Amabel King
Toronto Daily Star, November 16 1942
The Toronto Daily Star used to publish a section titled "A Little Of Everything" on its editorial page. This section usually led off with a poem. Here's an example from this edition of the Toronto Daily Star.
I'm no judge of poetry, but I found this a little overwrought for my taste. The rhyming scheme is interesting, though: it appears to be AABCCDD. I looked up some lists of rhyming schemes and couldn't find this one anywhere.
This poem provided the writer's name and address, which gave me the opportunity to trace her in the Toronto city directories. The 1942 city directory lists Charles W. King at 179 Forest Hill Road; he was a sales manager for Willard's Chocolates. But it also lists Amabel King as a major in the Salvation Army Rescue Home and living at 450 Pape Avenue, which is the address of the rescue home (also referred to as the Girls' Industrial Home). Amabel is an unusual name, so perhaps Ms. King was devoted enough to her cause to live at least part of the time at the home. Or perhaps this was someone else; I have no way of knowing.
There was a listing for Amabel King in the 1943 and 1944 directories as well, but she does not appear in the 1945 directory. Charles W. King remained at 179 Forest Hill Road at least until 1969, which is the latest that I traced him. By then, he had retired.
As of May 2014, 179 Forest Hill Road appeared to be a tidy but relatively small (for the neighbourhood) house in Forest Hill. Later that year, though, the house was torn down to make room for an addition to 177 Forest Hill Road.
Created September 10, 2025.