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  PENGUIN CLASSICS

  SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN

  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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  Penguin Classics edition copyright © Penguin Group (Canada), 2006.

  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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  or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living

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  ISBN-13: 978-0-670-06508-0

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  CONTENTS

  Chronology

  Suggested Further Reading

  A Note on the Text

  Preface

  I The Hostelry of Mr. Smith

  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

  VI The Beacon on the Hill

  VII The Extraordinary Entanglement of Mr. Pupkin

  VIII The Fore-Ordained Attachment of Zena Pepperleigh and Peter Pupkin

  IX The Mariposa Bank Mystery

  X The Great Election in Missinaba County

  XI The Candidacy of Mr. Smith

  XII L’Envoi. The Train to Mariposa

  CHRONOLOGY

  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.

  SUGGESTED FURTHER READING

  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.

  OTHER BOOKS BY STEPHEN LEACOCK

  Adventures of the Far North: A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas. Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Company, 1914.

  Afternoons in Utopia: Tales of the New Time. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada, 1932.

  Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich. London: John Lane, 1914.

  Baldwin, Lafontaine, Hincks: Responsible Government. Toronto: Morang & Company, 1907.

  Behind the Beyond and Other Contributions to Human Knowledge. London: John Lane, 1913.

  The Best of Leacock. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1958. Edited and introduced by J.B. Priestley.

  The Boy I Left Behind Me. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1946.

  The British Empire: Its Structure, Its History, Its Strength. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1940.

  Canada and the Sea. Montreal: Alvah M. Beatty, 1944.

  Canada: The Foundations of Its Future. Montreal: Gazette Printing Company, 1941.

  The Case Against Social Catastrophe. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1945.

  Charles Dickens: His Life and Work. London: Peter Davies, 1933.

  College Days. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1923.

  The Dawn of Canadian History: A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada and the Coming of the White Man. Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Company, 1914.

  The Dry Pickwick and Other Incongruities. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1932.

  Economic Prosperity in the British Empire. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada, 1930.

  Elements of Political Science. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906.

  Essays and Literary Studies. New York: John Lane Company, 1916.

  Frenzied Fiction. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1918.

  Funny Pieces: A Book of Random Sketches. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1936.

  Further Foolishness: Sketches and Satires on the Follies of the Day. New York: John Lane Company, 1916.

  The Garden of Folly. Toronto: S.B. Gundy, 1924.

  The Greatest Pages of American Humor. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1936.

  Happy Stories, Just to Laugh At. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1943.

  Hellements of Hickonomics in Hiccoughs of Verse Done in Our Social Planning Mill. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1936.

  Here Are My Lectures. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1937.

  The Hohenzollerns in America; with the Bolsheviks in Berlin and Other Impossibilities. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1919.

  How to Write. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1943.

  Humour and Humanity: An Introduction to the Study of Humour. London: Thornton Butterworth, 1937.

  Humour: Its Theory and Technique. London: John Lane, 1935.

  The Iron Man and the Tin Woman, with Other Such Futurities. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1929.

  Last Leaves. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1945.

  Laugh Parade: A New Collection of the Wit and Humor of Stephen Leacock. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1940.

  Laugh with Leacock: An Anthology of the Best Works of Stephen Leacock. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1930.

  Lincoln Frees the Slaves. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1934.

  Literary Lapses. Montreal: Gazette Printing Company, 1910.

  Mackenzie, Baldwin, Lafontaine, Hincks. London & Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1926.

  The Mariner of St. Malo: A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier. Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Company, 1914.

  Mark Twain. London: Peter Davies, 1932.

  Model Memoirs and Other Sketches from Simple to Serious. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1938.

  Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy. New York: John Lane Company, 1915.<
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  My Discovery of England. London: John Lane, 1922.

  My Discovery of the West: A Discussion of East and West in Canada. Toronto: Thomas Allen, 1937.

  Montreal: Seaport and City. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1942.

  My Remarkable Uncle, and Other Sketches. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1942.

  Nonsense Novels. London: John Lane, 1911.

  Our Heritage of Liberty: Its Origin, Its Achievement, Its Crisis: A Book for War Time. London: John Lane, 1942.

  Over the Footlights. Toronto: S.B. Gundy, 1923.

  The Pursuit of Knowledge: A Discussion of Freedom and Compulsion in Education. New York: Liveright Publishing, 1934.

  “Q”: A Farce in One Act (with Basil Macdonald). New York: S. French, 1915.

  Short Circuits. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada, 1928.

  Too Much College; or, Education Eating Up Life. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1939.

  The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice. New York: John Lane Company, 1920.

  Wet Wit and Dry Humour: Distilled from the Pages of Stephen Leacock. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1931.

  Winnowed Wisdom: A New Book of Humour. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1926.

  Winsome Winnie, and Other New Nonsense Novels. Toronto: S.B. Gundy, 1920.

  FILMS

  The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones. National Film Board of Canada, 1983. 7 minutes, 48 seconds, colour, animated. Directed and animated by Gerald Potterton; voice and narration by Mavor Moore.

  How We Kept Mother’s Day. National Film Board of Canada, 1994. 9 minutes, 53 seconds, colour, animated. Directed and animated by Eva Szasz; voice and narration by Brian Richardson.