While ten-year-old Harold was chasing butterflies through the gardens of Moorfield House and feeling overlooked by his busy parents, his future wife, ten-year-old Jeannie Grahame, was in Toronto starting her new school at Mr. Rolph’s [sic][1]
September 1, 1872. A few days ago, Jeanie’s 13-year-old sister, Tillie, boarded the train from to Montreal whereafter she boarded the S.S. Sarmatian, bound for Liverpool. She’s traveling under the charge of Mrs. Shuttleworth, their long-time family friend. The whole Grahame family went to see her off at Union Station: Papa, Mama, Jeannie, Laurie, Susie and baby Violet. The train station was full of chaos and clamour. The original station had been demolished the year before and new station wouldn’t be ready until next year, leaving chaos in charge. Fortunately, Mrs. Shuttleworth was utterly unflustered and she and Tillie managed to get onto the right train.
Tillie is off to visit Grandmother Marion Hill at Barlanark, Mama’s family home in Glasgow. It will nice for grandmother to have Tillie stay with her, since she’s still feeling a bit lost since Grandfather Laurence Hill died last February. But first Tillie will visit The Moat, Papa’s family home in the village of Annan, west of Carlisle. After a few days the The Moat, Tillie will take the train with Uncle Willie to Glasgow.
Now that Tillie is away, Jeannie is the oldest child, which makes her feel a little bit more important. She is especially pleased to be Papa’s oldest girl. Meanwhile, she can’t decide what to wear tomorrow for her first day at Mr. Rolph’s. If only Tillie was here to help her decide. Tillie is as pretty as a picture and knows just how to fix herself up.
Mother is no help. She’s in bed with quinsy. The infection has swollen her tonsils so much that she can barely talk or eat. (By the 21st century, quinsy will have been erased from our collective memory, banished by antibiotics.)
Jeanie studies her dresses. Should she wear the dark brown plaid or the plain bottle green? They’re both the standard fare for school girls: high-neck, mid-calf, with a pleated skirt. She decides on the bottle green dress, because it makes her think of trees and she’s very fond of trees. She’s a bit like a tree herself—tall and sturdy.
Oh my! Where are her cuffs and dress collar? Oh! There they are. On the bureau, exactly where she laid them out last night. She is excited to distraction about her first day at Mr. Rolph’s school. Papa waits on the porch while Jeannie speedily buttons up her study brown boots.
She flies out the front door. Whoops! She runs back inside to collect her cape. Out she flies again, twirls around for father, braids whirling around her head. Papa shakes his head and smiles, twinkles in his eyes. Jeannie takes his hand and off they go, chattering about everything and nothing. It’s a half-hour walk from their house in Yorkville down to Gerrard Street. They might have taken a horse-drawn tram, but Papa likes to walk. When they reach Gerrard Street, Papa turns right to go to his office and Jeanie turns left to go to Mr. Rolph’s school.
Jeannie has a great day first day at school. She has already made two friends already and her teacher, Miss Baldwin, seems most agreeable. At first, no one hears when she gets home. Baby Violet, or Pansy, as Papa likes to call her is upstairs with the nursemaid. Laurie and Susie are playing in the nursery.
Jeannie wishes she could tell Tillie all about her first day at school. Instead, she scoops up Satan and tells him all about her day. Satan is the black cat who adopted the Grahame family last winter. He’s a good listener—at least, for the two short minutes that he tolerates being held. Satan meows and jumps out of Jeannie’s arms.
And then the chaos begins. Laurie and Susie run downstairs and wrap themselves around Jeannie’s legs, almost toppling her over. Batty, Laurie’s new terrier puppy, barks and barks. He’s called Batty because his ears stand up like a bat’s. Jeannie spies Susie’s little red cape and has an inspiration to tie the cape around Satan’s neck. Magnificent! He looks like a proper devil! She brings him in to show Batty, who is terrified of Satan. Resplendent in his red cape, Satan takes a swipe at Batty. Laurie gets mad and tries to take a swipe at Jeannie, but he’s only 5 years old and Jeannie is too fast for him. She jumps away from Laurie, grabs him from behind, and scoops him up and twirls around until they are both so dizzy they fall into a laughing heap onto the rug. Susie bundles up Batty to keeps him safe from Satan who has finally managed to shed the offending cape.
After supper and bedtime prayers, Jeannie reads in bed at night. Tonight she reads The Crofter Boys, a moralistic 1870s tale showcasing the virtues of hard work and family loyalty, but says nothing about the expulsion the expulsion of crofters from their lands and how so many thousands were left to starve. As she reads this sanitary story about the lush green farms of the crofter boys, she thinks about the Grahame family farm at Vaughan. She loves going there. Maybe someday she’ll get married and have a farm surrounded by white pine forests just like at Vaughan. By the time Papa comes in, she’s sound asleep with The Crofter Boys still in her arms. Papa kisses her on the forehead, takes the book from her arms and sets it aside.
[1] AI didn’t find a school with the name of Rolph. Will need to check news articles.
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