The Golden Road - Part 7

Please enjoy this reading of "The Golden Road", the charming 1913 sequel to "The Story Girl", by Lucy Maud Montgomery. We continue to follow along with the adventures of the same group of young cousins and friends on Prince Edward Island in Canada, as they grow up... This book is dedicated to Montgomery's Great Aunt Mary Lawson, from whom she heard so many of the tales shared in these delightful books about "The Story Girl" and her friends...!

Transcript

Hello there. Thank you so much for joining me for this continued reading of The Golden Road, The charming novel from 1913 by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. We are continuing along following the adventures of the same group of young cousins and friends on Prince Edward Island as they continue to grow up. This book is the sequel to The Story Girl. And you can find playlists for both of these stories, The Story Girl and The Golden Road, Where you'll find all of the different parts of those books read in order. But for now, Let's just take a moment here to have a nice deep exhale. Letting go of the day, Letting go of whichever baggage we might be bringing along with us into this moment. For right now, There's nowhere else we have to go, Nothing else that we have to be doing. So we can just relax, Get ourselves comfortable and enjoy the ongoing story of The Golden Road. Chapter Seven. We Visit Cousin Matty's. One Saturday in March, We walked over to Baywater for a long-talked-of visit to Cousin Matty Dilk. By the road, Baywater was six miles away. But there was a shortcut across hills and fields and woods, Which was scantly three. We did not look forward to our visit with any particular delight, For there was nobody at Cousin Matty's except grown-ups who had been grown-up so long that it was rather hard for them to remember they had ever been children. But, As Felicity told us, It was necessary to visit Cousin Matty at least once a year or else she would be huffed. So we concluded we might as well go and have it over. Anyhow, We'll get a splendiferous dinner, Said Dan. Cousin Matty's a great cook and there's nothing stingy about her. You are always thinking of your stomach, Said Felicity pleasantly. Wow, You know I couldn't get along very well without it, Darling, Responded Dan, Who, Since New Year's, Had adopted a new method of dealing with Felicity, Whether by way of keeping his resolution or because he had discovered that it annoyed Felicity far more than angry retorts, Deponent saith not, He invariably met her criticisms with a good-natured grin and a flippant remark with some tender epithet tagged onto it. Poor Felicity used to get hopelessly furious over it. Uncle Alec was dubious about our going that day. He looked abroad on the general dourness of grey earth and grey air and grey sky and said a storm was brewing. But Cousin Matty had been sent word that we were coming and she did not like to be disappointed, So he let us go, Warning us to stay with Cousin Matty all night if the storm came on while we were there. We enjoyed our walk. Even Felix enjoyed it, Although he had been appointed to write up the visit for our magazine and was rather weighed down by the responsibility of it. What mattered it, Though the world were grey and wintry, We walked the golden road and carried springtime in our hearts and we beguiled our way with laughter and jest and the tales the story girl told us, Myths and legends of elder time. The walking was good, For there had lately been a thaw and everything was frozen. We went over fields crossed by spidery trails of grey fences where the withered grasses stuck forlornly up through the snow. We lingered for a time in a group of hill pines, Great majestic tree creatures, Friends of evening stars, And finally struck into the belt of fir and maple which intervened between Carlisle and Baywater. It was in this locality that Peg Bowen lived, And our way lay near her house, Though not directly in sight of it. We hoped we would not meet her, For since the affair of the bewitchment of Paddy, We did not know quite what to think of Peg. The boldest of us held his breath as we passed her haunts and drew it again with a sigh of relief when they were safely left behind. The woods were full of the brooding stillness that often precedes a storm, And the wind crept along their white cone-sprinkled floors with a low wailing cry. Around us were solitudes of snow, Arcades picked out in pearl and silver, Long avenues of untrodden marble, Whence sprang the cathedral columns of the firs. We were all sorry when we were through the woods and found ourselves looking down into the snug, Commonplace, Farmstead-dotted settlement of Baywater. There's Cousin Matty's house, That big white one at the turn of the road, Said the story girl. I hope she has that dinner ready, Dan. I'm hungry as a wolf after our walk. I wish Cousin Matty's husband was still alive, Said Dan. He was an awful nice old man. He always had his pockets full of nuts and apples. I used to like going there better when he was alive. Too many old women don't suit me. Oh Dan, Cousin Matty and her sister's in-law are just as nice and kind as they can be, Reproached Cecily. Oh they're kind enough, But they never seem to see that a fella gets over being five years old, If he only lives long enough, Retorted Dan. I know a story about Cousin Matty's husband, Said the story girl. His name was Ebenezer, You know. Is it any wonder he was thin and stunted looking, Said Dan. Ebenezer is just as nice a name as Daniel, Said Felicity. Do you really think so, My angel, Inquired Dan in honey sweet tones. Go on, Remember your second resolution, I whispered to the story girl, Who was stalking along with an outraged expression. The story girl swallowed something and went on. Cousin Ebenezer had a horror of borrowing. He thought it was simply a dreadful disgrace to borrow anything. Well, You know he and Cousin Matty used to live in Carlisle, Where the Rays now live. This was when Grandfather King was alive. One day, Cousin Ebenezer came up the hill and into the kitchen, Where all the family were. Uncle Roger said he looked as if he had been stealing sheep. He sat for a whole hour in the kitchen and hardly spoke a word, But just looked miserable. At last, He got up and said in a desperate sort of way, Uncle Abraham, Can I speak with you in private for a minute? Oh, Certainly, Said Grandfather and took him into the parlour. Cousin Ebenezer shut the door, Looked all around him and then said imploringly, More private still. So Grandfather took him into the spare room and shut that door. He was getting frightened. He thought something terrible must have happened. Cousin Ebenezer came right up to Grandfather, Took hold of the lapel of his coat and said in a whisper, Uncle Abraham, Can you lend me an axe? He needn't have made such a mystery about it, Said Cecily, Who had missed the point entirely and couldn't see why the rest of us were laughing. But Cecily was such a darling that we did not mind her lack of a sense of humour. It's kind of mean to tell stories like that about people who are dead, Said Felicity. Sometimes it's safer than when they're alive though, Sweetheart, Commented Dan. We had our expected good dinner at Cousin Matty's. May it be counted unto her for righteousness. She and her sisters-in-law, Miss Louisa Jane and Miss Caroline, Were very kind to us. We had quite a nice time, Although I understood why Dan objected to them when they patted us all on the head and told us whom we resembled and gave us peppermint lozenges.