Grace
continued her letter to her niece with a plea for her to visit: “I hope you
like your new Maine Village better than the last. I wish you had come to N.S.
first, but do try to come yet & bring Marjorie [Stevens], if she would like
to come.”
In fact,
Bishop and Marjorie Stevens spent most of the summer in Nova Scotia, going first
to Cape Breton, Breton Cove to be exact, for six weeks, according to Brett
Millier (191), and then to Great Village for a month, until “the third week in
September.” (Millier 194)
To reinforce her desire to see her niece, Grace
also noted: “Will [Bowers, Grace’s husband] says he will be looking for you
both & will be very disappointed if you don’t come.”
Phyllis Sutherland, who was married and
away by this time, showed me the little house, a short distance from the busy Bowers’
farm, where Bishop and Stevens stayed.
As further inducement, Grace boasted about a
pride and joy: “We have a grand garden lots of peas, beans, carrots, beets, greens,
lettuce, etc.” All this produce and more meant that Grace had “canned a lot
& still am at it. I will soon have my 3rd box of cans used 50 to
a box.” A special treat was “a few raspberries today to make a little jam &
I’ve put down quite a lot of blueberries.”
As with many letters, Grace’s now began to
wander over various subjects. She noted that “Phyllis & Ern [Sutherland]
are still on the Island (P.E.I.).” Ernest Sutherland was a contractor who built
houses. She continued, “They want Will & I to stay in New Glasgow with
them, next winter, but we haven’t decided what to do yet.” Will Bowers died in
1948, so it is unlikely that they followed through on this offer.
(The main house at Elmcroft, the Bowers Farm, AUA)
The Bowers’s farm was a major operation and
one of its biggest crops was hay, for all the cattle and horses: “We have a
very heavy crop of hay this year, the barns are nearly full now & it is
about half in I guess.”
Another turn brought in a friend of Bishop’s
whom she had met in New York City: “Dorothy Johnson Linkletter called me up the
other day & wanted to know when you were coming home. She has invited your
friend Zilpha [Linkletter] to visit her here at her home, but she wants to have
her when you are here.”
I had the great privilege of knowing Zilpha
Linkletter, who lived in Halifax. Zilpha was a provincial civil servant for
decades. I met her long after she had retired and had a number of very pleasant
conversations with her about her memories of Bishop. She was in possession of Bishop
memorabilia, including letters, which she highly prized. She had a strong
connection to Dalhousie University and was one of the people responsible for
helping to get the honorary degree for Bishop that Dalhousie conferred in 1979.
Grace knew that Bishop might need more
context for the Great Village link: “Dorothy’s sister Elizabeth [Johnson] is being
married in the big church [St. James Presbyterian] next Wed[nesday] (25th).
Dorothy came home for it. Toronto I think she lives.” Weddings tend to happen
in spring or summer, though middle of the week is a bit odd. This event makes
me suppose that Grace’s letter was written sometime in May or June. Bishop was
in Cape Breton by July, so this timing seems reasonable.
This was the other reason Grace was writing
to plead a visit: “I told her I didn’t know just when you were coming but
perhaps you might be here the last of this month or the first of next.”
Grace clearly wanted to see Bishop, even though she had seen her only the
summer before: “So do try to come & don’t cut your visit short like you did
last year.” Meaning 1946 when Bishop had to head back unexpectedly to sign
papers for the sale of her and Louise Crane’s house in Key West.
Grace’s letter was winding down. She
shifted again to a relative – a problematic one: “I think George [Shepherdson]
goes away the 1st of Sept. & expects to be gone quite a while. George’s
wife, Maud Bulmer, died in 1940. He moved back to Amherst, N.S. Perhaps Grace wanted
EB to know his movements so she could time her visit to avoid him. Though he
had told Grace that “he was coming over before he went, but I don’t look for
him now.”
(Phyllis Sutherland and Grace Bulmer Bowers,
early 1940s, before Phyllis married. AUA.)
The letter ends with a slight complaint, a
rare expression for the redoubtable Grace: “Must stop & get ready for bed.
I have to get up at 5 a.m. this week, as Rod [Bowers, Grace’s son] goes to work
at 6. It’s terribly early to get up. I don’t like it.” The retired nurse who used
to do night shifts on a regular basis, was getting older and one can appreciate
her desire not to get up so early.
She signs off with, “Will be looking for
you & Marjorie. Love Grace”
Click here to see Post 151.
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