Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 16, 2022

May 11, 1853. I could not help thinking of Esther {a much-loved cousin who had recently died} a few evenings since when I was observing. A meteor flashed upon me suddenly, very bright, very short-lived; it seemed to me that it was sent for me especially, for it greeted me almost the first instant I looked up, and was gone in a second . . . it was as fleeting and as beautiful as the smile upon Esther’s face the last time I saw her.


Maria Mitchell would also write a poem about this much-loved cousin. I am unsure which side Esther was on – while we have a fairly extensive genealogy for William Mitchell’s side, there are still holes – and I have little for Lydia Coleman Mitchell, Maria’s mother.


This passage is interesting.  For me, the fact that this dates to 1853 stands out. After the Great Fire of 1846, as I have noted before, Maria destroyed many of her personal papers and seems to have continued to do so well into the late 1850s. So this is one of the few bits from the early 1850s. I think it also illustrates just how sensitive Maria was and also how spiritual she was – relating that meteor to her cousin, Esther. You are never supposed to judge a book by its cover and that’s just what people do about Maria when they see her photograph. They think she looks grumpy or mean, even boring. You have to remember that a nineteenth century photograph was MUCH different than today – or even fifty years ago. A photograph in the 1800s was a most often posed studio affair that cost a great deal of money. A solemn occasion – nit a candid photograph. And the exposure time – buy the 1850s it was about twenty seconds (down from 20 minutes at first!) – so can YOU imagine waiting that long? And dental issues. Why smile if your teeth are in bad shape or even if you have to hold that firm smile for 20 seconds?!


My above diatribe means that people miss those things about Maria – they only see an image and pass judgment. She was creative, clever, intelligent – though she was a bit of a plugger and it did not come naturally! – loving, warm, funny – she had a great sense of humor! – and she had a way of looking at the world like few others.


As Maria once said – “Standing under the canopy of the stars you can scarcely do a petty deed or think a wicked thought.” (One of my favorites.) So maybe, Esther was up there sending out that shooting star to remind Maria that someplace in the infinite universe she lived on – even if just in Maria’s heart and mind’s eye.



JNLF


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Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 19, 2025
May 27. {1857} There is this great difference between Niagara and other wonders of the world, that is you get no idea from descriptions or even from paintings. Of the Mammoth Cave you have a conception from what you are told, of the Natural Bridge you get really a truthful impression from a picture. But Cave and Bridge are in still life, Niagara is all activity and change. No picture gives you the varying form of the water of the change of color; no description conveys to your mind the ceaseless roar. So too the ocean must be unrepresentable to those who have not looked upon it. Maria Mitchell would tour the Mammoth Cave and the Natural Bridge during her trip to the southern United States as Prudence Swift’s chaperone – I have written of these travels and Prudence before. Niagara Falls is a place she likely saw on her way to visit her younger sister Phebe Mitchell Kendall, who once lived with her husband in Pennsylvania. I was a bit surprised that she feels the way she does about the Cave and Bridge being well-represented by images but I do kind of se her point. But Niagara, the ocean, any moving body of water – she is right. You don’t fully comprehend it until you hear it, touch and taste it, see its colors, and feel it splash, sprinkle, or mist across your face. Niagara certainly mists across your face – sort of like a breezy day at the beach and the salt mist that slowly builds across your face and coats the beach grass so that it shimmers in the sunlight. JNLF
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