Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals - Maria Mitchell
[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 "Phedre" 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 Struve'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 Struve--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 with the mainland was exposed to the same danger, so that
it was difficult to obtain such necessaries of life as the island could
not furnish. There were still to be seen, a few years ago, the marks
left on the moors, where fields of corn and potatoes had been planted in
that trying time.
So the young couple began their housekeeping in a very simple way. Mr.
Mitchell used to describe it as being very delightful; it was noticed
that Mrs. Mitchell never expressed herself on the subject,--it was she,
probably, who had the planning to do, to make a little money go a great
way, and to have everything smooth and serene when her husband came
home.
Mrs. Mitchell was a woman of strong character, very dignified, honest
almost to an extreme, and perfectly self-controlled where control was
necessary. She possessed very strong affections, but her self-control
was such that she was undemonstrative.
She kept a close watch over her children, was clearheaded, knew their
every fault and every merit, and was an indefatigable worker. It was she
who looked out for the education of the children and saw what their
capacities were.
Mr. Mitchell was a man of great suavity and gentleness; if left to
himself he would never have denied a single request made to him by one
of his children. His first impulse was to gratify every desire of their
hearts, and if it had not been for the clear head of the mother, who
took care that the household should be managed wisely and economically,
the results might have been disastrous. The father had wisdom enough to
perceive this, and when a child came to him, and in a very pathetic and
winning way proffered some request for an unusual indulgence, he
generally replied, "Yes, if mother thinks best."
Mr. Mitchell was very fond of bright colors; as they were excluded from
the dress of Friends, he indulged himself wherever it was possible. If
he were buying books, and there was a variety of binding, he always
chose the copies with red covers. Even the wooden framework of the
reflecting telescope which he used was painted a brilliant red. He liked
a gay carpet on the floor, and the walls of the family sitting-room in
the house on Vestal street were covered with paper resplendent with
bunches of pink roses. Suspended by a cord from the ceiling in the
centre of this room was a glass ball, filled with water, used by Mr.
Mitchell in his experiments on polarization of light, flashing its
dancing rainbows about the room.
At the back of this house was a little garden, full of gay flowers: so
that if the garb of the young Mitchells was rather sombre, the setting
was bright and cheerful, and the life in the home was healthy and
wide-awake. When the hilarity became excessive the mother would put in
her little check, from time to time, and the father would try to look as
he ought to, but he evidently enjoyed the whole.
As Mr. Mitchell was kind and indulgent to his children, so he was the
sympathetic friend and counsellor of many in trouble who came to him for
help or advice. As he took his daily walk to the little farm about a
mile out of town, where, for an hour or two he enjoyed being a farmer,
the people would come to their doors to speak to him as he passed, and
the little children would run up to him to be patted on the head.
He treated animals in the same way. He generally kept a horse. His
children complained that although the horse was good when it was bought,
yet as Mr. Mitchell never allowed it to be struck with a whip, nor urged
to go at other than a very gentle trot, the horse became thoroughly
demoralized, and was no more fit to drive than an old cow!
There was everything in the home which could amuse and instruct
children. The eldest daughter was very handy at all sorts of
entertaining occupations; she had a delicate sense of the artistic, and
was quite skilful with her pencil.
The present kindergarten system in its practice is almost identical with
the home as it appeared in the first half of this century, among
enlightened people. There is hardly any kind of handiwork done in the
kindergarten that was not done in the Mitchell family, and in other
families of their acquaintance. The girls learned to sew and cook, just
as they learned to read,--as a matter of habit rather than of
instruction. They learned how to make their own clothes, by making their
dolls' clothes,--and the dolls themselves were frequently home-made, the
eldest sister painting the faces much more prettily than those obtained
at the shops; and there was a great delight in gratifying the fancy, by
dressing the dolls, not in Quaker garb, but in all of the most brilliant
colors and stylish shapes worn by the ultra-fashionable.
There were always plenty of books, and besides those in the house there
was the Atheneum Library, which, although not a free library, was very
inexpensive to the shareholders.
There was another very striking difference between that epoch and the
present. The children of that day were taught to value a book and to
take excellent care of it; as an instance it may be mentioned that one
copy of Colburn's "Algebra" was used by eight children in the Mitchell
family, one after the other. The eldest daughter's name was written on
the inside of the cover; seven more names followed in the order of their
ages, as the book descended.
With regard to their reading, the mother examined every book that came
into the house. Of course there were not so many books published then as
now, and the same books were read over and over. Miss Edgeworth's
stories became part of their very lives, and Young's "Night Thoughts,"
and the poems of Cowper and Bloomfield were conspicuous objects on the
bookshelves of most houses in those days. Mr. Mitchell was very apt,
while observing the heavens in the evening, to quote from one or the
other of these poets, or from the Bible. "An undevout astronomer is mad"
was one of his favorite quotations.
Among the poems which Maria learned in her childhood, and which was
repeatedly upon her lips all through her life, was, "The spacious
firmament on high." In her latter years if she had a sudden fright which
threatened to take away her senses she would test her mental condition
by repeating that poem; it is needless to say that she always remembered
it, and her nerves instantly relapsed into their natural condition.
The lives of Maria Mitchell and her numerous brothers and sisters were
passed in simplicity and with an entire absence of anything exciting or
abnormal.
The education of their children is enjoined upon the parents by the
"Discipline," and in those days at least the parents did not give up all
the responsibility in that line to the teachers. In Maria Mitchell's
childhood the children of a family sat around the table in the evenings
and studied their lessons for the next day,--the parents or the older
children assisting the younger if the lessons were too difficult. The
children attended school five days in the week,--six hours in the
day,--and their only vacation was four weeks in the summer, generally in
August.
The idea that children over-studied and injured their health was never
promulgated in that family, nor indeed in that community; it seems to be
a notion of the present half-century.
Maria's first teacher was a lady for whom she always felt the warmest
affection, and in her diary, written in her later years, occurs this
allusion to her:
"I count in my life, outside of family relatives, three aids given me on
my journey; they are prominent to me: the woman who first made the
study-book charming; the man who sent me the first hundred dollars I
ever saw, to buy books with; and another noble woman, through whose
efforts I became the owner of a telescope; and of these, the first was
the greatest."
As a little girl, Maria was not a brilliant scholar; she was shy and
slow; but later, under her father's tuition, she developed very rapidly.
After the close of the war of 1812, when business was resumed and the
town restored to its normal prosperity, Mr. Mitchell taught school,--at
first as master of a public school, and afterwards in a private school
of his own. Maria attended both of these schools.
Mr. Mitchell's pupils speak of him as a most inspiring teacher, and he
always spoke of his experiences in that capacity as very happy.
When her father gave up teaching, Maria was put under the instruction of
Mr. Cyrus Peirce, afterwards principal of the first normal school
started in the United States.
Mr. Peirce took a great interest in Maria, especially in developing her
taste for mathematical study, for which she early showed a remarkable
talent.
The books which she studied at the age of seventeen, as we know by the
date of the notes, were Bridge's "Conic Sections," Hutton's
"Mathematics," and Bowditch's "Navigator." At that time Prof. Benjamin
Peirce had not published his "Explanations of the Navigator and
Almanac," so that Maria was obliged to consult many scientific books and
reports before she could herself construct the astronomical tables.
Mr. Mitchell, on relinquishing school-teaching, was appointed cashier of
the Pacific Bank; but although he gave up teaching, he by no means gave
up studying his favorite science, astronomy, and Maria was his willing
helper at all times.
Mr. Mitchell from his early youth was an enthusiastic student of
astronomy, at a time, too, when very little attention was given to that
study in this country. His evenings, when pleasant, were spent in
observing the heavens, and to the children, accustomed to seeing such
observations going on, the important study in the world seemed to be
astronomy. One by one, as they became old enough, they were drafted into
the service of counting seconds by the chronometer, during the
observations.
Some of them took an interest in the thing itself, and others considered
it rather stupid work, but they all drank in so much of this atmosphere,
that if any one had asked a little child in this family, "Who was the
greatest man that ever lived?" the answer would have come promptly,
"Herschel."
Maria very early learned the use of the sextant. The chronometers of all
the whale ships were brought to Mr. Mitchell, on their return from a
voyage, to be "rated," as it was called. For this purpose he used the
sextant, and the observations were made in the little back yard of the
Vestal-street home.
There was also a clumsy reflecting telescope made on the Herschelian
plan, but of very great simplicity, which was put up on fine nights in
the same back yard, when the neighbors used to flock in to look at the
moon. Afterwards Mr. Mitchell bought a small Dolland telescope, which
thereafter, as long as she lived, his daughter used for "sweeping"
purposes.
After their removal to the bank building there were added to these an
"altitude and azimuth circle," loaned to Mr. Mitchell by West Point
Academy, and two transit instruments. A little observatory for the use
of the first was placed on the roof of the bank building, and two small
buildings were erected in the yard for the transits. There was also a
much larger and finer telescope loaned by the Coast Survey, for which
service Mr. Mitchell made observations.
At the time when Maria Mitchell showed a decided taste for the study of
astronomy there was no school in the world where she could be taught
higher mathematics and astronomy. Harvard College, at that time, had no
telescope better than the one which her father was using, and no
observatory except the little octagonal projection to the old mansion in
Cambridge occupied by the late Dr. A.P. Peabody.
However, every one will admit that no school nor institution is better
for a child than the home, with an enthusiastic parent for a teacher.
At the time of the annular eclipse of the sun in 1831 the totality was
central at Nantucket. The window was taken out of the parlor on Vestal
street, the telescope, the little Dolland, mounted in front of it, and
with Maria by his side counting the seconds the father observed the
eclipse. Maria was then twelve years old.
At sixteen Miss Mitchell left Mr. Peirce's school as a pupil, but was
retained as assistant teacher; she soon relinquished that position and
opened a private school on Traders' Lane. This school too she gave up
for the position of librarian of the Nantucket Atheneum, which office
she held for nearly twenty years.
This library was open only in the afternoon, and on Saturday evening.
The visitors were comparatively few in the afternoon, so that Miss
Mitchell had ample leisure for study,--an opportunity of which she made
the most. Her visitors in the afternoon were elderly men of leisure, who
enjoyed talking with so bright a girl on their favorite hobbies. When
they talked Miss Mitchell closed her book and took up her knitting, for
she was never idle. With some of these visitors the friendship was kept
up for years.
It was in this library that she found La Place's "Mecanique Celeste,"
translated by her father's friend, Dr. Bowditch; she also read the
"Theoria Motus," of Gauss, in its original Latin form. In her capacity
as librarian Miss Mitchell to a large extent controlled the reading of
the young people in the town. Many of them on arriving at mature years
have expressed their gratitude for the direction in which their reading
was turned by her advice.
Miss Mitchell always had a special friendship for young girls and boys.
Many of these intimacies grew out of the acquaintance made at the
library,--the young girls made her their confidante and went to her for
sympathy and advice. The boys, as they grew up, and went away to sea,
perhaps, always remembered her, and made a point, when they returned in
their vacations, of coming to tell their experiences to such a
sympathetic listener.
"April 18, 1855. A young sailor boy came to see me to-day. It pleases me
to have these lads seek me on their return from their first voyage, and
tell me how much they have learned about navigation. They always say,
with pride, 'I can take a lunar, Miss Mitchell, and work it up!'
"This boy I had known only as a boy, but he has suddenly become a man
and seems to be full of intelligence. He will go once more as a sailor,
he says, and then try for the position of second mate. He looked as if
he had been a good boy and would make a good man.
"He said that he had been ill so much that he had been kept out of
temptation; but that the forecastle of a ship was no place for
improvement of mind or morals. He said the captain with whom he came
home asked him if he knew me, because he had heard of me. I was glad to
find that the captain was a man of intelligence and had been kind to the
boy."
Miss Mitchell was an inveterate reader. She devoured books on all
subjects. If she saw that boys were eagerly reading a certain book she
immediately read it; if it were harmless she encouraged them to read it;
if otherwise, she had a convenient way of _losing_ the book. In
November, when the trustees made their annual examination, the book
appeared upon the shelf, but the next day after it was again lost. At
this time Nantucket was a thriving, busy town. The whale-fishery was a
very profitable business, and the town was one of the wealthiest in the
State. There was a good deal of social and literary life. In a Friend's
family neither music nor dancing was allowed.
Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell were by no means narrow sectarians, but they
believed it to be best to conform to the rules of Friends as laid down
in the "Discipline." George Fox himself, the founder of the society, had
blown a blast against music, and especially instrumental music in
churches. It will be remembered that the Methodists have but recently
yielded to the popular demand in this respect, and have especially
favored congregational singing.
It is most likely that George Fox had no ear for music himself, and thus
entailed upon his followers an obligation from which they are but now
freeing themselves.
There was plenty of singing in the Mitchell family, and the parents
liked it, especially the father, who, when he sat down in the evening
with the children, would say, "Now sing something." But there could be
no instruction in singing; the children sang the songs that they picked
up from their playmates.
However, one of the daughters bought a piano, and Maria's purse opened
to help that cause along. It would not have been proper for Mr. Mitchell
to help pay for it, but he took a great interest in it, nevertheless. So
indeed did the mother, but she took care not to express herself
outwardly.
The piano was kept in a neighboring building not too far off to be heard
from the house. Maria had no ear for music herself, but she was always
to be depended upon to take the lead in an emergency, so the sisters put
their heads together and decided that the piano must be brought into the
house. When they had made all the preparations the father and mother
were invited to take tea with their married daughter, who lived in
another part of the town and had been let into the secret.
The piano was duly removed and placed in an upper room called the
"hall," where Mr. Mitchell kept the chronometers, where the family
sewing was done, and where the larger part of the books were kept,--a
beautiful room, overlooking "the square," and a great gathering-place
for all their young friends. When the piano was put in place, the
sisters awaited the coming of the parents. Maria stationed herself at
the foot of the stairs, ready to meet them as they entered the front
door; another, half-way between, was to give the signal to a third, who
was seated at the piano. The footsteps were heard at the door, the
signal was given; a lively tune was started, and Maria confronted the
parents as they entered.
"What's that?" was the exclamation.
"Well," said Maria, soothingly, "we've had the piano brought over."
"Why, of all things!" exclaimed the mother.
The father laid down his hat, walked immediately upstairs, entered the
hall, and said, "Come, daughter, play something lively!"
So that was all.
But that was not all for Mr. Mitchell; he had broken the rules accepted
by the Friends, and it was necessary for some notice to be taken of it,
so a dear old Friend and neighbor came to deal with him. Now, to be
"under dealings," as it is called, was a very serious matter,--to be
spoken of only under the breath, in a half whisper.
"I hear that thee has a piano in thy house," said the old Friend.
"Yes, my daughters have," was the reply.
"But it is in thy house," pursued the Friend.