Margaret Addison: A Biography by Jean O'Grady (review)

humanities 259 university of toronto quarterly, volume 73, number 1, winter 2003/4 she planned. While the text is specific to the observations and life of Alice Barrett Parke, it is rich in flavour and detail and provides a remarkable social history of the area and the characters who inhabited Parke=s social landscape, as well as many of the social issues of the day, ranging from feminism and religion to race relations and the politics of British Columbia. Parke was a witty and keen observer. She commented endlessly on the apparent gender imbalance and was much impressed by the >rough= bachelors she frequently rubbed shoulders with: >Men who talk atrociously ungrammatically, who have dirty hands, and dirtier clothes seem to take quite a courtly air, and more real chivalry of manner than many so-called polished gentlemen.= Her friend, however, who came to work as a school teacher, was not so impressed: >To tell the truth I don=t care to give up a sixty dollar school for a forty dollar man.= Parke did not see herself as quite as independent as that, yet ironically she was. She had profound insight at times on just how independent she had become: >I believe being much alone makes me more courageous. I have been wondering if it [is] simply from force of habit B or if the spirit really grows stronger in solitude.= She did not see herself as a >New Woman,= and in fact spoke out against woman=s suffrage, yet she was involved in the creation of the Woman=s Council and took a certain amount of delight in >hobnobbing= with Ishbel, Countess of Aberdeen. Not only was she instrumental in the formation of Vernon=s first Woman=s Council, but she was also active in her community. On a volunteer basis she nursed sick patients and taught English to members of the Chinese community, including the house boy who lived at the ranch where her husband was employed. She saw herself as a >tremendous gadabout= with a busy social life of visiting and entertaining. Her contemplative moments were spent with her diary, and in the garden. She also took time to keep up with popular literature, especially Charles Dickens. Her Christian faith was also critical in giving shape to her life. She was willing to shop around to find just the right religious home: she attended Salvation Army meetings and also went to the Presbyterian and Anglican churches, although she had little time for Roman Catholics. Indeed, like others of her time, she, at times, could be rather closed-minded in regard to her own superiority and that of her race, but this did not define her in her entirety by any means. Taken together with Adele Perry=s On the Edge of Empire and Jean Barman=s recently published Sojourning Sisters, this book will enhance our understanding of British Columbia=s past and the role women played within it. Scholars and students alike will benefit greatly from the efforts made by Jo Fraser to bring this richly detailed account of Okanagan life to light. (MYRA RUTHERDALE) Jean O=Grady. Margaret Addison: A Biography McGill-Queen=s University Press. xiv, 270. $49.95 260 letters in canada 2002 university of toronto quarterly, volume 73, number 1, winter 2003/4 Even though a University of TorontoBVictoria residence building is named after Margaret Addison, few people know of its namesake or what she accomplished. Jean O=Grady rectifies this situation with the publication of her densely academic biography of Addison. Following the publication of Diary of a European Tour by Margaret Addison in 2000, O=Grady draws on archival research and family history to compile Addison=s biography. Margaret Addison lived from 1868 to 1940. In her lifetime, she witnessed many social and cultural changes, and she instigated some, especially with regard to the development of post-secondary education for women in Canada. Addison grew up in a strong Methodist family, the eldest child of Peter, a preacher, and Mary, a Sunday school teacher. O=Grady dwells on the family history of the Addisons, even preceding Margaret=s birth, presumably to give context for the determined, stern, influential woman Addison...