little gems

This morning I have a little gem of time, as I listen to the thunder roll over the mountain and wait for rain and my mother to waken. The last two days have been a grueling example of how no good deed goes unpunished, as my mother recuperates from the family picinic with bi-polar bouts of crying and fits of terrifying anger.
So, while I have a few minutes, I sit here at my computer and take the time to actually read through a document to which I linked in my previous post, finding it full of gems of information I didn’t know,.
And among those gems is a rare one, indeed — reference to Marietta Holley, a little-known 19th century writer from Ellisburgh, New York:

Between 1873 and 1914, Marietta Holley wrote more books and made more money than Mark Twain did his whole life. She donated $500 to each local library, and offered entertainment in her home. Her books were translated to various languages over a period of 40 years. In 1887, Holley’s newest novel, Samantha at Saratoga, outsold the Bible – an unheard of occurrence in the late 1800’s.
Holley became close companions with such women’s rights pioneers as Susan B. Anthony and Clara Barton, who wrote and visited her often. In one such letter, she was invited to come to the 30th anniversary of the women’s rights movement, but declined because she was wary of speaking in public with her lisp and shyness. In 1877, Frances Willard invited Holley to be a delegate to the annual convention of the Women’s National Christian Temperance Union in Chicago, but again felt that her home in Bear Creek proved to be a less embarrassing venture.


What a blogger Marietta Holley woul have made in today’s culture! No doubt she would be a part of the BlogHer conference, to which Jeneane Sessum of Allied should be going this year, but — as life sometimes goes — can’t.
Wait until next year Jeneane. Maybe we can both make it.

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