I’ll always be grateful to Effie. She was the age of my mother and worked in housekeeping at The Pines in Digby, where I also worked summers when I was girl.
The senior staff had rooms in the staff residence where they would rest after lunch – not to sleep but to rest their backs before the afternoon shift. Sometimes they invited the younger staff to keep them company. Effie brightened up more than my dark little corner.
I was in the despair of a broken heart; Effie was in the throes of a new romance. From their pillows, the senior gals would wind her up to talk about her fella. Effie’s hair was tightly curled and she always adorned it with a bow or barrette. Her manner was rather like a poodle’s as well, as she, bows aquiver, illustrated how this superior man opened the car door for her. We never wanted her to stop.
It was more than entertainment to listen to Effie. She opened my eyes to the idea that affairs of the heart are not just for the young and that grief will eventually give way to more exciting emotions. She never did tell the story of how her relationship began.
These days, in Nova Scotia, it is quite amazing how successful the new matchmaker – online dating – is. At other times, we aren’t so formal about the office of matchmaker. Many of us dabble in it in a quiet way. It does our hearts good to watch a couple falling in love and, whether it is the excitement of courtship or the fallout from a lover’s quarrel, aren’t there usually more than one in any circle of friends who will nudge the relationship in the right direction?
From Shakespeare’s Don Pedro to Michael Stewart’s Dolly Gallagher Levi, we are entertained to see matchmakers at work: here a little spotlight on a virtue, there some kindly shadows to soften a flaw. Of course, matchmakers make mistakes from time to time – it’s only to be expected. And, always, keeping in mind the point on the timeline, you can choose to focus on the peaks or the valleys.
The role of the matchmaker has a long history:
“The protocol for midwives was a rite of passage which contained a separation terminating the candidates’ relationships with their communities . . . They were totally free agents without community. Villages gave midwives the clinical and legal authority both to negotiate the precoital covenant, and to provide the mother with . . . care,” wrote V. H. Matthews and Don Benjamin in their publication Social World of Ancient Israel, 1250-587 BCE.
Dottie, the Tennessee volunteer, likes to dabble in matchmaking. She left her community of Bucksnort, Tennessee, to hunt for budding romances and incubate them in her travelling show.
KittyCat: A Dottie Singalong by Beth Irvine will play at CentreStage Theatre, Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. Call 678-8040 to reserve your seat.
