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Authors: Stephen Leacock
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town
PENGUIN CLASSICS
STEPHEN BUTLER LEACOCK
was born in Swanmore, Hampshire, England, in 1869. When he was six his family emigrated to Canada, settling on a farm near Sutton, Ontario, south of Lake Simcoe. Leacock was educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto. He received a Ph.D. in political economy from the University of Chicago in 1903, and thereafter became a professor of economics and political science at McGill University in Montreal, where he would teach until his retirement. In 1900 he married Beatrix Hamilton, an aspiring actress; their son, Stephen Lushington, was born in 1915. Leacock’s first book,
Elements of Political Science
, became a standard university text and was his bestselling book during his lifetime. He wrote several books on economics, politics, and history, among which are
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Injustice
,
Canada: The Foundations of Its Future
, and
While There Is Time: The Case Against Social Catastrophe
. He also wrote biographies of Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. But Leacock’s lasting fame would come from his comic writings. His first,
Literary Lapses
, is a compilation of magazine pieces; it was a great success and paved the way for the many books that followed, including
Nonsense Novels
,
Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich
,
Frenzied Fiction
,
Winsome Winnie and Other New Nonsense Novels
,
My Discovery of England
, and
Too Much College
. The work for which he is best known,
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town,
was published in 1912. Leacock, one of Canada’s most prolific writers, was also a charismatic public speaker, touring widely giving lectures and readings from his work. Leacock died in 1944 in Toronto.
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This edition is an unabridged reprint of the first Canadian edition of
Sunshine Sketches,
published in 1912 by Bell and Cockburn.
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II The Speculations of Jefferson Thorpe
III The Marine Excursions of the Knights of Pythias
IV The Ministrations of the Rev. Mr. Drone
V The Whirlwind Campaign in Mariposa
VII The Extraordinary Entanglement of Mr. Pupkin
VIII The Fore-Ordained Attachment of Zena Pepperleigh and Peter Pupkin
X The Great Election in Missinaba County
XII L’Envoi. The Train to Mariposa
1869
Stephen Butler Leacock is born on December 30 in Swanmore, Hampshire, England, the third of an eventual eleven children.
1876
The Leacock family moves to Canada and settles on a farm near the south shore of Lake Simcoe, Ontario.
1882
Leacock enrolls in Toronto’s Upper Canada College.
1887
His father, Peter, abandons the family. Leacock enters the University of Toronto, where he studies literature and modern and classical languages. He completes two years in one.
1888
Leacock is obliged to leave university for financial reasons, and goes on to obtain a teacher’s certificate at Strathroy Collegiate Institute in Western Ontario. He begins teaching modern languages at Uxbridge High School.
1889
Becomes language master at Upper Canada College, where he’ll teach for ten years, until July 1899. Meanwhile, he returns to university to study part time.
1891
Receives his honours B.A. from the University of Toronto.
1894
His first comic writing is published in
Grip,
a Toronto humour magazine.
1899
Begins graduate work at the University of Chicago in economics and political science, studying under Thorstein Veblen.
1900
Appointed sessional lecturer in political science at McGill University. On August 7 he marries Beatrix Hamilton in New York City.
1903
Receives a Ph.D. in political economy, and is appointed a full-time assistant professor in economics and political science at McGill.
1906
Publication of his first book,
Elements of Political Science
.
1907
Leacock embarks on a speaking tour of the British Empire to promote imperial unity. His book
Baldwin, Lafontaine, Hincks: Responsible Government
is published.
1908
Buys thirty-three acres of waterfront property on Lake Couchiching near Orillia, Ontario, which he dubs Old Brewery Bay. Appointed William Dow Professor of Political Economy and chairman of the Department of Economics and Political Science at McGill University—a position he’ll hold until his retirement almost thirty years later.
1910
Self-publishes his first book of humour,
Literary Lapses,
a collection of pieces previously published in magazines.
1911
Nonsense Novels
is published. In the run-up to the Dominion election, Leacock campaigns for Conservative candidates and speaks out against free trade with the United States. The Liberal government of Wilfrid Laurier goes down to defeat over the issue of reciprocity.
1912
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town
is first published serially in the
Montreal Star,
then in book form.
1914
Publication of
Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich
.
1915
Beginning in February and continuing throughout World War I, Leacock gives readings from his humorous work in aid of the Belgian Relief Fund. His only child, Stephen Lushington Leacock, is born on August 19. In October,
Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy
is published.
1920
Publication of
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice
.
1921
He goes on a lecture and reading tour of Great Britain. The Canadian Authors’ Association is established, with Leacock as a founding member.
1925
Leacock’s wife, Beatrix, dies of breast cancer on December 14.
1928
The new and much larger house is built on Old Brewery Bay.
1932
Mark Twain,
his biography of Mark Twain, is published.
1933
Publication of his biography of Charles Dickens,
Charles Dickens: His Life and Work
.
1935
Leacock is given the Mark Twain Medal. Publication of
Humor: Its Theory and Technique
.
1936
Reluctantly takes compulsory retirement from teaching at McGill. Embarks on last speaking tour of western Canada.
1937
My Discovery of the West: A Discussion of East and West in Canada
is published and goes on to win the Governor General’s Award.
1940
Stephen Leacock Jr. graduates with a B.A. from McGill University.
1942
My Remarkable Uncle and Other Sketches
is published.
1944
Leacock dies of throat cancer on March 28 in Toronto.
1945
Posthumous publication of
Last Leaves
and of
While There Is Time: The Case Against Social Catastrophe
.
1946
The Boy I Left Behind Me,
Leacock’s unfinished autobiography, is published. The Leacock Society establishes an annual award, known as the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, for the best book of humour published in Canada.
Anderson, Allan.
Remembering Leacock: An Oral History
. Ottawa: Deneau Publishers, 1983.
Cameron, Donald.
Faces of Leacock
. Toronto: Ryerson, 1967.
Curry, Ralph I.
Stephen Leacock: Humorist and Humanist
. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959.
Davies, Robertson.
Stephen Leacock
. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1970. Canadian Writers, no. 7.
Doyle, James.
Stephen Leacock: The Sage of Orillia
. Toronto: ECW Press, 1992.
Legate, David.
Stephen Leacock: A Biography
. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1978.
Lynch, Gerald.
Stephen Leacock: Humour and Humanity
. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988.
McGarvey, James A. “Pete,” and Daphne Mainprize.
The Stephen Leacock Picture Book
. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1998.
Spadoni, Carl.
A Bibliography of Stephen Leacock
. Toronto: ECW Press, 1998.
Staines, David, ed.
Stephen Leacock: A Reappraisal
. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1986.
Adventures of the Far North: A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas
. Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Company, 1914.