Stories in Eleven Adult Periodicals

Periodicals are listed in alphabetical order. The stories from each publisher are in chronological order. It is difficult to find the original magazines. What I have in many case are cut pages or photocopies from library archives where periodicals were bound without their covers. Illustrations of original publications are on the left and to scale. Reprints are on the right and have been reduced an additional twenty percent.

THE CHRISTIAN HERALD

The Double Daisies. London: THE CHRISTIAN HERALD, "Christian Herald" Co., Ltd., 6, Tudor Street, London. May 20, 1937, pp 485, 487. Printed by W. Speaight & Sons, Ltd., 98 & 99, Fetter Lane, London E.C.4.

The addresses above are from the Sep. 22, 1938, issue, which is Vol 78(38).

Granny is pleased to see a new neighbor moving in next door, but Daisy, her stepson's daughter, isn't much interested until Granny invites him to tea, and Daisy discovers he is single, and not much older than she is. "My age," says Granny, but Daisy ridicules her.

The women are not that far apart in age, and Daisy is irritated when Granny tells the neighbor, Stephen, that they are the "double Daisies," Daisy Ellen and Daisy Gladys, though Daisy Ellen is Granny to one and all.

Stephen and Granny discover mutual interests, but soon Daisy pushes between them, and after a brief struggle, Granny drops back to her accustomed place in the background, and listening to Daisy say to Stephen:

Yes, poor old thing, she isn't much use. But if I didn't keep her, there would only be the workhouse in front of her!

We sympathize with Granny, and there isn't much to like about Daisy, but youth will have its day. Won't it?

THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH MONTHLY

Cherry-Tree Cottage. THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH MONTHLY, Independent Press, Ltd., Memorial Hall, Farringdon St., London E.C.4. Feb. 1953, pp 23-24. Printed by Wyman & Sons, Ltd., London, Reading, and Fakenham.

The CONGREGATIONAL MONTHLY is in the archives of Dr. Williams's Library in London, and they were kind enough to provide me with a copy of this nicely thought out story. In 1977, coincidentally, Savery bought a house in Dumbleton called Cherry Trees.

Jack and Patsy are engaged, but, as cowman and maid, haven't much money. When that "pretty spot, Cherry-Tree Cottage," finally becomes vacant, they find they cannot rent it, because it has been sold to the widow Wendlesham, who comes down from London with modern furniture and "crinkum-crankum" notions. When the disgruntled Patsy takes a post there as "general," she is further disappointed to find that Mrs. Wendlesham's cast-offs, proper perquisites for a maid, are going instead to the Scouts' jumble sale.

Uncanny things happen at the cottage, and when the widow meets her doppelgänger on a walk in the water-meadows, she flees back to London, gratefully renting the now vacant cottage to Patsy and Jack, who plan their wedding in consequence. As the newlyweds turn from the altar

whom should they see fronting them but Mrs. Wendlesham, who was, as they very well knew, on the other side of England. But there she sat in her country rig, smiling all over her face.

After which, with Agatha Christie deftness, Savery untangles her whole skein in two words, leaving us pleased and smiling. The painting that is featured in the story can be viewed here.

FORWARD!

The Trumpet of the Lord. Belfast: FORWARD! Sandes Soldiers and Airmen's Centres. May 1943, pp 70-72.

Alone in an isolated cottage, Mrs. Smith hears the trumpet of the Lord. She can see for miles from her cottage door, and it can be nothing else. Her first reaction is that the event has spoilt the large dinner she has set out for her two grown sons. Then she is surprised and indignant not to have been caught up into the air,

She... a respectable, good-living woman who had worked hard and done her duty all her life...

Then she wonders about her boys, steady Bob and Ted, who was 'always a handful.' She dusts off her Bible and studies up on the last trumpet. When Bob and Ted arrive they have heard nothing and are skeptical, but they agree that there is nothing in Little Ditchingford to make such a sound, and Mum is their expert on religion. She reads two verses from I Corinthians and two more from I Thessalonians (identified by me, not Savery), which worry Ted, who mentions seeing no one as they walked home, except Stubby Brand who certainly wouldn't be caught up if Mum wasn't. Ted offers to go to the village to see if the graveyard has been disturbed, but Mrs. Smith wants her boys with her during the horrors to come. No one passes by, and after a time, they sit down to eat. There is, of course, an explanation, but it is the situation that makes this story worth reading.

THE LADY

The Rector in Council by 'Rycon,' THE LADY, LTD., 39-40 Bedford Street, Strand, London W.C.2. Jan. 27, 1955, p 96. Printed by Loxley Bros., Ltd., Pixmore Avenue, Letchworth, Herts.

I am indebted to Agneta Thomson for the suggestion that 'Rycon' was constructed from the last two letters of Savery and the first three of Constance. My five-page, double-spaced typescript gives 'Elizabeth Cloberry' rather than 'Rycon' as the pseudonym.

This is a highly amusing blow-by-blow account of the Rector's meeting with the Parochial Church Council, where everything but the main agenda item is discussed. Sampling at random, no one is happy with the 'dossessan quota,' the Admiral announces that if some one picks up the ice-cream cartons, his grounds will again be available for the fête, Mr. Fish worries about the bats and the dry rot, Mr. Plomesgate warns that the ivy should not be pulled down or the plaster will come with it, and we hear about Mrs. Spink's Aunt Lucy, though

she niver enjoyed a day's health and di'n't carry a good colour....lived to be ninety-fower, which just show that a creaking cart gew farthest.

Rambling Along by 'Rycon,' THE LADY. June 27, 1955.

The title appears in the work diary. It is probable that this is The Rector in Council, published not on June 27, but on January 27, 1955. There is nothing by Savery in THE LADY during June.

Mental Rearmament. London: THE LADY, LTD., 39-40 Bedford Street, Strand, London W.C.2. Dec. 26, 1957, p 790. Printed by Loxley Bros., Ltd., Pixmore Avenue, Letchworth, Herts.

This amusing first person account of the Upper Snupham Mental Improvement Society has its laugh at such organizations, but Savery always writes about real people, so beware. She may be describing you!

METHODIST RECORDER

Stair After Golden Skyward Stair: A Suburban Tale. London: METHODIST RECORDER, LXXII (No. 3824), 16, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4. Mar. 12, 1931, p 14.

The Methodist Archives and Research Centre at the John Rylands University Library in Manchester, U.K., photocopies articles from journals for use by scholars. The cost is nominal, but the transfer of pounds sterling from the United States to England is something of a nuisance. The METHODIST RECORDER is among the Rylands Library holdings, but the journal page is too large for them to photocopy; consequently, readers in the United Kingdom may need to visit Manchester.

Drew University in Madison, N.J., also has this magazine in their archives, and they charged me $1.25 to copy the top of the front page and those columns of page 14 required to allow me to patch together the entire story.

The title is taken from a poem, The Convent Threshold, by Christina Rossetti, but the story utilizes only the image of an angelic stairway to heaven. A noisy, vulgar suburb has enveloped an angelic staircase, and the angels would like to move it to the garden of a receptive family. They do. This is one of the rare Savery stories that considers the uncanny, and it does so in a matter of fact way that contrasts nicely with Rossetti's imagery.

ONWARD

Frost Flowers. Toronto: ONWARD, United Church of Canada, Editorial Office, 299 Queen Street West, Toronto 2, Ontario. April 13, 1952, pp 228-230, 238-239.

I located this story through AMICUS, the splendid Canadian Internet Catalogue, and Joan Waiser, Reference and Genealogy Division, Library and Archives Canada, who was speedy and efficient. Frost Flowers is one of two Savery works to be published first in Canada. The other was a 1954 article about Mary Anning.

Anthea Frost is summoned unwillingly to help her aunt and uncle lift their son Rex out of a clinical depression. Having prayed for powers equal to her task, Anthea reaches her cousin through a dormant interest in botany. Savery was a gardener with a love for flowers, and I am confident she got her facts right.

THE SUNDAY AT HOME

White Shines the Star. Illus. by A. W. London: THE SUNDAY AT HOME, United Society for Christian Literature, 4, Bouverie Street, London, E.C.4. Dec. 1938, pp 161-166. Printed by Wm. Clowes & Sons, Ltd., London and Beccles. Reprinted, 1939, London: United Society for Christian Literature, 4, Bouverie Street, London, E.C.4, in "The Sunday at Home : 1938-39," pp 161-166. Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London and Beccles.

According to the work diaries, this story was written in 1923 and originally titled "The Shrimp and Martin." The work diaries give Dec. 25 as the magazine issue date, but this may be simply a way of identifying the Christmas issue. The date given on the first issue of the preceding year was "January 1937" without a day of the month. The magazine contains thirty-two pages of advertisements, appeals, and announcements that have separate page numbers and do not appear in the annual.

When eighteen-year-old Martin stalked out of sharp-tongued, soft-hearted Cousin Cora's house to live independently, he took with him his eight-year-old brother Shrimp, whom he treats shabbily or ignores. Martin also falls into arrears with Mrs. Gluck, his landlady, who finally blows the whistle on him. The story is told from the perspective of Shrimp, who almost succeeds in extricating Martin from the inevitable confrontation with his disapproving relatives.

The final title of the story is a line from Savery's poem, The Christmas King.

Unlike other Savery stories published in SUNDAY CIRCLE, this one carries her own name. This is an unvarnished "religious story," and what it sets out to do, it does very well.

Old Mrs. Bagley, frail and bedridden in a garret and dependent on the cheerful, but negligent charity of her landlord, Mr. Ramsbotham, and his family, is starved for scripture. Her poverty does not depress her, but her eyesight is too dim to read her beloved Bible. Ivy Ramsbotham will sometimes read a verse or two, but then she is off, the yellow ribbon place-marker in any chapter but the right one. Then the Ramsbothams leave on holiday.

Into her lonely room comes young Jimsy with her tea. He likes the dusty comics that lie forgotten on Mrs. Bagley's shelves, and for a penny, he is glad to read, clearly and with expression, from the old Bible. It is an idyllic period, marred only by the knowledge that the Ramsbothams will be returning from Blackpool, and Mr. Ramsworthy's dislike of Religion will bar Jimsy's return.

I have read a great many other stories, such as Farrar's Eric; or Little by Little, in which someone dying happily is supposed to be a happy ending. Somehow Savery manages it, a unique achievement.

A Pot of Blue Squills by 'Jennifer Jane,' illus. by W. Hossack. London: SUNDAY CIRCLE, LIX (No. 1,531), The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., The Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London E.C.4. Mar. 19, 1932, pp 227-228.

The story is straightforward. After singing all eight verses and refrains of Nothing Between, her favorite hymn, Mrs. Flowerdew leaves the mothers' meeting singing it again and affirming her satisfaction that there is, indeed, nothing between her and her Lord. At that moment a quiet voice sounds: "Blue squills." Startled and wondering, she tries to continue her work and her song, only to hear again at intervals: "A pot of blue squills."

After tea, she notices her neighbor's mother, Mrs. Patterley, sitting bundled in her doorway staring fixedly at the pot of blue scillas on Mrs. Flowerdew's windowsill. There is enmity between the women. Years ago Mrs. Patterley had told friends that Mrs. Flowerdew had stolen a black fur, and they have exchanged no words since. "Not for you," says Mrs. Flowerdew, turning away.

That night, in a dream, Mrs. Flowerdew is holding her scillas when she sees Jesus. Unfortunately, the flowers grow larger and larger, until she cannot see her Lord at all.

No sooner does she wake and dress than she takes the pot across to Mrs. Patterley, who receives it ungraciously, but Mrs. Flowerdew goes home, able to sing her hymn again.

A letter dated Mar. 21, 1932 from THE SUNDAY CIRCLE apologized to Savery for publishing the story with another author's name. The editor requested more stories, adding "One with a love interest."

The bottom of the cover and all three edges have been clipped in the illustration.

Angel Feathers by 'Eleanor Xavery.' THE SUNDAY CIRCLE, The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., The Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London E.C.4. Aug. 13, 1932.

The date is from the work diaries. My clipping does not include a page number or any other information. The allegory is little more than 300 words long. Three maidens find angel feathers that have fallen from the sky. The feather that is used to adorn a hat turns ugly, and the feather used as a quill in a counting house becomes a useful dry stick, but the white feather worn over a maiden's heart

...was the secret cause of the lovely deeds into which her life had blossomed all of her days!

The Blue Loving-Cup by 'Eleanor Xavery,' illus. by J. Mills. London: THE SUNDAY CIRCLE, The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., The Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London E.C.4. Sep. 10, 1932, pp 207-208.

Before Derry and Rose marry, they take Great-Gran's advice and buy a blue loving cup as a symbol of their mutual affection. Into their blissful home, despite Rose's misgivings, comes ten-year-old Peggy, Derry's orphaned niece. Peggy gets off on the wrong foot by asking to be given the loving cup, and Rose refuses, saying "This isn't your home, you know."

From that point onward it is war between Rose and Peggy. The girl is always loving and sweet with Derry, who isn't at home when Peggy is rebellious and disobedient and can't understand Rose's animosity. Much of the difficulty centers on the cup. Though told by Rose that she mustn't touch it, Peggy uses it as a drinking cup, paints it with her watercolors, and, eventually, loses it at her school.

Rose confines Peggy to her room and tells her she will not go to a party that evening, but Peggy cries so piteously when Derry comes home, that he unlocks the door, inexpertly helps her to dress, and sends her off.

The post the next day brings a letter from a former employer asking if Rose could come and assist with a seriously ill child who persists in asking for Nannie Rose. Rose knows where she is wanted and is off on the next train, leaving a cold note for Derry.

The child recovers, but Rose stays on. Two letters from Peggy are tossed aside unopened. Derry does not write, and Rose will not write first.

Savery's resolution of the situation requires an explosion and a fire, but the characters are nicely drawn, and we are glad to see them together again.

Cross-Roads by 'Eleanor Xavery,' illus. by J. Mills. London: THE SUNDAY CIRCLE, No. 1564? The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., The Fleetwood House, Farringdon Street, London E.C.4. Nov. 5? 1932, pp 367-368, 376.

The date and issue number for this story have been inferred from its page numbers by assuming that all issues, like the one for March 19, 1932, have exactly twenty pages. The work diary gives the date only as November and lists the title as Jan at the Crossroads. My clipping with the story is undated.

One way to handle coincidence is to claim it was providence. Whether coincidence or providence, it happens that Jan is crippled by a hit and run driver when he is four, and the same man later meets his widowed mother, proposes, and is accepted. What, when he discovers the truth, is Jan to do? Hence the original title. He does the right thing, of course. Savery avoids sentimentality by making Jan a spoiled brat. This is the only one of her stories for SUNDAY CIRCLE in which a child is the main character.

Li'l White Owl by 'Eleanor Xavery,' illus. unsigned. London: SUNDAY CIRCLE, LXI (No. 1,579), The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., The Fleetwood House, Farringdon Street, London E.C.4. Feb. 18, 1933, pp 153-155, 164, 167

This "East Anglian Story" features a cross widow who demands 'varses' for her husband's tombstone from her granddaughter, Lettice, who tries again and again unsuccessfully to write some, and their merry lodger Toby, who has a difficult job with a short-tempered farmer, Mr. Cranage.

When the farmer comes around one evening to ask the absent Toby to set the burglar alarm on the hen-house, Lettice, who has been crying and doesn't want Mr. Cranage to see her, imitates Toby's voice and says she will see to it. Sitting in the dark, she hears Toby arrive outside with Netta, who likes Toby as well as Lettice does. When Netta asks him about Lettice, he describes her as "just a li'l white owl." Toby is being affectionate, but Netta laughs, and the unseen Lettice, offended, decides not to pass on the farmer's message to earn Toby a scolding in the morning.

Of course, the hen-house is robbed and Toby loses his job, but the tale ends happily after Toby writes varses for Granny and Lettice confesses all to Farmer Cranage.

Ow'd Maggotty Patch by 'Eleanor Xavery,' illus. unsigned. SUNDAY CIRCLE, The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., The Fleetwood House, Farringdon Street, London E.C.4. May 20, 1933, pp. 463-466.

Old, unattractive Maggotty Patch has become the village messenger after failing at everything else. When her life seems to her too humble, Miss Nora at the church points to a verse in Proverbs in praise of a faithful messenger. Thereafter, Maggotty follows her vocation with pride, but also refuses to carry stolen goods or deliver sinful messages. Consequently, she costs Jim Patch, whom she pretends is her nephew, five pounds for failing to deliver a bet to his bookmaker. Jim berates her angrily, and Maggotty departs in distress.

Miss Nora intervenes, and Jim, ashamed, takes on Maggotty as his housekeeper. When Nora and Jim quarrel, it is Maggotty's turn to play peacemaker.

THE SUNDAY COMPANION

A Handful of Thistledown, illus. unsigned. London: THE SUNDAY COMPANION, Cobb's Court, Broadway, London, E.C.4. March 29, 1934, pp 298-299

Mother Hatherton tells her two sons, David and Jeff, that they must no longer court the same girl, Mercy Anderson. David offers to step aside for his younger brother, but Jeff proposes instead that each prepare a posy for Mercy, with their mother choosing one of them. The brother whose flowers are not chosen will step aside. Both retire to David's greenhouse.

Jeff chooses primroses, backed with ferns. He pulls them about so roughly and arranges them so haphazardly, that David must put them to rights. On his own part, David chooses violets with a bit of leftover fern.

Mrs. Hatherton makes her reluctant choice, and love conquers all. Whose love? That would be telling.

Only the top half of the newspaper is shown.

WOMAN'S MAGAZINE

A "Dancer Merry" illus. by Stanley Lloyd. London: WOMAN'S MAGAZINE, 56(8), May Marshall (ed.). May 1935, pp 474-477. Published at 4 Bouverie-street, London E.C.4. Printed by Wyman & Sons Ltd., London, Reading and Fakenham. Reprinted in "Woman's Magazine Annual."

As the May 1940, issue of WOMAN'S MAGAZINE is Vol. 61, No. 8, I infer that this issue is Vol. 56, No. 8. My copy of the "Woman's Magazine Annual" is without advertisements or masthead.

This rather sad story is not addressed to children. We meet Jack as a very young boy, his parents elsewhere, his life bounded on all sides by Miss Pritchard, who gives him his cold bath, leads him in prayer in front of the assembled servants, consults with his lawyer, and entertains him sunup 'til sundown. When Jack goes off to school in his first long pants, Miss Pritchard retires, but her letters punctuate Jack's many successes, from becoming a prefect and getting his Rowing Blue to marrying and having a son. Jack is successful, and he writes well-paid articles about educational theories and his repressive childhood. When his life crashes, and he has only enough money to seek the colonies while leaving Young Jack in boarding school, he finds none of the progressive schools he once praised are good enough for a son whose father is giving serious thought to falling overboard on his journey out. The story ends as it began:

"Jack's governess held his hand when they went out for walks together. Tightly-just-like-that."

No, this is not a story for children.

The Tea Party. Illus. by Mountstephen. London: WOMAN'S MAGAZINE, 59(7). May 25, 1938. Published at 4 Bouverie-street, London E.C.4, pp 509-512.

WOMAN'S MAGAZINE was published on the 25th of each month. Savery's work diary gives April 25 as the publication date, but the story appeared in the May issue of the magazine. Perhaps Savery received payment in April.

Judith lives with her grandmother in a Home for Pious Widows consisting of apartments in a rectangle enclosing a modest chapel. Today, Murray-from-the-Vicarage is coming to tea. After buying supplies in the village shop, Judith and Granny hurry home to prepare tea, after which the two children run wild in the quadrangle, disturbing the elderly residents. The following morning Judith finds that Granny has gone to heaven, and she leaves for an unhappy childhood followed by a series of low-paid positions as nurse companion to elderly ladies. Years later, Judith can hardly believe it when the Board of Governors accepts her application to be nurse in residence at the Home for Pious Widows, and she is fortunate enough to move into Granny's old apartment. She visits the old village shop for supplies, looking forward to tea by herself in her new home. The doorbell rings, and it is the Vicar, paying a duty call, and who is the vicar but "Murray-from-the Vicarage."

It is a nice story, nicely told, but it is also a reminiscence, because Savery as a child used to come with her father, the Vicar, on his duty calls to "Froxfield College," a home for widows laid out exactly as it is in the story and visiting, coming or going, at "Savages, the Froxfield shop," as she describes it in her poem, Remembered Charms. Is there any doubt that there were days on which Savery, Winifred-from-the-Vicarage, played just as wildly with some young boy visiting his Granny? It is a compliment to the author that she can please us so well while pleasing herself.

Glory de George. Illus. by Edgar Spencerley. London: WOMAN'S MAGAZINE, 61(4). Jan. 1940. Published at 4 Bouverie-street, London E.C.4, pp 17-19, 71-72. Reprinted, Apr. 1946, Nashville: CLASSMATE, Methodist Publishing House, pp 1-2, 5.

I am grateful to Ruth Lamb at the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room of the library at the University of Waterloo for her assistance in obtaining the Savery stories in the 1940 WOMAN'S MAGAZINE.

A self-satisfied little man named Albert Guppins has developed a new, beautiful rose and consults with four friends over what to call it. He has decided to name it for himself when he receives word that his clumsy, good-for-little nephew, 'Young Jarge,' has been killed at the Front in France. Mrs. Guppins responds

...very suitably, and threw her apron over her face, and rocked herself about. She hadn't loved Young George much while he was alive, but she loved him a good deal now that he was dead.

It is up to Mr. Guppins to act suitably, too. Can he do it?

The reprinted version was also written as a contemporary account, but in 1946 it was necessary for Young George to be killed by Japanese soldiers who had refused to surrender after the end of World War II. The original version is more plausible, and Savery's 1946 typescript is still in the original form. Presumably the magazine editor asked for or made the change.

Ladders to Heaven. Illus. by Black. London: WOMAN'S MAGAZINE, 61(4). Apr. 1940. Published at 4 Bouverie-street, London E.C.4., pp 46-53, 84-85.

See the note concerning Ruth Lamb above. The work diary states, erroneously, that this story was published in two parts.

Savery excels at depicting assertive, self-righteous woman, and Miss Margaret Lanthorn is one such. Her sister, Miss Eulalia, is the usual victim. Both are elderly, and they live together. Miss Eulie's only supporter is the garden boy, Phelim O'Granaghan, who works for less than his meager pay. While Miss Margaret is away on an out-of-town visit, Miss Eulie's obituary appears accidentally in the local paper. Angry and scandalized, Miss Margaret returns to destroy the many letters of condolence and sympathy showered on the household, but Miss Eulie is heartened to find the high regard in which she is held by so many people. If the ending is predictable, it is heartening and pleasing as well.

Miss Marigold's Letter (in two parts) by 'Elizabeth Cloberry.' Illus. by E.M.D. London: WOMAN'S MAGAZINE, 61(9-10). Sep. - Oct. 1940. Published at 4 Bouverie-street, London E.C.4, pp. 35-38, 44 in Sep.; pp 37-40 in Oct.

See the note above concerning Ruth Lamb. Savery also used the pseudonym Elizabeth Cloberry when she wrote the little book Sir Dominic's Scapegrace. Miss Marigold Carstairs is living in gentile poverty and cannot refuse to accept recalcitrant twins as pupils for her Italian lessons. Dal and Ursie scoff at her efforts and refuse her assignments. When Mr. Ruthven, their uncle and guardian, observes their mischief and punishes them, their disinterest turns to dislike, although they now find it necessary to do their work.

Eventually the twins go too far, and a cruel prank threatens to humiliate Miss Marigold. Savery's child characters act in character, and neither their thoughtlessness nor their subsequent repentance seem contrived or unnatural.

Dark Trees. Illus. by Treyer Evans. London: WOMAN'S MAGAZINE, 63(10)? Doran Court, Reigate-road, Redhill, Surrey. July 1942, pp 6-8. Reprinted, Mar. 25, 1945, with illus. by Henry C. Pitz. Nashville: CLASSMATE, LII(12), The Methodist Publishing House, 810 Broadway, Nashville 2, Tennessee, pp 1-2, 14-15. Printed at 420 Plum St., Cincinnati 2, Ohio.

A letter dated 8 May 1946 from the Methodist Publishing House to Savery mentions selling Dark Trees to the United Church of Canada and "no one" [at WOMAN'S MAGAZINE] complained, so evidently the story was reprinted in Canada. Nicky and Gillian are five, and Mummy wants to keep them cute and dependent, while Paul, who has solved all Mummy's problems since Daddy became Dead, thinks they ought to grow up a little. There is a spat, Mummy says Unforgivable Things, and Paul walks out. Then Mummy cries (and cries). In the morning Nicky decides to fix things by going to find Paul, gets caught up with a crowd of children being evacuated, and is taken into the country under the wrong name amidst threats of what will happen to him if he insists on making trouble. "It was not weeks or days; it was just a LONG TIME" before Nicky goes on an outing to see a downed German plane and finds Paul there, who, as he always does, makes things right again. This is World War Two England seen through the eyes of a five-year-old, and it is worth seeing.

By 1942 wartime shortages were reducing the size of magazines and the print within them. Even more threatening, although editors did not yet know it, would be television. Only the hardiest magazines survived World War Two, and WOMAN'S MAGAZINE was gone before the war ended. With it went Savery's last reliable outlet for adult fiction.

YOU AND I

Where Roses Hang Over the Wall. Birling: YOU AND I, 4(#44), Birling, Kent. July 1923, pp 134-135. Printed at "Kent Messenger" Office, Maidstone.

Savery wrote this short story and, much later, three serials for YOU AND I, a "monthly magazine for women and girls." This appears to be the first story for which she was ever paid. I read it at the British Library.

Mike idolized Michael Harding, who had encouraging words after Mike had been thrashed for lying to his cousin Pansy before it was found he had been telling the truth. Michael offered to take Mike in, which delighted him and pleased the cousins who boarded him and put up with his antics. There was one condition, if Michael and Pansy should patch up their differences and marry, Mike must remain with his cousins.

Pansy, feeling sorry for Mike after the lying incident, wrote him a note asking him to meet her "where the roses hang over the wall." That gave Mike an idea. The note was addressed to "Mike." If he gave Pansy's note to Michael, might not their quarrel be mended?

A nice story, well deserving the one-guinea prize.

This web site © 2010-24 by Eric Schonblom. Updated 28 July 2024. The unpublished works of Constance Savery are reproduced with the permission of the copyright owner, J. D. Hummerstone. Book and magazine covers are reproduced with low resolution to respect the copyrights of their artists and publishers.