Mrs. Quartermoon's School For Young Ladies

When Dolly and Minerva went to school, their parents chose Mrs. Quartermoon's School For Young Ladies, and excellent establishment that provided a sound education with a cheerful atmosphere. Mrs. Q. appeared to be a widow with two small daughters, but it was rumored that her husband had disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. Deve the Camel was a cherished pet of all the girls. 

JADG - Womanly Skills

It's the last category for the Jane Austen Drinking Game - Womanly Skills! As I have covered those topics before, I will offer up Minerva and Dolly's passion for geography.

When I was in 5th grade, about 10 years old, my social studies teacher had us draw freehand maps, which I loved doing. With all the lines of latitude and longitude in place, I would draw in the boundaries, and then with colored pencils, fill in all the rivers, mountains, and other landmarks, cities and roads, and then make a beautiful legend and compass rose. I wish I had kept my map of New England. It was the best in the class.

Much more recently, I found that this exercise was the foundation for geography education in the 19th century. It utilized art and penmanship skills while the student learned geography. I am amazed that these are usually in bound school notebooks, meaning the student did not make mistakes and have to tear out any page. There is a wonderful assortment of what are referred to as "schoolgirl maps", the surviving work of students from the early 1800s. Boys did this exercise as well, but as is common, the females tended to keep their school notebooks tucked away in a trunk or attic, and pass them on to descendants. Frances Henshaw's notebook is especially beautiful. I took a copy of her map of Vermont and pasted it in the inside of a student desk I refinished a few years ago.

Here, Dolly and Minerva are updating their maps, due to recent explorations of the American west by Lewis and Clark.

Womanly Skills: A Foreign Language

Just as American school system promotes the idea that having a smattering of a foreign language is a necessity for every citizen, so were well-off women in the 18th and 19th centuries expected to be able to read, write, and converse in another tongue. It allowed them to read foreign literature and converse with visitors from abroad. Most women studied French, as I did, because it was the language of the arts. Despite years in the classroom, my French is pretty miserable, due to lack of actual real-life exposure.  It has stood me in good stead in stock-piling a large mental list of Latin root words, reading street signs in Quebec and much of Canada, and a fun session assisting Khmer carpenters work up a supply list for a new pavilion they were constructing at my old school in Cambodia.

Dolly and Minerva's cousin Geneviève learned French and see how it opened doors for her! Who wouldn't want to hob-nob with Sir Percy Blakeney, the famed Scarlet Pimpernel, and listen first-hand to his thrilling tales of how he, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, and the other members of The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, rescued innocent victims of the French Revolution. Give Sir Percy a few glasses of wine and he'll likely have his guests rolling on the floor laughing with his famous "They Seek Him Here" ditty. Geneviève gets to meet all sorts of interesting people with impeccable manners and a most fastidious sense of fashion. What's more, many of them have handsome sons.

On the other hand, Dolly and Minerva have been subjected to a rigorous study of Latin and Greek, due to the interests of Father, an enthusiastic member of the Society of Antiquaries of London. It has become increasingly apparent to the girls that anyone likely to converse with them in those languages has been dead for centuries, if not millennia. 

Translation: Father: Honey, I'm home!
                     Mother: Hello, James. What's new?
                     Dolly: Whatever is said in Latin sounds more profound.
                     Minerva: As if!
                     Dolly: Everyone's doing it!
                     Minerva: Get a life!

What Every Woman Ought To Know

Back in 6th Grade (way back), our teacher was talking about life for girls in colonial America. Girls were encouraged to learn the"Three R's", Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmatic, and the rest was at-home training for their future lives as homemakers and wives of farmers, laborers, or artisans. If a family was well-off, a girl might have a tutor or governess at home and continue on at a school for young ladies. There, she would study literature, geography, and history. She would learn to speak French reasonably well, to play an instrument or sing, embroider, paint pictures, and dance. Most importantly, she would learn deportment: how a lady should behave. As my teacher was telling us this, my mind wandered (as it usually did), putting myself into that situation. What bliss! What fulfillment! Imagine, eleven-year-old Me, spending all your days doing exactly what you love doing! 

Then (crash back to earth), I realized that she was describing how limited and unfair life was to females of those times. Today, we have choices and opportunities! Alright, I am happy for girls who want to be doctors, lawyers, scientists, and heads of state. But does that mean I can't go to Miss Standstraight's School for Young Ladies and not be considered a sad commentary on the the quality of education for females of today? It was 1963, and the times, they were a-changin'. One thing hasn't changed. If your earning capacity is based on the above skills, you are going to need a tall, dark, second income, as a single friend of mine once commented.

Here we begin the education of Dolly and Minerva. A governess was employed to live in their home and instruct the girls. Being a governess was one of the few respectable opportunities for a woman of good background who found herself with some education and no husband. It was often a lonely life, as she was ranked below the family she worked for, but above the servants, and, therefore, unable to socialize with either group. I'm sure you recognize Jane Eyre. I was in 8th Grade when I read (ate up) this book. It was the 1943 edition with the illustrations by Fritz Eichenberg that captured perfectly the dark agony of the story. Do you remember little Adèle, Jane's pupil? Jane spoke of her so dismissively, as a little "poppet", as the child's mother had taught her to be silly and vain, only thinking of gifts and new dresses. Poor Adèle! I think she turned out alright.