wedding came off so well, Grace's mishap notwithstanding. He just wishes that there were some chance of ever seeing his own. However, university for Pritchard, a down payment for a house, and support for a wife cost money. Max surprised Jim and Pritchard by offering a possible solution.

Nick Felton just turned in his resignation. His health has only declined over the summer. According to Dr. Barlow, the chronic cough and shortness of breath are probably due to something called asbestosis. He thinks that the cause may have been the asbestos in the insulation his patient installed during his summers doing construction work. The long and short is that New Bedford High needs a new assistant principal. How would Jim like the job?

Vanaver Mainwaring to Grace Mainwaring June 22, 1938

The fascist drive towards Valencia appears to have stalled at Sagunto. I hope that it was highly discouraging for them to take Castellon only to encounter yet another line of fortifications to beat their heads against. …

Anne of Green Gables is one of my sister's favorites too. She tried to get me to read it when we were kids. I didn't want to read a girls' book. Like all teen boys, I was terrified of seeming unmanly. Now that I actually am a man, I'm grateful to you for sending me a copy. Good writing is good writing.

L.M. Montgomery's pleasantly quirky idyll of Canadian country life has the power to charm even a confirmed city boy such as myself. I do like the heroine. She reminds me of my own sweet, spirited small town girl whom I love and miss more than words can say.

Grace Mainwaring to Sally Henry June 24, 1938

… I can't believe that Pearl Disher had the cast iron nerve to try out for announcer or that Mrs. Cramp was actually desperate enough to let her. No announcer should preen herself the way Pearl Disher does. She reads her copy like she's doing the station and its viewers a tremendous favor.

Just to make the pressure on Mrs. Cramp worse, Jim Flett has told her that if he becomes Vice Principal, he will have to severely curtail his time at CRNB in order to give his new duties the attention that they demand. It's possible that he will have to quit altogether if enough school board members share Mr. Grady's concerns about moonlighting.

At this point, Mrs. Cramp would seriously consider giving the job to Rebecca if she didn't have to go back to school in the fall. At least Grace's Corner isn't so urgent. I'm writing an extra column a week so, when I go, the backlog should last more than long enough for Mr. Cramp to find a replacement. I just wish that someone had told me before the column and my copy for CRNB that writing was so addictive. Maybe I could send in Grace's Corner from Alawanda after Van and I settle down there.

Grace Mainwaring to Vanaver Mainwaring July 2, 1938

Anne and I do share a smalltown childhood and, thank God, the good fortune to love and be loved by true-hearted men. I miss you and long for your return more than I can say. My dearest wish is for us to grow old together as happily as Anne and her Gilbert. Thank you for encouraging me to keep writing. Anne should never have stopped after she married.

I just wish I had her talent for fiction. My middle left hand desk drawer contains several silly and gushy stories from my last two years of junior high when I was going to be the next L.M. Montgomery. God bless my father for telling me how wonderful he thought they were.

They contain numerous passages of dreadful writing. Reading them must have caused him as much pain then as just thinking of them causes me now. My characters were thinner than onionskin and some of my descriptions were so florid they should have been written in purple ink.

Robert Bailey to May Bailey July 5, 1937

Downtown Toronto was in an uproar last night. The police were out in force. Adrian Arcand was at Massey Hall celebrating the recent union of all the main Canadian fascist parties, including his own, in the National Unity Party. His speech contained the usual frothing-at-the-mouth about the Jews and vigorous praise of fascism as the future of Canada. The sickening spectacle drew demonstrators outside, four of whom were arrested.

Thank heaven Grace was at the small outdoor rally at Queen's Park instead. She was nervous about the speech that the CCF had asked her to give. It was good of Angus Hardy to recommend her to his party. I'm not surprised that he has confidence in her as a public speaker. Having twice been a fellow speaker at Grace's New Bedford rallies in his capacity as the Member of Parliament for the New Bedford Riding, he knows what she is capable of in that line.

None of this made Grace any more composed. She had never spoken before a Toronto crowd before. The previous day and night had passed in a flurry of rewriting and second guessing of her speech. I admit that I was anxious for her as she left Diana and me to make her way to the platform.

Then she stepped up to the microphone and was so assured and confident that I almost didn't recognize her. Her account of the courageous fight against fascism waged by her husband and his fellow Internationals of many different countries, religious backgrounds, and skin colors had the audience enthralled. At the end, she called on not just Canada, but all the democracies, to follow their example and stand up to Franco, Hitler and their ilk while there was still time.

I was ready to cheer. Then she explained that the cost of letting the fascists win in Spain would be another, greater war in which the civilized world would have to pay dearly in blood for the victory. I shuddered along with the rest of the audience but could not disagree. When Diana and I congratulated her afterwards, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank heaven for the microphone. All my confidence came flooding back the moment I stepped in front of it."

In two weeks: World without decency. Grace stands up. A wandering friend returns.