From collection Jesup Library Maine Vertical File

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(Moore, Ruth) MDI Loses Respected Writer Poet
MOORE
from page A1
MDI loses
the rugged beauty of her native state, the
Hobart and in 1936 accompanied her boss
Eventually, though, popular taste
traditional values and determination of its
to California.
demanded a return to the more mythical
Moore said homesickness for Maine
tales of Maine life and by the 1960s,
people, she also wrote, with sometime bru-
compelled her to begin writing her first
Moore's readership had dwindled. By
tal honesty, about ignorance, mean-spirited-
respected
ness and greed. She told about a way of life
novel. And when, after five years, she
1979, only Cold as a Dog was still in
that was swiftly vanishing as a dispirited
could no longer bear California life and a
print. It wasn't until Carolyn Chute pub-
climate she described as either "rainy or
lished The Beans of Egypt Maine, that the
generation of Mainers sold their birthrights
writer, poet
hot" and headed back to New York, she
darker side of Maine life earned a large
to the highest out-of-state bidders.
Born on Gott's island, the daughter of
had in hand the almost completed
and appreciative audience again.
Phillip Moore, a fisherman, storekeeper
manuscript of The Weir, a story based on
Ruth Moore's work might have been
and postmaster, and his wife Lavina
her Gott's Island memories.
forgotten altogether, had it not been for
by Nan Lincoln
(Joyce), Moore was educated first in the
She also had with her another young
folk singer Gordon Bok, who set several
island's one-room school house and later
aspiring writer from Maine named
of her ballads to music and eventually
BASS HARBOR - A literary light
Eleanor Mayo. At the request of her
recorded them. Gary Lawless, owner of a
went to live with relatives in Ellsworth to
was extinguished this weekend with
attend high school. While she often
younger sister, Southwest Harbor teacher
small specialty publishing house, the
the death of Ruth Moore at age 86.
Blackberry Press, was captivated by the
described her early childhood on Gotts as
Eleanor Trask, Moore agreed to take
Moore, who published 14 novels
salty, rollicking lyrics and in 1986 decid-
idyllic, the transition to life on the main-
under her wing this promising young stu-
and two books of poetry in her life-
land was difficult - made more so by
ed to republish several of Moore's novels.
dent, who was desperate to leave her
time, was the first author since the
Since then, Moore and her work experi-
school-mates and teachers who regarded
provincial home town and broaden her
19th century's Sarah Orne Jewett to
enced a revival in popularity - a phe-
islanders as bumpkins.
horizons.
forgo the popular, romantically rustic
nomenon the somewhat reclusive author
As much as she hated her high school
Back in New York, Moore took an
fantasies of life in Maine and to
found both amusing and, at times, irritat-
experience young Ruth, who came from a
unchallenging job with Reader's Digest,
choose instead to weave her tales
which allowed her the time to complete
ing with the attendant clamor for inter-
family where education was highly val-
from the sturdy, rough-textured fabric
views with the "re-discovered" author.
ued, did not lose her love of learning and
The Weir, published in 1943.
of truth.
Still, those who were fortunate enough
went on to graduate in 1927 from New
But it was her second novel, Spoon-
As much as she loved her native
to be granted an audience with this plain-
York State College for Teachers in
handle, which she sold to Hollywood
state, Moore understood that even her
Albany, N.Y.
filmmakers in 1946 for $50,000, that gave
spoken, unpretentious woman were
attachment to her birthplace was influ-
Though several of her college profes-
Moore the financial security she needed to
invariably treated with warmth and can-
enced by that chimera of romance and
quit her job and take up writing full time.
did good humor, along with the clouds of
sors were impressed by her creative writ-
on the title page of her first published
ing efforts and encouraged her to pursue a
Although she was also asked to do the
cigarette smoke that usually hovered in
novel, The Weir, she wrote:
the air around the unabashed and unre-
literary career, Moore was determined to
screenplay for Spoonhandle, she soon dis-
"Maine was the place you were
become an educator of young minds.
covered she hadn't the "knack for that
pentant chain-smoker.
homesick for, even when you were
But her first year at the head of the
sort of thing," and bowed out of the con-
Betsy Graves may have been the last
there."
classroom made it clear that it was not the
tract. She was also disgusted with Holly-
journalist to interview Moore for an arti-
While Moore wrote eloquently of
vocation for which she was well suited.
cle in the Puckerbrush Review last winter.
wood's adaptation of her story.
see MOORE page A16
"I couldn't stand teaching. It was abso-
In 1947, Moore and Mayo returned to
In that article, Graves recalls being gently
lutely dreadful!" she recalled in a 1987
Mt. Desert Island and built a comfortable
cautioned by the author after she confessed
interview for Down East Magazine.
but modest home in Bass Harbor, where
to being enthralled just listening to Moore
At the height of the Great Depression,
they lived as friends and companions for
chat with fellow writer Sandy Phippen.
Bar Harbor
Moore moved to New York City and
the next 40 years until Mayo died in 1981.
"Well," she said in her soft smoke-
began a series of jobs including various
For 30 of those years, Moore continued
husky voice, 'don't be too impressed."
low-level editorial posts for the YWCA,
writing novels about the "real Maine" and
But Graves was. And so were all of us
December 1989
the NAACP and several magazines.
also published her two books of poems
who read her works and appreciated being
Eventually she landed a job as a
and ballads, Cold as a Dog and the Wind
told about ourselves in a way that could
manuscript typist for author Alice Tisdale
Northeast and Time's Web.
make even the ugly truth seem beautiful.