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Elsie J. Oxenham and A22_Rosamund’s Victory; A Romance of the Abbey Girls

October 25, 2020 By allisonmthompson 2 Comments

Published in 1933, Rosamund’s Victory, subtitled “A Romance of the Abbey Girls,” is set in February to March of 1929 and occurs immediately after A20_The Abbey Girls on Trial, and semi-concurrently with A21_Biddy’s Secret. It is an important installment in the story because it introduces the Kane family and its complicated family tree. It also a showcase for Rosamund Kane, who is, as I have mentioned, my favorite of the heroines. Here we see her loving, attentive, and determined—a strong character going through some challenging times and winning through.

There is no folk dancing, alas. Too many more important things going on.

Plot Synopsis (Contains Spoilers)

Two young women wearing leather coats and broad-brimmed hats stop outside a duplex cottage called The Rose and Squirrel that offers teas and lunches and hand-crafted goods. They are Lisabel Durrant and Rena Mackay—remember them? We met them in A12_Jen of the Abbey School—and they are trained gardeners who are going to put the garden of an empty nearby estate in order. They beg for tea and then for beds for the night from Rosamund Kane. Tall, pretty and blonde, 23-year old Rosamund tells them that she is expecting a baby in a day or two—hearty laugh!—he is her “step-brother” (half-brother) and is six weeks old and will be coming to live with her shortly. A year or so prior to the opening of this story, Rosamund’s 60-year old father married Eleanor, the middle of three young sisters, two of whom Audrey and Elspeth, keep The Squirrel (the tea house) while Rosamund runs The Rose (the craft shop). Rosamund somewhat jokingly refers to them as her aunts. Eleanor and the baby are currently in London. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Uncategorized Tagged With: Abbey Girls, Elsie J. Oxenham

Elsie J. Oxenham and A21_Biddy’s Secret; A Romance of the Abbey Girls

October 18, 2020 By allisonmthompson 1 Comment

This is a MOST PECULIAR BOOK, by EJO’s standards. It is the only one in the canon that hints that a baby carriage could precede a marriage. Biddy’s Secret has the subtitle—and this might be the only subtitle in all her works—“A Romance of the Abbey Girls,” indicating that it is aimed at the older reader. In fact, the romance is not Biddy’s but that of Ruth Devine, her cousin. This installment includes threatened murder-suicide, spousal abandonment and proposed child abandonment, a reference to “white slavery,” which was the pre-WWII term for sex trafficking, deception, and references to devious Frenchmen who lead English girls astray by pretending to marry them in an unofficial ceremony. I meant it when I said it was peculiar!

In the last installment we saw Maidlin shattered at being, as she saw it, rejected by her beloved Rosamund. She has used Ros as a shield between herself and the world though in past episodes she has also been shown as able to cope if the situation really calls for it. For several installments Oxenham has been carefully setting up Maidlin’s Problem; now we will have its resolution. Jen Robins, now Lady Marchwood (one of two, recall?), is one of the few people who perceive that shy, dependent Maidlin has yet to find the key to adulthood—and that that key is someone else’s need for her.

First published in 1932, the book takes place in February and April, 1929, partly concurrent with A22_Rosamund’s Victory. The cover illustration above shows Ruth Devine at Abinger Hall, going out to pick flowers with the Marchwood twins to send to poor children in London.

There is nothing in this book for folk dancers, except the observation that country dancing from a young age gives one exceptional grace and posture. You can stop reading now if you like.

Plot Synopsis (Contains Spoilers)

The story opens with the device that EJO often uses: that of introducing a girl who is not the main heroine but to whom all the back-story will be told or who will interact in a meaningful, though short-term way with the main heroines. Ruth Devine, Mary-Dorothy’s and Bridget (Biddy)’s cousin, is finally back in England. Diamonds have been found on the family farm in South Africa and she is now wealthy and able to travel. When the story begins, she is visiting friends whom she made on-board ship, but soon decides to leave them as she fears that the son of the house is going to propose to her and she doesn’t like him “that way.” She goes to the Abbey to find Maidlin unhappy at being continually called “babe,” “infant,” or “little one,” by Joy, in particular, but also by Rosamund. Joy keeps her adopted daughter swaddled in cotton-wool (a precursor of how she will treat her actual children). Maidlin feels that she has been too sheltered—she’d like to go get a job for a year and learn to live on her income. She wants to know how regular girls live, so that she can better manage her eventual inheritance. Joy squashes this idea. Maidlin, accompanied by Mary-Dorothy, was to visit her estates in Italy—but Mary, visiting Joan Raymond’s family, is in quarantine with them for mumps that one of the children picked up. (Oh, those quarantines—so useful for writers! We know all about quarantines now, don’t we? Only in the books they end after a few weeks so the characters can get on with their lives.) Ruth offers to accompany Maidlin to Paris—from there, the latter will go on to Italy.

While on the train, Ruth confides that she is going to meet another set of friends, Americans, whom she met on the ship—and this one has a son of the house whom she hopes will propose to her. During their Channel crossing, Maidlin confesses that she intends to run away from Joy and the Abbey—she will ask Biddy to help her find a job and live as ordinary girls do for a year. She wants to give the part of her that is the daughter of a north country housemaid a chance to grow. Ruth reluctantly agrees to support her in this endeavor, and gives good advice about trying to be less sensitive and to be more grownup. In the morning Ralph Norman meets the girls at the train and is charming in the “aw, shucks, ma’am” way that English authors used between the wars to represent quaint Americanisms. Maidlin travels on to Aix, where Biddy is at present, and when she gets there, she is met by a strange young woman with a note from Biddy asking her to come to her, as she is ill and needs help. For a moment she fears that the woman is a White Slaver (a sex trafficker—and boy, howdy, is this a jarring touch of reality in this series? White Slavery was indeed a preoccupation of the Twenties and Thirties but there is no precedent for it in EJO’s works), but the use of “Biddums” as the signature reassures her. She follows Annette Pernet to her home in the village of Annecy where she finds Biddy—with a baby! Practically the first words out of Biddy’s mouth are: “I’m married.” This statement suggests that both girls are aware that babies can come without marriage.

Biddy had married Claude Verdier, the nephew of the owner of the firm that she worked for, and there was a big row. The family have long considered nephew Claude a “rotter,” and the owner’s son, Etienne, had also been interested in Biddy, though she was unaware of this. Biddy’s head was turned by Claude’s charms; the fact that she would also become a member of the wealthy family was another allurement—she has always had an eye “for the main chance,” and this flaw has betrayed her. Within a few weeks of the marriage he tired of her and went off to South America. Though this point is not mentioned, he is a Catholic, and divorce is not an option.  Monsieur Verdier senior fired Biddy, and she went to Annecy where she has been waitressing for Mme. Pernet. Her letters to and from the family have been secretly forwarded by a friend in Lyons, so that no one actually knows where she is. She has lied to Joy and Mary and the others for more than nine months. Incroyable! This secret is difficult for the reader of today to understand:  we have to understand that Biddy is aware of her flaw of trying to get ahead, that she regretted her hasty marriage and was embarrassed to mention both it and her rapid abandonment by her husband, and then there is the baby.

Biddy is not making a good recovery. The Pernets at first fear that Maidlin is too childish to help, but she calms Biddy and becomes a tower of strength. In the throes of what we now call post-partum depression, Biddy threatens to throw herself and the baby out the window if Maidlin doesn’t keep her secret. We see Maidlin quietly and courageously taking control of the situation; she agrees to tell Joy and Mary that Biddy has simply been ill, and that she is going to stay for a while and nurse her, but she is determined to take Biddy and the baby back to England and the Hall. Biddy considers leaving the baby with the Pernets and only visiting her occasionally, but Maidlin won’t allow this. Maidlin asks Biddy if she was “properly” married, as she has heard of French men falsely arranging marriages, and Biddy says that she is sure of it. Maidlin is very sure that Biddy married Claude in order to get an in to the family—she has always been keen to “get on” in life.

While Biddy—whom the Pernets call Madame Bidet, and if you don’t think this is both hilarious and linguistically inconceivable, I do! What was Elsie thinking?—is recuperating, Maidlin gamely pitches in to help the Pernets, waitressing one day when Annette has a migraine. Here she encounters an English family with a young son who admires her (they are not named now, but we will encounter them some episodes ahead—a good example of how EJO recycled characters to weave them into future novels). The Frenchmen in the café much admire her beauty and look at her with Hungry Eyes, and she is forced to spill hot soup on one of them. Even though she is petite, pretty, and girlish-looking, we see that Maidlin can take care of herself! (Left: Maidlin, with a daffodil in her hair, must go back to the English family to retake their order.)

Troubled by her burdens, Maidlin seeks and receives help from God (not named as such, but obvious). She decides that a letter conveying the news to Joy and to Biddy’s sister Mary is insufficient; that Biddy needs to tell her story in person. Maidlin persuades Biddy to go to England—just as she reluctantly agrees, they find out that the Verdiers have put an announcement in The Times asking for “Biddy Devine who married Claude Verdier at Lyons on April 30th, last” to communicate with the family firm. Telegrams start flying: “Is she married?” Chapters eighteen through twenty are titled: Ruth Asks a Question, Rosamund Asks a Question, Everybody Asks Questions. Since the announcement clearly referred to a marriage, what they must be asking is really “is the marriage valid?” There is an element in this questioning that shows that they are aware that Biddy is impulsive and on the make.

Hot-headed Joy is very angry at not hearing the news of the marriage directly from Maidlin, but sensible Jen talks her around. Jen is also the only one to foresee that there might be a baby. The two girls and baby travel back to England. Biddy funks confessing herself, and Maidlin says that she’ll help but that it would be better for Biddy to do it. At the last moment, as the car pulls up to Abinger Hall, Biddy thrusts the baby into Maid’s hands and goes in and confesses.

Everyone makes up and they all sense a difference in Maidlin. She is much more mature. She confesses to Joy that she had planned to run away—to have Biddy find her a job in Lyons and not come back to the Hall for a year. Joy is heart-broken to realize that she does not understand her “first baby.” Wise up, Joy! You don’t understand anybody!

Everyone thinks that Biddy can no longer be Maid’s future secretary, both because of needing to take care of the baby and because her hasty marriage and her concealment of it show that she is irresponsible. Maidlin remains firm that she wants Biddy—however, the Verdier’s news comes that Claude is dead and that Etienne, the son of the firm, actually went all the way to South America to confirm this, believing it possible that Claude would fake the news. Etienne writes that perhaps they can meet again in a few years—and Biddy confesses to Maidlin (again) that she is interested in him. Sir Kenneth Marchwood agrees to be the baby’s godfather and the wealthy heiress Maidlin is the godmother, so Biddy, still with her eye to the main chance, has done well for her baby. Poor Biddy! There are a couple of brief mentions of her in later installments, but she basically fades out of the picture with her fault acknowledged but essentially un-remediated.

For Folk Dancers

There is no dancing. Maidlin sings Way, Way, Edward, Lord Rendal, As I walked out one May morning, The Keeper did a-shooting go, I spent all my money ‘long o’ Sally Brown, and O Shanadar, I love your daughter—the last is really Shenandoah—EJO’s phonetic spelling with the English accent of the “r” added to a word ending with a vowel shows that she heard this song but never saw the words.

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Uncategorized Tagged With: Abbey Girls, Elsie J. Oxenham, English folk dance

Elsie J. Oxenham and A20_The Abbey Girls on Trial

September 27, 2020 By allisonmthompson Leave a Comment

Published in 1931 and taking place from June of 1928 through February of 1929, A20_The Abbey Girls on Trial is the real beginning of Rosamund Kane’s Cinderella story. Rosamund is my favorite of the Abbey heroines: she is tall, fair, pretty as an English rose, sturdy, both physically and emotionally, compassionate, well-disciplined, determined, plucky, friendly, jolly, and kind. Unlike Joan, Joy, Jen, and Maidlin, who either inherit or marry money (or both), Rosamund must earn her eventual good fortune and happy ending. She also becomes one of the strongest exemplars of the spirit of the Abbey.

You may recall that she came to the Abbey as a fifteen-year-old boarder while she attended Miss Macey’s School. There is family in the background, but we hear little of them until, when Rosamund is eighteen, her mother is taken ill and goes to Sir Rennie Brown’s sanatorium in the Alps, where she dies, presumably of T.B. Rosamund’s father remains in Ceylon and we hear nothing about nor from him.

In the last few installments, Rosamund has begun to exhibit feelings of restlessness at living at Abinger Hall with Lady Joy and Maidlin, essentially doing nothing. She is a go-getter and wants to do something meaningful, not just teaching folk dancing to the villagers. She says that she wants a “future,” not just a change. In this installment we will see her on her way. This is a fun read for older girls, with lots of details about furnishing the cottage and finding the crafts for sale. We are also seeing—more clearly than with Joy, Joan, and Jen—the younger girls modeling their growth into adulthood and—in later episodes—romance.

Rosamund and Maidlin are the two Abbey Girls who are most clearly “on trial” in this episode—they are faced with challenges and problems and even the potential of a rift in their deep friendship. But the two Abbott sisters are also on trial to make a success of their tea house and their lives, while Lady Joy continues to be challenged to reach out and have empathy for others.

Above: the cover illustration shows Audrey (weeping) and Eleanor Abbott of the Squirrel House. Audrey is weeping because the work and responsibility is too much for her. On the spine we see Rosamund entering both the tea house and their story.

Other than a mention of The Geud Man of Ballangigh, there is nothing for folk dancers in this episode—although I have some jolly links to clips at the foot of this article, so go check them out if nothing else!

Plot Summary (Contains Spoilers)

The novel opens with sisters Audrey, 29, and Elspeth, 19, Abbott, who run a tea shop in the country called the Squirrel House. The burden of running it falls on Audrey, as Elspeth is dreamy, forgetful, and shy. One day they receive a letter from their middle sister, Eleanor, 22, who has been visiting posh friends in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). She announces that she has just married a 60-year-old man, a Mr. Kane. The girls are stunned and disgusted. The letter also says that Mr. Kane has a 22-year old daughter who is living in England with her friends. They are intrigued and wonder if she’ll want to be a sister to them, since Eleanor is such a gold-digging slacker—but then they remember that they are now this new girl’s aunts!

Mrs. Joan Raymond comes late that day to ask for tea for herself and Rosamund and Maidlin—Joan has come from her home where her daughter has come down with measles—measles again! the Scourge of the series!—and the two younger girls come from the Hall, where the precious Marchwood twins are four and can’t be allowed to get infected. (Lady Joy is a helicopter mother.) Lady Jen Robins Marchwood has just had her third baby, Rosemary Jane, and they want to talk the happy event over. Shy Elspeth is a little frightened of tall, commanding Rosamund, and Maidlin observes out loud that Elspeth has been crying—whereupon she flees into the woods. Maidlin goes to apologize, and we see how gentle and kind she is with girls in need; she is indeed a good Camp Fire Guardian. Neither of the younger visitors is introduced to the Abbotts.

A few days later Rosamund receives a letter from her father in Ceylon announcing his marriage to a girl her own age. She is quite crushed—she doesn’t have much affection for her father, since he has not troubled himself to see her for many years, but she had been planning to go out to keep house for him when he asked for her. She is disgusted by the thought of Beautiful Girl, as she calls Eleanor (it is how her father called her when he first met her), marrying an old man. She goes to the Abbey to seek spiritual consolation.

Rosamund tells Maidlin and Jen that this marriage changes everything—she can’t go on saying at the Hall marking time and teaching country dancing. She has some money from her mother and an allowance from her father but she needs a purpose in life. Maidlin gleefully tells Jen that what Rosamund wants is to keep a shop—with things in cardboard boxes! She wants to sell good, handmade crafts. They talk further about Beautiful Girl and the news that she has two sisters.

The two Abbott girls write to “Miss Kane,” inviting her to come meet them and make friends. Elspeth includes a sweet note illustrated with squirrels. Rosamund is overjoyed to find that “those jolly girls” at the Squirrel House are now related to her. Maidlin, introverted, immature, and dependent for so long on her beloved Rosamund, is very afraid that she will leave and go live with the “squirrel girls”—everyone else thinks that this separation would be good for Maidlin, who uses Ros as a shield against the world. With her usual lack of insight, Joy tells Rosamund that she is selfish for putting her own wishes to run a shop ahead of Joy’s, Maid’s and Jen’s wish to retain her at the Hall. Rosamund is crushed, but Mary Devine talks Joy out of her position, saying that it would be selfish of Joy to insist.

Rosamund sends the car to bring the Abbotts to the Hall—they are very nervous but impressed and are all happy to be introduced to each other. The three of them drive back to the Squirrel House and the Abbotts invite Rosamund to take the other half of the cottage for her crafts shop. The second half will be called the Rose.

A few days later, however, Rosamund receives a letter from her father that cuts off her allowance, as he now has a wife to support (she is apparently more expensive that Rosamund’s mother had been; also, the un-named business has been bad for years). She talks to the Abbotts, who find a solution—Rosamund will work for them as waitress/cook; they’ll share food expenses; they can work it out. Plus, Rosamund’s half of the cottage has a lavish fruit garden—they’ll sell raspberries and jam and flowers. Audrey suggests that in winter, Rosamund should take up her father’s offer of a little more education and take a good cookery class in London to earn a certificate. Joy is upset that a girl of Rosamund’s “personality and education” should be reduced to washing cups and picking berries. Rosamund responds: “‘The first thing for a girl of my personality and education—if they really exist—to do, is to show that she can keep herself and pay her way. I’ve let Father pay for me too long. Bu I felt he was responsible for me, and so long as he could to it, it was right that he should. Now I intend to look after myself.’ (192)” Everyone bucks up and offers to help. Joy says she’ll keep Rosamund’s room ready at the Hall for whenever she wants to visit and Rosamund is very touched. Everyone goes to visit the Rose and Squirrel and Sir Ken Marchwood offers to have the cottage white-washed and a bath installed.

Some weeks pass and Maidlin goes to visit, finding Rosamund in the kitchen picking currants off the stems. She tells Maid that she went to see a young man crippled in a motor-bike accident who carves little wooden animals. “‘When I asked him if he’d let me show a few and try to sell them for him, his mother broke down and cried. I nearly wept myself at sight of his face. It’s not so much the money, though they’ll be glad of it: but he’ll feel he’s of some use to his people if he can sell his carvings. It was like new life to him.’ (210)” We saw Rosamund selflessly helping Cecily Perowne in the last installment; now we see her well-launched on caring for the village people around her.

Above: Unclear! Dark hair usually means Maidlin and long fair hair Rosamund. Perhaps they are tootling along to the Rose and Squirrel? Note the open car, the necessary furs and cloche hats and the somewhat earlier fashion of this cover from the one at the top of the post. The luggage is in the “dickey” in the back.

Maidlin asks for advice about her Camp Fire girls, but Rosamund refuses to give any—she wants Maid to stand on her own feet. Maidlin feels lost and rejected. The two drift apart as the months pass. In a most unusual fashion, Lady Joy goes to Rosamund and asks what is going on. The conversation is not a success. Jen then talks to Joy and diagnoses that Rosamund tried to shut the door a little, so that Maidlin would learn to run her own Camp Fire, but that Maidlin responded by closing the door firmly and locking it, leaving Rosamund lonely and bewildered. Maidlin has yet to resolve her Character Problems of excessive hero worship of Joy and dependency on Ros. Jen scolds Joy for scolding Rosamund. Joy wonders why she doesn’t see things as clearly as Jen, who responds that she trusts people more than Joy does. “‘I trust the good in them.’ (253)”

Jen visits Rosamund, who is packing to go make apologies to Maidlin, and counsels her. Rosamund has been a little too abrupt in trying to make Maidlin grow up. They talk about jobs and the importance of sticking to them, and the jobs that the Abbey Girls hold. Rosamund and Maidlin are reconciled.

Rosamund receives word that her father has died. Some days later, Maidlin, Joy, and Jen visit the Rose and Squirrel to find Audrey and Rosamund packing to go to Malta (which is in the Mediterranean—the ship has gone through the Suez Canal), with Elspeth going to stay with an old lady in the village as they can’t afford three tickets. En route by ship home, Mrs. Kane has given birth to young Roderick Kane, and the girls are traveling to help her bring the baby to England. Feeling certain that Beautiful Girl will spoil the baby, Rosamund wants to claim her half-brother and adopt him. She wants him to be brought up right, in England, and hints at a deeper importance of this action.

For Folk Dancers

The only mention of dancing is that Lady Joy Marchwood teaches The Geud Man of Ballangigh to her Ranger group—the older teenage Guides. Excellent choice! Compared to the challenging set dances that the girls typically engage in, Geud Man is a great dance for beginners: the pattern is easily grasped, it is easy for the pairs of dancers to help each other, and it has a jolly tune. It is a longways dance from the tenth edition of Playford (1698), and Cecil Sharp published it in the Country Dance Book VI in 1922, two years before his death.

Here is a very nice short instrumental clip played by Les Triolets

And here is Seth Tepfer & the Syncopaths playing it for a dance weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a fun clip.

 

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Uncategorized Tagged With: Cecil Sharp, Elsie J. Oxenham, English folk dance, Geud Man of Ballangigh

Elsie J. Oxenham and A19_The Abbey Girls Play Up

September 13, 2020 By allisonmthompson Leave a Comment

Set in May through July of 1927, three years after the last installment, and published in 1930, A19_The Abbey Girls Play Up is light in tone but discusses serious issues of duty and responsibility. Our heroines have uttered the phrases “play the game” and “play up” in the series before but we haven’t paid much attention to the words—perhaps we haven’t understood them and are wondering what game is being referred to. But here the phrase “play up” takes on titular importance. It is a reference to the famous poem by Sir Henry John Newbolt titled “Vitaḯ Lampada,” meaning “the torch of life.” The poem tells how a schoolboy, a future soldier, learns selfless commitment to duty in cricket matches in the famous Close at Clifton College. The poem was written in 1892 and refers to the Battle of Abu Klea in Sudan in January 1885 during the unsuccessful expedition to rescue General Gordon. Here’s Newbolt’s poem:

There’s a breathless hush in the Close to-night—
Ten to make and the match to win—
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,
But his captain’s hand on his shoulder smote
“Play up! play up! and play the game!”

 

The sand of the desert is sodden red,—
Red with the wreck of a square that broke;—
The Gatling‘s jammed and the Colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed his banks,
And England’s far, and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:
“Play up! play up! and play the game!”

 

This is the word that year by year,
While in her place the school is set,
Every one of her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare forget.
This they all with a joyful mind
Bear through life like a torch in flame,
And falling fling to the host behind—
“Play up! play up! and play the game!”

The poem was widely admired at first, but during and after World War I was satirized. The phrase play up and play the game appears in many fictional works, including Stalky & Co. (published in 1899 in book form after having been previously serialized) by Rudyard Kipling and numerous works by P.G. Wodehouse, who started his career writing short stories for boys’ magazines. I think it is likely that Elsie Oxenham, whose father John Oxenham was a successful inspirational and religious writer, had met Newbolt, as London literary circles were small. John Oxenham wrote several of the poems that Camp Fire leaders used when lighting the fire or engaging in other ritual activities. And, of course, to create a new Camp Fire circle (consisting of a Guardian and at least six girls), Maribel passes the torch to the new leader, Maidlin.

In The Abbey Girls Play Up, several of the inner circle are faced with challenges and must play up and rise to the occasion. While feeling inadequate, unprepared, or unsuited for the challenge, they consciously take on new duties. They say that because they have so much—referring to money, but also to joy in dancing and beauty—they feel that they must share it with those who have less. Shy Mary Devine is asked to lead a Sunday School class for girls and, though she is very uncertain about her ability to do so, agrees. Jen Marchwood is shown as bustling about as Lady of the Manor, opening fêtes and hospitals and doing all the public work that the villages around ask of her. Jen also forces Joy, in her third year of widowhood, to take on duties and not be a shirker—Joy eventually takes on the leadership of a Ranger group (the older girl Guides). Maidlin thinks that she ought to lead on a Guide group because there is a need for a new village activity but hates the thought of Guiding—she eventually starts a Camp Fire for the younger girls of the village. And Rosamund provides the happy ending. That the Abbey Girls “play up” mean that they face and take on responsibilities, act with honor and courage, and contribute to life and the world around them.

In the previous installment we were shocked to hear that Joy, a recent widow, Jen, expecting her first baby, and Mary-Dorothy, newly serious about her writing, all felt that dancing wasn’t as important to them as it had been; that it was a pleasant activity, but not the most important thing in life. Either readers complained or Elsie Oxenham realized that she could not let the folk dancing aspect of her series vanish, so A19_The Abbey Girls Play Up returns Jen, Mary, and Joan to folk dancing.

The illustration shows Maribel (blonde plaits) passing the torch to Maidlin as a new Camp Fire is created. The younger girls have not yet made their gowns or begun earning honors.

Plot Synopsis (Contains Spoilers)

The story opens with fifteen-year-old Cecily Brown in despair because she has been told by Sarah, the caregiver with whom she boards, that she is not allowed to go folk-dancing that night: Sarah thinks that Cecily was rude to Joan Raymond, the teacher, at the last session. Sarah, who is a lower-class villager (see below), doesn’t understand Cecily who is very emotional and gets worked up by the dancing. Cecily is a fifteen-year-old orphan who first appeared two years earlier in A Camp Mystery (1932) as a spy for the bad guys. Known as Cécile Le Brun, she is part-English by birth but was kidnapped at the age of three or four by the bad guys who put her in a French convent until they needed her for their nefarious deeds. (A Camp Mystery is EJO’s worst book and the plot is pretty unintelligible, suffice it to say that it is set in Switzerland.) There she met Girl Guide leaders Maribel Ritchie and Rosalind Firth, who eventually took her under their wing and “adopted” her. Cecily has brown eyes and unusual, dark red hair with bangs cut straight across her forehead. Maribel and Rosalind have sent her to England to study and get acclimated to English life.

The debacle happened in the dance Mage on a Cree. Cecily tells the dancers how to do it better (more detail below). The other adults think that Cecily was rude to Joan, but Joan understands Cecily’s passion for dancing. Sarah is firm that Cecily can’t dance until her guardian Maribel has ok’d it. Jen, now Lady Marchwood, came to the class Cecily missed and played her tin whistle. Deeply unhappy at missing this treat, Cecily buys one and tries to play: she has a good ear and soon picks out the tunes of We won’t go home till morning, Rufty Tufty, The Butterfly, and The Old Mole.

Maribel and Rosalind, both in their Guide uniforms, show up and discuss Cecily’s future–they can’t provide more education for her: she must become a typist or a cook. They hear Cecily ‘s playing and are impressed. Sarah tells them that she can’t do anything with Cecily on folk dance nights as she gets so worked up. Cecily explains that she just couldn’t bear to see the pattern of the dance messed up. The girls decide to go and see Mrs. Raymond, who lives at Rayley Hall, about 30 miles from our usual locations of Abinger Hall and Marchwood Manor. Cecily’s guardians realize that school hasn’t been enough for Cecily—the country dancing is fulfilling something deep inside her, and that she needs music in her life. They also meet her friend, Mrs. Sandy Alexander, a young widowed violinist. Sandy tells Cecily her life story and we appreciate that she has also “played the game,” abandoning her dreams of music school to care for her ill mother.

Maribel, Rosalind, and Cecily are absorbed into the Abbey Girls clan, meeting the Dowager Lady Marchwood (Joy Shirley) and Lady Marchwood (Jen Robbins), known informally and incorrectly as Lady Joy and Lady Jen. Both ladies have two babies. Jen invites the three girls to stay at the Manor one weekend where Maribel meets Mike Marchwood, Sir Kenneth’s cousin. Mike is a Boy Scout leader supervising a camp nearby. Much is made of the two Guides and Scout Mike “saluting” each other’s uniforms. Maidlin confesses to Maribel and Rosalind that she feels that she should lead a Guide group but that she hates the thought of it—they tell her she shouldn’t do it if she doesn’t love it. They tell her about the American Camp Fire movement.

—I’ll go into this more in future posts, but a simplified way to think about Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, and Camp Fire in the early days of the movements is that the Scouts and the Guides were almost para-military, or more accurately, pre-military groups, while Camp Fire was romantic. Guides/Scouts wore “smart” uniforms, even in the street, saluted when they met or parted, earned titles such as “Captain” and “Colonel,” carried the flag of their unit or company as well as the nation’s flag, and learned, among other things, “wig-wag” (semaphore) and Morse code. Camp Fire girls learned songs and poetry, made and embroidered their own gowns and headbands (which they did not wear in the street), and took on Native American-style names. Camp Fire “ranks” are symbolic: from Wood-Gatherer to Fire-Lighter to Torch-Bearer. Both groups engaged in hiking, camping, and other healthful activities, and earned badges (Guides/Scouts) or honors/beads (Camp Fire), for learning skills or passing tests of discipline. Elsie Oxenham was both a Guardian and a Guide leader. It is clear that her sympathies lean towards the more spiritual Camp Fire, but that she recognized that more English girls would have access to or interest in the Guiding movement. In the Abbey Girls series, the more masterful Joy is active in the Guides, while intense and romantic Maidlin, Camp Fire. In non-Abbey Girl books, Camp Fire tends to be more frequently represented. In Maribel’s back-story books, the Camp Keema series, the differences between the two movements threatened to divide the school and actually do divide friends.—

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Devine, Lady Jen, Joan Raymond, and Maidlin are all presented as having (unpaid) jobs such as teaching dancing. Mary agonizes over taking on the challenge of teaching a village girls’ Sunday school class; Maidlin agonizes over taking on leading a Girl Guide group. Lady Jen is busy representing “The Manor” while opening bazaars, fêtes and hospitals. Only Lady Joy, still wearing black and mourning her husband after three years, does nothing much for anyone, yet there is a need in the village for a leader of a group of older Girl Guides, known as Rangers.

Lady Jen tackles Joy’s problem head-on by reminding her that her twin girls will soon notice that their mother does nothing compared to all the “Aunties,” and that soon they will be out dancing and doing things and Joy will left to sit at home alone. She urges Joy not simply to give money, which is easy for her, but to give of herself.  In this discussion, Jen does not refer to the concept of “playing-up,” but it is clearly implied. Joy visits Sandy Alexander and realizes that here is another young widow who is doing more than she is. Joy is struck by this and agrees to be the Ranger leader.

On a second visit to the Marchwoods, Maribel takes her Camp Fire gown and beads. Wearing them—and with her hair down!—and thinking that none of the gentlemen are at home, she goes down to the drawing room to show Maidlin—and there is Scout Mike, in his Scout shorts! Pretty soon he is looking at her with Hungry Eyes, and we all know what that means! Maribel is presented as Kataga or “the Stormy Waves” of Camp Keema, the Camp that faces the Wind. Though she had not yet officially joined the group, Rosalind was to take on the name of Senhalonee, the Builder. It is clear that the names reflect their characters and/or aspirations.

Maribel passes the torch of the new Camp Fire to Maidlin, who will be its Guardian. The Camp is Waditaka, the Adventurous Camp, the Camp of Brave People. Maidlin takes on the name of Nawadaha, the Singer, and Cecily that of Wopida, Gratitude. Jen takes a photo of the event, which she sends to Rosamund Kane, who is in Switzerland visiting friends at the Platz, the sanatorium in the Alps. There is a long description of the village Whit-Monday day celebration with all, regardless of age or rank, dancing together. Maribel teaches Mike to dance and he enjoys it thoroughly.

Lady Joy discovers Cecily’s musical talents and offers her a place in her music school. Maribel and Mike are matched up. Rosamund suddenly provides a happy ending:  when she saw the photo of the Camp Fire, she instantly recognized that one girl must be the daughter of a patient—she also has distinctive red hair with bangs cut straight across the forehead, proving that haircuts are hereditary. The woman, Mrs. Perowne, is a musician whose husband died, and whose baby was kidnapped. Rosamund comes to England to make sure and of course it is Cecily. In the true Abbey fashion of helpfulness, Rosamund escorts Cecily to Switzerland and Lady Joy offers Sandy Alexander a place in the music school.

The story concludes with Rosamund Kane telling Maidlin that she herself feels useless just living at the Hall. While everyone is kind to her, she needs a purpose in life that is more than teaching country-dancing. She wants to be out and doing something, a theme that will be further explored in the next few episodes.

For Folk Dancers

As mentioned previously, EJO had a conflicted approach to class and folk dance, and this installment shows both of her approaches. There is an idyllic set piece of everyone—Hall and village—dancing on Whit Monday. One of tall Lady Jen’s partners is a little girl who sent a note to the Manor to ask Jen to dance with her, and Jen, when telling her friends about it, refers to the girl as “only” village. While the little girl and Jen are charming together, it is a bit of a nails-on-the-blackboard moment. At other points in the story, Cecily and Joan note that the Women’s Institute dancers are generally “heavy” and graceless, and they don’t focus well on the details of the complicated Playford-style set dances that Joan teaches. They enjoy the dancing, but they just don’t “get it” the way Cecily, who comes from a middle-class background, does.

Craving music, Cecily has sought comfort from “Little” Sandy Alexander, the violinist. She attended one class and played The Old Mole with such spirit that Cecily danced better than before. She begs Joan to have Sandy play for all the classes, but Joan can’t just chuck the faithful pianist, even though she plays very heavily. Joan gives the pianist hints like “‘Play it like music! Phrase it more! Don’t be so particular to accent the beat!’”

Cecily’s trouble came from bad dancing in the three-couple dance Mage on a Cree, another complicated Playford-style dance.

“They [the Women’s Institute] would turn the wrong way, backwards, to make the ring, and it’s hideous. I said it ought to be on, not back; a turn and a half, like you do in ‘Old Mole.’ It’s ugly; it spoils the pattern; and they would do it. Mrs. Raymond [Joan] kept shouting ‘Right turn! Back turn!’ but they wouldn’t listen. I was frantic; I was a woman, so I didn’t have to do it. It drove me wild to see them messing it up; and—and I dashed at them and shoved them round the other way, and Mrs. Green says I yelled: ‘That way, idiots!’ I’m certain I never did. But they didn’t like it; they were mad. And—and Mrs. Raymond said I’d better leave the teaching to her, as I was so much the youngest in the class. She laughed, when she said it; she wasn’t a scrap upset. But I was all worked up, and I said something back to her. I’m sure I only said: ‘But you can’t do it all. You can’t see four sets at once. And they don’t listen to you!’”

This excerpt puzzles me and I feel that Cecily and her creator are making two uncharacteristic errors.  The first is that there is no back-circle in The Old Mole. The second is that when the men form the back-circle, they do not do “a turn and a half”—they simply dance in, pull their right shoulders back for a half-turn, join hands and slip to their right, once around. The Women’s Institute dancers are moving in and pulling their left shoulders back to form the circle. Objectively there is little difference and they achieve the same goal. But Sharp’s interpretations are all right-footed or right-turned, and, remember, it was his way or the highway.

Mage on a Cree was first published in Playford’s The English Dancing Master in 1651. In The Playford Ball, Kate Van Winkle Keller and Genevieve Shimer write that even at the time, English people may not have known what it meant. They suggest that it came from the Irish. Later editions tried to make sense of the word “mage,” suggesting that it meant “magpie.” Here is an early twentieth-century recording of the tune by Stanford Robinson and the National Military Band. If the technicians got the ratio correct between the original LP record and the modern equipment—and one assumes that they did—this gives you an excellent sense of the speed of dancing in the early years.

The big dance scene is on Whit-Monday. Whit-Sunday is Pentecost, which in the Catholic and Anglican faith takes place seven weeks after the Resurrection and is the day on which the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ’s disciples. In the medieval world the entire week of Whitsun was a holiday. Many of the Hamlet Club show up for the annual dance including Miriam, the first May Queen, accompanied by her seven-year-old daughter—the first of the next generation to dance.

The whole village seemed to be dancing, and there was no keeping to friendly sets. Guides, Scouts, members of the Women’s Institute, and of nothing at all, danced in rings with the visitors [Maribel and Rosalind and the Hamlet Club] and made up their longways sets. Maribel offers to play the fiddle while Margia Lane, the usual fiddler, dances. And, finally, Scout Mike appears and implores Maribel to teach him to dance.

Usually EJO does not usually describe the process of learning to dance. There are many set pieces in her works where visitors stare “wonderingly” at the colorful, changing patterns of dances like Newcastle for four couples, that goes from “rings” to stars, to arches, to lines, and more. But here we actually see a neophyte learning. At first Sir Kenneth, the M.C., tells Mike to grab couples and form them into sets of no more than seven couples, making the maypole in the center of the village green “the top.” Mike has no idea what this means, and he slips away to find Maribel. We then see Maribel coaching him through Flowers of Edinburgh as a second couple, teaching him to swing and give weight, and to skip (one foot in front of the other) not slip (the same foot always leading). He is dismayed when they reach the top of the set and become Ones and even suggests leaving the set, which of course Maribel nixes. Later she teaches him the Helston Furry step for the processional and the longways dance Christchurch Bells, which has a hand-clapping sequence that Mike enjoys teasing his “Princess” with by never being consistent in whether he is going to slap or merely tap her hands. The whole event is one of Oxenham’s most charming and evocative dance episodes and is unique in being experienced in part through Mike’s eyes. Joan’s and Jen’s husbands do dance, but not much, so this is the rare scene that might convince boys and men that dancing could be fun, if only to be able to hold hands with the girl they are sweet on. Mike and Maribel’s playful dancing and courtship suggest that they will have a successful marriage in which each gives equal weight.

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Elsie J. Oxenham, English Folk Dance, Uncategorized Tagged With: Camp Fire movement, Girl Guides, Mage on a Cree, The Old Mole

Some Musings on Elsie J. Oxenham and her World

August 30, 2020 By allisonmthompson Leave a Comment

Gym Tunic 1920S

A gym tunic (aka gym slip) like this costs from ten shillings and sixpence, and is available in brown or navy, other colours to order.

For those who have recently joined in, we are reading Oxenham’s Abbey Girl series in reading order, which is not the same as publication order. Today, though I’ll digress to explore some themes that are found in all of EJO’s books, but especially the Abbey Girls series: these include Hair, Gymmies and Tunics, Names, the meaning of the word “girl,” and more. Let’s start with . . . .

Parental Morbidity & Mortality

It’s tough being an Abbey Girl parent, especially for mothers! As with other novels that deal with young people (think of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Heidi, Pollyanna, Anne Shirley of Green Gables, Mary Lennox of The Secret Garden, etc.), a child has to be detached from home and the parental units in order [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Uncategorized Tagged With: Abbey Girls, Cecil Sharp, Elsie J. Oxenham, English folk dance

Elsie J. Oxenham and A18_The Abbey Girls at Home

August 23, 2020 By allisonmthompson Leave a Comment

ag at home

Published in 1929, A18_The Abbey Girls at Home begins three weeks after the last installment ended in May of 1923 and runs through Valentine’s Day of the following year. It is a rather somber book with, if I have counted them correctly, five deaths, a serious accident, and even some mental health issues. While the Hamlet Club does hold a dance out of doors, there is not much in this installment for folk dancers.

Left: Maidlin is about to be run over! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Elsie J. Oxenham, Uncategorized Tagged With: Abbey Girls, Cecil Sharp, English folk dance, Morris Dance

Elsie J. Oxenham and A17_The Abbey Girls Win Through

August 16, 2020 By allisonmthompson Leave a Comment

ag winThe Abbey Girls Win Through was published by Collins in 1928 and is tenth in the First Generation set. It takes place “Abbey Time” between April and May of 1923,slightly overlapping its predecessor installment. For those of you who are new to this blog, we are reading these books in reading order (meaning how the stories make sense with time and the ages of the characters) which is not the same as publication order. 

 Some readers feel or have felt that there is too much pi-jaw [“pi” = “pious”; “jaw” =  “talk”) in EJO’s novels and The Abbey Girls Win Through is one of the books that strongly exhibit this trait—for bad, if you find it didactic, or for good if you find her words comforting. Generally, in these books God is not explicitly invoked—a girl simply looks for “help” and then feels that she has found it—but here there are quite a few religious discussions. The off-stage deaths have to be understood as either part of God’s plan or the reverse, although the reverse takes us into Manichaean heresy of believing that there is an active agent of evil. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Uncategorized Tagged With: Abbey Girls, Elsie J. Oxenham, English folk dance, Hey Boys Up Go We

Elsie J. Oxenham and A16_Queen of the Abbey Girls

August 9, 2020 By allisonmthompson 4 Comments

cricket 2A16_Queen of the Abbey Girls takes place in May to November of 1922 and was published by Collins in 1926. It is a strong story with a lot of dancing in it. This installment features Jen Robins—her crowning as the Brown or Beech Queen, her romance, and her presentation to the reader as one of the real spirits of the Abbey. Throughout the rest of the series Jen will retain her bright and merry spirit and she will increasingly become a wise counselor. Queen of the Abbey Girls also features some of the dark side of Joy Shirley: her selfishness and her inability to recognize other people’s emotions. This is another of the series that addresses Faith and God.

Oxenham is now well-set in her series. She is writing for the age group that she preferred: the older teenager or young woman, typically one who must resolve a problem. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Uncategorized Tagged With: Cecil Sharp, Elsie J. Oxenham, Flamborough Sword Dance, Hey Boys Up Go We, Kibbo Kift, May Queen

Elsie J. Oxenham and A15_The Abbey Girls in Town

August 2, 2020 By allisonmthompson Leave a Comment

ag in town coatPublished in 1925, A15_The Abbey Girls in Town begins in December 1921, Abbey Time, and concludes in May of 1922. It is the third novel in the Mary-Dorothy and Biddy Devine story arc and one that mostly resolves Mary’s “problem”—that of both unhealthy dreaminess and an over-idealization of Joy Shirley. After this installment, Biddy largely disappears, though she will get her own novel in A21_Biddy’s Secret. There are two major dance episodes in it: one at the Chelsea Polytechnic Christmas dance school, where we meet again with Cecil Sharp (“the Prophet”) and his teachers, and one of a children’s dance performance.

In 1925, Elsie J. Oxenham was forty-four and was well-established as one of the leading writers of books for girls, having published 30 books [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Uncategorized Tagged With: Abbey Girls, Cecil Sharp, Elsie J. Oxenham, English folk dance, Helen Kennedy North, May Gadd, Morris Dance

Elsie J. Oxenham and A14_The Abbey Girls Again

July 26, 2020 By allisonmthompson Leave a Comment

a 14 2Several weeks ago I wrote in general about the horrors of the Collins abridgments—here with A14_The Abbey Girls Again, we come face to face with them! The abridged version removes not only many of the folk-dance sequences, but a great deal of character development. The original version is much more coherent, if wordier. In this episode, folk dancing appears as having spiritual, moral, physical, and psychologically redemptive powers. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbey Girls, Uncategorized Tagged With: Abbey Girls, Bacca Pipes Jig, Elsie J. Oxenham, English folk dance, Kentrucky set running, Morris Dance

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