The Alpine Path: the Story of My Career by L. M. Montgomery (Illustrated)

By Lucy Maud Montgomery

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Alpine Path: the Story of My Career’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of L. M. Montgomery’.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Montgomery includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

eBook features:
* The complete unabridged text of ‘The Alpine Path: the Story of My Career’
* Beautifully illustrated with images related to Montgomery’s works
* Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook
* Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jul 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786567598

Lucy Maud Montgomery

L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery (1874-1942) was a Canadian author who published 20 novels and hundreds of short stories, poems, and essays. She is best known for the Anne of Green Gables series. Montgomery was born in Clifton (now New London) on Prince Edward Island on November 30, 1874. Raised by her maternal grandparents, she grew up in relative isolation and loneliness, developing her creativity with imaginary friends and dreaming of becoming a published writer. Her first book, Anne of Green Gables, was published in 1908 and was an immediate success, establishing Montgomery's career as a writer, which she continued for the remainder of her life.

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The Complete Works of

L. M. MONTGOMERY

VOLUME 28 OF 36

The Alpine Path the Story of My Career

Parts Edition

By Delphi Classics, 2013

Version 2

COPYRIGHT

‘The Alpine Path the Story of My Career’

L. M. Montgomery: Parts Edition (in 36 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78656 759 8

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: [e-mail]

www.delphiclassics.com

L. M. Montgomery: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 28 of the Delphi Classics edition of L. M. Montgomery in 36 Parts. It features the unabridged text of The Alpine Path the Story of My Career from the bestselling edition of the author’s Complete Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of L. M. Montgomery, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of L. M. Montgomery or the Complete Works of L. M. Montgomery in a single eBook.

Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

L. M. MONTGOMERY

IN 36 VOLUMES

Parts Edition Contents

Anne of Green Gables Series

1, Anne of Green Gables

2, Anne of Avonlea

3, Anne of the Island

4, Anne of Windy Poplars

5, Anne’s House of Dreams

6, Anne of Ingleside

7, Rainbow Valley

8, Rilla of Ingleside

Emily Trilogy

9, Emily of New Moon

10, Emily Climbs

11, Emily’s Quest

Pat of Silver Bush Series

12, Pat of Silver Bush

13, Mistress Pat

The Story Girl Series

14, The Story Girl

15, The Golden Road

Other Novels

16, Kilmeny of the Orchard

17, The Blue Castle

18, Magic for Marigold

19, A Tangled Web

20, Jane of Lantern Hill

The Short Story Collections

21, Chronicles of Avonlea

22, Further Chronicles of Avonlea

23, The Road to Yesterday

24, Uncollected Short Stories

The Poetry

25, The Watchman and Other Poems

26, Uncollected Poems

The Non-Fiction

27, Courageous Women

The Autobiography

28, The Alpine Path: the Story of My Career

Contextual Pieces

29, Miss Marietta’s Jersey

30, L.M. Montgomery by Marjorie Macmurchy

31, Anne of Green Gables Review

32, Anne of Green Gables Review

33, Our Women

34, Letters from the Literati

35, Anne of Green Gables Ready

36, Anne of Green Gables Film Review, 1920

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The Alpine Path: the Story of My Career

In 1917, Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote a series of autobiographical essays entitled The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career, first published as six instalments in Everywoman’s World, a Canadian magazine.  The collection appeared together as a book in 1974.  Montgomery tells charming stories of her childhood and growing up and of her path to success as a writer, also touching on sources for her work and creative inspiration.  She draws upon her voluminous journal directly for some passages.  The title derives from a verse entitled The Fringed Gentian, published in Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1884, part of Tam!  The Story of a Woman, by Ella Rodman Church and Augusta De Bubna.  The poem is about a woman who hopes to become a famous poet.  Montgomery also referenced the poem in her autobiographical novel, Emily of New Moon. 

A photograph by Lucy Maud Montgomery, 1890

THE ALPINE PATH

The Story of My Career

When the Editor of Everywoman’s World asked me to write The Story of My Career, I smiled with a little touch of incredulous amusement. My career? Had I a career? Was not – should not – a career be something splendid, wonderful, spectacular at the very least, something varied and exciting? Could my long, uphill struggle, through many quiet, uneventful years, be termed a career? It had never occurred to me to call it so; and, on first thought, it did not seem to me that there was much to be said about that same long, monotonous struggle. But it appeared to be a whim of the aforesaid editor that I should say what little there was to be said; and in those same long years I acquired the habit of accommodating myself to the whims of editors to such an inveterate degree that I have not yet been able to shake it off. So I shall cheerfully tell my tame story. If it does nothing else, it may serve to encourage some other toiler who is struggling along in the weary pathway I once followed to success.

Many years ago, when I was still a child, I clipped from a current magazine a bit of verse, entitled To the Fringed Gentian, and pasted it on the corner of the little portfolio on which I wrote my letters and school essays. Every time I opened the portfolio I read one of those verses over; it was the key-note of my every aim and ambition:

"Then whisper, blossom, in thy sleep

  How I may upward climb

The Alpine path, so hard, so steep,

  That leads to heights sublime;

How I may reach that far-off goal

  Of true and honoured fame,

And write upon its shining scroll

  A woman’s humble name."

It is indeed a hard and steep path; and if any word I can write will assist or encourage another pilgrim along that path, that word I gladly and willingly write.

I was born in the little village of Clifton, Prince Edward Island. Old Prince Edward Island is a good place in which to be born – a good place in which to spend a childhood. I can think of none better. We Prince Edward Islanders are a loyal race. In our secret soul we believe that there is no place like the little Province that gave us birth. We may suspect that it isn’t quite perfect, any more than any other spot on this planet, but you will not catch us admitting it. And how furiously we hate any one who does say it! The only way to inveigle a Prince Edward Islander into saying anything in dispraise of his beloved Province is to praise it extravagantly to him. Then, in order to deprecate the wrath of the gods and veil decently his own bursting pride, he will, perhaps, be induced to state that it has one or two drawbacks – mere spots on the sun. But his hearer must not commit the unpardonable sin of agreeing with him!

Prince Edward Island, however, is really a beautiful Province – the most beautiful place in America, I believe. Elsewhere are more lavish landscapes and grander scenery; but for chaste, restful loveliness it is unsurpassed. Compassed by the inviolate sea, it floats on the waves of the blue gulf, a green seclusion and haunt of ancient peace.

Much of the beauty of the Island is due to the vivid colour contrasts – the rich red of the winding roads, the brilliant emerald of the uplands and meadows, the glowing sapphire of the encircling sea. It is the sea which makes Prince Edward Island in more senses than the geographical. You cannot get away from the sea down there. Save for a few places in the interior, it is ever visible somewhere, if only in a tiny blue gap between distant hills, or a turquoise gleam through the dark boughs of spruce fringing an estuary. Great is our love