Chapter 21 - (VERSO)
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she made special inquiries about him, and she says it would never do to have a young unmarried minister in Avonlea, because he might marry in the congregation and that would make trouble. I’m Mrs. Lynde is a very far-seeing woman, isn’t she, Matthew. I’m very glad they’ve called Mr. Allan. I liked him because his sermon was interesting and he prayed as if he meant it and not just as if he did it because he was in the habit of it. Mrs. Lynde says he isn’t perfect but she says she supposes we couldn’t expect a perfect minister for $750 a year and anyhow his theology is sound because she questioned him thoroughly on all the points of doctrine. And she knows his wife’s people and they are most respectable and all good the women are all good housekeepers. Mrs. Lynde says that sound doctrine in
TEXT ANNOTATION
"$750 a year": According to Rubio and Waterston, Ewan Macdonald's salary as minister for both Cavendish and Stanley Bridge in 1903 was $670, while a minister in Cardigan, P.E.I. made $775 (Norton Critical Edition, p. 139, n. 7). One Canadian dollar in 1890 would be roughly equivalent to $42.72 today, meaning the salary Mrs. Lynde mentions is about $32,040 today.