Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 18, 2024

November 26 {1857} A few days ago, I received a card “Mrs. Baden Powell at Home Nov. 25th.” Of course I did not know if it was a teaparty, a wedding, or a soiree, so I appealed to Mrs. Airy.  She said “it’s a London rout, I never went to one, but you’ll find a crowd, and a good many interesting people.”


I took a cab, and went at nine o’clock. The servant who opened the door passed me to another who showed me the cloak-room. The girl who took my shawl numbered it . . . Then she pointed to the other end of the room, and there I saw a table of tea and coffee . . . and then the servant asked my name, yelled (shrieked) it up the stairs to another, and he announced it . . . People kept coming until the room was quite full . . . {Dr. Toynbee} told me that a fine looking . . . old man was Roget, of the ‘Thesaurus;’ and another old man in the corner was Dr. {Neil} Arnott, of the “Elements of Physics” . . .  Afterwards I was introduced to him . . . {He} asked me if I wore as many stockings when I was observing as the Herschels – he said Sir William put on twelve pairs and Caroline fourteen!


At this “rout,” Maria Mitchell met many famous scientists and mathematicians, among others. Routs were informal, crowded London parties or social gatherings hosted by the upper class of England – and the more crowded the better! There could be just conversations – think of a present day cocktail party – or games and music. Mrs. Powell was the same woman who had been at the dinner party hosted by the Airys just a month before this journal entry of Maria’s and which I blogged about last month. 


I find the above exchange that Maria had at the rout to be incredibly humorous especially coming from a physician and inventor who created all sorts of improvements for ventilation and heating – and won awards for them! Obviously, keeping warm was always on his mind.  But how wonderful to have this little tidbit about Sir William Herschel and his sister, Caroline, both astronomers.  Maria would meet Sir William’s son, John, on her trip to Europe and carry on a lifelong friendship with he and his family – something I have noted before.  I love the fact that I now know how many socks Caroline Herschel put on for observing when it was cold!


JNLF

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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 27, 2025
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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

Lily of the Valley

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 12, 2025
I have been watching it. Waiting. Today, I was rewarded with the scent as they have now started to open. From late fall, all through the winter and early spring, there is a very large patch of dirt with traces of roots and purple-like portions of some sort of plant. Then, they slowly start to send their shoots forth – up from that dusty pile of dirt come little greenish pips that become the leaves. Then, you start to see the stems tightened against the leaves and then lovely chartreuse buds are visible that then turn to white and slowly open from top to bottom. As soon as they star to open, I wait. Knowing that one morning I will walk by soon and then I will get a delicious waft of Lily of the Valley. I have written about this patch at the Mitchell House before. I have always been fascinated by the fact that these grow in full sun – they have no shade whatsoever. And this patch is old. I’m not sure how old – I do not think late nineteenth century but possibly – or maybe very early twentieth century. We have one or two images in the collection from the early 1900s but one does not show the ground, and the other not so much either. I also think this is one of the earliest flowering patches of Lily of the Valley on island – let me know if you’ve seen others this early. And in FULL sun to boot! But in any case, today was the day – May 5, 2025 – that I got the first waft. Saturday when I was here, they were not ready yet. But now, they are! And when I smell it, I know why it was my mother-in-law’s favorite flower. JNLF
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