I'd like to challenge every "Women's Studies" class in every university, to study this book! I doubt very much that they would claim these two authors as "early feminists" any more!
http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/books/americanwomanshome/amwh.html
the pages may be a bit hard to navigate but it is well worth it to explore this book, which has been carefully reproduced online.
10 comments:
I noticed that there are page numbers typed out in blue. If I put my curser on the blue numbers a hand shows, but when I click the mouse, nothing happens. Is it the page or is it my computer that is not responding. I find myself very interested in reading more.
This is one of my favorite books!
you can download it in other formats here
http://manybooks.net/titles/beecheretext04mrwmh10.html
I have it one my PDA and am going to burn a disk with the PDF version as a gift for a friend.
The first chapter "the Christian Family" is so good. I love the way they explain what it means to be humble, to lower yourself in order to lift someone else.
One of the things that struck me was how many of the things we worry about today were concerns in the past as well.
Those blue page numbers don't work, but it doesn't matter, because I think you can eventually read all those pages another way, on the site.
Or use the link that WanderingRose posted. Yes they were concerned about the same things. I was struck by the passage, "The hardest work of all is to restore a guilty, selfish, hardened spirit to honor, truth, and purity;" Today we are all concerned about the child, or even the grown children, who exhibit hardened, selfish hearts!
It is interesting how these women had matters of the home down to a science, something I've never heard modern feminists or women's studies classes ever talk about.
Mrs. Sherman: Down to a science is right! What a book! Rather intimidating. I am fascinated about some of the little things, like her comments about the air in a room. We are supposed to be so well educated today, and technology has advanced so much.. This book seems quite relevant for today. It makes me long for a childhood full of woman that could have taught me all these things. I have struggled as a homemaker and a mother. It hasn't been easy, though I treasure this role.
But, seeing this book online, is one of the benefits of our modern technology. Thank you for sharing this.
Mrs Sherman, Thank you for the link to this resource. I have downloaded the first chapter and look forward to reading it.
Thank you so much for posting this link...I will enjoy reading this.
Thank you Mrs Sherman for the book and thank you wanderingrose for the link. I was able to download a copy. It looks like a wonderful book.
Thank you dear Lady Lydia for the wonderful book and also the website it is on.
There are many more excellent home management and cooking books there as well as an excellent selection of Sunday School books from the 19th century including one I am currently reading - "The Young Woman's Friend, or, The Duties, Trials, Loves and Hopes of Woman" that is filled with wisdom on the role of women in society and the home.
How arrogant this generation is that thinks that we have all the knowledge as to what the role of women is or how to live our lives. I am constantly amazed at the arrogance of these modern "women's studies" groups and departments in colleges who haven't even bothered to read, much less consider or follow the advice of their "so-called feminist" heroines of the 19th century who so clearly taught truths in absolute opposition to those falsities these trapped and frustrated creatures promulgate.
I am sad to report that a most vicious book has been published which not only labels these wonderful women as feminists but as lesbians. "To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America — a History" by Lillian Faderman is a ridiculous collection of theories so unrelated to the truth that one is forced to wonder if the author ever read anything these women ever wrote. Unfortunately she is not the only one making such ridiculous assumptions - there are many web pages devoted to the labeling as homosexual of many devout, upstanding, wise women (and men) who are now dead and thus cannot defend themselves from such terrible untruths!
Thank you for your VITAL ministry. Finding the truths and teachings these wise teachers of old have to give (truths that are as useful today as when they were first written) and then giving them to us so that we may learn is SO important! Because of these lessons we become better women, wives, and mothers. Thank you again and know that you are remembered in my prayers and heart as a dear teacher and role model!
- Meg
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