Cyrus Taylor

Cyrus Taylor was the father of Esme, Trix, and Pringle Taylor. He had a bad habit of sulking, and would do so for great amounts of time.

Cyrus liked the color blue, and enjoyed Anne Shirley's company.

Marriage
Cyrus married Mrs. Taylor (given and maiden name unknown), about twenty to twenty five years before Anne Shirley arrived in Summerside. Together, the two had three children: Esme, the pale beauty—Trix, the spicy and fun—Pringle, round eyed and 'innocent'.

Fatherhood
He was described as being a 'good father', but was in a bad habit of sulking. When he was done with his sulking fits, he would apologise and buy new dresses for each member of the family. (Excepting Pringle.)

Anne's Arrival in Summerside
Cyrus, as stated in Anne of Windy Poplars, enjoyed Anne's company, the first night she was asked to the Taylor House. The second night, though, catastrophe struck...

Esme's Engagement
Esme, Cyrus's eldest daughter, was in love with Dr. Lennox Carter, a professor at Redmond College. When the Taylor's asked Dr. Carter to dinner, Esme's hope rose that he would ask her to marry him. Trix, though, was worried her father would have a sulking fit.. and asked Anne if she would come to dinner and be the ice-breaker. Anne, (who knew all about Trix's own love affair, with 'Johnny', and as she was involved in one herself..), said yes.

"I need someone who can talk, Anne. Pringle and I are always 'struck dumb' when Papa has a sulking fit."

- Trix Taylor to Anne Shirley

Anne, who had never been at a loss for words, thought all would be well, but time proved otherwise.

When a trim maid showed her into the sitting room at the Taylor House the next night, and Anne caught a glance of Mrs. Taylor furtively wiping away a tear, she knew something was wrong. Trix confirmed this by creeping in and telling her that 'he hasn't gotten over the nightshirt yet'.

Dinner-time arrived, and everybody, including Dr. Carter, was seated... except for Cyrus. A moment later, Cyrus stalked into the room and dropped into his seat. Mrs. Taylor said a short grace.

Silence reigned, despite several attempts at conversation. For once, Anne couldn't speak. What was this power that this sulking man had over them all? When Mrs. Taylor asked her to start the pickles, Anne started them... and something else.

"Perhaps you would be interested to hear, Dr. Carter," said Anne, "that Mr. Taylor went deaf last week."

- Anne Shirley to Dr. Carter

Anne's words had a stirring effect on Trix and Pringle. The siblings immediately followed Anne's lead, with diabolical twists that horrified Anne.

""Such an affliction for poor papa," said Trix, addressing Dr. Carter across the table. "And him only sixty-eight."

Two little white dents appeared at the corners of Cyrus Taylor's nostrils when he heard his age advanced six years. But he remained silent.

"It's such a treat to have a decent meal," said Pringle, clearly and distinctly. "What would you think, Dr. Carter, of a man who makes his family live on fruit and eggs . . . nothing but fruit and eggs . . . just for a fad?"

"Does your father . . . ?" began Dr. Carter bewilderedly.

"What would you think of a husband who bit his wife when she put up curtains he didn't like . . . deliberately bit her?" demanded Trix.

"Till the blood came," added Pringle solemnly.

"Do you mean to say your father . . . ?"

"What would you think of a man who would cut up a silk dress of his wife's just because the way it was made didn't suit him?" said Trix.

"What would you think," said Pringle, "of a man who refuses to let his wife have a dog?"

"When she would so love to have one," sighed Trix.

"What would you think of a man," continued Pringle, who was beginning to enjoy himself hugely, "who would give his wife a pair of goloshes for a Christmas present . . . nothing but a pair of goloshes?"

"Goloshes don't exactly warm the heart," admitted Dr. Carter. His eyes met Anne's and he smiled. Anne reflected that she had never seen him smile before. It changed his face wonderfully for the better. What was Trix saying? Who would have thought she could be such a demon?

"Have you ever wondered, Dr. Carter, how awful it must be to live with a man who thinks nothing . . . nothing--of picking up the roast, if it isn't perfectly done, and hurling it at the maid?"

Dr. Carter glanced apprehensively at Cyrus Taylor, as if he feared Cyrus might throw the skeletons of the chickens at somebody. Then he seemed to remember comfortingly that his host was deaf.

"What would you think of a man who believed the earth was flat?" asked Pringle.

Anne thought Cyrus would speak then. A tremor seemed to pass over his rubicund face, but no words came. Still, she was sure his mustaches were a little less defiant.

"What would you think of a man who let his aunt . . . his only aunt . . . go to the poorhouse?" asked Trix.

"And pastured his cow in the graveyard?" said Pringle. "Summerside hasn't got over that sight yet."

"What would you think of a man who would write down in his diary every day what he had for dinner?" asked Trix.

"The great Pepys did that," said Dr. Carter with another smile. His voice sounded as if he would like to laugh. Perhaps after all he was not pompous, thought Anne. . . only young and shy and overserious. But she was feeling positively aghast. She had never meant things to go as far as this. She was finding out that it is much easier to start things than finish them. Trix and Pringle were being diabolically clever. They had not said that their father did a single one of these things. Anne could fancy Pringle saying, his round eyes rounder still with pretended innocence, "I just asked those questions of Dr. Carter for information."

"What would you think," kept on Trix, "of a man who opens and reads his wife's letters?"

"What would you think of a man who would go to a funeral . . . his father's funeral . . . in overalls?" asked Pringle."

- Trix and Pringle Taylor over the Dinner Table

But then, Esme, who was sure she would never be able to marry Dr. Carter now, leaned forward.

""What," she asked quietly, "would you think of a man who spent a whole day hunting for the kittens of a poor cat who had been shot, because he couldn't bear to think of them starving to death?""

- Esme Taylor

Mrs. Taylor piped in, and told of how Mr. Taylor had crocheted a doily the previous winter.

"Every one has some limit of endurance and Cyrus Taylor had reached his. He gave his chair such a furious backward push that it shot instantly across the polished floor and struck the table on which the vase stood. The table went over and the vase broke in the traditional thousand pieces. Cyrus, his bushy white eyebrows fairly bristling with wrath, stood up and exploded at last.

"I don't crochet, woman! Is one contemptible doily going to blast a man's reputation forever? I was so bad with that blamed lumbago I didn't know what I was doing. And I'm deaf, am I, Miss Shirley? I'm deaf?"

"She didn't say you were, Papa," cried Trix, who was never afraid of her father when his temper was vocal.

"Oh, no, she didn't say it. None of you said anything! You didn't say I was sixty-eight when I'm only sixty-two, did you? You didn't say I wouldn't let your mother have a dog! Good Lord, woman, you can have forty thousand dogs if you want to and you know it! When did I ever deny you anything you wanted . . . when?"

"Never, Poppa, never," sobbed Mrs. Cyrus brokenly. "And I never wanted a dog. I never even thought of wanting a dog, Poppa."

"When did I open your letters? When have I ever kept a diary? A diary! When did I ever wear overalls to anybody's funeral? When did I pasture a cow in the graveyard? What aunt of mine is in the poorhouse? Did I ever throw a roast at anybody? Did I ever make you live on fruit and eggs?"

"Never, Poppa, never," wept Mrs. Cyrus. "You've always been a good provider . . . the best."

"Didn't you tell me you wanted goloshes last Christmas?"

"Yes, oh, yes; of course I did, Poppa. And my feet have been so nice and warm all winter."

"Well, then!" Cyrus threw a triumphant glance around the room. His eyes encountered Anne's. Suddenly the unexpected happened. Cyrus chuckled. His cheeks actually dimpled. Those dimples worked a miracle with his whole expression. He brought his chair back to the table and sat down.

"I've got a very bad habit of sulking, Dr. Carter. Every one has some bad habit . . . that's mine. The only one. Come, come, Momma, stop crying. I admit I deserved all I got except that crack of yours about crocheting. Esme, my girl, I won't forget that you were the only one who stood up for me. Tell Maggie to come and clear up that mess . . . I know you're all glad the thing is smashed . . . and bring on the pudding.""

- Dinner Conversation

Everything turned out wonderfully... and Esme and Dr. Carter were engaged!

"Anne could never have believed that an evening which began so terribly could end up so pleasantly. Nobody could have been more genial or better company than Cyrus: and there was evidently no aftermath of reckoning, for when Trix came down a few evenings later it was to tell Anne that she had at last scraped up enough courage to tell her father about Johnny... and he'd been pleased."

- Anne of Windy Poplars, Chapter 10

Appearances
Anne of Windy Poplars