WWI Postcard Collection. Bamforth, England and New York: Holmfirth, circa 1915. Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph Library (XM1 MS1031).

The war spurred many romances between young men going to the front and the sweethearts they left at home. Though correspondence was heavily censored, it was still possible to write a love letter. Rilla’s courtship with Kenneth Ford is interrupted by the war. Rilla is a young 14 year-old excited for her first party. Prior to the dance, Gertrude Oliver states the importance of this event: “I had no real girlhood, Rilla. It’s a sad loss. That’s why I want you to have a splendid, happy girlhood. And I hope your first party will be one you’ll remember all your life with pleasure.” 

After a dance and a conversation with Kenneth, a popular young man from Toronto who summers with his family in Prince Edward Island, news of England’s declaration of war on Germany circulates, and Rilla senses “that Kenneth Ford was no longer thinking about her.” Though delayed by injury, Kenneth enlists as soon as he is healed and visits Rilla before leaving for the front. After a stolen kiss, he asks Rilla not to kiss another boy while he is away and Rilla finds is left questioning if she is or is not engaged to Kenneth Ford? Their courtship is hurried to commitment by Kenneth’s departure for the front. Though his correspondence is sporadic, Kenneth sends Rilla her first love letter, which confirms his safe arrival in England.