Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals

Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters,
and Journals

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and
Journals
by Maria Mitchell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give
it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals
Author: Maria Mitchell
Release Date: November 21, 2003 [EBook #10202]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARIA
MITCHELL ***

Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sandra Brown and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: Maria Mitchell]

MARIA MITCHELL
LIFE, LETTERS, AND JOURNALS

Compiled By

PHEBE MITCHELL KENDALL

Illustrated
1896

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
The parents--Home life--Education, teachers, books--Astronomical
instruments--Solar eclipse of 1831--Teaching--Appointment as
librarian of Nantucket Atheneum--Friendships for young
people--Extracts from diary, 1855--Music--The
piano--Society--Story-telling--Housework--Extract from diary, 1854

CHAPTER II
"Sweeping" the heavens--Discovery of the comet, 1847--Frederick VI.
and the comet--Letters from G. P. Bond and Hon. Edward
Everett--Admiral Smyth--American Academy--American Association
for the Advancement of Science--Extract from diary, 1855--Dorothea
Dix--Esther--Divers extracts from diary, 1853, 1854--Comet of
1854--Computations for comet--Visit to Cape Cod--Sandwich and
Plymouth--Pilgrim Hall--Rev. James Freeman Clarke--Accidents in
observing

CHAPTER III
Wires in the transit instrument--Deacon Greele--Smithsonian
fund--"Doing"--Rachel in "Phèdre" and "Adrienne"--Emerson--The
hard winter

CHAPTER IV
Southern tour--Chicago--St. Louis--Scientific Academy of St.
Louis--Dr. Pope--Dr. Seyffarth--Mississippi river--Sand-bars--Cherry
blossoms--Eclipse of sun--Natchez--New Orleans--Slave
market--Negro church--The "peculiar institution"--Bible--Judge
Smith--Travelling without escort--Savannah--Rice plantations--Negro
children--Miss Murray--Charleston--Drive--Condition of slaves--Old
buildings--Miss Rutledge--Mr. Capers--Class
meeting--Hospitality--Mrs. Holbrook--Miss
Pinckney--Manners--Portraits--Miss Pinckney's father--George
Washington--Augusta--Nashville--Mrs. Fogg--Mrs. Polk--Charles
Sumner--Mammoth cave--Chattanooga

CHAPTER V
First European tour--Liverpool--London--Rev. James Martineau--Mr.
John Taylor--Mr. Lassell--Liverpool observatory--The
Hawthornes--Shop-keepers and waiters--Greenwich observatory--Sir
George Airy--Visits to Greenwich--Herr Struvé's mission to
England--Dinner party--General Sabine--Westminster
Abbey--Newton's monument--British museum--Four great men--St.
Paul's--Dr. Johnson--Opera--Aylesbury--Admiral Smyth's
family--Amateur astronomers--Hartwell house--Dr. Lee

CHAPTER VI
Cambridge--Dr. Whewell--Table conversation--Professor
Challis--Professor Adams--Customs--Professor
Sedgwick--Caste--King's Chapel--Fellows-- Ambleside--Coniston
waters--The lakes--Miss Southey--Collingwood--Letter to her

father--Herschels--London rout--Professor Stokes--Dr.
Arnott--Edinboro'--Observatory--Glasgow observatory--Professor
Nichol--Dungeon Ghyll--English language--English and
Americans--Boys and beggars

CHAPTER VII
Adams and Leverrier--The discovery of the planet Neptune--Extract
from papers--Professor Bond, of Cambridge, Mass.--Paris--Imperial
observatory--Mons. and Mme. Leverrier--Reception at
Leverrier's--Rooms in observatory--Rome--Impressions--Apartments in
Rome and Paris--Customs--Holy week--Vespers at St.
Peter's--Women--Frederika Bremer--Paul Akers--Harriet
Hosmer--Collegio Romano--Father Secchi--Galileo--Visit to the
Roman observatory--Permission from Cardinal
Antonelli--Spectroscope

CHAPTER VIII
Mrs. Somerville--Berlin--Humboldt--Mrs. Mitchell's illness and
death--Removal to Lynn, Mass.--Telescope presented to Miss Mitchell
by Elizabeth Peabody and others--Letters from Admiral Smyth--Colors
of stars--Extract from letter to a friend--San Marino medal--Other
extracts

CHAPTER IX
Life at Vassar College--Anxious mammas--Faculty
meetings--President Hill--Professor Peirce--Burlington, Ia., and solar
eclipse--Classes at Vassar--Professor Mitchell and her pupils--Extracts
from diary--Aids --Scholarships--Address to her students--Imagination

in science--"I am but a woman"--Maria Mitchell endowment
fund--Emperor of Brazil--President Raymond's death--Dome
parties--Comet, 1881--The apple-tree--"Honor girls"--Mr. Matthew
Arnold

CHAPTER X
Second visit to Europe--Russia--Extracts from diary and
letters--Custom-house peculiarities--Russian
railways--Domes--Russian thermometers and calendars--The drosky
and drivers--Observatory at Pulkova--Herr Struvé--Scientific position
of Russia--Language-- Religion--Democracy of the
Church--Government--A Russian family--London, 1873--Frances
Power Cobbe--Bookstores in London--Glasgow College for Girls

CHAPTER XI
Papers--Science--Eclipse of 1878, Denver, Colorado--Colors of stars

CHAPTER XII
Religious matters--President Taylor's remarks--Sermons--George
MacDonald--Rev. Dr. Peabody--Dr. Lyman Abbott--Professor
Henry--Meeting of the American Scientific Association at
Saratoga--Professor Peirce-- Concord School of
Philosophy--Emerson--Miss Peabody--Dr. Harris--Easter
flowers--Whittier--Rich days--Cooking schools--Anecdotes

CHAPTER XIII

Letter-writing--Woman suffrage--Membership in various
societies.--Women's Congress at Syracuse, N.Y.--Picnic at Medfield,
Mass.--Degrees from different colleges--Published papers.--Failure in
health--Resigns her position at Vassar College--Letters from various
persons--Death--Conclusion
APPENDIX
Introductory note by Hon. Edward Everett
Correspondence relative to the Danish medal

CHAPTER I
1818-1846
BIRTH--PARENTS--HOME SURROUNDINGS AND EARLY LIFE
Maria Mitchell was born on the island of Nantucket, Mass., Aug. 1,
1818. She was the third child of William and Lydia [Coleman]
Mitchell.
Her ancestors, on both sides, were Quakers for many generations; and it
was in consequence of the intolerance of the early Puritans that these
ancestors had been obliged to flee from the State of Massachusetts, and
to settle upon this island, which, at that time, belonged to the State of
New York.
For many years the Quakers, or Friends, as they called themselves,
formed much the larger part of the inhabitants of Nantucket, and thus
were enabled to crystallize, as it were, their own ideas of what family
and social life should be; and although in course of time many "world's
people" swooped down and helped to swell the number of islanders,
they still continued to hold their own methods, and to bring up their
children in accordance with their own conceptions of "Divine light."
Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell were married during the war of 1812; the former

lacking one week of being twenty-one years old, and the latter being a
few months over twenty.
The people of Nantucket by their situation endured many hardships
during this period; their ships were upon the sea a prey to privateers,
and communication