Still Cove Journal

by Gladys Taber

A collection of thoughts on the beauty and lore of Cape Cod, presented with pen-and-ink drawings, reflects upon the people, the weather, and the country

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Nature, Essays

223 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

A prolific author whose output includes plays, essays, memoirs and fiction, Gladys Taber (1899 – 1980) is perhaps best recalled for a series of books and columns about her life at Stillmeadow, a 17th-century farmhouse in Southbury, Connecticut.

Born Gladys Bagg on April 12, 1899 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she was the middle child and only one to survive to adulthood. Her parents were Rufus Mather Bagg, who could trace his ancestry back to Cotton Mather, and the former Grace Sibyl Raybold. An older sister, Majel, had died at the age of six months while a younger brother Walter died at 15 months. During her childhood, she moved frequently as her father accepted various teaching posts until they finally settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Gladys graduated from Appleton High School and enrolled at Wellesley College, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1920. She returned to her hometown and earned a master’s in 1921 from Lawrence College, where her father was on faculty. The following year, she married Frank Albion Taber, Jr., giving birth to their daughter on July 7, 1923.

Mrs. Taber taught English at Lawrence College, Randolph Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and at Columbia University, where she did postgraduate studies. She began her literary career with a play, Lady of the Moon (Penn), in 1928, and followed with a book of verse, Lyonesse (Bozart) in 1929. Taber won attention for her first humorous novel, Late Climbs the Sun (Coward, 1934). She went on to write several other novels and short story collections, including Tomorrow May Be Fair ( Coward, 1935), A Star to Steer By (Macrae, 1938) and This Is for Always (Macrae, 1938). In the late 1930s, Taber joined the staff of the Ladies’ Home Journal and began to contribute the column “Diary of Domesticity.”

By this time, she had separated from her husband and was living at Stillmeadow, a farmhouse built in 1690 in Southbury, Connecticut, sharing the house with Eleanor Sanford Mayer, a childhood friend who was often mistakenly identified as her sister. Beginning with Harvest at Stillmeadow (Little, Brown, 1940), Taber wrote a series of books about her simple life in New England that possessed homespun wisdom dolled out with earthy humor and an appreciation for the small things. She published more than 20 books related to Stillmeadow, including several cookbooks.

In 1959, she moved from Ladies’ Home Journal to Family Circle, contributing the “Butternut Wisdom” column until her retirement in 1967. In 1960, her companion, Eleanor, died and Taber decided to abandon life at Stillmeadow. Having spent some summers on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, she decided to relocate to the town of Orleans where she would live out the remainder of her days. While a resident of Orleans, Taber contributed “Still Cove Sketches” to the Cape Cod Oracle . Her final book, published posthumously, was Still Cove Journal (Lippincott, 1981).

Gladys Taber had divorced her husband in 1946 and he later passed away in October 1964. She died on March 11, 1980 in Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts at the age of 80.

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read thisvquite awhile ago and realized I hadn't marked it as such. This is a lovely book that tells about her last years. Jill has been gone twenty years and Gladys moved to the cove. It tells of skunk named Blacberry and her neighbors. She was a far more sociable person than I. I would love to get a chance to read her weekly paper articles she wrote.

[Karen Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compliation of columns Taber wrote for a Cape Cod newspaper toward the end of her life, gathered and edited after her death by her daughter. It is organized to take us through a year from April to March, from the coming of spring, which Taber considers the true New Year, to the end of the following winter, when spring is just on the horizon. The book is a paeon to Cape Cod and to Taber's friends and neighbors, human and animal, two and four-legged, feathered and furred. There are brief excursions into the state of the world, but Taber is always hopeful. Quiet, contemplative, humourous, observant, and, above all, companionable.

[Sandi Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a journal of a year in Cape Cod by an observant and articulate author. The year in this book begins in April which Taber thinks should be the first month because nature seems renewed by spring beginnings.
I enjoyed Taber’s vivid descriptions of nature including plants, animals and changes in weather patterns. I also liked her descriptions of her friends and their casual social life. This book is a quiet ode to life in a scenic area. It makes want to return to Cape Cod.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last book by Taber published, and publ8shed posthumously. A collection of human interest articles. Not my favorite of her reading. I like the lyrical and more fresh? Spontaneous? Quality of her letters. These articles feel tired, a very human thing that sometimes comes through in writing and other arts. This book is a nice work- through- the- months series of essays. I often like that sort of thing.

[Janie O · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the other books from Gladys Taber that I have read, it was a good look into the thoughts and happenings of a simpler time when neighbors visited each other and life was full and busy but in a more fulfilling way. I love the descriptions of the sea, the pond, the sand, the weather, the
people...

[Pam MacLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dear Aunt Dorothy introduced me to this author many decades ago. Gladys Taber’s writing warms the soul and reassures you about the good that is everywhere in nature and in most people. Reading one of her books leaves me feeling as though I finished a very calming session of meditation.

[Dawn Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was at least the second time I have read this book. Gladys Taber's books are cozy and relaxing, simple little reads and I love all of them
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[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second read (1st in 1980s) and even better 2nd time.

[Melanie Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The incomparable Gladys Taber's view of Cape Cod, before it was only for one-percenters.