Though she died just before the Regency began, Mary Wollenstonecraft (mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley) had an enormous impact on Regency ideas about the education of women.
The Original Feminist
In her ground-breaking book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollenstonecraft made the first strong and popular argument for women’s education. Though she’s considered one of the mothers of feminism, Wollenstonecraft’s feminism was very different from the feminism that makes headlines today. Instead of arguing for the right of woman to be just as raunchy as the guys, Wollenstonecraft was concerned with women’s virtue: she argued that it was impossible for women to make wise decisions if they’d never been taught how to think.
You couldn’t, Wollenstonecraft argued, raise a girl to only think about her looks, to only be concerned about snaring a husband, and then expect her to be smart enough to run a household or good enough to raise well-behaved children. If you wanted her to be fit to do her duties, you had to educate her.
Also, Wollenstonecraft argued, women were created as suitable mates for men, which meant they were of the same species – as Dorothy Sayers would later put it, women are human – and so what was good for men was good for women. God didn’t expect wisdom and virtue from men and silliness from women. If education gave men the tools they needed to be virtuous, education could give women those same advantages.
Controversy
Wollenstonecraft’s ideas weren’t completely accepted in her own day – they aren’t even now – but by stating her case so clearly and so well, she started a conversation that lasted all the way through the Regency and beyond. The “bluestockings” of the Regency – the bookish women – were Wollenstonecraft’s intellectual heiresses.
If you’re reading this today and you’re a woman who loves books, if you’re a woman who enjoyed a high-school and even a college education, Mary Wollenstonecraft is one of the brave pioneers you have to thank.
I often think about how privileged I am to have been born in this country, received a good education, always had enough food to eat, clothes to wear, comfortable houses to live in, cars to drive, opportunities to travel—and do the work I enjoy doing. As a Christian, I feel very much that this privilege includes responsibility in the form of “stewardship.” To me stewardship means acknowledging that I’ve been given more than others, not squandering those things (be they talents or material things), and then using those benefits to help someone else.
Portrait of Robert Raikes by George Romney, National Portrait Gallery, London
A person who embodies this spirit of good stewardship in the Georgian era, but whose impact was felt way into the Regency and beyond, was Robert Raikes (1736-1811). He was born into privilege in Gloucester, England, the son of a printer and newspaper publisher. When he lost his father at the age of twenty-one, he had enough wealth to live the idle life of a typical man of his class.
Instead, he felt that sense of stewardship and used his talents and wealth to help the men locked in the workhouse and county jail in his city. He began to teach many to read, since they had little to do in jail. He also began to see how ignorance and illiteracy often led to a life of crime.
His “aha” moment came when he went to see about hiring a gardener. While there, he noticed how noisy a group of boys in the street was. The gardener’s wife told him how much worse they were on Sunday. It gave him the idea of teaching them to read, since working children only had Sunday off. He immediately inquired if there were any women in the neighborhood willing to teach them, and hired four, paying them a shilling each, to teach these boys the Bible and catechism.
At first only boys were taught. The first lessons were given in the early 1780s (accounts vary whether it was in 1780 or 81) in a woman’s private home. Soon there were more “schools” opened in the city. In 1783 Raikes published an article about these Sunday schools in his paper. One of the reasons he gave for teaching children of working class families on Sunday was the following: “Farmers and other inhabitants of the towns and villages complain that they receive more injury in their property on the Sabbath than all the week besides; this in a great measure proceeds from the lawless state of the younger class, who are allowed to run wild on that day, free from every restraint.”*
The story was picked up by the London periodicals and generated a lot of response from other cities. From these initial Sunday schools, the Sunday School Movement took off. For those who opposed what he was doing, his schools became known as Raikes’ Ragged Schools. The children spent most of the day in the school, attending church in the afternoon, and going home by five o’clock. The movement caught on and spread to other cities and then to the United States. The parents willingly brought their children to Sunday school because it meant a chance for them to receive a free education. By 1831, 1.25 million British children were being taught weekly in these Sunday schools. That constituted approximately one-quarter of the population.Free, compulsory education was not passed into law in England until 1880.
Think of the impact a Sunday school movement had on a nation and on the world.
From The Rise and Progress of Sunday Schools, A Biography of Robert Raikes and William Fox by John Carroll Power, Sheldon & Co., New York, 1863
This month we’re been looking at the education of Regency students and scholars. The antics of schoolroom have provided fodder for many a novels. Did you know that many of your Regency Reflections authors have had interesting moments within the school walls as well.
So we asked our authors, “What was your biggest school days blunder?”
Laurie Alice Eakes To be honest, I have nothing to share. I kept too low a profile in school unless I absolutely knew the answer just to avoid this sort of thing.
Unless this after school event gives it away…
I had a terrible crush on a geeky guy—Hmm, I married a computer geek turned lawyer geek—and wrote a poem to him. I can still remember part of it. Mind you, I was fifteen and painfully shy.
Oh, I wish I were a computer
Or a slide rule and equasions I could do,
For if I were one, or maybe both,
Some notice I might receive from you. . .
And so it went. Well, we were in the literary club together, and during a meeting, while sharing things, I accidentally pulled this poem from my notebook instead of the banal one I intended to share. . .
Oops.
Susan Karsten This is going to sound really strange, since things have changed SO much. When I was in 2nd grade, in about 1962-63, I was asked, by my teacher, who I will call Mrs. Mustard, to come into the supply closet. This was a room, with shelves on 3 sides and a window. It was the teacher’s private little storeroom. She regretted to inform me that my red and white checked blouse had come untucked, and would I please not let that happen again. My, things have changed! By the way, this was a public school.
Kristy Cambron I’ve always felt that as a student, you could try to blend in with the class and avoid any embarrassing moments. But alas, my biggest education blunder was when I was in the on-stage role as the teacher. I was a corporate facilitator at the time and was training a class of more than forty adult learners on customer service soft skills. It was a great class – learners were energetic and engaged. Everyone smiled and seemed to throughly enjoy themselves So when one learner approached me at the end of class, I hoped to hear positive feedback on her classroom experience. The last thing I expected was for her to tell me I’d just trained the class and no one had bothered to tell me that my suit pants zipper had been broken all day!
Naomi Rawlings I accidentally went into the boys locker room before a basketball game. I didn’t realize the visiting team used the girl’s locker room, and I was just trying to get to the bathroom and following the sign that said girls. Fortunately I was in elementary school and it was a high school game. So I wasn’t old enough to get teased mercilessly for the rest of my day. But my cheeks still get red just thinking about it. I must have been the color of a tomato for the rest of the night!
Kristi Ann Hunter Oh the options. I think the question might not be what was my biggest blunder, but which one am I willing to share in a public forum! When I was in sixth grade, my best friend had English and Math together. I feel quite bad for our teachers. We had to write a lot of sentences in English class. My friend and I made ridiculous sentences about polka dotted potties and remote controlled spitwads.
At the end of the day, in math class, we took turns sitting in front of each other and slowing pushing the other’s desk forward. We’d see how far we could get before the teacher got mad at us.
photos by Wikimedia Commons
What about you? What was your biggest schoolroom blunder?
Hey fearless listeners. We’ve made it to another week. That accomplishment isn’t something I take lightly. Times feel perilous. Worries are rampant. I’ve had more conversations where I’ve been talked off the ledge—or where I’ve held up safety nets for others.
But let’s congratulate ourselves. We’ve made it through the fire. California has literally done that, with most of the wildfires now 100% contained. Let me repeat this: We will get through hard times. My faith is strong, my friendships are firm. I believe in doing life with us, helping each other along the way.
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As your historically inclined friend, I thought deeply about writers and writing friendships this week. As a writer, I love studying other writers. I look for habits to incorporate or styles to dissect and admire. There is so much that can be learned from reading and studying the craft of other. While there’s nothing new under the sun, some writers have found ways to capture its light and change the world by focusing its heat and power back on to the earth—our neighborhoods, communities, countries—even for just a mere moment.
I draw a lot on images. In my own writing, I want you to feel like you’re in the room where it happens. In Sister Mother Warrior, I make you the warrior Gran Toya, sitting at the table where the boy she raised, Jean Jacques Dessalines converses with the commander of the armed forces, Toussaint L’Overture. They speak about strategies to prosecute the war, and I spend time on the tastes of the foods on the table from broth and its caramelized bits to the roasted pheasant with mushrooms. If this scene were painted or dared to be shown on screen, you should catch the meticulous details and comforts of where they’re sitting, the posturing, even the fumbling of fingers along the buttons of a waistcoat that has crowns or birds or women painted upon them.
Images tell us so much. They are testament to what has been and what could be. Remembering photos of writer friendships like Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man) & Albert Murray (The Omni-Americans) and noting the dapper and different styles of dress. Or photos of James Baldwin & Langston Hughes taking in jazz or supporting a civil rights march—all our precious moments. So for this week’s essay, I went down a rabbit hole searching for images of female writer friendships.
Ralph Ellison, Langston Huges, and James Baldwin
Source: Instagram: @neicyreedus
I started with the Brontë Sisters—Charlotte (1816–1855), Emily (1818–1848), and Anne (1820–1849). These literary powerhouses from Yorkshire, England, originally published under male pseudonyms, but their female forward works—Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Emily’s Wuthering Heights, and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall became classics of English literature. I found myself looking at a painting of the sisters created in 1843 by their brother, Branwell Brontë. He originally painted himself into the portrait but seeing the sunshine, their luminous faces, he painted out his own image, leaving behind a ghostly outline.
Brontë Sisters—Charlotte (1816–1855), Emily (1818–1848), and Anne (1820–1849). Source: Wiki Commons.
Can you imagine Branwell’s humility and protective nature of his sisters and their genius. The portrait now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London for all to see.
From there, I dove into Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) and Anne Sexton (1928–1974). The two revolutionized confessional poetry, tackling themes of mental illness, feminism, and personal suffering. They often attended poetry workshops and lectures together, but I couldn’t find any pictures of them side by side. They may exist, but what if they don’t. What does that mean to have a friendship so secretive and private? To not celebrate the unity publicly—what does that say about feminine unity?
In contrast, I did find images of Anne Sexton and poet Maxine Kumin.
After meeting Sylvia Plath for drinks, Anne still craved company, so she joined a local writers’ group. This where she first heard Maxine Kumin—a quiet but powerful voice sharing a work in progress. They couldn’t have been more different: Maxine, prim and frumpy; Anne, wild and bold. But together, they were yin and yang. They edited each other’s work, co-wrote poems, and built a bond so deep that it became a true creative partnership. You know how rare it is to fully trust another writer with your words? That’s the kind of magic the two had.
One of my favorite modern writer friendships is the trio of Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. Their collaboration has produced, several books including The Lost Summers of Newport—one of my favorites. They’re often seen together at book events wearing pearls, sipping signature cocktails, and laughing with the kind of joy that only comes from shared secrets, success and sisterly love.
The Lost Summers of Newport: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White
Another legendary literary sisterhood? Toni Morrison (1931–2019) & Maya Angelou (1928–2014). These two are iconic, two of the most important voices of the 20th century. I’ve seen photos of them young and free, standing tall in their brilliance. I’ve seen pictures of them in their later years, side by side in wheelchairs, dressed to the nines, radiating wisdom and grace. Their friendship was built on admiration, public support, and deep mutual respect.
Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou. Source: Virginia Tech News.
These images are so encouraging to me. As writers, we often work in solitude, wrestling with words and deadlines. But community matters. These friendships remind me of that.
There’s one more image I found in 2023. —It appeared in the LA Times article, touting a new book, The Sisterhood. The photo, which serves as the book’s cover, captures eight young, beautiful Black women gathered together, smiling for the camera. Let me set the scene…
The hostess, let’s call her June, was waiting for her collection of poems to be published in two months. Every author knows that feeling, the anxiety of waiting for pub day, the stomach-churning dread of the book’s reception, the early reviews. I can imagine June wanting her girls around her for support. She calls her writer friend Alice. Alice is a girl’s girl. She’s written a big exposé for Ms. Magazine and is so close to locating a literary treasure she can taste it. Tasting reminds of her spices. She picks up the rotary dial phone and calls the best cook she knows, Vertamae. Vertamae is a Brooklyn celebrity and a cultural anthropologist, but she brings a pot of gumbo with large shrimp, smoked sausage and proper Geechee rice.
More calls are made, and these writers and activists come to June’s apartment. One friend, I think Toni, who had a couple of books published and a little money in her pockets of her fine leather jacket brings the best champagne she can afford. Maybe one bottle of expensive Veuve Clicquot Brut with the Yellow Label to toast something real special. And then she purchases a few bottles of Moët & Chandon or maybe something sparkling and American like André or California Korbel.
Are you getting the picture? Glasses in hand, toasting each other. A 12-inch long-play album sings in the background Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” or Rose Royce’s “Car Wash.” If June’s love for Bessie Smith wins out, she will make sure the Empress of the Blues’s “Downhearted Blues plays.” After the dishes were cleared, I can imagine them reciting poems, like Anne and Maxine. They might work on plot points or tweak a line or two, passing it amongst themselves, much like Beatriz, Lauren, and Karen.
And just as they ready to leave and tug on their jackets back to brave the February cold, someone suggests a picture. The ladies group together in the living room under June’s hanging picture of singer Bessie Smith. Click. Someone catches the moment. Much like Branwell Brontë, someone has gotten out of the way to commemorate this moment where the sun shined through and touched legends.
Let me formally introduce you to these women:
· June Jordan – A trailblazing poet, essayist, and activist whose work championed social justice, Black empowerment, and the experiences of marginalized communities. In the picture, she was two months away from publishing Things That I Do in the Dark (1977), a poetry collection reflecting on race, gender, and personal identity.
· Alice Walker – A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and activist, best known for her novel The Color Purple and her tireless efforts in preserving Zora Neale Hurston’s legacy, Alice was an established writer, having published Meridian (1976), a novel exploring the civil rights movement.
· Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor – A culinary anthropologist, writer, and Gullah culture advocate is known for her work blending storytelling with food traditions, including her groundbreaking book Vibration Cooking: Or, the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl (1970).
· Toni Morrison – A Nobel Prize-winning author and Random House editor celebrated for her powerful novels like Beloved that illuminate the complexities of Black life, memory, and history stands, all cool, in her leather coat. At the time of this gathering, Toni had already gained literary acclaim with The Bluest Eye (1970) and Sula (1973). By February 1977, she was months away from publishing Song of Solomon, which would earn her the National Book Critics Circle Award.
· Nana Maynard – A newbie who would go on to become a scholar and cultural advocate for highlighting the contributions of Black artists and writers is there in the front row.
· Ntozake Shange (Toe-zaka chan-gay) – A poet, playwright, and novelist renowned for her choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, which helped redefined the portrayal of Black womanhood in art. She was a household name in the 70s and advanced Black feminist theater.
· Audreen Ballard – A gifted writer and thinker who worked for activism and celebrated Black culture, she became an active voice in literary feminist communities.
· Lori Sharpe – Lori was at the beginning of her career, but she went on to become an accomplished poet and writer whose works explore themes of identity, community, and Black womanhood.
Front Row (L to R): Audreen Ballard, Ntozake Shange, Nana Maynard
Back Row (L to R): Vertamae Smith- Grovenor, Alice Walker, Lori Sharpe, Toni Morrison, and June Jordan – Source LA Times.
This photo means the world to me–legends standing on business, celebrating and communing together. It shouts several things at once:
1. Because writing can be an isolated place, seek out friends.
2. Enjoy the best—whatever that may be—when you gather. Eat gumbo, drink the wine.
3. Differences in levels of talent, stages and stature in careers shouldn’t keep anyone from getting a bowl.
4. Toast every one and every accomplishment with good champagne
5. Record the moment. We need good memories.
When I go places, I’m often that one friend taking a hundred pictures. I try to be quick, and I’ve learned to snap photos in live mode. It’s the best way adjust things to make sure everyone looks their best—eyes open, expressions just right, etc. And sometimes static shots can be turned into video so I can relive the moment. It helps to feel not so isolated.
Lastly, it never hurts to be Branwell or the unknown one who snaps the picture. Don’t worry about hogging the light. Today more than ever, someone will catch you and your moment.
So, dear listeners, writers in the house, do something for me: Get with your friends—those soldiering in the same fields and include a few who are doing something different. Celebrate life. Stay hopeful about the things you’re expecting. You deserve delicious gumbo, champagne, and your best girls pouring life into you, just as you do the same for them.
More about information about sisterhoods and writing friendships can be found in the show notes, along with the reading list.
This week buy select books at Mahogany Books at Bookshop.Org.
Show Notes:
Literary Friendships:
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Random House, 1952.
Murray, Albert. The Omni-Americans: Some Alternatives to the Folklore of White Supremacy. Outerbridge & Dienstfrey, 1970.
Riley, Vanessa. Sister Mother Warrior, William Morrow 2022.
Thank you for listening. Hopefully you’ll come again. This is Vanessa Riley.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe
We are so very excited to announce that Laurie Alice Eakes, a Regency Reflections blogger, has signed a three-book contract with Zondervan for a Regency series!
Laurie Alice’s new series is currently titled Strangers at Bonython and follows the romantic adventures of three cousins that are all after the same prize. Mark your calendars! This series is tentatively scheduled to release in the spring of 2014.
It is no surprise that Laurie Alice has won the National Readers Choice Award for Regency. If you have ever read one of her novels, then you already know of her amazing ability to immerse readers into the Regency world and charm them with vivid characters and exciting plots.
Recently I asked Laurie Alice if there was a particular Bible verse that encouraged her throughout her writing career, and she told me that her “career verse” is 1 Thessalonians 5:11 – “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (NIV)
“This verse is my career verse for three reasons,” said Laurie Alice. “First of all, I want to encourage readers who are already believers to be strong and to grow in their faith despite life’s trials. Next, I wish to encourage seekers that the love, forgiveness, and truth of the Lord is real and worth the sacrifice of self. Last, but not least, I wish to encourage others to follow their dreams and let the Lord guide them. I never thought I would sell one book, let alone seventeen.”
Laurie Alice’s dedication to the inspirational Regency genre is not only evident in her writing, but in her willingness to help other writers grow and develop their craft as well.
“Laurie Alice has been a great help and encouragement to me, both personally and professionally,” said Naomi Rawlings, a fellow historical inspirational romance author and Regency Reflections blogger. “She’s always full of historical information and able to point you to the sources you’re looking for, and she has such an amazing willingness to help teach other writers. I praise the Lord for the encouragement she’s been, and I’m so thrilled to see her able to publish another series of Regency novels.”
If you can’t wait until Spring 2014 for a good dose of Laurie Alice’s regency stories, you are in luck … her next Regency, Flight of Fancy, releases in October. Want to read one of her books right now? Then be sure to check out A Necessary Deception.
I was lucky enough to get my part of my college education at a great books program – that is, a program based on the sort of education that’s been going over in England for centuries – back to the Regency time and beyond.
The big differences between what I did and what your average Regency gentleman did are:
1. I got to study the great works of Western literature in translation. Back in the day, you would have read Aristotle, Plato, Virgil and the rest in the original Greek and Latin.
2. I got to do it even though I’m a woman.
Self-Education
I’m almost a decade out of college now, and I still feel the effects of my great books education, in the best of ways. My world grew when I read those books, and, as I reread them, it’s still growing.
And if you’re in America, you’re literate, and you have a public library card, you too can read the books an educated Regency gentleman – an educated medieval gentleman, an educated Roman gentleman! – would have had (or longed to have) on his book shelves.
That’s the beautiful thing about education: it doesn’t have to stop. If there’s something you want to know about, if there’s wisdom you want to gain, you can do it. No, just reading books won’t give you all the benefit of reading them under brilliant professors and it won’t give you all the joy of discussing them with other eager-eyed students. But here are some hacks for the adult, self-starting student:
2. Use a book to help you find and understand good books.The Well-Educated Mind is one that will give you a guided course of good reading.
3. Pick translations of the great works that also have great introductions. Most copies of classic works in translation will contain introductions that explain the context of the work and why it’s important. I hardly ever skip these, because they’re like a mini-tour, giving me a heads-up about what I ought to be looking for when I read the book itself.
What Good Is It?
So, why should you try reading the great works? Well, I can’t answer it for you, but here are some benefits I’ve noticed for myself:
1. I have context. When I read new political ideas or religious ideas, they don’t seem bigger than they should. I can see where they fit on a continuum centuries long. When I read a new story, I can see the echoes of the old story it’s riffing on.
2. The Bible makes more sense. When you read other works written around the same time as the Bible, it helps you understand the Bible better – and also to admire it more! When you see what kinds of things were written at the same time, the truth and beauty of scripture stand out.
3. Some of it’s just plain enjoyable. So much of good literature is valued not just because it’s true or influential, but because it’s beautiful. Indulge yourself – read some Boethius!
4. You can recognize new lies as old ones. There isn’t much new under the sun. And if you’ve read about politics in Rome, you’ll learn something about politics in America. If you’ve read about temptation in Dante, you’ll recognize temptation in your day-to-day life.
5. You can recognize that truth is always truth. There’s something reassuring about reading across the centuries, because you can see that some things don’t change. The goodness of the Lord is everlasting, and it shows up in the written record of human history.
Question for you:
What’s your favorite old book? Or which do you think you’d enjoy reading the most?
I know God is in control, but it makes me sad that children today are not read to, sung to, or taught nursery rhymes. Nursery rhymes originated centuries before the Regency, but were used even then for early language skill learning.
Two well-known nursery rhymes refer to school: Mary Had a Little Lamb (it followed her to school one day), and Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (This is the way we come home from school).
In our house we enjoy Kate Greenaway’s Nursery Rhyme Classics, a book with beautiful illustrations, mostly of children in Regency dress. Greenaway was a preeminent illustrator who lived from 1846 to 1901. Her drawings take you to a life forever beautiful, with children dancing in flowery meadows.
She used the Empire, Regency, and late-18th century fashions for her most of her nursery rhyme illustrations. They are full of high-waisted dresses, pinafores, mobcaps, straw bonnets, and smock frocks. Some of her illustrations are of particular interest to Regency fans, since they feature young ladies and we can get a good look at many outfits. Great inspiration for our novels!
The popularity of her drawings led to a clothing fad in the 1880s and 1890s which had London’s mothers dressing their children Greenaway style.
Wondering what your favorite nursery rhymes are? Do you teach them to your children?
In Regency England, education levels varied drastically from class to class and even person to person. For some people, it was the lack of availability that limited their education. If the family couldn’t afford tutors, then the children could only learn as much as their parents or governess knew.
Churches were starting to make some basic schooling available but it was limited and crowded and served many purposes besides just education.
Most of the public schools for young boys (which are much closer to the idea of private school in the US, or more to the point boarding school) had scholarship spots, but they could be difficult to get if you didn’t have tutors to get you up to a certain level before you applied.
Education was really reserved for the elite and well-to-do in Regency England.
This isn’t the case anymore. At least not in first world countries such as the US and UK. Now, everyone can attend school, is even required to by law. You even have options! Public school, private school, magnet schools, home schooling, online schooling, the possibilities are nearly endless on ways for you to get your education.
Options continue even as we age. College, vocational schools, apprenticeships, community classes, continuing education, online tutorials, even newspapers and documentaries put information at our fingertips.
Sadly, many of us take it for granted.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, David BairdAn abandoned English school desk
Nearly every teenager is back in school by now. Where I live, they’ve been in for a month already. Most of them gripe about it. They complain about having to go to school and learn. They skip. They slack. Some of them fail a class and couldn’t care less.
Don’t get me wrong, I know there are some that dedicate themselves to getting to most out of their education. But even kids with high grades can be coasting through school, doing just enough to get by. I know. I was one.
I know adults that have gotten within fifteen hours of a college degree and quit. Not because of money or family obligations. Just quit because they didn’t want to go anymore.
God isn’t happy with this. And as with most things, it drives down to the motive and spirit behind our clinging to ignorance.
“Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more.” Luke 12:48
Based on the gift they have received, everyone should use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10
God has given us the opportunity to learn things. Not just as scholars, but as people. We have access to the internet, to libraries, community and continuing education classes.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Several years ago there was a commercial for a college scholarship fund. The slogan was, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
When God made us in His image, he gave us a mind that could think and learn and be used to make better and wiser decisions using that knowledge.
All too often I find myself wasting that opportunity. I don’t want to take the time to research something, so I let someone else do the leg work and the thinking and just accept their conclusion. Sometimes it just feels safer to be ignorant, so I choose not to open my mind to the moments around me.
I don’t think that’s living up to what God required when he gave me a working brain, free from disease or other conditions that make thinking harder. I don’t think that makes me a good manager of what He gave me.
Be a good manager. Take every opportunity to learn something new. You never know when God will expect you to use it.
Have you ever learned something that seemed pointless at the time but later came in handy?
We love our readers! It’s why we write this blog. Connecting and sharing with a group of people who love Regency England and Inspirational fiction as much as we do inspired us to write our first post back in February.
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In some ways, this is as much your blog as it is ours. Without you, what we do wouldn’t matter. So we wanted to take this moment to ask you, where would you like this blog to go?
What do you like? Would you change anything? Have you had a favorite post that you’d like to see more things similar to?
As we start the approach to our first birthday (still five months away, but coming up fast!) we want to make sure that this blog is meeting your needs and wants.
So tell us what you think in the comments below. You and your opinions matter to us.
As we settle in to enjoy Labor Day, I began to think of what the Regency times would think of such a holiday, a day off to celebrate the working man. In fact, they did have a day to celebrate not working. In fact, they did so every week, on the Sabbath.
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:12-15).
For Anglican Regency England, the Sabbath was Sunday. Typically, the only work allowed in keeping with the Sabbath would be the preparation of the food and dressing. If one considered writing letters, “creating.” The correspondence would have to wait. Cultivating your land (if you were lucky enough to inherit or purchase) would have to be delayed. Housework? Well, hopefully your home was clean the day before and would be sustained until Monday. Remember, you should only minimally use your servants (if you could afford the help) and servants needed time for church and Sabbath observation too.
Outings other than to the parish? If one could walk to a neighbors as opposed to engaging a coachman and carriage, it could be permitted, but don’t get too merry socializing. The Bow Street Runners or local magistrates might apprehend you, like they did many drinkers and gamblers placing them in stocks on the public ‘green’. Nothing like a little public humiliation to get you to uphold the Sabbath.
So on this day, like I did Sunday, I’ll take a moment to reflect then sneak back to my quill.
Laurie Alice Eakes
Kristy Cambron
Kristi Ann Hunter
