Ethelwyn the Mother
Dorothy Rungeling (age 5), daughter of Ethelwyn Wetherald
The year 1911 proved to be one of the most important in the life of Agnes Ethelwyn Wetherald. The farm was in apple picking and packing season and Wetherald was in need of assistance of the housework. A young mother named Mary, separated from her husband, arrived with a five month old daughter. The two lived with Ethelwyn and soon became family. Mary had decided to move back to the city and Ethelwyn could not bare to lose the young child she had come to love. Wetherald persuaded Mary to leave the girl with her in the country. A year later, the child would officially become Ethelwyn's daughter Dorothy. Since never marrying or having biological children of her own, Ethelwyn found this next stage of her life brought a new influence to her writing. Her next publication was a collection of children's poems called Tree Top Mornings in 1921.
Dedication page of the publication Tree Top Mornings (1921) by Agnes Ethelwyn Wetherald