Chapter 8 - (VERSO)
569 56 Each in His Own Tongue
chance of worldly redemption. From that time forth her feet were set in the way that takes hold on hell.
For the past five years, however, Naomi had lived a tolerably respe respectable life. When Janet Peterson had died, her idiot daughter, Maggie had been left with no kith or kin in the world. Nobody knew what was to be done with her, for nobody wanted to be bothered with her. Naomi Clark went to the girl and offered her a home. People said she was no fit person to have charge of Maggie; but nobody felt called upon to everybody shirked the unpleasant task of interfering in the matter,
TEXT ANNOTATION
"Each in His Own Tongue": While this page does contain material from the story by that name, this pencilled note at the top of the page is clearly not written in Montgomery's hand. A researcher, curator, or other viewer may have "helpfully" tried to identify the source.
TEXT ANNOTATION
"her feet were set in the way that takes hold on hell": A phrase with a pretty clearly intentional biblical resonance, but without a clear reference. There are many possible influences, perhaps Proverbs 4:26, "Ponder the path of thy feet" or Psalms 40:2, setting your feet "upon a rock." Chapter 7 of Proverbs is "The Wiles of a Harlot" and verse 27 reads: "Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." Perhaps this was a passage Montgomery had in mind for Naomi, knowing that her audience would recognize the allusion.
TEXT ANNOTATION
"her idiot daughter": At the time, "idiot" meant someone who was born, or rendered, mentally challenged. It was then, however mistakenly it now appears, used for generations as a factual label of condition. Montgomery would have known, for example, Wordsworth’s (1798) poem "The Idiot Boy," telling a gently humorous story of a mother’s love, her son's child-like wonder, and a sick neighbour's self-curing concern for both of them.