Macpherson Margaret A. - Nellie McClung : voice for the voiceless

NellieMcClung, 18731951.

Margaret Macpherson

Margaret Macpherson is a creative nonfiction writer living in Edmonton. She has published four books, most of them based on the history of northwestern Canada and the western United States. Silk, Spices and Glory: In Search of the Northwest Passage, published by Fifth House, a division of Fitzhenry & Whiteside, was cited in the press as history infused with soul and immediacy.

Macpherson has worked as a journalist and essayist for over twenty years. Her work has won prizes in Grain magazines Long Grain of Truth competition, 2000 and the Banff Centre for the Arts Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Competition, 1999 and 2002. These prize-winning creative nonfiction essays and short stories have been published in select literary magazines across Canada. Macpherson is a former associate editor for NeWest Review, Saskatoon; Other Voices, Edmonton; and Prism International, Vancouver. She regularly publishes literary reviews in the Edmonton Journal. Macpherson holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and, like NellieMcClung, is a member of the Canadian Authors Association.

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NellieMcClung

MARGARET MACPHERSON

VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS

Copyright 2003 Margaret Macpherson and XYZ Publishing.
Second printing 2004

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency is an infringement of the copyright law.

National Library of Canada cataloguing in publication

Macpherson, M. A. (Margaret A.), 1959-

NellieMcClung: voice for the voiceless

(The Quest library ; 20).
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-894852-04-4

1. McClung, Nellie L., 18731951. 2. Feminists Canada Biography. 3. Authors, Canadian (English) 20th century Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Quest library; 20.

HQ1455.M3M32 2003 305.42092 C2003-940866-3

Legal Deposit: Second quarter 2003
National Library of Canada
Bibliothque nationale du Qubec

XYZ Publishing acknowledges the support of The Quest Library project by the Canadian Studies Program and the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Canada.

The publishers further acknowledge the financial support our publishing program receives from The Canada Council for the Arts, the ministre de la Culture et des Communications du Qubec, and the Socit de dveloppement des entreprises culturelles.

Chronology: Lynne Bowen
Index: Darcy Dunton
Layout: discript enr.
Cover design: Zirval Design
Cover illustration: Francine Auger
Photo research: Margaret Macpherson and Rhonda Bailey
Editorial Assistant: Nigel Cass

Printed and bound in Canada

Remembering my mother,
Ethel Fairbank Macpherson
tough, tender, and true.

Contents

Womens work was endless and repetitive in early settler society.
None of it appeals to young Nellie Letitia Mooney.

The annual pig kill strikes horror into the heart of a young Nellie,
but it is an essential part of life on the Mooney homestead.

I have always regarded the fact that I was born and brought up in the country as one of the happiest circumstances of my life Country people have time to tidy up their minds, classify their emotions, and, generally, get their souls into shape. NLM

I ts not fair.

Stomping her foot on the bleached pine floor of the farmhouse, five-year-old Nellie Letitia Mooney wailed loud and long. Not fair. Stomp. Stomp. Not fair. Not fair.

The window was streaked with rain, but she could still see brother Jack clamber into the wagon beside their father. The pony surged forward and the two headed down Garafraxa Road to town. Tears of anger and resentment sprang to Nellies eyes. Why can Jack go, if I cant? And what about Hannah? Why do we always have to stay home? Its not fair.