Dear Mr. Clemens,
Mr. Wm. W.
I wish I could laugh off as a trifle the letter from ‘A Concerned Society Matron’ published in The Teatime Tattler this past July 28th. Sadly, this is not the case. I feel it incumbent upon myself to warn you that the forces of censorship are at work. Please take care, lest you and The Tattler fall victim to this insidious process. I have reason to suspect that the purported matron is truly an agent of The Society for the Suppression of Vice. She might even be a guise for Mr. Wm. W. himself. The members of the society (whose work against slavery is admirable) are, on the subject of literature, as ignorant as they are intolerant and see anything vaguely outside a strict and very uninformed norm of societal behavior to be dangerous and seditious vice. They are among the many frightened voices that prompted the passing of the Six Acts of 1819 which included alarming restrictions on the freedom of the press. It is after all sedition—we all remember what happened in France—that started this censorious craze. This madness of conformity labels a group of harmless, erudite, and broad-minded women as ‘scandalous and salacious.’
I paraphrase from the supposed matron’s letter not to give her absurd ideas a hearing—as you so generously did—but to prove the danger inherent in casting broad aspersions where one has little experience and less knowledge. I doubt very much that this faux-matron has ever read a single word written by The Bluestocking Belles. Nor would she know a well written and researched romance novel from the most puerile pornography. She should ask herself why no male would ever admit to reading works such as those written by The Belles. While I am certain most men believe they have good reason to avoid these works, those reasons spring from ignorance. In fact, I challenge the matron and her male contemporaries in rank and education (which cannot be very extensive) to read any one of the works by the Bluestocking Belles. Further having done so, I challenge any of them who has read a Bluestocking Belles’ book to prove the stories are seditious or vice filled in any way.
One of many novels from the work of The Bluestocking Belles.
Before the public bows to rants like those of the ‘concerned society matron,’ let them look for themselves at the body of work by the Bluestocking Belles. I am certain that any educated, open-minded person will arrive at the same conclusion as I have. The novels and stories of the Bluestocking Belles are to be lauded. They belong in the highest ranks of great literature and could, were it possible, teach even Ovid and Homer a lesson or two.
I sign myself proudly,
Lady Hultinford of St. Brendan Priory, Warwickshire
A dedicated supporter of learned entertainments in general and in particular, The Bluestocking Belles.
Loyal Readers,
How has this come to be? Could it have something to do with the afternoon she spent entertaining a certain handsome (according to sources) Colonel? She was spotted by several of the townsfolk just a day or so ago talking to the very same man in front of The Griddle, as he helped her from her buggy. Was the interlude planned? One wonders. If EW had not planned to meet him, would she not have ridden into town with one of the people? Alone, she thought she was able to move about unobserved.
But according to sources, who we always protect as part of our neighborly pledge, she almost killed the Colonel when he visited her recently. As proof of that, The Mercantile affirmed the purchase of large quantities of new plaster and wood to be delivered to SM, her property.
Folks of New Bern, we bear a responsibility to guide our young people. We need to turn those who stray from the right path back onto the road. Our concern is that there is a young child of five whose sensibilities could be compromised by the activity that his sister (and guardian) is planning. We all know she is without her Mama and her Papa, who recently left to find her brother, all while still grieving the loss of his wife. So, it is with concern and a heavy heart that we call upon all the decent folk to help intervene. If not for the salvation of this young woman’s soul, please do it for the sake of our beloved sister—SM’s dear departed Mama—and see that she is righted on the virtuous path. Unannounced visits would be a good thing to do.
About the Book, Embers of Anger
About the Author
“Lady Jane’s Tryst” grew out of my desire to investigate the seaside town of Brighton in the United Kingdom. In the story, “Lady Jane’s Tryst,” our heroine has been confined to a boarding school for girls for five long years. Her nocturnal explorations of the small town of Brighton reached a climax when she encountered an intriguing pirate, a spy, ultimately a duke. Her spirit meshed with that of the handsome young man who worked behind the scenes for his government. Their exciting adventures led them to an ultimate happily-ever-after ending. And beyond…and then…
“You have bewitched me body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you.”
Emma Lane is a gifted author who writes under several pen-names. She lives with her patient husband on several acres outside a typical American village in Western New York. Her day job is working with flowers at her son’s plant nursery.
