2^° SARAH ORME JEWETT'S INTERPRETATION OF MAINE LIFE A THESIS' Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (in English) By JESSIE FRENCH BRYAN B. A., Wellesley, 1910 University of Maine Orono June, 19S0 ACKNOWLEDGMENT One of the principal pleasures in writing this thesis has been the anticipation of having it pass under the criticism of Doctor Turner. To her evaluation of the ideas from their first groping toward formulation to their present state, is due whatever merit this slight study may have. To Doctor Ellis, who directed my study, to Doctor Morton Turner and to Doctor Draper I wish to express my appreciation of the help they have given me in my graduate work. Mr. Louis Ibbotson, Librarian of the University, has assisted me over many places where my ability to find material has failed. I thank him and the library force for their patient efforts. Mrs. Hoyt D. Foster has supplied me with informa­ tion which no one else could give. Her personal acquain­ tance with two of the authors has thrown light upon their interpretations which has proved invaluable. Mr. Edwin Arlington Robinson very kindly responded to an inquiry telling me where I could be sure of Maine in his poetry. 968 7 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword Introduction The People Character andCharacterization ......................... p. .1 Culture.......................................................... .. ...p. 40 Social and Economic Conditions......................p. 71Z/ ^ The Countryside.................................. ;..............................p. 113 The Dialect ............................ p. 160 Conclusion................................................................................p. 202 Bibliography FOREWORD There is in Maine a kind of state-consciousness which makes a guest of all who come from other places, no matter how welcome they are made to feel, nor how long they remain. Maine has an atmosphere of distinction which condenses in such phrases as, ’’This is a typical Maine winter”, “That’s the Maine way of doing it”, ’’He’s a typical Maine character.” To say that a person is a typical New York State character would mean nothing at all. Maine has a collective personality that is not al­ together elusive, if we know how to come at it. Robert Frost captured something of another State’s less distinct character in his poem New Hampshire. From my undergraduate days, I found a new in­ terest mapped for me in literature by Professor Ellsworth Huntington’s theories of the effect of geography upon human character and behavior. How does literature reflect character and behavior, and to what extent is the nature of the writing due to geographic influence? Were any of the ideas that were occupying the British mind in the Eighteenth Century due to geography? Was the fever for the exotic due in any way to satiety with the interest in their small island? Did the pushing back of the frontiers in America yield anything to the romantic movement? Were any of the political writings free from the central idea that England is an island? Sometimes such an idea baffles the attention, but sometimes it clamors importunately for admission. Later, Professor William McDougall’s theory of action extended the boundaries of the new interest. How are these instincts which he considers the springs of all human activity, affected by climate and soil, and how do people write whose innate dispositions have been subjected to these influences? No one can read an account of the hardships of the early days in Maine without being con­ vinced of the strength in the English settler of the in­ stincts of pugnacity and curiosity and self-assertion. It was his curiosity that sent him venturing to a new world, his pugnacity that made him fight his way in a hostile and discouraging environment, his instinct of self- assertion organized into the system of a strong self-respect that appears in his magnificent self-reliance. According to the characterizations of Sarah Orne Jewett, his descendants, after more than two centuries of un­ successful struggle, have no zest' for investigation, a decidedly weakened initiative, a fighting spirit that is wholly absorbed in the daily struggle for existence. But they have, not compromised their ideals; through disappoint­ ment and sacrifice, through danger and suffering, they have relied upon themselves alone. Maine offers a unique temptation for speculations of the nature I have indicated. The University has allow­ ed me to submit as a Master’s thesis in English a study of the way the state is represented by Sarah Orne Jewett, and by some of the living writers whose knowledge of its traditions and whose artistic integrity qualify them as reliable witnesses. In gathering material, I found six authors who agree upon several essentials of characteriza­ tion. One would be utterly defeated in trying to find in the poetry and drama and fiction of the natives of New York State any consensus of opinion upon character, or social and economic conditions. No other Eastern State has the same homgeneity. The history of my intent in this subject is stated to throw light upon the type of material which I have considered significant. I have drawn no conclusions which an amateur could not safely infer, but I have brought into relief, I hope, the opinion of the authors them­ selves upon the relation of geography to the characters and behavior of the people that they represent. I INTRODUCTION Maine is the only New England state whose development has been sufficiently distinctive to give meaning to a study of the way it is interpreted by authors who have been born and edu­ cated in its self-conscious atmosphere. Such a study reveals sur­ prising accord in content with geographic expectations. Even cer­ tain aspects of style have a look of inevitability. Like New Hampshire and Vermont, Maine borders the French settlements of Canada on the north. Like these states it is sub­ ject to the double pressure of a stimulating climate and an unwill­ ing soil. In contrast to them, however, it has ah extended sea­ coast and a low altitude. The climate makes little provision for relaxation. The struggle to keep abreast with necessity has a selective effect upon the dispositions of the people; only those with a margin of vitality have a forward look. In the writings of Maine authors, by far the greater number of characters are defeated or passive or depressed. Sarah Ome Jewett^who makes the largest contribution to a study of Maine in literature,has no illustration of the forward urge of a central male character, and she wrote before the Wordsworthian faith in the virtue of rural life was quite out of fashion. Though the characters are defeated, they are not often cowed. No story is centered about the emotion of fear, nor are the characters even incidentally fearful. As an emotional motive, it II has very little fascination for Maine writers• This tradition has a remote origin in geography. From its earliest settlement, Maine., because of its physical character,has faced hardship and danger. The wealth of its northern forests,enhanced by the facil­ ity of shipping down the navigable rivers, spoke the same message to two opposing interests. No wonder that the Frenchman and the Englishman whose timber had been drawn upon for over six centuries, looked covetously upon the territory which was to become Maine. No wonder that the preoccupied English rulers gave comprehensive grants that could be established only by fighting.It is not sur­ prising that the French exploited the hostility of the Indians to oust the incumbents. What is almost incomprehensible is the deter­ mination of the Englishman to hold on. The English settler who sur­ vived the tension of Indian warfare, who established his claim over 1 A few of these grants which brought about confusion are quoted here firom Williams^ William D., The History of the State of Maine. April 10, 1606, King James granted to the North and South Virginia Company territory between the 34^45°north latitude, and all islands within a hundred miles of the coast, p. 198 November 3, 1620, King James issued another patent of land between 40248°north latitude, and from sea to sea. p. 221 The third article in the Treaty of St. Germains gave the French king a right to dispute English possessions in northern Maine, pp. 246-248 Cromwell’s patent to La Tour were grounds for endless confusion and conflict, p. 364 Charles II granted to his brother James on March 12, 1664 all terri­ tory between St. Croix and Pemaquid. p. 407 Ill French opposition, who found time to harvest enough to sustain his family through the tedious and uncompromising winter, established t a tradition of fearlessness and self-reliance which the characters of today seem unconsciously to emulate. Self-reliance shades rapidly into aloofness, one of Maine’s outstanding characteristics. This also has its roots in geography. Maine’s olimate and Maine’s location do not invite year-round population. In thinly settled districts men are- forced into the habit of thinking things out for themselves. Aman’s problems are more completely individualized. He distrusts the ability of another to judge for him. Moreover, mistakes cost too much. He must defend his mind against captivating changes. This encasement is the aloofness of the uneducated. There is another type which also has a geographic foundation. Coastal Maine, until the Embargo of 1807, was in direct communication with Europe and the Orient through trade. On fortunes made on the sea, a privileged class arose, which, together with the more fortunate descendants of the clergy, developed into a formal aristocracy, used to authority, accustomed to travel, not looking chiefly to Boston like the rest of New England, but quite over its head to London and Paris.