“Pylons at the Shipyards” Phone Photo
Deborah Stephan
Caplan, Richard, Ed. The Woman from Away: The Collected Writings of Cape Breton’s Tessie Gillis, 2 Novels, 4 Stories and a Family History. 2009.
757 Words
The story of Tessie Gillis is well known. She succeeded in getting electricity for the whole community. *** She was determined to write yet found time to write only after she was stricken with heart disease, confined to one room and an oxygen tent, living in rural Cape Breton Island. *** She had been writing since 1962. ***She contacted Evelyn Garbary (about a writing course) who became her friend, her editor and eventually her dedicated promoter, who had loved her talent alive. ***Tessie saw none of this. She died in 1972. *** This book is a work of fiction; becoming a Cape Breton established classic *** She dared to write of dark hardscrabble life, of rural distances and pain, of alcoholism and domestic abuse. *** Dedicated to her daughter Helen Gillis McLeod and her first editor, Evelyn Garbary.*** Tessie was a vibrant, observant, courageous woman from away, brought to Cape Breton by her husband Joe. *** He found her in New York City, a knowledgeable ranch girl raised in Montana. *** manuscripts, friendships, new eyes, race portrait *** Advice: detail, religious conviction *** You are now taking the right word and no longer using hackneyed phrases. *** Suggest these convictions and experiences and show what happened as a result. *** I can make people feel. *** Advice: Use them in a way that no one else could. *** I was only her amanuensis and the clerk of the spirit that informed her. *** Use exact words you hear spoken. *** a revel in the sweetness of cleanliness *** Advice: Swear then get to work. *** When you write as a man you are tremendous (literature). *** She gained confidence. She began to see for herself how she could gently ‘manipulate her material’. *** women’s work, women’s experience *** Keywords: American entertaining, Highland Games, stream of visitors *** washtub, teas, listening, children, strength, parchment *** staccato, God, bottle, frost, hay *** crimson, visitors, yellow, black, ill, see, friends, stiff, nerve pills *** beer, dead, know, help *** herself, nerves, mental, operate *** unbearable, politeness, bread, churning, heart *** cookies, sorry, worrying, bottle, mass *** die, birds, Glen, snow, ladies, pain, call, answer, priest *** heart, can’t, help, understood, doctor, scream, priest, stay *** arteries, home, children, work, hospital, bed, looking *** glass, gifts, accept, cursing, crying, gone *** God, write, prepare, snow, heifer, ice-laden, forbidding, home, folks *** I was the only woman wearing high heels. *** thirty, burden, magazines, heels, country *** likes, land, railroad, remote, fish, hat, refreshment, Canada, hugging, border *** baggage, ruffles, feathers, stove, webs, women *** elegant, dirty, filigree, handkerchief, compartment, smoker *** Scottish, laughing, slowness, painted *** They didn’t have time for gardening I suppose. Why wouldn’t that woman on the train speak to me, Jim? *** overnight, smoker, violin, tune, drinking, dancing *** rattling, track, engineer, trees, fiddle *** jack, smile, cap, twinkled, red, blue, cherry *** kiss, chore, table, blessed, party stage, love, breath, sips, mellow, guitar, ballad *** perform, pipes, cushion, kitchen, kettle, fire *** lots of dialogue in dialect *** expertly stripped each one of the news they had. *** use of caps throughout for loud speaking *** house, grass-grown, gaunt, sagged *** guests, rickety, twisted, rotted, rust *** bedstead, painted, straw *** home, thatch, flannel, saw, cut *** Everyone danced for the sheer love of dancing. *** flue, meticulously, staircase, water, washstand, reservoir *** drill, path, rock, supper *** cave-in, star, church, bucket, horse, hay *** mare, rats, cats, puppies, chicks, wagon *** stable, shepherd, Mary and Joseph, Jesus, happiest *** orphanage, cheerful, chatter *** smiled, hugged, moonshine, laughed *** moon, miracle, night groans, Christmas, doll *** visiting , catalogue *** One by one the guests were urged to perform. *** Angus took his fiddle and began to play. *** Gaelic, speed, rhythm, children *** anthracite, tables, window, dancers, velvet, lace *** lamp, soot, cracked, empty *** cake, apples, sleigh *** cold, children, bed, lantern, straw, calf, beauty *** Glen, duck, priest, pain, blessing *** illegitimate, guilt, raised, will, farm *** peacock, hills, relaxed, threw, exit *** Rhythm of the rubbing on the washboard . . . *** tub, radio, credit *** suds, rain, pain, baths, spanking *** horses, engineer, priest, traveling, snow *** place, nightfall, prayers, handkerchief, coffin, lace *** prayers were for thanksgiving *** Spanking them was hard to do but I have to do it or we won’t have any paper on the walls. *** It
was said of old Jennie that a touch of her hand and a willow would stop weeping. ***
ShellseekerReflections 