Canadian Writers Abroad

At the time of year that we chase off the long nights with light and music, here is a poem by Mary Electa Adams, whose slim volume of poetry, From Distant Shores (William Briggs Publishers, Toronto, 1898) was privately printed by her niece after her death. Adams was first and foremost a teacher, or educator, starting at the school in Coburg where she’d been educated. In 1850 she resigned from her position as principal of the Picton Academy for ill health, she took a post in Michigan as a teacher and administrator for four years. This was followed by her position as chief preceptress of the Wesleyan Academy at Mount Allison in Sackville, New Brunswick. Here she worked out her belief that women’s education should be equal to men’s, offering courses in mathematics, the sciences, Latin language and literature, music and fine arts, as well as moral philosophy.

From 1868-1870, Mary Electa Adams (1823-1898) spent two years in Italy, travelling with her sister and professional colleague Augusta Minerva. The poem below draws on that time.

Remenyi's Violin

Pretty jewelled thing! It seemed
  To flash upon us, then to turn and  wait
  In sympathy upon his downcast face,
Speak back again, and laugh and weep and rave
With him, as if it had an answering soul.
And as the heart, deep-stirred,
Turned tremulous to rest when silence came,
Awe seized me, and I marvelled how
The hand that fashioned it with curious care
In old Cremona, nigh two hundred years ago,
Reached deftly past the gulf of space and time,
And with the artist wrought to make this
  tumult in my soul. 

The manuscript of her poems and journals can be found in the Elsie Pomercy Papers at Mount Allison University. You can also read about her life at Canada’s Early Women Writers (at Simon Fraser University) and John G. Reid’s article at the Canadian Dictionary of Biography.

Bring on the violin music for me to say thank you to all who have contributed to Canadian Writers Abroad in 2025. Which takes us to the end of the first quarter of this century.
And congratulations to those of you who had a book published in 2025. May there be more to come in 2026.

Cremona photo: D. Martens