December 16, 2009
Happy Birthday Jane Austen!
What an accomplishment! To do something in your lifetime that would affect people 234 years later!
Well done, Jane! Well done, indeed!
This is an excerpt from a letter Jane Austen’s father, Revd. George Austen, wrote to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Walter, the morning after Jane was born:
‘…last night the time came, and without a great deal of warning, everything was soon happily over. We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion. She is to be Jenny, and seems to me as if she would be as like Henry, as Cassy is to Neddy. Your sister thank God is pure well after it, and sends her love to you and my brother…’
Jane wrote to Cassandra Tuesday 18 December 1798, “…I am very much obliged to my dear little George for his messages, for his Love at least; - his Duty I suppose was only in consequence of some hint of my favourable intentions towards him from his father or Mother. – I am sincerely rejoiced however that I ever was born, since it has been the means of procuring him a dish of Tea. – Give my best Love to him.”
Little George was her nephew, Edward’s son. He was born in 1795, so he would have been around three years old.
Perhaps a cup of tea today in honor of Jane Austen!
"Life is Short... Break the Rules, Forgive Quickly, Kiss Slowly, Love Truly, Laugh Uncontrollably, And Never Regret Anything that Made You Smile! Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
