Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • December 19, 2016

Dec. 8,1853.  Last night we had the first meeting of the class of elocution.  It was very pleasant, but my deficiency of ear was never more apparent to myself . . .I practised {sic.} after I came home, with the family as audience.  H. says my ear is competent only to vulgar hearing, and I cannot appreciate nice distinctions . . . . Coloring I might have been good in, for I do think my eyes are better than those of any one I know.


Maria Mitchell did seem to have a problem with her ears.  When in Europe, she attended the opera as everyone who travelled throughout Europe would do – it was not just part of the visit but also of the education that resulted from a European trip.  The issue was that she was tone deaf and try as she might, she could never appreciate or enjoy the opera.  It did not stop her from trying though!  And I can see where the process of elocution might be difficult as well and the comments that “H.” (her youngest brother, Henry) makes to her are somewhat understandable – she doesn’t hear the difference.


Her feelings about color – and having better eyes – VERY true!  Not just because she was an astronomer or natural scientist – she was a natural observer and incredibly observant.  You’d be surprise at what people do NOT notice – but not Maria!  Which of course made her an even better scientist!


JNLF

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Lynn, Ap. 25 1869  My dear President, I am not sure I told you how long I must be away from the College. If I took only the Sunday’s rest, it would be possible for me to reach the Obs. By Tuesday, but I feel the need of more than one day of quiet, before I enter upon the new and incomprehensible life before me . . . William Mitchell died on April 19, 1869 and for the first time, Maria Mitchell was alone. Save for her trip to the southern United States and Europe in 1857 and 1858, her father was always by her side. She did not know much of a day in her life without him nearby and she knows that. It was difficult for her – and her siblings worried about her and this new world she was now in. She had been – expect for that trip – the caregiver for both of her parents. Her mother, Lydia Coleman Mitchell, died in 1861 on Nantucket and Maria had cared for her as well. She was the child who became the caregiver of the family – both in her youth as her siblings sought her out for care, humor, love, and adventures while their mother was busy with younger children and household duties – and then her parents as the only child who did not marry and remained by their sides. JNLF
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