Celebrating Women Writers!

Recollections of Tartar steppes and their inhabitants

Wed, 02 May 2012 15:33:36 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #363:

Recollections of Tartar steppes and their inhabitants
by Mrs. Lucy Atkinson, 1820-1863?.
London: J. Murray, 1863.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/atkinson/steppes/steppes.html

"We looked like a band of wandering spirits clothed in pure white, riding on horses with black legs." So wrote Lucy Atkinson of her family and their party as they travelling through the deep Russian snows. Given the harsh conditions through which they travelled, and the extremes of both heat and cold which they faced in the Russian steppes, it is remarkable that they were not "wandering spirits" in truth, long before the end of their journey.

Lucy, a new bride, was the first woman to travel on parts of their route. In several places local women tried to persuade her not to go further. Their objections are even more understandable when one discovers that Lucy was pregnant during the journey. She was delivered of a healthy baby, about two months earlier than expected, soon after a waterless ride of nearly 100 miles under bitter conditions. Having expected to return to more civilized areas before his birth, she had no baby clothes prepared.

"When asked what he was to be wrapped in, I, after a moment's thought, bid them take his father's shirt. My friends here laugh, and say I could not have done a better or a wiser thing, as it is one of their superstitions, that if a child is enveloped in its father's shirt it is sure to be lucky; and, I having done so accidentally, he will be most fortunate, and rise to great riches!"

Amazingly, both she and her child continued to thrive -- something which she attributed in part to frequent washing, bathing two or three times a day when possible.

During the rest of their trip, their baby son Alatau (named for the mountain range near which he was delivered) was a great source of interest, and was given many rich gifts. Indeed, he was considered to be far more important than his mother, who noted that girls were considered "most insignificant articles of barter." At one point a local chief noticed Lucy's industrious sewing, and offered to buy her from her husband. The lives of Khirgis women were hard, and Lucy Atkinson was very aware of the disparity between men and women in steppe culture, and in her own.

In addition to travelling the steppes, the Atkinsons stayed in several of the principal towns, including Irkutsk. They were welcomed by many Siberian exiles, including prominent Decembrists Prince Volkonskoi and his wife (Maria Volkonskaia) and Princess Troubitskoy (Yekaterina Trubetskaya). In December of 1825 a group of officers had headed a revolt in Saint Petersburg, refusing to swear allegiance to the new tsar, Nicholas I. Their goals included the abolition of serfdom and redistribution of land. Over 3,000 soldiers were arrested, five were hanged, and more than 120 were sent into exile.

The wives of the Decembrist nobles had the choice of accepting an official decree declaring them widows and retaining their titles and possessions, or accompanying their husbands into exile with restricted rights of travel, correspondence and property ownership, leaving their children behind. Many chose to go into exile. While their husbands worked in the labor camps, the women were able to create a supportive community, petition the emperor for improved conditions, and initiate social and cultural reforms. By the time of the Atkinson's visit to Irkutsk in 1851, Princess Volkonskoi had bought a good house for herself and her children: her husband was allowed to live in 'an apartment in a small building in the court-yard.' Writers and poets were inspired by their example, and the expression 'Decembrist wife' became symbolic in Russia of the devotion of a wife to her husband.

Lucy Atkinson and the Decembrist wives were well-matched in their determination and courage. The words that Lucy writes in her letters of accompanying her husband on his travels might as easily speak for any of the Decembrist wives, setting out to follow her husband into exile:

"They were convinced I should die ere I reached the place. I laughed at their fears, and assured them that it would cause me much anxiety to be left behind, and, even though they told me that death would be my lot if I went, still I was firm to my purpose. You know I am not easily intimidated when once I have made up my mind. I started on this journey, with the intention of accompanying my husband wherever he went, and no idle fears shall turn me; if he is able to accomplish it, so shall I be. I give in to no one for endurance."

The Girl Next Door

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:45:40 GMT

Happy April Fool's Day! I am announcing Celebration Edition #362:

"The Girl Next Door"
by Augusta Huiell Seaman (1879-1950)
illustrated by C. M. Relyea
New York: The Century Co., 1917.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/seaman/girl/girl.html

The dedication to Augusta Huiell Seaman's young adult mystery,
"The Girl Next Door", is itself a small mystery. It reads:

TO
HOA-SIAN-SI*-NÎU
(Margaret Gillespie Fagg)
AND TO THE MEMORY OF
HOA-SIAN-SI*
(John Gerardus Fagg, D.D.)
THIS BOOK IS
AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED

I have no idea how Rev. John Gerardus and Margaret Gillespie Fagg knew Augusta Seaman. One of the themes of the book is girlhood friendship, so I like to imagine Augusta and Margaret meeting as girls on the New Jersey beaches. Or perhaps they were introduced as adults at an afternoon tea or a public lecture. However they met, Augusta cared enough about the Faggs to dedicate her book to them after John's death in 1917. Surely they must have been in her mind often while she wrote this particular book, since the work of Chinese missionaries is significant in the solution of her mystery.

I was able to find out a few details about the real missionaries of her dedication, but I would love to know more.

"The Reverend J. G. Fagg of the Amoy Mission was married at Tokohama, Japan, on September 25, to Miss Margaret W. Gillespie, formerly of Jersey City, N. J. Miss Gillespie left New York early in August. Those who have seen and heard her at missionary meetings in this neighborhood, will follow her with deep interest and anticipate for her a life of great usefulness. Mr. and Mrs. Fagg will make their home at Chiang-Chiu." The Mission Field of the Reformed Church in America, New York, January 1889.

Margaret Gillespie Fagg served as a "missionary assistant" in China with her husband, the Reverend John Gerardus Fagg, from 1889 to 1894. After their return from China, John Fagg became pastor of the reformed church in New Paltz, New York for a year, and then in 1895 became pastor of the Middle Collegiate Church, New York City. From 1910 to 1915, Margaret Fagg served as chairman of the Missionary Candidate committee. Her husband died at age 57 on May 3, 1917. Margaret continued to work with the Women's Board of Foreign Missions in various capacities until her death on July 1, 1955.

"The Girl Next Door" is not one of Seaman's strongest works, but it is still enjoyable. The portrayal of the young girls in the book is sympathetic: curiosity about their mysterious neighbors is balanced by concern that they may be intrusive, and a desire to to the right thing. They long to find and solve a mystery, but they do not want to spy. Happily luck favors them!

One warning: There is some anti-Asian sentiment in the book. That one girl (who is blond and blue-eyed) might be the granddaughter of a Chinese mandarin is a source of distress for other characters: "I somehow dislike to think of little Cecily as a mixture of Chinese and English. In fact, it 's almost impossible to think of her as such." Although it was tempting to edit what I was proofing, I've left Augusta Seaman's work as originally published, to stand or fall on its own merits.

Read and Enjoy,
Mary Mark Ockerbloom

Alicia Blackwood nurses in the Crimea; Mary Wade Griscom in Persia

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:34:32 GMT

To celebrate International Women's Day, I'm happy to announce a book and a short article by two intrepid women who traveled to different areas of the world to do medical work.

Celebration Edition #361:

"A narrative of personal experiences & impressions during a residence on the Bosphorus throughout the Crimean War"
by Lady Alicia Blackwood (1818-1913)
London: Hatchard, Piccadilly, 1881.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/blackwood/narrative/narrative.html

Lady Alicia Blackwood née Lambart, (1818 – 30 July 1913) was the daughter of George Frederick Augustus Lambart, Viscount Kilcoursie (1789-1828) and Sarah Coppin. A painter and nurse, Lady Alicia married the Rev. James Stevenson Blackwood (-1882) and with him traveled far from polite society and the upper-class English world.

Lady Alicia Blackwood and her husband "were deeply moved to go out" after hearing of "the battle of Inkerman, that terribly hard-fought struggle". Dr. Blackwood obtained a chaplaincy to the forces; Lady Alicia and two young women friends accompanied him, determined to find some way to help. Lady Alicia applied to Florence Nightingale at Scutari in December 1854. Nightingale's opinion of ladies who came out to assist the hospitals was generally low, as is shown in their first conversation. Lady Alicia relates:

I applied to Miss Nightingale to know where I could be most usefully employed. Possibly at this long distance of time she may forget that particular interview, but I do not; for the reply she gave me, or rather the question she put to me in reply, after a few seconds of silence, with a peculiar expression of countenance, made an indelible impression.

"Do you mean what you say?"

I own I was rather surprised.

"Yes, certainly; why do you ask me that?" I said.

"Oh, because," she responded, "I have had several such applications before, and when I have suggested work, I found it could not be done, or some excuse was made; it was not exactly the sort of thing that was intended, it required special suitability, &c."

"Well," I replied, "I am in earnest; we came out here with no other wish than to help where we could, and to be useful if possible."

"Very well, then," said Miss Nightingale, "if this is so, you really can help me if you will; in this Barrack are now located some two hundred poor women in the most abject misery. They are the wives of the soldiers who were allowed to accompany their husbands; a great number have been sent down from Varna; they are in rags, and covered with vermin. My heart bleeds for them, and they are at our doors daily clamouring for everything; but it is impossible for me to attend to them, my work is with the soldiers, not with their wives. Now, will you undertake to look after these poor women and relieve me from their importunity? there are funds to help, and bales of free gifts sent out; but we are so occupied, it is not possible for us to administer them. If you will take the women as your charge, I will send an orderly who will show you their haunts."

Of course I assented at once.

In this way Lady Alicia Blackwood was delegated by Florence Nightingale to create and manage an unofficial hospital for the wives, widows and children of soldiers in Scutari. In a letter of March 18 1855, Nightingale disparagingly calls these women and children "Allobroges", the shrieking camp followers of the ancient Gauls. In her account, Lady Alicia describes the horrific conditions under which she found them, "as much sinned against as sinning", and discusses the changes she was able to make for their relief. Blackwood's respect for Nightingale is evident throughout her book, which is both vivid and enjoyable to read.

A Celebration Article:

Mary Wade Griscom (1866- )
"A Medical Motor Trip Through Persia"
in "Asia, The American Magazine on the Orient"
by the American Asiatic Association.
Vol. 21 (March), pp. 233-240, 1921.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/griscom/asia/persia.html

Sixty years later, in World War I, the professionalization of nursing that Florence Nightingale had begun was well-established. Many women trained as nurses and doctors. Mary Wade Griscom graduated from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1891 and is listed in the Medical Register for Pennsylvania as of 1895. The Philadelphia Medical Journal, Volume 11, 1903, records her appointment as chief of the obstetrical staff at the Women's Hospital of Philadelphia. Her skills as a doctor were a passport that opened doors for her in China and Persia. By 1915, she was traveling between Philadelphia and China. But her travels did not stop there.

A short article in Asia magazine in 1921 outlines some of Dr. Griscom's adventures. In 1918, she was teaching in the Medical School for Women in Canton when she learned that a Medical School for Women was to be opened in Vellore, India, to address the shortage of doctors due to the war. She boarded a boat and set off, but the armistice derailed her plans.

"At Bombay the flags were flying gaily from all masts in the harbor; everybody was holidaying with parades and firecrackers. The Armistice had just been signed, and there was no reason for me to go to south India. So I went instead to Allahabad to visit friends and wait for the next thing. There is always a next thing in the Orient for a physician, foot-loose and carrying hand-baggage. Almost immediately came a telegram from one of the American-Persian Relief Commission: 'Can you go at once to Teheran? Woman doctor needed.'

"I had from five that afternoon until eleven the next morning to get ready. I had no idea what I should meet in the way of climate or emergencies in Persia, and the opinion of Allahabad was divided on these important questions. In order to be prepared for anything I packed into my light suitcase a few thin clothes, a jersey suit, a heavier suit and a coat. My bedding consisted of two steamer-rugs and four sheets wrapped in Chinese oilcloth to keep off vermin. Of course I did not forget my typewriter and plenty of ribbons." She also took food and medical supplies.

In Teheran, Dr. Griscom started a dispensary, and worked in the women's hospital with Dr. Mary J. Smith, who had kept it open throughout the war. Persian women could not, of course, see a male physician. Poor Armenians, street beggars, members of Persian ministers' families and the grandmother of the Shah all rubbed elbows in Doctor Griscom's waiting-room. However, Mary Griscom regretted that she had arrived too late to be involved in war-related medical relief work. Consultations and regular hospital work were rather tame in comparison. After a few months she set off again in search of more exciting opportunities.

Many doctors and nurses today share the courageous spirit of Lady Alicia Blackwood and Mary Wade Griscom, traveling and working world-wide with organizations like Doctors Without Borders.

Algerian memories; a bicycle tour over the Atlas to the Sahara

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:29:13 GMT

I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately, perhaps because I picked up "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin over the Christmas holidays. Now, with Valentine's Day approaching, I'm rereading "Lucky in Love: Secrets of Happy Couples and How Their Marriages Survive" by Catherine Johnson.

The main take-away of Johnson's research is this: The happiest couples are often those who share a dream and work together to achieve it. The nature of a shared dream can be idiosyncratic, not to mention downright eccentric, as long as both partners buy in and wholeheartedly support it.

Fanny Bullock Workman and her husband William Hunter Workman were clearly such a couple.
I'm delighted to release their first book as Celebration Edition #360:

"Algerian memories; a bicycle tour over the Atlas to the Sahara"
by Fanny Bullock Workman (1859-1925) and William Hunter Workman (1847-1937).
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/workman/algerian/algerian.html

Fanny Bullock Workman (January 8, 1859 - January 22, 1925) was an American geographer, cartographer, explorer, and mountaineer. She and her husband, Dr. William Hunter Workman, travelled extensively in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One of Fanny's favorite ways to travel was by bicycle, though she soon became passionate about climbing mountains as well. The two adventurers certainly did not have an easy time of it! Here Fanny discusses the conditions of Algerian roads:

"A large number of roads built of limestone are hard and excellent when dry, but soften and become slippery when wet. The roads from Oran towards Tlemcen are of this character. Others, having a superficial covering of ordinary clay soil, are fair when dry, but when wet become utterly unridable with the bicycle, on account of the tenacious, glue-like quality of the mud, which adheres to and clogs the wheels. In the desert the roads degenerate into camel and mule tracks, in places quite ridable, and in places rough. After rains the large feet of the camels, sinking into the soil a foot or more, leave the surface in an impassable condition."

The Workmans clearly shared their work, often switching tasks from year to year, including general trip organization, photography, and taking of scientific observations. Most of their publications were co-authored, and Fanny was often first author. A strong proponent of woman suffrage and women's rights, Fanny frequently discusses the conditions under which women lived in the areas in which she travelled. In her "Algerian Memoirs" Fanny devotes an entire chapter to the situation of Kabyle women.

"Writers, guide-books and the French tell us that the women of the Kabylie occupy a high position, and one much more favoured than that of Arab women; but those who have seen them in their homes do not all agree with this opinion. ... One must look deeper than this and see how man regards woman, and how woman regards herself in Kabylie land."

Despite the drawbacks of Algeria roads and sexual politics, the Workmans recommended travelling there. "When one has become blasé with years of European travel, let him turn to Algeria and he will find there what will give him new emotions, fresh impressions, enlarge the horizon of his conceptions, and supplement the experiences that have been elsewhere acquired."

The Workmans' dream was to travel together, sharing new emotions and fresh impressions, meeting challenges, and overcoming obstacles. Throughout their lives together, they continued to look for and explore new horizons.

Letters from India

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:24:24 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #359:

"Letters from India"
by The Hon. Emily Eden (1797-1869)
With additional letters by Frances Eden (1801-1849);
Edited by Eleanor Eden.
London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1872. (2 volumes)
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/eden/letters/letters.html

"I write and write, because I am determined to believe that you are you, that London is London, that England is England, and that the whole Western world is not a clever and finished fancy of my own imagination. The latest written sign of its existence was dated July 28, and now it only wants a week to Christmas." Fanny Eden, Christmas, 1836.

"I am determined to write one line, dearest, on Christmas-day, to wish you and yours many, many happy returns of the day, and that some of them may find us together again; and in the meanwhile I was thinking at church to-day what an unspeakable comfort the communion of Christians is; how the feeling that we were all commemorating the birth of the same Saviour, with the same rites, and on the same day, brought us all together, even at the distance of half the globe." Emily Eden, Christmas, 1836.

Emily Eden and her younger sister Fanny accompanied their brother George Eden, 2nd Baron Auckland, when he was sent to India as Governor-General. George held the post from 4 March 1836 to 28 February 1842 and was awarded the title of 1st Earl of Auckland in 1839. A nephew, William Osborne, went out with them as military secretary, along with half a dozen servants, a pack of greyhounds, and Emily's spaniel, Chance.

Emily and Fanny Eden were accomplished hostesses who had lived with their unmarried brother and helped him to entertain for some years. In their thirties, unmarried, they were part of an affectionate extended family, and deeply involved in the "charmed circle" of upper class Whig political society.

To leave all this and undertake a physically demanding trip lasting many months to India, and then to withstand its challenging tropical climate for years, was daunting. Emily was deeply attached to her brother: "I keep thinking that if I had come down to see George off, and not to go with him, how very much worse it would have been. In short, that would have been out of the question, and there certainly is nothing that he has not deserved from us."

George was determined to make a success of his appointment, and spent hours learning Hindustani. He approached his work with energy and diligence. To Fanny, life in India sometimes seemed dreamlike and unreal, but she determined early on that she would make the best of it. Fanny was a good traveller, and the more adventurous of the sisters, willing to ride elephants and go tiger hunting. Emily was wretchedly seasick when travelling, and felt the heat severely. Both were lonely. Fanny and Emily, though cordial and affectionate, were not ideal companions for one another. George was too busy to spend much time with them, and Emily in particular greatly missed his conversation.

As hostesses for the Governor General, Emily and Fanny met many of the important people of the day, both Indian and English. They attended brilliant spectacles, military reviews, dinners, dances and parties. The Edens recorded their experiences in letters, drawings and paintings. The original drawings and paintings for Emily's "Portraits of the People and Princes of India" (1844) are in the Victoria Memorial Museum in Calcutta. "Letters from India" (1872) details the Edens' voyage out, their life in Barrackpore and Calcutta, and their last days in India before returning to England. "Up The Country" (1867) describes an extensive and spectacular 18 month tour through Patna, Benaras and Allahabad, begun October 21, 1837.

Emily's keen wit and dry humour make her letters enjoyable to read. Had she been less attached to her family in England, she might have written less about India and enjoyed being there more. A constant theme throughout the letters is homesickness. Overland or by sea, letters took months to travel between England and India. However deeply the mail was longed for and anticipated, its arrival was also a source of anxiety. Eagerly anticipated communications from those you cared about or had written to only yesterday, might inform you that loved ones had sickened or died months before. "Write to me about every little thing: nothing can be too little.... I cannot get used to not knowing where you all are, and what you are all doing."

The climate took a severe toll, both on the those who became ill or died, and on families who chose to separate, sending children and wives away in hopes of preserving their health. Heat and disease were debilitating, and humidity and insects were constantly destructive. "There is something ingenious in the manner in which the climate and the insects contrive to divide the work. One cracks the bindings of the books, the other eats up the inside; the damp turns the satin gown itself yellow, and the cockroaches eat up the net that trims it; the heat splits the ivory of a miniature, and the white maggots eat the paint; and so they go on helping each other and never missing anything."

Each of the Edens had their own personal entourage of servants, who attended them everywhere. Even Chance the dog had his own servant. They joked about their "tails" of followers, but Fanny and Emily found the constant presence of servants stressful. Each servant had their own job, and could not be expected to do anything else. Emily was lucky to have a kitmutgar who spoke English, to help her navigate the complexities of the household.

While English ladies might complain of the debilitating effects of the heat, servants were expected to perform demanding physical work under the same conditions. The cost of a decent night's sleep in hot weather might be that a servant sat up all night working a punkah (a sort of fan). Emily notes wryly: "At six in the evening, when the sun went down, Fanny and I went out airing in hopes of a breeze, which generally comes up the river after sunset, but it lost its way to-day, and it was very much like driving through hothouses. Our postilions appeared in their new liveries... I never shall be used to seeing those men running by the side of the horses..."

Under the sometimes frivolous surface of her letters, the descriptions of elephants, peacock feathers, and golden trappings, there are occasional glimpses of a darker, more frightening India. "My poor tailor went away from his work quite well at five o'clock yesterday, and was dead before morning with cholera." Her sense of humour invariably reasserts itself, though she may be whistling in the dark. "There is a mosque and a ghaut at the end of our park, where they were burning a body to-night; and there were bats, as big as crows, flying over our heads... If I die in India, I should rather like my body burnt; it is much the best way of disposing of it, and insects are so troublesome here in life, that I should like to trick them out of a feast afterwards."

Politically, Emily was generally discreet, saying little in her letters about official maneuverings or her own opinions. But Afghanistan was a tinderbox ready to explode, in spite of the reassuring cheerful reports sent to George by Sir William Macnaghten. Once news of the Cabul uprising became known, it was in everyone's thoughts. Distracted between the desperate situation of General and Lady Sale, and preparations for the Edens' departure, Fanny wrote: "I must send this to-day, though there is no direct communication from Cabul; there are more cheering reports, and I begin to hope they may hold out till the winter is over, when reinforcements can be sent them. If you could see my passage; thirteen large packing-cases, each large enough to hold our house at Knightsbridge, and London written on them."

Neither the calamity in Cabul, nor the prospect of another four months of seasickness, could suppress Fanny and Emily's joy at going home.

Jane Anger Her Protection for Women

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:54:56 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 358:

"Jane Anger her Protection for Women. To defend them against the scandalous reportes of a late Surfeiting Lover, and all other like Venerians that complaine so to bee overcloyed with womens kindnesse."
by Jane Anger, fl. 1589.
London: Printed by Richard Jones, and Thomas Orwin. 1589.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/anger/protection/protection.html

One of the first emails I received from Pat Cross, in September 1998, announced that she had created online editions of Jane Anger's "Protection for Women" and Bathsua Makin's "Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen" at her website, "Sunshine for Women". Over the next few years, I was happy to receive many emails from "Sunny". Sadly, her website is no longer online. I wasn't willing to see the books that Pat put online disappear, so I've created my own online editions of Makin and Anger's books, as well as listing replacements for other Sunshine titles.

Regarding Jane Anger:

All we know about Jane Anger as a person is that she was an educated English woman. Whether she wrote under her real name or a pseudonym is unknown. Only one original copy exists of "Protection for Women", a pamphlet published in London in 1589. Its full title is "Jane Anger her protection for women, to defend them against the scandalous reportes of a late surfeiting lover, and all other like venerians that complaine so to bee overcloyed with women's kindnesse." It was written as a direct response to Thomas Orwin's "Boke His Surfeit in Love, with a farwel to the folies of his own hantasie" (1588), which no longer exists anywhere, so far as is known.

Both books were part of an active debate about the nature of women, and more generally of people, involving academics and religious writers in late sixteenth century England. Jane Anger may be the first woman to publicly enter this "debate about women" or "querelle des femmes". Jane Anger writes on behalf of all women, promising that by sharing her knowledge of the nature and failings of men, she will help and protect others of her sex. She criticizes male domination of art and culture as self-centered and self-serving. She argues that men only see women as objects of sexual desire, and that once that desire is satisfied, men abandon women. Further, she argues that women fill a valuable role as providers of the necessities of life, and creators of the extras that make life comfortable, while men squander the fruits of women's labor.

"Protection", presenting its arguments from a woman's point of view, is a landmark text in the history of women's writing. It prepared the way for other women writers to enter the debate upon women's nature and take up the pen in women's defence.

An Essay To Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:49:59 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #357:

"An Essay To Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen, in Religion, Manners, Arts & Tongues. With An Answer to the Objections against this Way of Education"
by Bathsua Makin, 1600-ca. 1675.
London: Printed by J. D. to be sold by Tho. Parkhurst, at the Bible and Crown at the lower end of Cheapside, 1673.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/makin/education/education.html

Bathsua Makin is credited as the first Englishwoman to publish a proposal seriously advocating the education of girls. Her Essay calls for the establishment of schools for those young women who have the means ("rich") and the aptitude ("good natural parts") to benefit from a broad educational curriculum. Bathsua is clear that the prevailing conditions of women reflect culture more than nature, and therefore can be remedied.

"The Barbarous custom to breed Women low, is grown general amongst us, and hath prevailed so far, that it is verily believed (especially amongst a sort of debauched Sots) that Women are not endued with such Reason, as Men; nor capable of improvement by Education, as they are."

The cultural divide underlying the English Civil War was powerful. Cavalier daughters at finishing schools were expected to sing, dress well, and be amusing. Puritan conduct manuals emphasized the importance of piety and housewifery. Bathsua Makin proposed an education for women that would draw them away from "Toyes and Trifles" while making them more intelligent and interesting as companions; that could enhance religious knowledge as well as scientific skills through the learning and reading of Greek and Latin; and that could give isolated or widowed women the skills to manage a household or estate.

Bathsua is uncompromising in her determination that all areas of education should be made open to women. To try to deny women access to some areas, or assert that other areas are preferable, is to ignore the full range of women's abilities and interests.

"I cannot tell where to begin to admit Women, nor from what part of Learning to exclude them, in regard of their Capacities. The whole Encyclopedeia of Learning may be useful some way or other to them. Respect indeed is to be had to the Nature and Dignity of each Art and Science."

She addresses the argument that women are not capable of learning by listing examples of women throughout history who were noted for their intelligence and knowledge. From Biblical Deborah and Roman Paula, to Queen Elizabeth of England, Anne Bradstreet in America, and the Duchess of Newcastle, Makin presents famous women and their achievements in "Arts and Tongues" as proof of women's intelligence.

She then addresses arguments that women's education is unsuitable, and notes that in many cases, the exact same arguments can be applied to men.

She goes on to discuss various approaches to instruction, particularly in the vocabulary and grammar of languages.

"It's the universal process of Nature to rise by degrees, to proceed from Seeds to Leaves, from Leaves to Flowers; from plain things to things ornamental. One would think those learned Men mad, that go quite contrary to this Process; that propose to season with Rhetorick, and a stile, by reading crabbed Classick Authors, as Terence, &c. before Children understand any thing of the plain signification of words."

As is revealed at the end of the Essay, Makin proposed to run such a school herself. Certainly she had the credentials: she had taught several notable women, including the King Charles I's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and the Countess Dowager of Huntington. Whether the Essay was successful in attracting scholars to her school is unknown. Sadly, she may have died within a year or two of its publication.

A Pair of Grey Socks: Facts and Fancies

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:43:44 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #356:

"A Pair of Grey Socks: Facts and Fancies"
by Tryphena Soper Duley, 1866-1940, Verses by Margaret Duley, 1894-1968.
St. John's, Newfoundland: 1916.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/duley/socks/socks.html

With Remembrance Day approaching, it felt particularly meaningful to republish "A Pair of Grey Socks", first published in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1916. At that time, Newfoundland was a colony of Great Britain. It would not join Canada until 1949, in the wake of another world war. Newfoundlanders, like many Canadians, were closely tied culturally to the "mother country". Boys and men from Newfoundland's cities and outports flocked to the newly formed Royal Newfoundland Regiment, which fielded a full battalion of 1,000 men for the Gallipoli campaign of 1915.

In Newfoundland, as in Canada, women worked to support the war effort. By the end of 1914, Newfoundland's Women's Patriotic Society (WPA) included 218 branches. They contributed loads of hand-knitted grey socks and other apparel to be shipped overseas. By the end of 1916, members of the W.P.A. had produced some 62,685 pairs of socks, 8984 shirts, 6080 pairs of cuffs, 2012 handkerchiefs, and 1731 nightshirts. They also raised money to support the war effort.

"A Pair of Grey Socks, Facts and Fancies" was "Lovingly dedicated to the boys of the Newfoundland Regiment. And to every woman who has knitted a pair of grey socks." The booklet, with prose by Tryphena Duley and verse by her daughter Margaret, described grey socks as "a bond of unity between rich and poor, high and low, between all mothers who have sons in the war, between all women who knit."

Tryphena and Margaret had connections to both rich and poor in Newfoundland, though they were most comfortable placing themselves among the well-to-do elite of St. John's. Tryphena Chancey Duley was born on Christmas Day 1866 in Carbonear, then a thriving outport village. One of seven children of John and Julia Soper, Tryphena was adopted by a childless aunt and uncle who lived in St. John's, Margaret Parnel Wilkinson and Lionel Thomas Chancey. Margaret Iris Duley, born September 27, 1894, was the second daughter and fourth child of Tryphena and Thomas James Duley, a St. John's jeweller.

As mother and daughter collaborated on "Grey Knitting", the first world war was threatening their family. Two of Margaret's three brothers had enlisted. Cyril Chancey Duley, born May 24, 1890, enlisted in 1914. Lionel Thomas Duley, born December 3, 1897, enlisted on July 8, 1916, just days after the first day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1, 1916) where the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was almost entirely wiped out. The third brother, Nelson Montgomery Duley, was declared unfit for service because of tuberculosis, and was shunned and harassed for cowardice because he did not serve.

Even so, in 1916, the tone of "Grey Knitting" is generally optimistic. The bravery and determination of the boys in the trenches is emphasized; as is the love and concern of the women at home, and the importance of their work. The main characters are a young shy girl of the outports and her brother and his friend at Gallipoli. One compelling scene describes the terror of the girl's mother when the minister comes to call; she is completely overcome by fear that his knock at the door means fatal news of her son.

Such news would arrive at Tryphena and Margaret's door before the end of the war. Second Lieutenant Cyril Chancey Duley was injured by exploding shells on December 8, 1916, and sustained wounds to the face, chest, right hand, right knee, and left thigh. He was sent home to Newfoundland where he eventually reached the rank of Captain as a Headquarters officer. He was honoured with a 1914-15 Star and the Order of the British Empire (Military Division). Second Lieutenant Lionel Thomas Duley died less than two months before the Armistice was signed, on September 29, 1918, at Kieberg Ridge.

John Clift, another young Newfoundlander, returned from the war with a Military Cross and poor health, dying February 12, 1920. There had been no formal engagement, but Margaret felt Jack Clift's death deeply, writing to her sister Gladys "Don't picture me as a tragic figure - I'm just the same as ever only I can't bear the sight of H.R.B. and H.B.", two healthy young men of her acquaintance. It was her second loss in a very short time: her father Thomas Duley, Tryphena's husband, died earlier in 1920.

The two women remained active in St. John's society and in community work. Tryphena was deeply involved with the Congregational church and fiercely supported the Temperance League. She died in 1940.

Margaret became a leader of the Women's Suffrage movement and a published writer. Her novels won international recognition, but were less appreciated at home. "The Eyes of the Gull" (1936), "Cold Pastoral" (1939), "Highway to Valour" (1941) and "Novelty on Earth" (1942) vividly capture the language and feeling of Newfoundland's outport and city cultures and characters. Her books were ahead of their time in portraying women's concerns. A fifth novel was rejected, and Margaret destroyed the manuscript. Her last book, "The Caribou Hut" (1949), is a history of the "peaceful invasion" of St. John's by thousands of World War II servicemen, written for the St. John's War Services Association. It was based on Margaret Duley's experience volunteering at the St. John's military hostel: it is by turns intimate, compassionate, sarcastic and funny.

Margaret never married, but maintained close friendships within her family. After she began to suffer from Parkinson's disease in the 1950's, her sister-in-law and a niece took her in, and cared for her until her death in 1968.

[Many of the dates and details mentioned here are taken from "Margaret Duley, Newfoundland novelist" by Alison Feder. Others come from online military records.]

Shiela Crerar, Psychic Detective: Stories from 'The Blue Magazine'

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:01:43 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #355:

To celebrate October, month of Hallowe'en and all things boo-spooky,
it seems fitting to collect and republish a set of spooky stories,
"Shiela Crerar, Psychic Detective: Stories from 'The Blue Magazine'"
by Ella M. Scrymsour, 1888-1962.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/scrymsour/crerar/crerar.html

The following stories appeared in 'The Blue Magazine', edited by Frank Sellicks, published in London: Walbrook & Co., 1920, and are
no longer under copyright in the United States.

"The Eyes of Doom" May, 1920.
"The Death Vapour" June, 1920.
"The Room of Fear" July, 1920.
"The Phantom Isle" August, 1920.
"The Werewolf of Rannoch" September, 1920.
"The Wraith of Fergus McGinty" October, 1920.

Shiela Crerar, the heroine of the stories, is the niece of a poor Scottish laird. Upon her uncle's death, Shiela confronts her lack of employment options, and creates a new profession for herself: that of psychic detective. Shiela is gifted with psychic "sight", and helped by her knowledge of Scottish traditions and folklore, but her chief weapons in battling evil are courage, determination, and intelligence. They are qualities that shape both her personal and professional lives throughout the stories. Scrymsour's portrait of Shiela as an independent, intentional, and sometimes impetuous young woman prefigures many modern heroines.

For many years, the identity of the author Ella M. Scrymsour, was as much as mystery as her short stories. Recently, her granddaughter Pippa Rush has shed considerable light on Scrymsour's life. [See: http://bearalley.blogspot.com/2010/09/ella-m-scrymsour-revisited.html ]

Ella M. Scrymsour-Nichol was born Ella Mary Campbell Robertson in Battersea, London, on 25 December 1888, the daughter of a bank cashier and his wife. Her Scottish father died young, and Ella seems to have lived intermittently with her mother in Sussex and London, and with aunts and uncles in Oban, Scotland. Ella became an actress and met the actor Charles John Scrymsour Nichol, who used the stage name Nicholas Thorpe Mayne. They married in 1916. It was his second marriage, her first.

In 1920 Nicholas and Ella, who now acted under the name Joan Thorpe-Mayne, travelled with the Warwick Comedy Company to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ella drew on this and possibly other travel experiences as an author, locating books in Burma, China, and India, and addressing issues such as intercultural relationships. In 1928 Nicholas died, leaving Ella with a small daughter. Ella continued writing and publishing through the 1920's and 1930's. She lived near Tunbridge Wells for many years, later moving to East Sussex, where she died on 26 May 1962, aged 73. Reading between the lines, one can imagine that many of Shiela's personality traits were shared by her creator.

May you enjoy Shiela's adventures with the supernatural!

The British Recluse & The Anti-Pamela

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 02:14:01 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Editions #353 and #354:

"The British Recluse: or, The Secret History of Cleomira, Suppos'd Dead. A Novel."
by Eliza Fowler Haywood (ca.1693-1756)
from "Secret Histories, Novels, and Poems".
London: Dan Browne and S. Chapman, 1725. III, 2. (2d. Ed.)
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/haywood/recluse/recluse.html

"The Anti-Pamela; or Feign'd Innocence Detected."
by Eliza Fowler Haywood (ca.1693-1756)
London: Printed for J. Huggonson, 1741.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/haywood/pamela/pamela.html

Eliza Haywood was an actress, a prolific English writer, and a publisher. Over seventy works are clearly attributed to her, including fiction, drama, translations, poetry, conduct books, and periodicals. She sometimes used pseudonyms, so other works may not be ascribed to her.

Haywood's first recorded appearance on stage was in 1715 in the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, Ireland. In 1717 Haywood appeared in London and became a regular performer in plays at Lincoln's Inn Fields. She quickly became active in rewriting and translating existing works for the stage, and writing her own plays. Later, as social and political allegiances shifted, and the Licensing Act of 1737 restricted activities at the playhouses, Haywood focused more on novels and nonfiction.

Haywood's first published novel, "Love in Excess; or The Fatal Enquiry", appeared in 1719 and went into multiple editions. Much of Haywood's early work in the 1720s is "amatory fiction," salacious accounts written primarily by female authors for women readers. Haywood, Aphra Behn (1640–1689) and Delarivier Manley (c. 1663–1724) were all renowned for this early type of romance novel, and were referred to as "The Fair Triumvirate of Wit". Amatory fiction was fairly formulaic: sweet young women are deceived and often seduced by handsome rotters, and passionate love generally ends in misery. "The British Recluse" is a classic example, as not one but two heroines console each other by recounting their agonizing betrayals and their still uncontrollable passion for their betrayer. Haywood's much later work, "Anti-Pamela, or, Feign'd Innocence Detected" (1741) is a satirical response to Samuel Richardson's "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" (1740). In Richardson's Pamela, a poor-but-virtuous servant girl resists her master's attempts at seduction and rape, and eventually marries him. In Haywood's Anti-Pamela, the servant's goodness is all in appearance.

In 1741 Haywood opened her own bookshop at the Sign of Fame in Covent Garden, trying to establish a niche for herself in the print trade. She wrote a series of conduct books such as "A Present for a Servant-Maid" (1743). In 1744, Haywood started publishing a magazine for women, "The Female Spectator", playing off of the highly successful "Spectator". Under a variety of pseudonyms, Haywood offered advice on women's education, marriage, and managing a household. A monthly periodical, "The Female Spectator" appeared from April 1744 to May 1746. In 1746 Haywood started another journal, "The Parrot", which was more political. Neither criticism nor difficulties deterred her from writing: at the time of her death, on February 25th, 1756, she was actively working on a new weekly periodical for women, "The Young Lady". Her final published work, a conduct book entitled "The Husband In Answer to the Wife", appeared in print the day after she died.

South Africa a century ago

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:13:48 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #352:

"South Africa a century ago; letters written from the Cape of Good Hope (1791-1801)"
by Barnard, Anne Lindsay, Lady, 1750-1825
London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1910.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/barnard/letters/letters.html

Lady Anne Barnard, née Lindsay, was the eldest daughter of James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres, of Balcarres House, Fife, Scotland. She and her sisters were involved in Edinburgh and London literary and political circles that hosted prominent figures of the time, including Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William Pitt, and Henry Dundas (1st Viscount Melville), to name only a few. In 1793, Lady Ann Lindsay startled society by marrying Andrew Barnard, son of the Bishop of Limerick and a member of the 27th Iniskilling Regiment. She was 42, he 30.

Lady Anne lobbied Henry Dundas, as Secretary of State for War, for a position for her husband. Eventually, she obtained an appointment for him as colonial secretary at the Cape of Good Hope, which had recently come into British possession. The Barnards arrived there in May, 1797. The first British civil Governor of the new colony, Earl Macartney, was not accompanied by his wife, so Lady Anne acted as his official hostess at the Castle of Good Hope. Her letters to Dundas, addressing him both as friend and politician, are an important source of information about the people, events and social life of the time.

Ownership of the Cape was hotly contested, and in 1803 the Dutch regained control under a peace treaty between Britain, France and the Netherlands, and the Barnards returned home. War broke out again between Great Britain and the Netherlands in only a matter of months. On 4th January, 1806, the English fleet anchored in Table Bay and retook the colony. Andrew Barnard was re-appointed to his post of Secretary to the Colony, in hopes that his knowledge of Cape affairs would provide some stability. He died, unexpectedly, soon after his arrival at the Cape in 1807. Lady Anne had intended to follow her husband, but the news of his death changed her plans. She returned to her sister, Lady Margaret's, house in London, and lived in Berkeley Square until her death on May 6, 1825.

Her five year residence in Cape Town, South Africa had a significant impact on its cultural and social life. Lady Anne is commemorated repeatedly in Cape Town. A chamber in the Castle of Good Hope is known as "Lady Anne Barnard's Ballroom"; a road in the suburb of Newlands, where the Barnards lived, is named "Lady Anne Avenue" and a path in Newlands Forest, a recreational area, is named "Lady Anne Barnard's Path". A bird-shaped spring in the Kirstenbosch botanic gardens is known as "Lady Anne Barnard's bath", but it was built after her return to England. A carved effigy of Lady Anne is displayed in the Claremont civic centre. The Barnards' country house, The Vineyard, is now part of The Vineyard Hotel and Spa.

"As It May Be: A Story of the Future" and other Utopias by Women

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:44:11 GMT

I am happy to announce A New Special Collection!

Pre-1923 Utopias and Science Fiction by Women:
A Reading List of Online Editions
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/_collections/utopias/utopias.html

and a new utopia for the collection: Celebration Edition #351:

"As It May Be: A Story of the Future"
by Bessie Story Rogers.
Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1905.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/rogers/future/future.html

Mary Tillman awakes to find herself in a strange yet still familiar land.
She eventually recalls that her last memory is of her own death, in 1905.
Somehow (exactly how remains mysterious) she has been transported to the year
2905. Much has changed!

"As It May Be" is a good illustration of Bridgitte Barclay Arnold's observation
that women's utopian texts "are indicators of what is felt to be lacking in the author's
historical moment and what they hope will improve, and thus they help us to better
understand history, the present, and possibilities for the future. Just as importantly,
dystopian literature shows an author's fears and serves as a warning of what must be
changed in order to avoid a 'worse than' outcome." (Ph.D. thesis, 2009)

I would like to thank L. Timmel Duchamp for her web page
"Science Fiction and Utopias by Women, 1818-1949: A Chronology"
which inspired me to develop this exhibit.

For those who prefer travelling backward in time as well as in space,
I have also added two 19th century articles by women travellers.

"Lady Travellers" is a review of women's travel accounts,
anonymously published by one such traveller, Lady Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake;

"Lady Travellers" by Lady Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake, 1809-1893.
in Quarterly Review, Vol. 76 (June), pp. 98-137, 1845.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/eastlake/quarterly/travellers.html

"My Experiences in Tibet" is a short first-person account
of Annie Royle Taylor attempting to reach the forbidden city of Lhassa.

"My Experiences in Tibet" by Annie Royle Taylor (1855-1922)
in The Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. 10, No. 1. (January), pp. 1-8, 1894.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/taylor-annie/scottish/tibet.html

Enjoy a Utopian Summer, reading online books by women!
Mary Mark Ockerbloom

A Widow's Reminiscences of the Siege of Lucknow

Wed, 04 May 2011 01:22:01 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #350:

"A Widow's Reminiscences of the Siege of Lucknow"
by Katherine Mary Bartrum.
London, James Nisbet & Co., 1858.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bartrum/lucknow/lucknow.html

Surely Kate Bartrum's account of the Indian mutiny must be one of the most heart-breaking memoirs ever written. The dedication at the beginning of her book reveals its inescapable ending: it is dedicated to her dead husband and child. Yet the story itself remains gripping: her account of day-to-day life is detailed, immediate, and vivid. For all her fears, Kate displayed great courage and determination, and when all else was gone, found consolation in her faith.

In the preface to her letters and accounts, she explains that "at the commencement of the mutiny in the Indian native army, my late husband and myself were stationed with our child at Gonda, a military station in Oude, about eighty miles from Lucknow, where, after several changes since our arrival in India, we had been living for the last eight months the peaceful and retired life of an Indian officer's family in an up-country station."

That peace was shattered on 22nd of May, 1857, when news came of uprisings against Europeans at Meerut and Delhi. Then began a period of "Unquiet nights and weary days: all things are insecure." For many nights Kate and her husband Robert, a medical officer, "had scarcely dared to close our eyes. I kept a sword under my pillow, and dear R. had his pistol loaded ready to start up at the slightest sound, though small would have been our chance of escape had we been attacked."

News came, both unexpected and unwelcome. Sir Henry Lawrence had determined that the ladies and children from the out-stations should be sent into Lucknow for better security. "This was a sudden blow to me. Often had I contemplated death with my husband, but not separation from him; and under such terrible circumstances too, when his cheerful spirit and loved companionship were more than ever needed to raise my drooping courage at the prospect of dangers and distresses." The devoted couple parted, and after a terrifying night journey by elephant, Kate and her baby son reached Lucknow.

There she found chaos. Kate and her son were housed with 13 others in a dirty unfurnished room, the Begum-Kotie. She had the clothes they wore, some carefully hoarded paper and pens, and a cooking pot or two. Throughout their time in Lucknow, Kate, like many women, was almost entirely dependent upon the charity of others for clothing, food, medicine, and aid. Of tangible resources, there was an ever-decreasing supply throughout the long siege. Unlike Julia Selina Inglis, wife of Lucknow's acting commander, Kate had neither supplies, nor servants to help her. The death toll among the women and children in the Begum-Kotie was appalling.

At last help came -- reinforcements broke through the siege -- Kate received word that Mr. Bartrum was among those advancing to the gates -- but their joyfully anticipated reunion was not to be. Even under this crushing blow, Kate did not totally give way -- "from all my sorrow I must rouse myself for baby's sake."

She did rouse herself, enduring the days until Lucknow was finally relieved, and carrying her child through parts of the forced march to Cawnpore and Allahabad. There at last there was some measure of safety: "It seemed strange to be in a comfortable house again and to have a room to myself: I could scarcely understand it. I could not realise the feeling of rest and security after all I had passed through." The refugees' goal was to reach Calcutta and take ship to England. And then -- the very night before they were to sail -- disaster. Kate ends the book with some of her husband's letters, written as he tried to reach her, but the true end of the story, for Kate, is going on shipboard alone, at the Calcutta docks.

It seems to me the greatest irony of Kate Bartrum's account is, that again and again, she and her loved ones are almost reunited -- almost safe -- and then, at the last possible moment, lost to one another. Yet Kate reiterates her belief that they are not entirely lost -- they will meet once more in heaven. "And now, Lord, what is my hope? Truly my hope is even in Thee."

Letters from Madras during the years 1836-1839

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 05:14:19 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #349:
"Letters from Madras during the years 1836-1839"
by Maitland, Julia Charlotte, d. 1864.
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1846.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/maitland/madras/madras.html

Julia Charlotte Barrett was born on October 21, 1808. Considered a beauty by Sarah Burney, and described as having "very good sense, & a truly blyth ... love of humour" by Fanny Burney, she was apparently much sought after. On August 2, 1836, she married the man of her choice, James Thomas, a widower with children. As a wedding journey, she travelled with him to India, where he had been appointed a judge in the Madras Presidency.

Julia was both interested in and delighted with India. She enjoyed travelling, and took sea-sickness and pregnancy in her stride. Unlike most of the ladies of her Indian acquaintance, she had a strong desire to see and learn about what was around her. She writes:

"It is wonderful how little interested most of the English ladies seem by all the strange habits and ways of the natives; and it is not merely that they have grown used to it all, but that, by their own accounts, they never cared more about what goes on around them than they do now.... But this makes me wish to try and see everything that I can while the bloom of my Orientalism is fresh upon me."

Julia gamely attended India entertainments, and visited Indian families, but could not entirely appreciate the music and the food. She was determined to learn as much as she could of the local languages, studying Tamul on board ship, and arranging for a visiting instructor of Gentoo.

She and her husband saw education as a critical need for the Indian people, and advocated teaching both boys and girls. They established schools for boys where they were stationed, in Rajahmundry and Samuldavy, and lobbied for a consistent, widespread program of government-funded education. Concerned that "the greatest difficulty in schools is, the want of schoolbooks in the native languages", they were involved in translating works from English into Gentoo and Tamul. Julia often selected Christian reading materials, but also criticized the frequent tactlessness of missionaries in dealing with the Indian people. She gave short shrift to English boorishness and bullying, and saw English attitudes of superiority as creating problems, even though she retained some of that sense of superiority herself.

Her daughter Henrietta Anne Thomas was born in 1837 and her son James Cambridge Thomas in 1839. The family tried to move with the seasons, to make the most of cooler, more healthful air. In September 1839, Julia writes, "I have been hindered by an attack of Indian fever, and the baby also has been ill, and the doctors talk very seriously of the desirableness of my sending her home ... However, she is still so young that we hope change of air may possibly be sufficient for her." A strategic relocation was not enough. The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany records that as of December 16, 1839, "James Thomas, Esq." had been granted a furlough, preparatory to applying for leave to sea on a sick certificate. Julia's final letter ends with a quick note, dashed off December 18, telling her family in England: "We have been so strongly advised not to keep little Etta any longer in India, that we have at last made up our minds on the subject... I am then to proceed to England with her. Our passages are taken, and we expect to sail early next month."

She had no way of knowing that in parting from her husband she was seeing him for the last time, though given the incidence of illness and death among Europeans in India, she may well have feared the possibility. A little farther along, under "Deaths" for 1840, The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany reads "Jan. 6. At Madras, James Thomas, Esq., of the civil service."

However, Julia did not repine, or at least, not for long. She was remarried, on November 5, 1842, to Charles Maitland (1815–1866), and had two more children, Julia Caroline Maitland (1843-1890) and Peregrine Brownlow Maitland (1845). Julia Maitland found time to publish her letters home from India "by a Lady", and wrote several popular children's books. She and her second husband were married for 22 years. Julia Maitland died of tuberculosis on January 29, 1864. Charles Maitland outlived her by two years.

Pilgrimage Travels: Egeria (385 A.D.) and Paula (386 A.D.)

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:16:58 GMT

Given my fascination with women travellers, I am particularly happy to announce:

"The Pilgrimage of S. Silvia of Aquitania to the Holy Places (circ. 385 A.D.)"
by Egeria, 4th/5th cent.
Translated by J. H. (John Henry) Bernard, 1860-1927
With an appendix by Sir Charles William Wilson, 1836-1905.
London: 1896.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/egeria/pilgrimage/pilgrimage.html

"The Letter of Paula and Eustochium to Marcella, About the Holy Places (386 A.D.)"
by Saint Paula, 347-404 and Saint Eustochium, 370?-419
Translated by Aubrey Stewart, 1844-,
And Annotated by Sir Charles William Wilson, 1836-1905.
London: 1896.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/paula/letter/letter.html

I've long been intriqued by Egeria, one of the first women writers, and first women travel writers known. A partial account of Egeria's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in Latin, was found in 1884 by an Italian scholar, Gian Francesco Gamurrini, in a monastic library in Arezzo. The Codex Aretinus which he found contained fragments of several early works which had been recopied at Monte Cassino in the eleventh century. Only the middle of the unnamed woman's pilgrimage account was included; the beginning and end were already lost. As a result, we do not certainly know her name, origin, the dates when she wrote, or her own title for the work.

Scholars have had great fun debating all of the above over the last century. Recent translations tend to agree on the name Egeria, though she has also been known as Eiheria, Etheria, Aetheria, Galla Placidia, and Silvia. Her book has appeared variously as "Itinerarium Egeriae", "Peregrinatio Aetheriae", "The Pilgrimage of St. Silvia", "Diary of a Pilgrimage" and "Egeria's Travels". Lots of speculations have been made about her possible social and religious status, but scholars tend to agree that she was probably a nun of fairly high status. Internal evidence has been used to narrow the date of her account to the late 4th or early 5th century, possibly 381-384. A letter by the 7th century Galician monk Valerio of Bierzo refers to a Galician nun's account of a 3-year pilgrimage which may have been the original complete text.

The first extant section of Egeria's diary describes parts of her three-year pilgrimage, while the second gives detailed information about the liturgy of the church of Jerusalem. The significance of her account is tremendous as an eye-witness description of the early church in the Near East. She travelled extensively to a wide variety of religious sites which she describes in vivid detail for her "sisters" at home, pointing out variations in religious practice which may be unfamiliar. Her accounts are extremely valuable to the archaeologist, historian, liturgist and geographer. They are also readable and enjoyable if you are none of the above. Egeria is an avid traveller, constantly curious, thankful, and determined to share her enthusiasm with her reading friends. As such, it is a pleasure to read her account.

Jane Robinson, the author of "Wayward Women", suggests that Egeria should be the patron saint of all women travellers. I heartily agree!

If Egeria's account is a travelogue, then Paula's letter is ... well, in all honesty, a travel brochure! Paula and Eustochium appeal to their friend Marcella to leave Rome and join them in the Holy Land. The first part of the letter extolls the virtues of rustic Palestine in comparison to unclean Rome.

"Whithersoever you turn yourself, the ploughman, holding the plough-handle, sings Alleluia; the perspiring reaper diverts himself with psalms, and the vine-dresser sings some of the songs of David while he trims the vine with his curved knife."

The second part of Paula's letter is pure advertising gush: a dizzying list of the many religious attractions to be seen, if only their dear Marcella will join them. Underlying the hectic itinerary is passionate fervour:

"We will sing constantly, we will often weep, we will pray without ceasing, and, wounded by the dart of our Saviour, we will repeat together, 'I have found Him whom my soul sought for; I will hold Him fast and will not let Him go.'"

Alas, Paula and her daughter Eustochium were unable to convince Marcella to join them; she remained in Rome where she worked with the poor.

For those interested in Medieval Women's Letters, there's a wonderful collection at http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/ with originals in Latin and translations in English by Professor Joan Ferrante of Columbia University.

The Mysterious Author, or Who Really Wrote "Pantaletta"?

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:42:19 GMT

Sometimes, as I consider adding works to the Celebration of Women Writers, the question arises, "Who was that mysterious masked author?"

In a recent case, with a little digging both on and offline, I was able to find an answer! History Detectives look out!

In 1882, a dystopian novel entitled "Pantaletta: A Romance of Hesheland" was published in New York by American News Co. "Pantaletta" is a ludicrous tale of cross-dressing role reversal. The narrator, an American named Icarus Byron Gullible, invents an aircraft and sets out for the North Pole. Instead, he discovers a beautiful Hollow Earth "garden". He is taken prisoner by Pantaletta, captain of the army of the Republic of Petticotia. In Petticotia, women rule and wear the pants, and men, or "heshes", are relegated to powerless pantlessness. The book was credited to "Mrs. J. Wood", but its broad satire and anti-feminist content raised suspicion as to the identity and gender of its author.

Using google search, I was able to find some traces of "Pantaletta". The most significant was a snippet view of the "Centennial History of Rochester, New York Volume III." edited by Foreman, Edward R. (Edward Reuben). Rochester (N.Y.): John P. Smith, 1933. What I read was the following:

'Knowing Mrs. Parker's conservative views, I gave her some information at a time, as I remember, when she was writing a paper on "Rochester in Literature." In confidence I told her about the authorship of Pantaletta: .... '

Frustratingly, the snippet view showed neither WHO was sharing the confidence, nor WHAT Mrs. Parker was told! Interlibrary loan found me a copy of the History, and I discovered that the quote was from a chapter entitled "Random Recollections: Suggested by the Indexes of the Centennial History", by William Mill Butler, b. 1857. But who was William Mill Butler?

Edward Foreman gives the following information about William Mill Butler at the beginning of the chapter (p. 95) :

... "William Mill Butler, long the historian of the Society of the Genesee, was at one time a prominent newspaper editor of Rochester, and was compiler and editor of the Semi-Centennial Souvenir (1884). At first a reporter on the Post-Express, he became its city editor, and later, editor-in-chief, 1884-1886. He also served a year as city editor of the Democrat & Chronicle, and, later, was an associate editor of this daily, for a time. He started the Pythian Knight, a monthly, and the Jury, a weekly humourous journal; and was editor of the Casket, a monthly trade journal. In the early 1890's, he removed from Rochester to carry on his magazine and literary life in Binghampton, Philadelphia and New York. Five books of his, in fiction, whist history, and poetry, are in the New York Public Library, and he is now (1933) completing others dealing with American history."

Butler, then, was a reasonably creditable source, familiar with the current literary/political scene, who might well have had "insider" knowledge of the authorship of "Pantaletta".

With considerable interest, I looked for the quoted section. "I told her about the authorship of Pantaletta..." Would Butler repeat what he had told Mrs. Parker? Would it be more than an unsubstantiated rumour?

I found more than I had hoped for. On page 101, Butler wrote:

"JENNY MARSH PARKER: Wife of a well-known lawyer, and author of a popular work, published in 1884 under the title, Rochester: A Story Historical. She also wrote many articles and papers relating to our city, and was a firm friend of SARAH ADAMSON DOLLEY, the second woman to receive the degree of doctor of medicine in the United States, and to whom she dedicated her book. Mrs. Parker believed in the advancement of woman, but not after the manner of SUSAN B. ANTHONY, who herself when a teacher in the Academy of Canajoharie "laughed heartily at the novelty and presumption" of the first Woman's Rights Convention in Rochester. Later, she became a convert and a fiery one. Knowing Mrs. Parker's conservative views, I gave her some information at a time, as I remember, when she was writing a paper on "Rochester in Literature." In confidence I told her about the authorship of Pantaletta: A Romance of Sheheland, which had made quite a stir, being directed chiefly against Miss Anthony and her followers. Daily papers in our foremost cities praised it as a production after the manner of Dean Swift and Jules Verne, and some asked the author to uncover his name, but he did not do so. He was city editor of the Post-Express. So far as the woman suffrage question was concerned, the author, like Miss Anthony herself, turned from a scoffer to a consistent supporter. JOSEPH H. GILMORE, professor of logic, rhetoric, and English literature in the University of Rochester, a recognized authority, with whom I became well acquainted while reporting his public lectures, took a great interest in this my first book, assisting with counsel and advice; and he wrote an endorsement which he allowed me to print on the back page of the cover."

"This my first book"! Butler was claiming, not just to KNOW who had written the book, but to have WRITTEN IT HIMSELF! I checked a microform copy of "Pantaletta", and confirmed the presence of the endorsement in question. It read:

'What Professor Gilmore says of "Pantaletta."

'Joseph H. Gilmore, A. M., Professor of Logic, Rhetoric and English Literature
in the University of Rochester; a recognized authority upon literary matters,
writes as follows concerning "Pantaletta."

'The public will find in 'Pantaletta,' under the thin disguise of fiction,
a vigorous and effective satire on the Woman's Rights Movement; and, if I mistake not, will be interested in the adventures of General Gullible, and in the pen-picture of the state of things which would naturally exist where the true relation of the sexes had been subverted. The Republic of Petticotia is but a humorous exaggeration of what any civilized country might become, in which the rights of woman (in the sense which is too often attached to that much-abused phrase) were assured.'

Butler therefore refers to himself (somewhat coyly) when he says of the author of Pantaletta, "He was city editor of the Post-Express". The presence of Gilmore's endorsement on the back confirms that "Pantaletta", not some other title, is the one being referred to as "my first book".

Evidence from several sources corroborates that William Mill Butler was city editor of an early incarnation of the "Post-Express" newspaper, when it was still referred to as the "Evening Express". He took on the position around 1879, and was in that position in 1880. "Pantaletta" was published in 1882, the same year that the "Evening Express" became the "Post-Express". The paper was bought on April 18, 1882, and published its first issue under the new name on May 4, 1882. I did not find any mention of Butler's position at the time of the reorganization, but in 1884 he succeeded Isaac Hill Bromley as editor-in-chief of the "Post-Express."

In the "Centennial History of Rochester, New York" Volume III, p. 110, William Mill Butler describes his beginning at the Post-Express:

"It was in Bausch & Dransfield's optical store, in 1879, that the senior partner fitted me with my first pair of glasses, which I needed because, having learned typesetting and printing during spare hours while editing a weekly paper in Canada, I now obtained a temporary position as compositor on the Evening Express until an an opportunity to get on the reporters' staff should occur. Typesettng thus enabled me to break into Rochester journalism, but the work was trying to the eyes. It was the kind-natured editor of the paper, FRANCIS S. REW, who gave me my chance. ... In a month or two a reporter named Clark left for the West and I was given his place."

On page 115: "Mr. Esson, with William H. Lewis, was on my staff when I was city editor of the Evening Express, and I left him in charge when I went to Union Springs in November 1880, to marry the loveliest girl in the world."

And, on page 113: "ISAAC H. BROMLEY: My predecessor on the Post-Express, was a scholarly and able man, trained in metropolitan journalism, and enjoyed a national reputation on the New York Tribune. He was afterwards assistant to the president of the Union Pacific Railroad. He had succeeded GEORGE T. LANIGAN on our paper, and Mr. Lanigan was the successor of GEORGE H. ELLWANGER, son of GEORGE ELLWANGER, head of the famous nursery firm of Ellwanger & Barry, and chairman of our board of directors."

John Devoy lists some of the editors of the Post-Express in "Rochester and the Post express : a history of the city of Rochester from the earliest times : the pioneers and their predecessors, frontier life in the Genesee country, biographical sketches : with a record of the Post express", Rochester, N.Y. : Post Express Print. Co., 1895. Devoy writes:

"Charles W. Hebard laid the foundation on which his successors built The Post-Express. In 1859 he began the publication of ... The Evening Express ... In 1860 Francis S. Rew took editorial charge and had as associate editors William J. Fowler and S. H. Lowe; Henry C. Daniels was city editor. In 1874 the paper passed into control of a stock company ... Mr. Rew [continued] as editor. George H. Ellwanger became the managing editor and William C. Crum associate editor. John M. Brooks was the city editor.

"On April 18, 1882, George Ellwanger and E. K. Hart bought the paper and organized The Post Express Printing Company, the stockholders being E. K. Hart, George Ellwanger, William D. Ellwanger, Joseph M. Cornell and Daniel T. Hunt. George Ellwanger became editor-in-chief and D. T. Hunt business manager. The old name [The Evening Express] was dropped, and the first number of the Post-Express was issued May 4, 1882. ... On May 11, 1883, Mr. Ellwanger resigned as editor and was succeeded by George T. Lanigan, of the New York World. The late Philip H. Welch, a famous American humorist, was also on the editorial staff at this time. Mr. Lanigan resigned editorial charge in 1884, and Isaac M. Bromley, of the New York Tribune, became the editor. When Mr. Bromley retired, to become the assistant of the president of the Union Pacific Railroad, William Mill Butler succeeded to the editorial department."

The Obituary Record of the Graduates of Yale University, Yale University Alumni Association, June 1899, enables us to date Butler's appointment as Editor-in-Chief. "After a series of brief editorial engagements with the Commercial Advertiser and the Evening Telegram of New York, and the Rochester Post-Express, he [Isaac Hill Bromley] became in 1884 Assistant to the President of the Union Pacific Railroad."

What about Butler's publication history? Are the dates of his acknowledged works consistent with the claim that "Pantaletta" was his first, pseudonymous, work? Examining the Library of Congress catalogs online, Worldcat, and some other sites, I found that William Mill Butler published a somewhat haphazard collection of works under his own name. All of those titles post-date "Pantaletta".

Given the evidence above, I am convinced that "Pantaletta" can be reasonably attributed to William Mill Butler of Rochester, New York.

"Pantaletta: A Romance of Hesheland"
by Wood, J., Mrs. [aka Butler, William Mill, b. 1857]
New York: American News Co., 1882.

Ironically, Butler himself says that his opinions on woman suffrage changed; some time after marrying "the loveliest girl in the world" (1880), and publishing "Pantaletta" (1882), he "turned from a scoffer to a consistent supporter" of women's suffrage. Whether he regretted penning the satire we do not know, but he does not appear to have published further works of satire or science fiction.

Later publications by William Mill Butler:

"The semi-centennial souvenir. An account of the great celebration, June 9th and 10th, 1884. Together with a chronological history of Rochester, N.Y.", by William Mill Butler and George S. Crittenden. Rochester, N.Y., Post-Express Printing Co., 1884.
"Ancient and modern versions of the story of Damon and Pythias", Rochester, N.Y., The Pythian knight printing house, 1888.
"Official proceedings of the International commercial congress; a conference of all nations for the extension of commercial intercourse. Held under the auspices of the Philadelphia commercial museum in the city of Philadelphia, October 12 to November 1, 1899." [Philadelphia] Press of the Philadelphia commercial museum, 1899.
"The whist reference book wherein information is presented concerning the noble game, in all its aspects, after the manner of a cyclopedia, dictionary, and digest all combined in one", by William Mill Butler. Philadelphia, The J. C. Yorston publishing company, 1899.
"Yerba maté tea: the history of its early discovery in Paraguay", Philadelphia, The Yerba maté tea co., 1900.
"Paraguay: a country of vast natural resources, delightful climate, law-abiding people, and stable government, rightly called the paradise of South America." By William Mill Butler. Philadelphia, The Paraguay Development Company, 1901.
"The Commercial travelers' home magazine", Syracuse, N.Y., 1893-95;
"Beachwood days" [a poem]. New York, N.Y., The Blanchard press, 1918.
"Democracy and other poems", Boston, R. G. Badger [c1920]
"Beachwood borough directory", New York, The Blanchard press, inc., 1924-

The Way of Perfection, and Conceptions of Divine Love

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 15:52:49 GMT

I am happy to announce
Celebration Edition # 346:

"The Way of Perfection, and Conceptions of Divine Love"
by St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Translated from the Spanish by the Rev. John Dalton, 1814-1874.
London: C. Dolman, 1852.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/teresa/perfection/perfection.html

Merry Christmas! St. Teresa writes, of her classic on meditative religious practice:

"Three things only I will explain ... because it is of the utmost importance for us to understand how highly we are concerned in observing them, if we wish to obtain, both interiorly and exteriorly, that peace which our Lord recommended to us so much. The first is, love one for another; secondly, a disengagement from every creature; thirdly, true humility; which, though I name it last, is the most important of all, and includes all the rest."

There is much to read and value in Teresa's account of religious life. The tone of her work moves in and out of prayer as she reflects on religious practice and life in community, seamlessly shifting from addressing her sisters to addressing God.

Her advice on prayer:
Consider Who you are addressing,
What you are asking for,
Whether it would be good for you.

Reading her book, I reflected on how the emphasis on disengagement was significant for the context in which she was writing, of forming an order of nuns, removed from the world. For myself, I find the engagement and activism of a more modern-day religious leader, Dorothy Day, more appealing, especially at this time of year, when we can all ask ourselves how we can take the spirit of Christmas forward and make it last throughout the year.

The Siege of Lucknow: a Diary

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 19:58:58 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #345.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/inglis/lucknow/lucknow.html
"The Siege of Lucknow: a Diary"
by Inglis, Julia Selina, Lady, 1833-1904
London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1892.

When I think of a siege, I imagine a sturdy Norman castle; heavily fortified, with sufficient enclosures within for people and supplies, largely self-supporting and reasonably defensible once the drawbridge was raised.

The Residency in Lucknow was nothing like that.

We know what day-to-day life in the besieged Residency at Lucknow was like, in part, because Julia Inglis, wife of Lucknow's acting commander, Colonel Sir John Inglis, kept a diary.

In May 1857, as news of unrest reached Lucknow, Sir Henry Lawrence recognised the gravity of the crisis and began calling in loyal troops, fortifying the Residency and laying in supplies for a siege. Large numbers of British civilians made their way to the Residency from outlying districts. On May 30 the Oudh and Bengal troops at Lucknow broke into open rebellion, and the siege of Lucknow began. Mere days later, Sir Henry Lawrence was killed, and Colonel Sir John Inglis of the 32nd Regiment took command of the garrison.

The Residency was the centre of the British defences. The actual defended line was based on six detached smaller buildings and four entrenched batteries. The garrison initially contained 855 British officers and soldiers, 712 Indians, and 153 civilian volunteers, too few to defend the area effectively. There were also 1,280 non-combatants, many of them women and children. The Residency was surrounded by a number of palaces and mosques, which provided cover for attacking troops who bombarded the Residency with musket and artillery fire, and dug mines underground to try to breach their defenses. The strength of the rebels surrounding Lucknow has been widely estimated from 30,000 to 60,000. The attacking troops were amply equipped and well trained, but they lacked a unified command.

The fortifications surrounding the Residency were makeshift at best. Movement within the compound was extremely dangerous: troops lived at their posts, and the cookboys who brought them food, and the officers coming round to review their positions were in great danger. Women and children were largely restricted to the room they lived in, and were at risk even within those rooms.

That the tiny group within the Residency managed to survive at all is amazing. That they held out through an initial siege of 87 days, and a further 61 days after being reached by reinforcements, is astounding and nearly miraculous. When first relieved, the garrison was down to 982 fighting personnel. They had been almost starved out. A cache of supplies, hidden by Sir Henry Lawrence, enabled the combined forces to hang on until Sir Colin Campbell's forces arrived in mid November, and supervised the evacuation of Lucknow.

Lady Inglis' diary vividly brings home the situation of the British trapped within the Residency walls. Lady Inglis and her three small children shared a room about twelve feet by six feet, with two other ladies: it was relatively spacious and afforded occasional privacy. "In the next square to us lived a good many of the ladies, who were all together in a large room, and very uncomfortable." Lady Inglis was lucky; she had the assistance of several servants, including her khansamah, who acted as cook, and an ayah who helped with the children. Many people were left with only one or two servants, and some, like the unlucky Kate Bartum, had no help at all.

Julia's account shows just how little protection the walls actually afforded. Occasionally, she or the children took a little walk in the courtyard, and the children had a swing by the door, but as she sadly recounts, "No place was really safe." Most of the time, they stayed inside their room. It was clear that marksmen watched the comings and goings within the Residency, and targeted areas of activity. "Mrs. Case and Johnny were walking in the square next to ours to-day, when a Sikh officer passed them, and directly afterwards he was hit in the arm by a bullet." Shelling was a constant problem, and being inside was no guarantee of safety. "John had a most providential escape to-day; he left his little room in the Residency house rather earlier than usual, and soon after a round shot came through the door and passed over his bed."

Though restrained in tone, the depth of feeling between Julia and her husband is clear. "John breakfasted and dined with us every day, and managed to read the psalms and prayers with us in the morning, which was a great comfort, and prepared us for each day's trials; but beyond this I saw very little of him, unless the firing was particularly heavy, when he would just look in after it was over to show he was all right." As wife of the commander she was in a privileged position, able to see her husband daily, perhaps catching a few moments alone with him. This also meant that she was often left with the sad duty of conveying bad news -- telling a desperate wife-now-widow that her husband had been killed, or passing on the news, via Commander Inglis, that a wife or child had sickened or died. Julia herself suffered from smallpox at the beginning of the siege; cholera and scurvy were prevalent, and lack of food took its toll on everyone, especially the children.

Living together through the siege and the evacuation afterwards -- which was quite eventful in itself! -- formed deep connections between those involved. At the end of her account, Lady Inglis laments parting from Mrs. Case and Miss Dickson, who "are, and ever will be, two of my best and truest friends".

Skipper John's Cook

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:28:56 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 344:

"Skipper John's Cook" by Marcia Brown (1918- )
New York: The Junior Literary Guild and Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951.
Copyright not renewed.
A Caldecott Honor Book, 1952.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/brown/cook/cook.html

Marcia Joan Brown (born July 13, 1918) is an American children's author and illustrator who has published more than 30 children's books. She has won the Caldecott Medal three times. She received the award in 1955 for "Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper" (translated from Charles Perrault by Marcia Brown), in 1962 for "Once a Mouse", and in 1983 for "Shadow" (translated from Blaise Cendrars by Marcia Brown). Her achievement was unequalled until David Wiesner equalled her record in 2007. She has been listed an additional six times as a Caldecott Honor holder, an unparalleled achievement. She is also the winner of the 1977 Regina Medal, and the winner of the 1992 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal.

As one of three sisters growing up in a minister's family during the Depression, Marcia Brown did not have a wide range of educational or professional choices. Practically, she enrolled in the New York State College for Teachers, the University at Albany's predecessor, majoring in English and drama. She received her B.A. from the NYSCT in 1940. She taught at Cornwall High School in the lower Hudson Valley for several years, but realized that staying up at night to grade papers left her little or no time to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. In 1943, Marcia gave up her teaching job and moved to New York City where she worked in the New York Public Library's Central Children's Room, and studied painting with Yasuo Kuniyoshi and Stuart Davis at the New School for Social Research, among others. Her first children's book, "The Little Carousel" appeared in 1946.

Throughout her career, Marcia Brown has experimented with different media, including woodcuts, collage, silhouettes, line drawings, water colors, gouache, and photographs. Each of her books has its own distinct character, although many share common characteristics of spare use of text and vivid use of colour.

"Skipper John's Cook", which was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1952, is notable for both of those traits. The images, with their strong contrasts of black, red, blue and yellow, paint a striking and memorable picture of Si, his dog, and the fishermen of the "Liberty Belle". The story is brief, but Marcia Brown uses every word effectively, and the result is pure delight. I am delighted to be able to share it with you.

Before moving from the east coast to the milder climate of the west coast in 1993, Brown placed a large collection of her papers and other materials at the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives at the University at Albany. It documents her work from the 1940's onward, tracing the process of development of many of her books from her original ideas, through various rough drafts and preparatory designs, to their final published form. It is a superb collection.

"Skipper John's Cook" was first published in 1951. Neither Stanford's Copyright Renewal Database at http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/ nor Project Gutenberg's transcription of the U.S. copyright renewal records show any renewal for "Skipper John's Cook". It is therefore believed to be in the public domain, and is reproduced here on that basis.

The Lady's Country Companion

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 01:50:05 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 343:

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/loudon/companion/companion.html

"The Lady's Country Companion : or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally." by Mrs. Jane Loudon (1807-1858) London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, c1845.

"Happiness, I suspect, in most cases, depends more upon ourselves than we are generally willing to allow; and I am quite sure that young married people who are attached to each other, and have a competency, may be happy if they will, particularly in the country, where their principal amusements must all centre in home. You will, perhaps, be surprised to find that I think this a cause of happiness, but you will find in time that I am right; and that our chances of being happy decrease in proportion as we depend upon others for our enjoyments."

Jane Webb was born at Ritwell House, near Birmingham, England, in 1807. When she was 17 her father died, and the orphaned Jane turned to her pen in an attempt to support herself. Under a pseudonym, she published "a strange wild novel" called "The Mummy", which predicted futuristic innovations in the science and social life of the twenty-second century. References to a steam plough caught the attention of John Loudon, a well-respected landscape gardener and writer. Upon being introduced by a mutual friend, Loudon was startled to discover that the author was not a man, but a much-younger lady. The Loudons were married within the year. Though she may have known little about gardening when they married, Jane learned quickly, working closely with her husband throughout his life on a number of major works, and continuing to write after his death.

"The Lady's Country Companion" is presented as a set of letters from the author to a young bride who has recently married and moved from the city to the country. There she must learn the management of a considerable country estate, and ensure that her servants are doing their jobs properly. Loudon phrases her advice so that it would be equally useful to someone doing a job herself, and indeed, she encourages her reader to become actively involved in the pursuits of country life. One can imagine her as the Martha Stewart of the 1840's, dispensing a mixture of tasteful recommendation and "how to" information to the masses and the wealthy. Part of the charm of the book is the mix of personal advice (such as how to convince ones' husband to cut down encroaching trees) with practical advice (how to pickle hams, lay out a greenhouse, or care for young chickens in the poultry yard).

I was enchanted by Jane's recipe for Devonshire syllabub: "A Devonshire syllabub, or junket, is made by putting a pint of cider, with two table-spoonfuls of brandy, and sugar to the taste, into a large bowl, and milking upon it till the bowl is nearly full. In twenty minutes some clotted cream is heaped up in the middle of the dish, and powdered cinnamon, grated nutmeg, and Harlequin comfits strewed over the top. When cider cannot be procured, half a pint of port is used instead, omitting the brandy; and when a cow is not accessible, lukewarm milk poured from a coffee-pot spout, held up as high as possible, will do almost as well."

For most of us nowadays, a cow is not accessible! We would not think of taking our mixing bowl to the dairy and "milking upon it." Jane Loudon's book opens a fascinating window into day-to-day domestic life in the country houses of 1700 or 1800's England. It is packed with vivid details of how such an estate operated day to day. If you want to create a garden, her advice is still useful and interesting, as are many of her other recommendations. I hope you will enjoy reading them.

"The great secret of being happy is, to be able to occupy ourselves with the objects around us, so as to feel an interest in watching their changes; and, when you can once do this in your present situation, you will no longer complain of dulness or want of excitement. ... All that is wanted to give an interest in any subject is, a sufficient degree of knowledge respecting it to be aware of its changes, and our own natural love of variety will do the rest."

The Concealed Fansyes: A Play by Lady Jane Cavendish and Lady Elizabeth Brackley

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:17:56 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 342:

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/cavendish/fansyes/fansyes.html

"The Concealed Fansyes: A Play by Lady Jane Cavendish and Lady Elizabeth Brackley." (Cheyne, Jane, Lady, 1621-1669 and Egerton, Elizabeth Cavendish, 1626-1663) Edited by Nathan Comfort Starr. PMLA, Vol. 46, No. 3 (Sep., 1931), pp. 802-838. Copyright not renewed.

The Cavendishes were a fascinating and multi-talented family, English aristocrats and supporters of the Royalist faction during the English Civil War. Poet, playwright, courtier, athlete, and soldier, William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1593-1676) supported James I and Charles I and II with money and men. He received numerous offices and titles, and was created the 1st Marquess of Newcastle-on-Tyne on 27 October 1643.

After a defeat at the battle of Marston Moor, in 1644, William Cavendish became disillusioned, and removed to the continent along with two of his sons, his brother, and other supporters. He left behind several of his daughters, including Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (ca.1626 – 14 June 1663), who had married John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgwater in 1641, but continued to live with her family for several years due to her youth; Lady Jane Cavendish (1621-1669) who married Charles Cheyne, 1st Viscount Newhaven in 1654, and Lady Frances Cavendish (d. 1678), who married Oliver St. John, 2nd Earl of Bolingbroke in 1654.

Jane and Elizabeth were left to maintain the Cavendish properties in England, particularly Welbeck Abbey and Bolsover Castle. England was in the midst of civil war, and the Cavendish sisters were on what was often the losing side. Welbeck Abbey was captured by Parliamentarian forces on August 2, 1644. Although Royalists briefly recaptured the home in 1645, it was back in parliamentary control by November.

It was during this time that the Cavendish sisters wrote "The Concealed Fansyes". It clearly draws upon their experiences during the siege and occupation of Welbeck. Two young women, whose father is in exile, are courted by devious suitors, Courtley and Presumption. Their three female cousins must endure the military occupation of their house. The play is full of glimpses of 17th century life both above and below stairs.

Katie Whitaker dates the play's composition to late 1643 or 1644, given the prologue's reference to the ages of the playwrights as 18 and 22. 1644 would be consistent with its composition during or after the seige and capture of Welbeck Abbey. The manuscript book which contains "The Concealed Fansyes", another play and a variety of poems, is believed to have been prepared as a presentation copy around 1645, a gift to William Cavendish from his daughters, intended for his pleasure and enjoyment.

Early editors, such as Nathan Comfort Starr (1931), read the play as a satire directed against Newcastle's second wife, Margaret Lucas (1617/1623-1673). Margaret was an author and dramatist, like William, and a philosopher-scientist as well. According to Margaret's account, she and William Cavendish met in March 1645, while she was a maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria. They were married in December 1645, in a small private wedding, in spite of the queen's displeasure at losing Margaret.

Recent authorities discount the idea that "The Conceal'd Fansyes" was intended to satirize Margaret Lucas. Making a well-suited marriage was a common endeavor in real life, a theme relevant to both father and daughters, with the potential for considerable amusement. The character of the fictional father's proposed fiancee, Lady Tranquillity, may suggest that Jane and Elizabeth felt some anxiety about the possibility of their father eventually remarrying, but Jane Milling (1997) notes that there is little similarity between the fictional Lady Tranquillity and the real-life Margaret. Katie Whitaker's dating of the play (2002) places it before William Cavendish and Margaret Lucas had met, much less married.

Modern readings emphasize the themes of independence, and freedom to speak and act in both the personal sphere (the young women whose suitors hope to control and manipulate them) and the political (the three cousins who are at risk in their own home because of its military occupation.) Both the family and the country are disrupted by war. There is also a recurrent theme of individuals as actors, seeking to influence or manipulate others, and protect themselves. In this context, conversation and the ability to speak out are central. Luceny fears that she may be pressured by a future mother-in-law to "lessen my conversation for hir peece of sobriety", or by a husband who "thinkes husbands are the Rodd of authority". The imprisoned soldiers must monitor their speech and actions because to be "liberall of your tongue ... may do you hurt, and our partie noe good." In the Conceal'd Fansyes, truths are hidden in locked cabinets, protected as secrets, and screened behind dissembling actions. Perhaps only angels -- or those disguised as angels -- may speak plainly.

See also: Milling, Jane (1997) 'Siege and Cipher: the closet drama of the Cavendish sisters', Women's History Review, 6: 3, 411 — 426.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09612029700200152
Katie Whitaker, "Mad Madge", New York: Basic Books, 2002.

Three hundred years hence

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:39:18 GMT

Independence Day seems like a particularly suitable time to republish "Three hundred years hence", Celebration Edition # 341:

"Three hundred years hence"
By Mary Griffith (1772-1846)
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/griffith/hence/hence.html

Text as first published in
"Camperdown; or, News from our neighbourhood:
Being sketches by the author of 'Our Neighbourhood.'"
Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1836.

Mary Griffith (1772–1846) was an American writer, horticulturist and scientist. Born Mary Corre, she married John Griffith, a wealthy New York City merchant who died in 1815. After the death of her husband she purchased an estate ("Charlies Hope") in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey. There she performed experiments in horticulture, natural history, economic entomology, the earth sciences, epidemiology, and optics and vision, publishing her results in scientific and literary journals and newspapers. She was a long-time member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Griffith died in Red Hook, Dutchess County, New York in 1846.

Griffith's story "Three Hundred Years Hence" is the first known utopian novel by an American woman. It originally appeared as part of the collection "Camperdown, or News from Our Neighborhood" (1836) and has been republished several times since. In preparing it for online presentation, I couldn't resist adding links to pages and illustrations at Wikipedia and other sites that elaborate on some of the themes, ideas, and predictions of Griffith's story.

In her novel, Edgar Hastings, a middle-aged father and landowner is, in effect, frozen for three hundred years, until some of his descendants free him from his entrapment. Being well-bred, pleasant young men, they take him on a tour of the surrounding cities -- Philadelphia and New York -- so that he can become acquainted with the world as it has become.

It's fun to read Griffith's predictions with an eye to their accuracy, as a sort of steampunk alternate history. She predicts a future in which we all travel in individual cars. These run on rails, not on roads, thus eliminating the danger of accidents. Water travel has been similarly revolutionized, and both cars and boats are powered by a mysterious new power source -- discovered, you will note, by a woman. In some cases, Griffith accurately anticipated future developments, while in others she was glaringly abroad. She predicted the establishment of direct taxation, and the abolition of credit.

We can tell from her account that she was almost certainly a supporter of Daniel Webster rather than Andrew Jackson. Jackson's forced relocation of the Indian people is the inescapable and glaring blemish on Griffith's utopia -- so appalling that Hastings' "descendants" cannot even bring themselves to speak about the Indian's fate. In contrast, Griffith approvingly predicts that all blacks will voluntarily remove from the United States to Liberia, a peaceful resolution of interracial tensions that completely fails to anticipate the American Civil War.

Griffith's account is, most definitely, a feminist utopia, in that changes relating to the position of women in society are central and essential. Changes in inheritance laws and the establishment of trade schools for women are seen as important steps leading to the resolution of economic inequalities between genders. Like many other women reformers of her time, Griffith expected women's increased status and greater involvement to drive pervasive changes throughout society, eradicating alcoholism, smoking, child abuse, and war. Pity she was 0-4 on those ones.

Since I live in Phildelphia, it was particularly interesting to see what Mary Griffith had to say about its past and future! If you live in either Philly or New York, or have the opportunity to travel there, I suggest tracking down some of the places she mentions. If you can't, her book is still fun to read.

1 is One

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:50:14 GMT

I am happy to announce
Celebration Edition # 340:

"1 is One"
by Tasha Tudor (1915-2008)
New York: Henry Z. Walck, 1956. Copyright not renewed.
A Caldecott Honor Book, 1957.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/tudor/one/one.html

"Because I gardened as a little girl, and my mother and grandmother were passionate gardeners before me, I grew up with flowers, knew them by their look and feel, and called them by all their old colloquial names. Dame's rocket, sweet William, monkshood, and meadow rue -- the old-fashioned names are so much prettier. Delphinium were always called larkspur. Clematis autumnale was virgin's bower. The sound of "foxglove" is so much pleasanter than "digitalis." ~Tasha Tudor "The Private World of Tasha Tudor"

This quote from Tasha Tudor captures several significant aspects of her life and personality: her love of plants, her fascination with "old colloquial" life, and the strength of her opinions. A notable eccentric, Tudor not only looked as if she had walked out of an 1800's painting, but chose to live as if it were still 1830. She used candles for light, cooked using a hand-pump and a wood stove, raised goats and chickens, spun her own flax, and wore period clothing. She was well known at New England antique shops and auctions. The Times quoted her as saying "that she was the reincarnation of a sea captain’s wife who lived from 1800 to 1840 or 1842, and that it was this earlier life she was replicating by living so ardently in the past."

At the same time, Tudor was a hard-working artist, with an eye for effective marketing and promotion of her work. Her output was immense. "Pumpkin Moonshine", her first title to appear in print, was published in 1938. She illustrated more than a hundred books, and the definitive bibliography, "Tasha Tudor: The Direction of Her Dreams", lists more than 1100 editions of her works. She also drew uncounted cards, mostly for Ars Sacra and for the Irene Dash Greeting Card Company. Her work has decorated boxes, tins, and other objects. The businesses Jenny Wren Press and Corgi Cottage Industries were formed to market her works, and she was active as a speaker, promoting her 19th-century lifestyle.

Flowers appear both as subjects in Tudor's books, and as recurring decoration and elaborate borders. She collected notebooks of flowers as a teenager, and as an adult, had an elaborate and beautiful garden from which she drew examples. Her children's counting book "1 is One", named a Caldecott honor book in 1957, features beautifully detailed borders of flowers on every page. It is worth examining the larger page images to see the detail of the drawing, and the delicacy of the coloring. Tudor's books are filled with realistic drawings: of flowers, of birds, of her children and grandchildren (often mixed together regardless of age), and of objects, landmarks and buildings in the areas where she lived.

Tudor was fascinated with children, with dolls, and with miniatures, which aften appear in her work. Her monumental doll-house became a tourist attraction when she lived at the Webster House in New Hampshire. She also had a passion for corgi dogs, and raised hundreds of them, in addition to raising four children. Her relationships with her family were somewhat more volatile than the idealized, harmonious images in her drawings. She cut three of her children out of her last will and testament, prompting long and messy legal battles.

Tasha Tudor was fond of quoting Thoreau: "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." One gets an impression that she was somewhat ruthless in reaching for her dreams, strong-willed and self-absorbed, proud to say that she always got exactly what she wanted. Yet unquestionably, her amazingly self-created life, lived on her own terms, was full of beauty which has inspired many others to love and emulate her.

A Tour in Mongolia

Tue, 04 May 2010 15:19:49 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 339:

"A Tour in Mongolia"
by Beatrix Bulstrode (Mrs. Edward Manico Gull)
with an introduction bearing on the political aspect of that country, by David Fraser.
London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1920.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bulstrode/mongolia/mongolia.html

"The essence of life lies in its contrasts, ... Mongolia fascinated me in anticipation; in materialisation; in retrospect; and most of all in the prospect of going back again – some day."

Beatrix Bulstrode does not appear to have been a comfortable sort of person - and certainly not a conformable one. A forceful personality, an adventuring spirit, a considerable disregard for both conventions and indeed possible consequences of one's actions, and a resounding assurance in her own Britishly superior right of way, are vividly conveyed by her writing. She is, indeed, the sort of person that my grandmother might have described as "a Tartar" -- so it seems entirely appropriate that when she went adventuring, she chose Mongolia as her destination.

That the widowed Mrs. Bulstrode did not speak the language, and had few connections in Mongolia to help her, did not deter her in the least. She took advantage of whatever opportunities presented, including some bemused but helpful missionaries, and then,

"...one afternoon at the British Legation, forty-eight hours only after my return from the north, I met Mr. Edward Manico Gull, then of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, who, like myself, undeterred by the question of risks, was keenly desirous of crossing the Gobi and of visiting Urga with a view of learning at first hand something of the political conditions which led up to the rebellion of Mongolia against Chinese rule. A few days later he propounded the very practical suggestion that it would be decidedly economical, and, what was of far greater importance, very much safer, if we joined forces..."

And so they were off, into the wilds of Mongolia, at a time of political unrest. If anything, Beatrice thrived on the difficulties and challenges of the journey.

"In the room adjoining were several Chinese traders, and I had to make my choice between, sharing a k'ang with these gentlemen and the Finn, or sleeping under the stars in the courtyard in my cart. Throwing convention to the winds (one really could not trouble about Mrs. Grundy in Mongolia some five or six thousand feet above sea level with a thermometer well below zero and an icy blast blowing from the snow-covered mountains), I decided upon the former without a moment's consideration, and arranged a sheet of oilcloth with my cork mattress on the top on the opposite side to that on which the Chinese had already stretched themselves. "

She could not resist collecting a few souvenirs along the way: "a tiny green jade wine cup, and, as a mascot, a jade thumb ring guaranteed to bring me great good luck on all my wanderings. They were of the colour of rivers bringing down the snow from mountains, and moreover were bargains at a dollar and half a dollar respectively. "

Beatrice decided that some other souvenirs, including a live wolf cub, and an inconveniently decomposing human skull, must be left behind. This occasioned no little difficulty, since the locals did not appreciate the skull's disposal in their vicinity. With the aid of her "noble fellow-traveller" and a fortuitous accident, she finally managed to get rid of it. "To remind me of that incident, even ever so gently, during the rest of the journey was to render me immediately docile and amenable to any scheme, no matter how distasteful it might be."

The most notable memento of her travels became her second husband. Mr. Edward Manico Gull and Beatrice Bulstrode were married some time after their journey together. The British Journal of Nursing mentions the re-election of "Mrs Timbrell-Bulstrode, home from her travels in China" to the Council of the Society of Women Journalists, on November 29, 1913. On March 10th, 1914 "Mrs. Bulstrode" read a paper entitled "A Tour in Mongolia" to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. But by September 1915, she was signing her letters "Beatrix Manico Gull", the wife of her "noble fellow-traveller".

FYI: I've created a twitter account, so I'll be announcing online releases there, as MMOckerbloom.

With the Tibetans in tent and temple

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:35:43 GMT

I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 338:

REF http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/rijnhart/tibetans/tibetans.html illustrated HTML at Celebration of Women Writers
AUTHOR [rijn01] Rijnhart, Susie Carson (1868-1908)
TITLE With the Tibetans in tent and temple: Narrative of Four Years' Residence on the Tibetan Borders, and of a Journey into the Far Interior
NOTE Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1901. Third Edition.
LCSUB Tibet (China) -- Description and travel
LCSUB Missions -- China -- Tibet
LCCN DS785 .R57

In her first chapter, Susie Rijnhart writes that she and her husband looked forward "to a life-long sojourn in the regions of Central Asia." They did indeed spend their lives in Tibet -- both died there, within a few short years. Susie returned alone from their first trip, having lost both her husband and her baby son. A few years later, Susie married another missionary and returned to Tibet -- only to die there in childbirth. Her writing makes it clear that she understood and accepted the potential costs of missionary work -- though it was hard to trust God when there was no one else left to trust.

Part of Susie's attraction to Tibet had to be a sheer love of travel in wild country. The Rijnharts could have stayed in much securer posts, but felt themselves called to the wildest, most unreachable areas. They did not travel under the auspices of a missionary society, but on their own initiative, free to go wherever they pleased -- if they could convince guides to take them there, and guards to allow them in. Susie's pioneering spirit shines through her writing, and makes her very appealing.

Her medical work is also worthy of the highest regard. In Tibet, her work as a doctor enabled her to establish contact with many people who she would not otherwise have met. Her medical work gained Susie and her husband the trust and gratitude of those around them, both in peacetime and under military attack. Today, Susie Rijnhart might well have served with "Doctors Without Borders", a group of medical personal who bring their expertise to victims of war and catastrophe in hard-hit areas around the world. (They won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, and I encourage you to donate to them.)

Throughout her travels in China and Tibet, Susie recorded what she saw in vivid detail. She seems to have had almost a "camera eye" in noticing and remembering what was around her. Where another writer might tell us that a ceremonial table was set forth, Susie tells us the size of the table and what was in the dishes. Another writer might tell us she enjoys the Tibetan women's colorful clothing, but Susie tells us the colors of the fur on their hats, the tassels in their caps, and the beads in their hair.

Sadly, the depth of Christian conviction that brought Susie Rijnhart to Tibet in the first place, made it impossible for her to appreciate another religious tradition. She advised against assuming "an air of ridicule and contempt for the religious ideas and practices of peoples less enlightened" for pragmatic reasons: "The work of Christian missions is hindered by antagonizing the non-Christian peoples through dogmatic assertion of doctrines". But to her western readers, she did not dissemble. The lamas could not be anything but deluded and foolish, "mere children", "swayed by the emotions." If wonders and marvels were presented to her, they were interpreted not only as mistaken, but as intentionally deceitful. Tibetan ceremonial prayers were described as "unintelligible" or "cabalistic incantations".

I cannot help fearing that Susie Rijnhart lacked a sense of humour. She is painfully earnest. Even so, her travels in Tibet are well worth reading. She gives us a vivid record of a time and place that was rarely seen by Westerners, and that is now almost entirely destroyed; a place of wonders and marvels, of peace and war, of wild nomads in the hills, and polite lamas in their "gombas". With her medical knowledge and ideals of Christian service, Susie Rijnhart did more good in Tibet than she did harm. She may not have recognized the Buddhist tradition of compassion, but in some ways she lived it.