The recently published diaries and letters of a young Canadian girl, written more than 100 years ago, have a strong Bermuda connection.

The diarist, who began her daily entries in 1890, was 15-year-old Sadie Harper Allen, who lived in Shediac, a small but bustling port town in New Brunswick.

It was when her sister and cousin married into the Bermuda Talbot family that the mid-Atlantic island took on great significance for the Harpers, being described by Sadie as "such a heathenish long piece away''.

"A Full House and Fine Singing'' is the culmination of more than ten years' research and editing by Canadian social historian, Mrs. Mary Biggar Peck. Its fascination lies in the fact the diaries gives unprecedented and vivid insight into the daily lives (sometimes, from hour to hour) of the people who lived in Canada at the end of the 19th century. As Mrs. Peck observes, "If I were reincarnate as a member of the Harper family in 1890, I feel I could take my place without danger of discovery.'' The book's publication was timed to celebrate Canadian Women's History Month in 1992.

"I think many people are amazed that young women of that time had so much freedom. When I discovered the diaries, in a library in New Brunswick, I realised I had never seen diaries, or letters, that had such a social impact,'' says Mrs. Peck.

The initial discovery of the diaries, which had been placed in the Archives of New Brunswick by Sadie's daughter, Lillian, was the beginning of years of hard work for Mrs. Peck. The tiny pocket diaries were filled with minuscule writing. Indeed, Sadie herself wrote, "Dear knows if I will ever be able to read all this fine trash!'' Mrs. Peck says she would like to have used this colourful observation in the title of the diaries, but her publishers thought otherwise.

As is often the case in the working life of an historian, coincidence came into play, for Mr. and Mrs. Peck had been regular visitors to Bermuda long before she had even heard of the existence of the diaries.

Mr. John Talbot, of Somerset, takes up the story from here. "One day, about ten years ago, when I was still working at the Bank of Butterfield, Mrs. Peck just walked in, off the street. She had been doing research on the diaries in the Bermuda Library and had somehow come across my name. So she wanted to see what I could tell her about the Harpers and Talbots.'' That meeting with Mrs. Peck was the first time that Mr. Talbot had heard about the diaries, but he was able to tell the historian that his grandfather, John and his brother Eddie, were originally sent by their father, William Edward Talbot, to New Brunswick to represent him in the flourishing trade between Bermuda and Canada.

"They went up in a sailing ship, of course, and my grandfather had an agent in Shediac. They were 20-year-olds who went to learn the trade and to represent Bermudian interests. My understanding of the story is that my great uncle met Winnie (Sadie's elder sister) and when they decided to get married, he asked John (my grandfather) to be best man. When they travelled up for the wedding in Shediac, John met Sarah Helen, they fell in love -- and that was that. Sarah Helen was my grandmother, and she died in 1952.'' Now, "A Full House and Fine Singing'' is proving popular with the Bermuda public. For, quite apart from the Bermuda connection, the diaries are enchanting to read -- and quite an eye-opener for anyone under the impression that life for a young Victorian woman was a restricted, stuffy existence.

For the people of the Canadian Maritimes, at any rate, it was hardly that.

Sadie's life, as one of seven children whose father owned a shoe factory, was remarkably carefree. Page after page tells of moonlight skating and romantic evening sled rides, long country walks by night as well as day, picnics, swimming, painting and sketching.

School seemed to be rather a casual affair; there are numerous entries where Sadie notes that she stayed home to do some painting, or to bake a cake. She was obviously mischievous (`apple-pie' beds were a frequent treat for visitors, especially if they were young men), often in trouble for talking in school and to counter an outright ban by the exasperated master, she writes: "... so now we have to study the dumb alphabet so we can talk on our fingers.'' Her lively enjoyment of life is reflected by the many times she writes "I nearly laughed myself sick'' or "we laughed and laughed until dinner time''. Events that would horrify young women of today were taken in their stride: abscesses caused Sadie to have her two front teeth removed. "I look so funny with my front teeth out,'' she writes, but she did not seem to be overly concerned.

Above all, it was the "full house and fine singing'' that dominated Sadie's life. The Harpers were a musical family, and ardent Methodists, so they sang at church, in concerts, and at home, when sometimes two dozen people would gather in their house to eat home-baked cakes and sing around the piano.

According to Mrs. Peck, the diaries are rather more interesting than the average diary penned by a man: "Men seem to focus on world events, while women talk about themselves and their daily lives.'' There were, of course, moments of tragedy, and in those days, death was a frequent visitor. Especially at those times, a strong sense of community shone through and it is perhaps this evocation of an essentially simpler time when people were closer (and it was safe for women to take an evening walk together without fear of being mugged) which makes for rather nostalgic reading.

The many Bermudians who have attended Mount Allison University will also find this book interesting. Sadie attended the strictly Methodist Ladies College and the striking aspect of her account of life there was the lack of freedom which prevailed. Young ladies at that time were only allowed out for walks with chaperones and clothes were regularly inspected for "suitability''.

It was what Mrs. Peck has called The Wedding Year (1895), that heralded an inevitable change in the lives of the Harper family. Sadie describes the arrival of various members of the Talbot family and the huge parties that followed. Amidst all this merry-making, Sadie notes, "Poor John (Talbot) is very much struck on Helen H.'' Indeed he was, and an entry at the end of that year recorded their engagement.

In 1896, Sadie's sister and aunt made the trip to Bermuda. After a stormy voyage, which threw the ship 150 miles off-course, they wrote in a letter home that "Bermuda ... could not be imagined, as for beauty and brilliance of colouring. ... Words couldn't describe its beauty.'' For Sadie, too, the "Bermuda Wedding'' coincided with a momentous change in her own life, for this was when she met her future husband, Frank Allen, who, after teaching at Shediac Grammar School, went on to become the first professor of physics at the new University of Manitoba. Her letters cover an exciting visit she made with her husband to attend the Imperial Universities Congress in London and then to visit Europe. As Mrs. Peck observes in her accompanying notes, it was fortunate that the couple took this opportunity to travel. For three years later, in 1915, the vivacious Sadie, only 40 years old, mother of Lillian, Jack and one-year-old William, died of a heart attack while cleaning the children's playroom.

Mrs. Peck, currently on her 10th annual visit to Salt Kettle Guest House, says she felt an instant rapport with the Bermuda Talbots.

"On my first visit to John and Rosemary, I drove through three potato fields on their property -- and it was partly the potato trade in New Brunswick that brought the Talbots to Canada.'' "When the book was launched in Canada, I was interviewed on television and afterwards, a woman rang up to say she had lots of pictures of the Harper family. If only I'd known before it was published!'' She has managed to include reproductions of Sadie's paintings and drawings.

Mary Biggar Peck is the author of several popular books on the social history of Canada, notably, her "Nova Scotia Album'', which documents life in that province between 1890 and the 1950s.

(`A Full House and Fine Singing' is available at local book shops for $17.75.) `DRESDEN FIGURINE' -- That was how one admirer described the young Sadie Harper Allen.

A FULL HOUSE AND FINE SINGING -- Mary Biggar Peck, with a copy of Sadie Harper's Diaries and Letters.

FASHION, 1907 STYLE -- A family group taken at Sadie's Winnipeg home. On the left is Winifred Talbot, daughter of Winnie Harper, in the middle is Francis Harper and on the right is Lillian Allen, Sadie's daughter. Now in her 90s, it was Lillian who preserved her mother's diaries for posterity.