Letter #12, Post #10

Wednesday 5 September 2012
To Cassandra, from Steventon, "By the bye, I have written to Mrs. Birch among my other writings, and so I hope to have some account of all the people in that part of the world before long. I have written to Mrs E. Leigh too, and Mrs Heathcote has been ill-natured enough to send me a letter of enquiry; so that altogether I am tolerably tired of letter-writing, and unless I have anything new to tell you of my mother or Mary, I shall not write again for many days; perhaps a little repose may restore my regard for a pen." - Jane Austen, Sunday 25 November 1798

Mrs. Birch was a childhood friend of Mrs. Austen, Jane Austen's mother. Jane seemed to like her very much. I wonder what happened to the letters Jane wrote to Mrs. Birch? I wonder if they might still remain with the Birch family? Anyway, we covered Mrs. Birch in letter twelve, post number two. Here is the link if you would like to check it out.
http://allthings-jane-austen.blogspot.com/2012/08/letter-12-post-2.html

I believe Mrs. E. Leigh would have been Mrs. Elizabeth Leigh, Jane Austen's mother's sister, so Jane Austen's aunt. She never married but out of respect for her age Jane referred to her as Mrs. She was Cassandra's godmother.

Mrs. Heathcote was probably Elizabeth Bigg Heathcote of Manydown (Harris Bigg-Wither's sister). She had married Reverend William Heathcote 11 January 1798, so they were still newlyweds at the writing of this letter. I believe Jane was teasing when she referred to Mrs. Heathcote as being ill-natured. She would have been obliged to respond to Mrs. Heathcote's letter and she was tired of writing.

There is a sweet little book called Gift of a Letter by Alexandra Stoddard. I love this book. It discusses letter writing why's and how's with passion. It bothers me that no one writes letters any more. I used to write to two of my grandmother's sisters. They are gone now, but I have the letters and I cherish them.

People connect with each other on facebook and by email, but it is just not the same. What if Jane Austen would have had email? I am very sure we would not have the email's to read and learn about her and the time she lived in. How sad! And what about our generations, our children and their children, what will they have of us that would be as personal as a letter can be? That little trash can at the top of the email list is a scary thing - delete!

http://www.alexandrastoddard.com/book.asp?ID=17

In Gift of a Letter Alexandra Stoddard states, "Letters allow us to be personal, natural and specific. More than any other medium, letters provide an uninhibited view of everyday life-the most accurate and natural form of autobiography. Like an intimate conversation between friends, they record immediate circumstances, events, news, gossip and feelings... When I write a letter to a friend, I bring that person into my day,..." We are seeing this proven in taking the time to dissect Jane Austen's letters. We are learning about her, her daily life, and the people around her.

Perhaps we should all sit down and write a letter to someone we think about often, but have not taken the time to connect with. Hummm. Maybe they will write back, and then we could write back, and...

I hope you enjoyed your day today!
Terrie