Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words
Nantucket, Mass. June 28 {1857}
My dear Miss Dix,
I expect to leave Europe in the Arabia on July 22nd. Can you do anything for me, in the way so common, of giving good advice. I will try to be more mindful of it than recipients usually are. I expect to travel with a young girl and without gentleman and shall be most grateful for any information as to any peculiar trials which may be thrown our way.
Unfortunately, Maria Mitchell’s fears were real and I find it not at all surprising that she went on a fact finding effort to ensure that she and her charge, Prudence Swift, would know what they might be confronted with and how to handle it as they traveled through Europe unaccompanied – still not something regularly done. And, she asks Dorthea Dix to boot! Also, note that in this letter she has dropped Quaker speech, utilizing the word “you,” something Quakers would never do. But by this time, Maria had long left Quaker meeting.
JNLF
Recent Posts


