Author Eve LaPlante speaks at library
On July 18 at 7 p.m., Eve LaPlante, author of “American Jezebel, The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied The Puritans,” spoke in the Wells Public Library. The lecture was sponsored by the Historical Society of Wells and Ogunquit and the Friends of the Wells Public Library. The free lecture was well attended.
I checked in the Oxford English Dictionary under Jezebel – “Name of the infamous wife of Ahab, king of Israel,” with reference to Bible selections in 1st and 2nd Kings. That was rather difficult going. Next the Encyclopedia Britannica article said of Jezebel, “She was a woman of virile character, and offended Israelite political and religious feeling.”
On the book jacket of “American Jezebel,” I read Anne Hutchinson’s detractors, starting with her neighbor John Winthrop, first governor if Massachusetts, referred to her as “the instrument of Satan,” the new Eve, the “disturber of Israel,” a witch, “more bold than a man,” and Jezebel – the ancient Israeli queen who, on account of her tremendous political power, was “the most evil woman” in the Bible.
I had been familiar with Anne Hutchinson, and did check the Britannica about her there, too. My paternal Grandmother, of West Milan, N.H., was a Hutchinson. Her father was Freland Hutchinson, born in 1831. I was named Anne, with Hutchinson as my middle name.
Eve LaPlante is a direct descendant of Anne Hutchinson, has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. She has written for The Atlantic, the New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal and Boston Magazine. The Christian Science Monitor wrote of her book, “A Best Nonfiction Book of 2004.” Publishers Weekly said, “Fast-paced and elegant. A first-rate biography.” The brief review and excellent facts about Anne Hutchinson in LaPlante’s introduction were thoroughly enjoyable. She has done much research, visiting in Lancashire, England, where Anne was born, and in the Boston area where Anne, her husband, and 11 children moved, and in Rhode Island, and then to New York where Anne moved, after her husband died.
A brief paragraph about Anne Hutchinson, (1600-1643): she was born in Lancashire, England, the daughter of a clergyman, Francis Marbury, and after her marriage to William Hutchinson, in 1634, they emigrated to Boston, Mass.
She was a nurse, a mid-wife, and soon organized meetings among the Boston women, giving sermons and expressing her own theological vision, protesting the legalism of the Massachusetts Puritans.
She was supported by Gov. Sir Henry Vane, John Cotton, and her brother-in-law, the Rev. John Wheelwright, and the great majority of the Boston church, but was opposed by Deputy Governor John Winthrop, the Rev. John Wilson of the Boston church, and all of the country magistrates and churches. The strength of the parties were tested when Winthrop defeated Vane for the governorship. Cotton recanted, Vane returned to England in disgust, and Wheelwright was banished.
Anne Hutchinson was tried by the general court and sentenced to banishment; later she was tried before the Boston church and formally excommunicated.
In 1638 she established a settlement on the island of Aquidneck (new Rhode Island). Her Rhode Island and Roger Williams’s Providence Plantation later joined as the Colony of Rhode Island. Four years after going to Rhode Island, and after the death of her husband, she settled on Long Island sound. She, and five of her children (as Eve LaPlante told us) were killed by Indians in a massacre, in August, 1643.
Eve told us of the bronze statue of Anne Hutchinson, which now stands in front of the Massachusetts State House (in Boston), near that of President John F. Kennedy. Her final paragraph, in the introduction of her book, says “Were she alive today, Anne Hutchinson might be a minister, a politician, or a writer. Four hundred years ago, when the vast majority of women could not even write their names, how did she emerge boldly to question the leading men of the day as to the nature of salvation and grace? What fueled her self-confidence and her sustained anger at colonial authorities? Where did she find the strength of character to stand for hours before scores of seated men, parrying their every Gospel quotation, replying again and again with wit. This book is a response to these and other bedeviling questions. Through it, I hope, Anne Hutchinson may claim her rightful place as America’s founding mother.”
I am anxious to read this excellent book. It is a first edition, too, and autographed!
After the question period, with several interesting discussions, we were treated to homemade cookies, bars and brownies, and lemonade. Next my son and I were treated to a glorious sunset, as we approached our car in the library parking lot.
Additions to ‘A Night Of Broadway’
In last week’s Ramblings about the show at the Windham Hill Church, two lines were mixed up, Matthew Small sang “The Lees of Old Virginia,” and Bryan McLeod sang “If I Were A Rich Man,” from “Fiddler on the Roof.” It was these two songs that showed the acting ability of these singers, which was outstanding (as the article mentioned). It was Bryan’s “Rich Man” song, as he danced and sang, that had us all in laughter. I’m adding cavorted and pranced, too, to the way he danced, as his antics were very lively!
Deering High School’s Class of 1936 Reunion
The 70th reunion of Deering High School’s Class of 1936 will be held Aug. 5 at Verillo’s Restaurant, on Riverside Street in Portland. Social hour will start at noon and luncheon at 1 p.m. Members and guests will order from the menu. Any Deering graduates in the 1930s are welcome to attend. You may call Betty Halloran Kennedy at 799-5843, or Anne Blanchard Foote at 772-0544, if you might attend.
Recipe
This week’s recipe appeared in the American Journal’s Food Favorites column on March 16, 1988. I wrote that my editor had passed this easy dessert to me, suggesting that it could be used for St. Pat’s Day. I suggested that you sprinkle it with coconut tinted with green food coloring, or pour a little crA? ?me de menthe over it. We don’t need any green coloring for a July dessert, just real whipping cream!
Easy homeade ice cream with Oreo cookies
3 egg yolks
1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
2 Tbls. water
4 Tsps. vanilla extract (I used less)
1 cup coarsely crushed oreo cookies
2 cups (1 pint) whipped cream, whipped (do not use whipped topping)
In large bowl, beat egg yolks; stir in condensed milk, water and vanilla. Fold in chocolate oreo cookies and the whipped cream. Pour into aluminum foil-lined 9×5-inch loaf pan or other 2-quart container. Cover; freeze six hours or until firm. Scoop ice cream from pan or peel off the foil, and slice.
The recipe writer said, “When I serve it to friends, I never fail to get requests for this recipe”…I might add, just don’t count the calories!
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