Settlement. Ann Birch
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Название: Settlement
Автор: Ann Birch
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Историческая литература
isbn: 9781926607207
isbn:
From the hallway, she watched Mr. Jarvis now talking easily to Archdeacon Strachan and Chief Justice John Beverley Robinson, who, she had discovered at the Governor’s party, liked to lay down the law when he spoke. In addition she noticed Dr. Widmer— without his wife, fortunate for Mr. Jarvis, no doubt—and several members of the militia and the Legislative Council, and the lawyer, Henry Boulton. Colonel Fitzgibbon was also in the group, and if she could get a private word with him, she would set a date for their sleigh ride on the lake.
As she came into the drawing room, Robert and the others rose. She took a seat in one of the smart walnut chairs she had purchased, facing the drawing room door so that she could greet any latecomer who came into the upper hallway. To her right was Colonel Fitzgibbon, and on her left, the Archdeacon.
“I understand you are a friend of Mr. Tazewell,” the Archdeacon said to Anna.
“I have benefited from his help with some of my etchings. And he has supplied some wonderful pictures for my walls.” She gestured to one she particularly liked, a scene of a family having a picnic on a grassy knoll which overlooked the Falls at Niagara.
“He has been of inestimable help with our educational system. Before he came to Toronto, we had no Greek grammars for our youth, because there were no printers here with fonts of Greek type. He had an ingenious solution to the problem. He printed a grammar by making lithographs of pages from an existing text.”
Lawyer Boulton yawned and tapped his foot. Robert got up and refilled the man’s glass from the decanter.
“You have a fine educational system for your sons,” Anna said, as she looked about the room, “but I have always found it sad that both here and in England, there is very little education for girls.”
Robert’s well-shaped eyebrows contracted. The other men looked at their drinks and said nothing.
“And what do you think, sir?” she said, turning to Chief Justice Robinson. “Do you not often wish that the women of Toronto had pursuits other than child-rearing and household management?”
“I have four daughters, madam,” he said, his nose wrinkling ever so little, as if he had just caught a whiff of an unemptied chamberpot. “I wish nothing more for them than that they should find suitable husbands and devote themselves to the care of their partners and their children. That is woman’s lot, and I see no benefit in their having a knowledge of Greek, an ability to do algebra or a view of history. It does not signify what women think: they are not called upon to act or judge outside the purlieu of their household.”
“Well put indeed, Robinson,” Robert said, as several of the men in the room nodded their agreement. He gestured towards the dining room. “Anna, perhaps the gentlemen are ready for the fine meal you have ready.”
“In a moment. First I must respond to the Chief Justice.” She turned and leaned towards him. “You are entirely right, sir. Women in this town have no need of Greek, algebra, or history because... because it is in every man’s interest to keep his wife and daughters ignorant. For when the horse and ass begin to think and argue, adieu to riding and driving.”
There was a long pause while the gentlemen took this in. Then the Archdeacon and Colonel Fitzgibbon laughed. But the Chief Justice’s face grew red, and her husband’s redder.
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