The Women's Institute -- like the Orange Lodge before it -- is disappearing as a fixture of rural life in South Western Ontario. For many years, however, the WI played an important educational and social role in the lives of farm women. In 1935 the Downie Township W. I. to which Gordon's mother Beanie belonged, established a circu
lating library for the use of its members. Likely individual members contributed books from their own collection to be part of the library. Sunset Pass, a Zane Grey novel published by Musson Book Company in 1931 and owned by Mrs. Jack McEwan was one book in the circulating library. Glued to the inside cover of the book is a pinwheel circulation list. Anyone who knows the farmhomes on the Centre G
ravel leading to Avonton can visualize the path taken by the book as it moved in a biweekly path through the neighbourhood. From Mrs. Jack McEwan it went to Mrs. J. Boyes, Mrs. W. Robertson, Florence Aitcheson and so on until it reached Mrs. Robt. Thompson, Charlotte Simpson, Mrs. E. Erb where it was then returned to Beanie McEwan. (You remember that if you double click on the image you can enlarge it.) It is somewhat ironic that only the single women retain their individual identity on the list; the married women are all listed as somebody's wife. I wonder how good these women were at keeping the book moving in the rotation and how many of the books ended their lives in someone else's house. Evidently, this particular book found its way back to its original owner. From the one page that appeared when I opened the book, it is obvious that Sunset Pass was not complex reading. Nonetheless, I am sure that it provided an important source of relaxation and imaginative escape for many women.
