Allyson Neudeck
Dr. Coronado
ENGL 226
9 December 2014
Living Like Laura
Laura Lathrop was born in Racine, Wisconsin in 1845. She later began teaching in East Troy, Wisconsin in the early 1860s. In a series of letters located in the University of Wisconsin-Parkside archive library, there is correspondence between her and a couple of her friends. These letters discuss a handful of things concerning the health of Laura and her family, as well as the health of her friends as well. Also talked about in the letters is the religious beliefs of Ms. Lathrop’s friends. These letters are hugely important to understanding the time period because the pure honesty in which they are written gives the readers confidence in their authenticity. Through these letters readers are given the opportunity to see firsthand how the living conditions were in Wisconsin, as well as insight as how important religion was to the people in Wisconsin at the time.
Despite the focus being on Laura, not a single letter is written by her hand. Instead, the letters are addressed to Laura, but from her sister and a handful of her friends, as well as some others. Readers are left to surmise Laura’s opinions and beliefs based on the things her friends are asking and telling her. The history of Ms. Lathrop is given throughout a handful of the letters. In the first recovered letter dated November 11, 1857, Laura is writing to her sister Louisa. One concern of this letter is that Laura requests her sister not show it to a friend Mary, because “Mary can write better than [Laura]” (Letter 2). This is not the first instance that an apology or a plead is made because of the quality of the writing of the letter. In the second disclosed letter, Laura’s friend Susie is returning correspondence with Laura. Susie apologizes for her poor writing by saying, “I have got the hiccups and you must excuse bad writing” (Letter 2). Susie later on apologizes again for the poor writing and begs Laura to not show the letter to anyone else because of the state she is in. Poor health conditions are frequently mentioned in the letter as well.
On numerous occasions, especially those concerning Ms Lathrop’s friend Susie, do the letters contain explanations of the health of those writing or receiving the letters. Laura’s friend Susie suffers from severe headaches and frequently mentions them. A S.M. Montague must write a letter on behalf of Susie because of her poor state of health. Not only is her friend in poor condition, but her mother as well. As time goes on, it appears that most of those around Laura are not fairing so well. The importance of this comes from the fact that these letters are not written by scholars or people hoping that their words will outlive them as well as generations after them. These letters are simple correspondence between friends, so the explanation of what is happening at the time will be more honest than a text whose intention is to be in the canon. The mention of the health condition of Laura’s friends comes as simply as it would in modern day. Readers have a chance to see how conditions are explained from the point of view of an average person. Someone who is just living in the times and talking to her friend is suffering from persistent headaches and a bad case of the hiccups. Readers are given this information in a simpler and more realistic way than through texts specifically talking about poor health conditions. After the first few letters, the topics shift and the corresponder changes as well.
The second half of Laura’s letters fall into the timeline of the American Civil War, or right before 1865. It is in this short time that Laura not only loses her sister Louisa but also her brother William. One of the last letters included is an incomplete letter written to Laura by her friend Mary J. Felch. This letter is the most intriguing because her friend’s only focal point is on begging Laura to be more religious, and it seems as though Laura is finally contending to entertain Felch’s wish. This emphasizes the importance of this letter series.
Mary is ultimately immensely concerned with Laura’s faith, or lack thereof. It becomes apparent to anyone reading these letters that Laura is either struggling with her faith or does not feel any sort of connection to God. This is interesting considering the fact that in the 1800s, the two major denominations in Wisconsin were Catholicism and Lutheran (familysearch.org). It appears, according to Mary Felch, that Laura does not find her religious identity with either denomination. Mary begs Laura: “O. you know not how much I want you to give your heart to God, how much I want you to leave the pleasures of this sinful world” (Letter 5). Though Mary is discreet and does not mention what kinds of sins Laura is partaking in, one can surmise that Laura seems to be a tad odd in her reluctance to participate in religious activity.
The importance of these letters comes from the brute honesty of them, which includes the poor grammar and the apologies of the writers for this. These letters were clearly meant for no other eyes than the ones writing and the intended receiver, anyone else who can read these letters hundreds of years later can appreciate the context of them. These letters were not meant for large audiences, so the candid honesty of the writer is apparent. Unlike many popular writings where they were written with the intention of reaching a broad spectrum of readers, Laura Lathrop’s letters include a kind of honesty that is unique to secret correspondence. These letters lack any kind of embellishment of the circumstances of the time. They were not written with the intention of creating awe or even educating future audiences. These letters were created to inform the person for which they were addressed, and no one else.
The simplicity with which they are written can create a certain level of trust with the person reading them. When Laura’s friend Mary pleads with Laura to “come now while your Father calls” (Letter 5). The reader has the assurance that this plea is genuine, and not for show for a larger audience. Mary later warns Laura, stating that “shall that hand be withdrawn, that small voice be silent, & you go & you go to the place of eternal misery” (Letter 5). In this instance, this warning is not necessarily to be taken as a moral warning like in fictional stories. This is a friend being genuinely concerned for another friend and the supposed wrong path she is taking.
In many writings of this time religion is a focal point, and that is no different in Laura Lathrop’s series of letters. However, one large difference is the nature of the way religion is discussed. Mary’s warnings and pleadings show the reader that Laura was in no way a religious person, nor did she really care to be religious. These letters do share some similarities, which also show their importance. The ways in which religion is discussed by Mary is similar to other works. Religion was needed to explain the ways in which the world moved. Mary tells Laura “I do not think that Louise would have been so willing to have left this world if she had not chosen Christ” (Letter 5). Mary uses religion to soothe the pain of Laura’s sister’s death as well as giving another reason as to why Laura must decide to become a child of the Lord. Though the letters deviate from the typical view of religion they still have many of the same themes as other texts of this time.
The most interesting part of the letters, in my opinion, is the feeling of desperation with which Felch writes to Laura. She seems almost terrified that Laura seems so reluctant to proclaim herself a Christian. Felch goes so far as to appeal to Laura’s own personal life, and asks Laura “O, are you afraid to let your friends & associates know that you want to live for christ are you afraid of their taunts & sneers” (Letter 5). In this section, Felch makes the assumption that the reason Laura is not a religious person is because of her fear of prosecution by her peers. Since none of the letters include Laura’s own beliefs, readers are left to wonder whether or not this is true, or if Laura simply does not believe religion to have the same level of importance that her friend does. She becomes an outlier here, since the overwhelming majority of people held some sort of religious belief. In Barbara Welter’s The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860 she writes, “Religion or piety was the core of women’s virtue, the source of her strength” (152). In direct contrast, if Ms. Lathrop did not find herself to be a religious woman, it would make sense for her friends to pose some serious concern. It would be that Ms. Lathrop was seen as being less virtuous than her peers. Felch’s concern over Laura’s supposed sinful ways comes from the belief that a women’s virtue came from her religious beliefs. According to Welter, “religion belonged to woman by divine right, a gift of God and nature” (152). If religion was a gift of God and Laura was refusing it, it would give right to Felch to be as concerned as she was. What makes this interesting is the fact that it seems as if Felch had been persistent in her desires for Laura to join her in Bible study, and that Laura was finally contending to go. Felch writes, “I do hope that you will take part in the meeting” (Letter 5). It gives the impression that Felch believes Laura might not be an active participant, and that she is only going to appease her friends. Since readers are not given Laura’s own input, they are left to wonder if Laura was truly interested in becoming a Christian, which makes these handful of letters incredibly interesting.
Laura Lathrop’s letters are an honest view into the life of a simple teacher in the Midwest, and can show readers the living conditions of that time as well as health concerns, and the important beliefs that some people had concerning religion. By being a woman who was not outrightly religious, Ms. Lathrop went against what was seen as the norm of the time, which brings about thought provoking questions of the life of a person who did not blatantly rejoice their religious beliefs.
Works Cited
Lathrop, Laura. “Letters, 1857-1866.” Unpublished.
Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” American Quarterly 18.2 (1966)
151-174. Web.
"Wisconsin Church Records." Wisconsin Church Records. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
Day Saints, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment