Bowne, Eliza Southgate
"A girl''s life eighty years ago : Selections from the letters of Eliza…." by Eliza Southgate Bowne is a collection of letters written in the late 19th century. The volume gathers the spirited correspondence of a New England girl coming of age at the turn of the nineteenth century, tracing her education, family ties, travels, social whirl, and courtship. An editor’s framing introduction situates her life and underscores the cultural value of letter-writing, while portraits and notes enrich the social backdrop. The opening of the collection provides an editorial portrait of Eliza’s family origins in Scarborough, Maine; her schooling near Boston; her bright debut into society; her marriage to Walter Bowne; and her early death after a southern voyage, presented as a case for the vividness of letters. It then shifts to her earliest surviving letters from boarding school, where she reports crowded sleeping quarters, lessons in arithmetic and geometry, the prospect of French and dancing, and housework routines, all while appealing to her parents for more study and supplies. Subsequent notes from Boston and home mix theater and assembly-going with requests for bonnets, wigs, and gowns, news of siblings’ illnesses, and affectionate household management. The correspondence also starts to show her thoughtful voice—critiquing a severe teacher, defending her reputation, and debating with a cousin about women’s education, love, marriage, and social expectations—against a lively backdrop o…
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