Timothy’s Quest  (continued....)
Kate dedicated the book “To Nora, dearest Sister,-Sternest Critic, Best Friend”. Early editions are illustrated with black & white line drawings by O. Herford, an intriguing mixture of quasi-Mediaeval and realistic sketches. A popular edition to tie-in with the movie has a photographic frontispiece of Timothy & Gay with Miss Avilda. Wiggin seemed happy with the film version and posed for publicity photos with the child stars, Helen Rowland and James Depew.

Timothy’s Quest had further-reaching effects than Wiggin was at first aware (see below) and Nora devotes a whole chapter to it in her memoir Kate Douglas Wiggin as Her Sister Knew Her.
—REW

Dorcas Doings
The Annual Dorcas Fair & Lawn Party was held 16 July 2005. The booths that the Dorcas ladies maintained were: Books, Crafts, Baked Goods, Candy, Attic Treasures and a Community Raffle. A Dorcas booth also sold the collectable (and very delectable!) “Dorcas Dishes” calendar and a home-made quilt made by Minnesota member Renee Arbisi was raffled. A delicious luncheon included a refreshing salad and home-made strawberry shortcake. Space was also rented out to different organizations in town, and crafters. It was a huge success. Mark 22 July 2006 in our diaries for the next one!

The 142nd performance of The Old Peabody Pew took place on 4th December, with the same cast as last year. The weather wasn’t too good but a nice audience still turned out to First Congregational Church of Buxton, Maine (Tory Hill Meetinghouse). The play was written by Kate as a fund-raiser for church maintenance and other Dorcas projects and as in past years, all who participated in the evening had a good time.

(Thanks to Katie of The Dorcas Society for this report)

Don't forget the Dorcas Website for more news:
www.dorcassocietymaine.org

Somewhere to Visit
Dublin is a place Kate visited more then once. Her Journal for 1890 describes staying at Buswell’s Hotel which she fictionalized in Penelope’s Irish Experiences as O’Carolan’s, with a view of Stephen’s Green. Buswell’s doesn’t enjoy that view, but is not far away on Molesworth Street. It is a wonderfully elegant 18th c. Georgian building with a grand lobby complete with oil paintings and open fire. Its immediate neighbor in 1906 was the “Distressed Ladies’ Depot” which I’m sure Kate would have noticed! Not too pricey for a couple of nights’ stay in an historic 4-star hotel. See their website at:
http://dublin.city-centre-hotels.com/buswells-hotel/index.html
Freephone: 1800-869-4330 (USA) or 0800-912-0021 (UK)


Nora recalls (KDW as Her Sister Knew Her) how in 1906 Kate was staying with Lord and Lady Aberdeen at the Vice-Regal Lodge in Dublin and one day Lady A. took her on a visit to Kingstown to the Cottage Home for Little Children. It appears that the home was inspired by Timothy’s Quest. Wiggin was amazed to discover herself to be the “mystery guest” and was asked to take their platform and speak to the assembled audience of children, workers and nobility.

The Cottage Home is still there – only don’t look for Kingstown, it’s now called Dun Laoghaire, just a few miles from Dublin, on Tivoli Road. You can’t miss it – a large, rendered, building faced with red brick with black and white gables. Its original name is still on the front. The building is now used as offices and training facilities for The Cottage Home Child and Family Service and children are given support and residential care in two houses locally. They are currently fund-raising to improve facilities and you couldn’t do better than give them support in honor of Kate’s Anniversary year. Contact Rowena for more details.

And by the way...
Santa also brought Rowena a “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” Calendar for 1917 in superb condition in its original box. The picture on the front is of Rebecca and her fellow students driving to graduation on a flower-bedecked cart. It has a page per week each with a quotation from the book and the whole is printed in pink and green by Sully & Kleinteich of 373 Fourth Ave. New York. Rebecca featured on at least one other calendar as, we believe, did other Wiggin characters. If you know of any, please tell us.