1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson and UH 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: for Housekeeping. This is another episode that is sponsored by Mazda. UH. 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:23,639 Speaker 1: They are still promoting their new c X thirty and 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: their entire line of cuvs, and so they asked us 7 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: if we would do an episode as we have all 8 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: been thinking about returning to normal life one day and 9 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: things like road trips eventually, and one of the topics 10 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: that we landed at the seemed in line with all 11 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:42,959 Speaker 1: of this was Isabella Lucy Bird. Bird is celebrated as 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: a world traveler, and she definitely was that. But her 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: story is interesting in part because she didn't really come 14 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:51,879 Speaker 1: into her own as a traveler until kind of late 15 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,279 Speaker 1: in her life. She was in her forties, and her 16 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: books about her journeys, some of which she wrote when 17 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: she was younger, were wildly popular. And she has also 18 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: frequently discussed in terms of overcoming adversity in that she 19 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: was often unwell in her life, and that is a 20 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: very complex part of her story, and we're going to 21 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: try to unpack some of that towards the end of 22 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: the episode. Isabella Lucy Bird was born October one in 23 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: North Yorkshire at the family home of Burrowbridge Hall. Her 24 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: parents were the Reverend Edward Bird and Dora Lawson Bird. 25 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: Dora taught Sunday school in the church where Edward ministered, 26 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: and while ministry wasn't exactly a lucrative profession, both Edward 27 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: and Dora had come from well off families had money 28 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: through inheritance, so the family was really comfortable. When Isabella 29 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: was about three, she gained a sister, Henrietta, who would 30 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: factor in her life uh significantly. The two girls would 31 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: be the bird families only surviving children. There was a 32 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: boy born to the Birds who did not survive, and 33 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: Edward had also had a son in his first marriage 34 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: prior to his life with Dora. That child had also died. 35 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: Isabella and Henrietta were extremely close. Edward could be described 36 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: as incredibly earnest in his views around religion. When his 37 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: daughters were teenagers, he caused a huge stir when he 38 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: tried to reform the Birmingham practice of shops being open 39 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,639 Speaker 1: on Sundays. Two shops were still remaining open despite all 40 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: of his efforts, and when he tried to serve summons 41 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:29,359 Speaker 1: to those two businesses from the church wardens, directing them 42 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: to close on Sundays, things went kind of sideways. People 43 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: quote pelted him with stones, mud and insults. His parish, 44 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,079 Speaker 1: thinking he had gone too far on this turned on him. 45 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: A lot of parishioners left the church. Edward, who was 46 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: still recovering from scarlet fever at the time, resigned and 47 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: the family moved to Eastbourne. This was not the only 48 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: time that he kind of tried to do a reform 49 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: specifically around this issue and caused some problems and they 50 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: ended up moving, but it's one of the bigger instances 51 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,679 Speaker 1: of it. Isabella was home schooled, and she actually got 52 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,959 Speaker 1: a really good education from her parents. She studied Latin 53 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: and Greek, as well as art, natural history, chemistry, and mathematics, 54 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: among other topics. Early in her life she expressed interest 55 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: in becoming a writer. Through studying the Bible and the 56 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: work of contemporary writers, she had really fallen in love 57 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: with literature. She was also quick to put her ambitions 58 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: as a writer to work. When she was sixteen, she 59 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: published a pamphlet that was written as a trial between 60 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: free trade and protection that was a hot topic at 61 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: the time. She published her first article at the age 62 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: of seventeen, the first of many that she would go 63 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: on to publish for various religious journals of the day. Yeah, 64 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: a lot of her writing, particularly in in her early 65 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: life but also throughout her life, really did focus on 66 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: religion and morality and how people managed their place in 67 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: the world through their religion. In her twenties, as an 68 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: antidote to quote, some sorrow which is mentioned in her 69 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: her first biography written by a friend, which we'll talk about, uh, 70 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: and that sorrow may have been a heartbreak, although it's 71 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: not entirely clear. And also because she had some general 72 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: ill health which included chronic insomnia, Isabella traveled internationally for 73 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: the first time. A sea voyage had been prescribed by 74 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: the doctor to bring back the young woman's vitality, and 75 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 1: the Reverend Bird had arranged with a distant relation who 76 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: captained a ship on the Quard line, that Isabella should 77 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: travel to North America. Edward, as the story goes, is 78 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: said to have given his daughter one dred pounds and 79 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: quote leave to stay away as long as it lasted. 80 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,840 Speaker 1: So first she went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, then eventually 81 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: to Boston, Cincinnati, and Chicago, where she said to have 82 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: thwarted a pickpocket. She let him take her baggage checks 83 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 1: from her bag, and then very calmly but loudly, told 84 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: a train official that the man next to her was 85 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,479 Speaker 1: the one who had her checks. She also visited Toronto 86 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: for a while and a number of other places, all 87 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,159 Speaker 1: while writing detailed letters back to her sister, Henrietta usually 88 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: called Henny. Yes when we do our behind the scenes 89 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: many this week, I want to talk about some of 90 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: these stories over her travels um Based on those letters 91 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: she was writing to Henny, Isabella wrote two books once 92 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: she returned home. Through an acquaintance, she had been introduced 93 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: to publisher John Murray, who would become a lifelong collaborator 94 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: and friend. Her book, The english Woman in America was 95 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: published in eighteen fifty six, and then Aspects of Religion 96 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: in the United States came out in eighteen fifty nine. 97 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: The english Woman in America was a successful book, and 98 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: Isabella was very proud of it. At one point she 99 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: wrote to Mr Murray, quote, I am vain enough to 100 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: think that I have every reason to be satisfied with 101 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: its success and with the favorable general criticism it has met. 102 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: With that success, letter to work on a second book, 103 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: covering a topic that her father was deeply interested in, 104 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: that was religious revival in the United States. In the 105 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,840 Speaker 1: opening of Aspects of Religion, she poses the questions which 106 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: drive the book's examinations. Quote, what is the external influence 107 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: of religion in the States, What is the attitude of churches? 108 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: What is the attitude of the churches with respect to slavery? 109 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: What is the general style of preaching? What is the 110 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: practical working of the national system of education? And what 111 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: degree may a revival will be regarded as the effect 112 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: of any system which is pursued. I will say this 113 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,919 Speaker 1: having read a significant portion of that book. Um, it 114 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: is very clear. And we'll talk about this as we 115 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: go on with Isabella. She comes at it from a 116 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,920 Speaker 1: point of superiority, of like, England has figured this out, 117 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: the British Isles have figured this out. What's up America? Um, 118 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: which is kind of interesting. Sadly, her father, Edward died 119 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: of complications from the flu in May of eighteen fifty eight, 120 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: so that was before the book was completed. Uh, and 121 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: of course this was a huge blow to the family. 122 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: They were very tighten it. Isabella made sure that the 123 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: manuscript that her father had been working on, titled Some 124 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: Account of the Great Religious Awakening Now going On in 125 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,559 Speaker 1: the United States, was published following his death. We should 126 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: also pause briefly to talk about Henrietta. Letters Home to 127 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: Henny would be the basis for most of Isabella's travel 128 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: writing beyond her North American adventure. She wrote prolifically to 129 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: her younger sister in a very dense script that's a 130 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: little hard to read when you see the originals. And 131 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: her habit when she got back home was to take 132 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: all those letters that Henrietta had saved and then arranged 133 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: them into book form. And in some ways, um this 134 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: in the historical record makes Henny very much the instrument 135 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: of her sister's desires. But I want to point out 136 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: that Henrietta was a fully existing human. She was in 137 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: fact just as scholarly as her famous sister, if not 138 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: more so. She was fluent in Latin and Greek. She 139 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: actually composed poems in Greek. She knew a whole lot 140 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: about a stray and botany. She was a skilled artists 141 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: and had a lot of other academic accomplishments. But the 142 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: thing is, we have very little in the way of 143 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:13,120 Speaker 1: insight into Henny's interior thoughts. There is like one surviving 144 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: letter to a friend when the younger birds sister was 145 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: traveling in Scotland in terms of how she saw the world. 146 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: There are some other notes that come up because a 147 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: biographer who wrote about Isabella had Henny's diaries to work from, 148 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: so we have that retelling from the diaries, but the 149 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: diaries themselves have long since vanished, so we mostly get 150 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: the sense of Isabella's sister through Isabella's own eyes, and 151 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 1: Henny becomes kind of an idealized figure, almost a prop 152 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,559 Speaker 1: in somebody else's story. Isabella refers to her as her pet, 153 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: her darling, and other sweet nicknames. But it's important to 154 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: remember what a key figure she was and Isabella's writing, 155 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: and before we get into Bird's life after her father's death, 156 00:08:53,880 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: we're gonna pause and have a sponsor break. After Edward died, 157 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: the remaining Bird family moved to Scotland. There Isabella, at 158 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: that point in her thirties, continued to write, but she 159 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: also took on philanthropic work. She worked in school reform. 160 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 1: She also set up a shelter for homeless workers. Also, 161 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: undoubtedly inspired by the family's religious roots, she established a 162 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 1: training program there for missionaries to be educated in medical work. 163 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:29,640 Speaker 1: That is something that would come up again and again 164 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: throughout her life. Philanthropy was something that was really deeply 165 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: ingrained in the entire family's ideals as part of their 166 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: religious beliefs, and Isabella was involved in many philanthropic works 167 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 1: throughout her life and around the globe, many of which 168 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: were focused on the medical field. During these years in Scotland, 169 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,559 Speaker 1: Isabella had become very careful with herself and her health, 170 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,319 Speaker 1: and this led her to fear that she was becoming 171 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: too insulated. In eighteen sixty four, she wrote quote, I 172 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: feel as if my life were spent in the very 173 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: ignoble occup patient of taking care of myself, and then 174 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: unless some disturbing influences arise, I'm in great danger of 175 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: becoming perfectly encrusted with selfishness. She was writing during this time, 176 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 1: and a lot of it was articles about religion and 177 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: Christianity specifically, some of her work focused on hymnology. Yeah, 178 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 1: you get this sense that, uh, she is worried not 179 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 1: just about being too self centered, but like that she 180 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: kind of wishes she could get out again uh and 181 00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: go see more of the world, and she did make 182 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: a brief trip to Canada in eighteen sixty six, but 183 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,839 Speaker 1: not long after her return her mother died. And this 184 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 1: is a very strange moment because in an odd turn, 185 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,840 Speaker 1: she and Henrietta, instead of sort of clinging to each 186 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: other in their grief, parted ways for a while after 187 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: the loss of their mother. Henrietta went to the Isle 188 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: of Mull and Isabella went first to London, then Tunbridge 189 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: Wells and Farnum. And when they both returned home after 190 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: about six months apart, Marietta, according to a family friend quote, 191 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: lived her own gentle life while Isabella continued to work 192 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: on her writing in philanthropy. Over the next several years, 193 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: Isabella's health waxed and waned. In late eighteen seventy one, 194 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 1: her doctors urged her to travel by sea again in 195 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 1: the hopes that it would bolster her health. Let's took 196 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,320 Speaker 1: the form of a very long trip. Indeed, Isabella Bird 197 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 1: cruised first to Australia, then New Zealand, then Hawaii, and 198 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: then after getting to the coast of the US, then 199 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 1: to Colorado. She did not like Australia very much, and 200 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:40,200 Speaker 1: quote except for much hospitality, not greatly appreciating its life, 201 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: scenery and sights. Uh. Miss Bird still felt in ill 202 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:47,599 Speaker 1: health while she was there. She also was not particularly 203 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: charmed by New Zealand. This is about the time where 204 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: I started to get a little suspicious of Isabella Bird. 205 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: But after that things changed, because she arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii, 206 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:03,119 Speaker 1: on January seven three, and she felt better almost instantly. 207 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,319 Speaker 1: Isabella was so happy in Hawaii that she stayed for 208 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,199 Speaker 1: six months, writing quote, at last, I am in love, 209 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:12,240 Speaker 1: and the old Sea God has so stolen my heart 210 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,679 Speaker 1: and penetrated my soul that I seriously feel that hereafter, 211 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: though I must be elsewhere in body, I shall be 212 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: with him in spirit. Uh. There there is a story 213 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: that I did not include here because it is oft 214 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: repeated of her going to do like a live volcano 215 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 1: visit and ending up she was so amazed and gazing 216 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: down at the volcano that she actually burned her face 217 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: in her shoes because she was just kind of gawking. Um. 218 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: From Hawaii, she sailed to San Francisco, and then she 219 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: made her way to Colorado. While hiking with guides in 220 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,840 Speaker 1: the Mountains. There she came across the camp of a 221 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: man named Jim Nugent, known by the nickname Rocky Mountain Jim, and, 222 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: as she wrote in her book A Lady's Life in 223 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,559 Speaker 1: the Rocky Mountains, she was rather taken with him. This 224 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: is how she described him. His face was remarkable. He 225 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,199 Speaker 1: is a man about forty five and must have been 226 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: strikingly handsome. He has large gray blue eyes, deeply set 227 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: with well marked eyebrows, a handsome aquiline nose, and a 228 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: very handsome mouth. His face was smooth shaven except for 229 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: a dense mustache and imperial tawny hair in thin, uncared 230 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,079 Speaker 1: for curls fell from under his hunter's cap and over 231 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: his collar. One eye was entirely gone, and the loss 232 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: made one side of the face repulsive, while the other 233 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:34,680 Speaker 1: might have been modeled in marble. Despite his rough home 234 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,240 Speaker 1: in the wilderness, Jim talked a bird like a gentleman. 235 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:39,439 Speaker 1: He was very charming with her. The two of them 236 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:42,319 Speaker 1: became very close. He rode with her as a guide 237 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: and a friend for several months that she explored the Rockies, 238 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 1: although ultimately he revealed that he had a darker and 239 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,199 Speaker 1: more troubled side to himself. She became fearful of him, 240 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: broke off the relationship and headed home to Scotland. Yeah, 241 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: she talks about him drinking and how that was very 242 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,680 Speaker 1: scary for her, although it also see like he didn't 243 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:02,840 Speaker 1: do it much around her because he really really did 244 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 1: like her and want to make her like him in return. 245 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:10,400 Speaker 1: She would later write a Jim quote, he is a 246 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: man whom any woman might love, but who no sane 247 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 1: woman would marry. She also said later in life, this 248 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: isn't something that that came up in a contemporary writing 249 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: when she had just gotten home, but much later that 250 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: when they had parted, they had promised one another that quote. 251 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: After death, if it were permitted, the one taken would 252 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: appear to the other. And Jim was actually shot four 253 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: months after she left North America, and he ultimately did 254 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: die from this wound, and late in her life she 255 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: claimed that he had appeared at the foot of her 256 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: bed the night that he died. When Isabella got home 257 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: from this huge journey, she started assembling her letters to 258 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:54,239 Speaker 1: Henrietta into a book called The Hawaiian Archipelago. Bird insisted 259 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: that she was just cleaning up the content of these 260 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,080 Speaker 1: letters for minor errors like spelling and grammar. This she 261 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: was publishing them exactly as they were written. This is 262 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: what she said in the preface quote. The letters which 263 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: follow were written to a near relation, and often hastily 264 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: and under great difficulties of circumstance. But even with these 265 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: and other disadvantages, they appear to me the best form 266 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 1: of conveying my impressions and their original vividness. With the 267 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:23,160 Speaker 1: exception of certain omissions and abridgments. They are printed as 268 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: they were written. And for such demerits as arise from 269 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: this mode of publication, I asked the kind indulgence of 270 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: my readers. But here's the thing. If you compare her 271 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:37,200 Speaker 1: original letters to the published work, it really shows that 272 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: she added a whole lot of scientific content and context 273 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 1: into what she was representing as her institution impressions of 274 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: the islands as she was experiencing them. She's, you know, 275 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: adds in a lot of things like statistics and scientific 276 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: facts that she was not thinking about. But it almost 277 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: makes it seem like she wants you to think she 278 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: just had that knowledge at her fingertips as she was 279 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: writing these letters. Uh. She also included a note in 280 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: the opening of the book that came of all of this, 281 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: that the people of Hawaii had asked her to write it, 282 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: noting that no other European had become so ingrained in 283 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 1: their culture. Whether or not that request legitimately happened in 284 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: any form is difficult, too impossible to verify. That seems 285 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: like the most generous read. There's a there's a lot 286 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: of that in her life, which we'll talk about more 287 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:35,160 Speaker 1: at the end. So a significant figure in Isabella's life 288 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: was a friend that she made after she got back 289 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: from her trip, doctor John Bishop. Bishop had become the 290 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: family doctor when their prior physician, Dr Moore retired, and 291 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:48,400 Speaker 1: he had become friends with both Isabella and Henrietta. John 292 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 1: was really smitten with Isabella and wanted to marry her, 293 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: but she was too devoted to her sister, according to 294 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: her own account, to consider a suitor or a husband. 295 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:00,880 Speaker 1: Keep in mind that both women were in their forties 296 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: by this point. She also had more travel in mind. 297 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: She wanted to visit Japan, something she was planning for 298 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 1: as early as February seventy eight, and this time she 299 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: went first to New York and then across the United States, 300 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: stopping in Chicago and Salt Lake City as well as 301 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: some other points, and then onto the port of San Francisco, 302 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: where she boarded a ship to Asia. She visited Japan 303 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:25,919 Speaker 1: for two months, and then China, Malaya and Sri Lanka 304 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: was still called Salon at that point, and then she 305 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,360 Speaker 1: made her way to Egypt. The heat of northern Africa 306 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: in May made her ready to return home, which she did, 307 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,439 Speaker 1: and she immediately began to work on another book about 308 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 1: her travels. One of the reasons that her writing was 309 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,479 Speaker 1: so popular was because it let the reader feel as 310 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: though they were along for the ride. She would include 311 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,360 Speaker 1: details about her own preparations for her trips, like this 312 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,399 Speaker 1: expert in that book, which is titled Unbeaten Tracks in 313 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: Japan quote, the preparations were finished yesterday, and my outfit 314 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: weight a hundred and ten pounds with Eto's weight of 315 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: ninety pounds, is as much as can be carried by 316 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: an average Japanese horse. I have a folding chair, for 317 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: in a Japanese house, there's nothing but the floor to 318 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,080 Speaker 1: sit upon, and not even a solid wall to lean against, 319 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:17,280 Speaker 1: an air pillow, an India rubber bath sheets, a blanket, 320 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,439 Speaker 1: and last, and more important than all else, a canvas 321 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: stretcher on light poles that can be put together in 322 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 1: two minutes and being two and a half feet high, 323 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: is supposed to be secure from fleas. The food question 324 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:33,680 Speaker 1: has been solved by a modified rejection of all advice. 325 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:37,440 Speaker 1: I have only brought a small supply of Liebig's extract 326 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: of meat, four pounds of raisins, some chocolate, both for 327 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: eating and drinking, and some brandy in case of need. 328 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: I have my own Mexican saddle and bridle, a reasonable 329 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: quantity of clothes, some candles. Mr. Brunton's Large Map of Japan, 330 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: Volumes of the Transactions of the English Asiatic Society, and 331 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 1: Mr Sato's Anglo Japanese Dictionary. My traveling dress is a 332 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:06,680 Speaker 1: short costume of dust colored striped tweed, with strong laced 333 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:09,960 Speaker 1: boots of unblacked leather, and a Japanese hat shaped like 334 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 1: a large inverted bowl of light bamboo plat, with a 335 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: white cotton cover and a very light frame inside, which 336 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 1: fits around the brow and leaves a space of one 337 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: and a half inches between the hat and the head 338 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: for the free circulation of air. My money is in 339 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: bundles of fifty yen and fifty and ten cent notes, 340 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,840 Speaker 1: besides which I have some rouleau of copper coins. I 341 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 1: have a bag for my passport which hangs to my waist. 342 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: All my luggage, with the exception of my saddle, which 343 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,639 Speaker 1: I use for a footstool, goes into one karuma and Itto, 344 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: who is limited to twelve pounds, takes his along with him. 345 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 1: I love that detail that her servant can take like 346 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:55,880 Speaker 1: a bean, and she takes all of this others everything. Yeah, 347 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: it's a that's a long passage. Bless you Tracy for 348 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: reading it. But it's one of those things where um, 349 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: I wanted to include it because a lot of discussions 350 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 1: of her that you will see, we'll talk about how 351 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,119 Speaker 1: she really roughed it. And I'm not saying this is 352 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 1: like staying at you know, the Grand Palais or anything, 353 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,919 Speaker 1: but show a lot of stuff she wasn't going without. 354 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: She had an into ye rubber bath. I question her 355 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:23,200 Speaker 1: choice of menu, but um in terms of its helpfulness, 356 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:27,840 Speaker 1: but that's a different matter entirely. The details in these 357 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:31,439 Speaker 1: descriptions of her personal kit drew in readers, and they 358 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,639 Speaker 1: were probably almost as fascinating to some as accounts of 359 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: the places she visited. And she also gave readers a 360 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,639 Speaker 1: sense of discovery because she was teaching them about the 361 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,399 Speaker 1: people of all of these places. But of course she 362 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:47,159 Speaker 1: was doing so through the lens of a white European 363 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: that's still regarded foreigners as strange and ultimately inferior, as 364 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: evidenced in this passage from the same book, where she 365 00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:59,399 Speaker 1: writes quote, the Japanese look most diminutive in European dress. 366 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: Each garment is a misfit and exaggerates the miserable physique 367 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: and the national defects of concave chests and bow legs. 368 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,160 Speaker 1: The lack of complexion and hair upon the face makes 369 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: it nearly impossible to judge the ages of men. I 370 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:18,120 Speaker 1: supposed that all the railroad officials were striplings of seventeen 371 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: or eighteen, but they are men from twenty five to 372 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:25,080 Speaker 1: forty years old. So once Isabella was settled back in Scotland, 373 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: Dr Bishop once again showed his interest in her. Although 374 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 1: she told him she was not a marrying woman. She 375 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,640 Speaker 1: wrote to friends that he was terribly sweet and never 376 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,720 Speaker 1: pressured her on the issue. We are about to get 377 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: to a series of very unfortunate life changes for Isabella, 378 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: So before we get into that, let's pause and have 379 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: a quick sponsor break. As eighteen eighty began, forty nine 380 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: year old Isabella was enjoying a great deal of success. 381 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,120 Speaker 1: A Lady's Life in the Key Mountains was in its 382 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 1: third printing, and she was putting the finishing touches on 383 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: her book about Japan. But by April things took a 384 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: serious downturn as Henny became gravely ill, eventually diagnosed with 385 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: typhoid fever. Doctor Bishop was called for at the end 386 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: of the month, and despite the fact that he had 387 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: a broken leg from a writing accident, he stayed with 388 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: Henny and nursed her for the next month. Despite his 389 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,119 Speaker 1: efforts as well as Isabella's trying to get Henny nursed 390 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:31,160 Speaker 1: back to good health, Henrietta died in early June. Dr 391 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 1: Bishop wrote of Henney, quote, she bore her sufferings with 392 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: wonderful patience and sweetness the nurse that I felt that 393 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:40,159 Speaker 1: we had never seen so lovely a patient to the 394 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 1: very last, and even in delirium, she delighted in nature 395 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: and in the beauty of flowers. The end was most 396 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 1: calm and peaceful. Isabella was understandably distraught, writing to a 397 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,199 Speaker 1: family friend, quote, I am two days with grief and 398 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: fatigue to think of any future. John continued to be 399 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,880 Speaker 1: part of Isabella's life and he really supported her through 400 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 1: her grief. In December eighteen eighty, Isabella at last accepted 401 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 1: his proposal of marriage, and she wrote to a friend quote, 402 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,399 Speaker 1: I earnestly pray that I may be able to return 403 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:15,920 Speaker 1: in some degree the most unique, self sacrificing, utterly devoted 404 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: love that I have ever seen, and that I may 405 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: find calm and he happiness while my life lasts well. 406 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: Isabella may have been concerned that she wouldn't be around 407 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: long because of ongoing medical issues, which will be talking 408 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,160 Speaker 1: about more in a moment. The two of them got 409 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,919 Speaker 1: married on March eight one, because she was still in 410 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 1: mourning for her sister. Isabella, who was getting married at 411 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: forty nine, wanted a quiet ceremony with no guests. John 412 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,960 Speaker 1: had taken over the lease on the cottage that Henrietta 413 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: had lived in so that they could make a home there, 414 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:48,639 Speaker 1: and he promised Isabella that when the urge to travel 415 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: came back to her, he would not stop her from going. 416 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,440 Speaker 1: He adopted the saying quote, I have only one formidable 417 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 1: rival in Isabella's heart, and that is the high table 418 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: land of Central Asia. John was so devoted to his 419 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:05,199 Speaker 1: wife that he was jokingly called Mr. Bird by some 420 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:07,879 Speaker 1: of their friends, instead of them referring to Isabella as 421 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: Mrs Bishop. So when they got married, Isabella had been 422 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,400 Speaker 1: worried that she wouldn't live long, but it was John 423 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,360 Speaker 1: who experienced a sharp decline in his health not long 424 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: into the marriage. Just two days before their fifth anniversary, 425 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,400 Speaker 1: he died after a year's long battle with what's described 426 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: as blood poisoning. Isabella spent a year in mourning, and 427 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: during that time an idea started to form, and her 428 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: widow's grief, she had become even more devout and she 429 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 1: wanted to also honor her husband's work as a doctor, 430 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,119 Speaker 1: so she resolved to become a missionary. Yeah. Isabella believed 431 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,520 Speaker 1: that due to an open scratch that he had on 432 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: his face when he was tending to patients, he had 433 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:48,920 Speaker 1: gotten an infection that way, and that was what had 434 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:53,679 Speaker 1: caused his illness. After John's death, Isabella was financially in 435 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: a position to do whatever she wished because she had 436 00:24:56,040 --> 00:25:00,040 Speaker 1: inherited a significant sum as his widow. So this i 437 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 1: dea that she had in mind was easy to turn 438 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,360 Speaker 1: to action from a financial perspective in her late fifties. 439 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 1: At this point, she set out again, this time for India, 440 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: where she took on a fairly significant project. She joined 441 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 1: forces with an English medical missionary named Fanny Jane Butler, 442 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,679 Speaker 1: and she founded the Henrietta Bird Memorial Hospital in Amritzer 443 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:24,720 Speaker 1: and the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Schrineger. Isabella continued 444 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: to explore the world from there. She went to Tibet, Persia, 445 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,880 Speaker 1: and Turkey, among other places. It was the first time 446 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,640 Speaker 1: she had undertaken such a significant journey without having Henrietta 447 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: back home to write to about everything that she saw 448 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: and experienced. She did right back to friends regularly, though 449 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: she had a series of accidents during the space of 450 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,960 Speaker 1: her travels as well. She broke two ribs while trying 451 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,400 Speaker 1: to cross a river on horseback when the horse lost 452 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,920 Speaker 1: its footing. She also traveled the desert in the middle 453 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,760 Speaker 1: of winter along with Indian Army officer Major Herbert Sawyer, 454 00:25:57,359 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: was a journey that they barely survived. Yeah They were 455 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,879 Speaker 1: described as arriving when they finally got back to like 456 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 1: a significant metropolitan area, as being half dead. When Isabella 457 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: returned to the British Isle. She became an honorary Fellow 458 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,960 Speaker 1: of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in eighteen ninety then 459 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety two she became the first woman to 460 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: become a member of the Royal Geographical Society. She didn't 461 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: stay home long, though, she wanted to go back to Asia, 462 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: and she did that in the late eighteen nineties. This 463 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: time she traveled up the Yangzi River and then overland 464 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: to the country. She also broke her arm while traveling 465 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: when her mule cart overturned on a dangerous road. She 466 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: was waylaid while she was treated by a missionary. She 467 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: visited Korea and Vladivostok during the same trip before going 468 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: back home to write The Yanksey Valley and Beyond, which 469 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,000 Speaker 1: was published in nineteen hundred. In nineteen o one, at 470 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 1: the age of seventy, Isabella made her last trip, this 471 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,480 Speaker 1: time to Morocco, but once again she was ill. During 472 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: this trip, she contracted what she described is blood poisoning 473 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,679 Speaker 1: and spent several weeks convalescing, but she did continue the 474 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,639 Speaker 1: trip after she recovered, although she did not care for 475 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 1: Morocco at all and referred to it as one of 476 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,120 Speaker 1: the darkest places she had ever been to. She had 477 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: some very racist attitudes about the various people's living in Morocco. 478 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:20,920 Speaker 1: She was quite frank about which one she thought were 479 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:26,920 Speaker 1: genetically superior based on whether they had been integrating with 480 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:32,399 Speaker 1: African people's and having families through those bloodlines versus the 481 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:37,199 Speaker 1: ones that were integrating with European families. Uh. It is 482 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:41,480 Speaker 1: incredibly gross to read. It's very cringe. E Thankfully though, 483 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: when she returned home, she didn't think she had enough 484 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: notes to compile a book about Morocco, so I'm personally 485 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: thankful that those ideas did not make it into like 486 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: a book that was later lauded as a travelog While 487 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:56,440 Speaker 1: she was making plans to possibly go once again to 488 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 1: China after Morocco, Isabella became very ill. She never recovered, really, 489 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: and she died on October seven, n The obituary that 490 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:09,080 Speaker 1: ran in the Gloucester Citizen read quote the London newspapers 491 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 1: have not done justice to the wonderful career of Miss 492 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: Isabella Bird parenthesis Mrs jail Bishop, who has just died 493 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: in Edinburgh. She was one of the pluckiest travelers of 494 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: either sex that this country has ever known, and her 495 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: books were particularly rich in fresh, direct observation. So something 496 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,240 Speaker 1: that we've mentioned a few times but not really talked 497 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: about in depth yet is Isabella Bird's health. And that's 498 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,119 Speaker 1: something that often comes up in discussions of her life, 499 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: usually in the sort of she was an invalid who 500 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 1: traveled the world kind of way to make her story 501 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: more sensational, uh, to be clear, using disabled people's stories 502 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: as inspiration is uh. So her health though, and how 503 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: it impacted her life's work that is worth an examination 504 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: on its own. Yeah, and I feel like we should 505 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: mention that she wrote those kinds of stories as well, 506 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: which is part of the problematic aspect of this um. 507 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 1: Throughout her life, Isabella had a number of complaints related 508 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 1: to her physical well being, but thanks to nineteenth century 509 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: medicine and birds very careful management of her image, these 510 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: issues are sometimes difficult to sort out. Uh. In a 511 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: two thousand two volume of Isabella's letters to her sister Henrietta, 512 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: editor K. Chubbook discussed the various interpretations that historians have 513 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: had over the years of the many physical complaints that 514 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:37,680 Speaker 1: Isabella had and the possibility that some of them may 515 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,040 Speaker 1: have actually been manifestations of psychological issues that she was 516 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: dealing with as well as a result of misguided medical treatment. 517 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: So of course this opens up a whole can of worms. 518 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,560 Speaker 1: And on the show, we generally don't try to diagnose 519 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: anybody's possible psychological issues in retrospect. We are not clinicians, 520 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: and apart from that, that person is not alive for 521 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: anyone to examine, even if we were. Additionally, we know 522 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: today that there are all kinds of chronic invisible illnesses 523 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:10,600 Speaker 1: that can genuinely impact a person's well being, and we 524 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: don't want to write off that possible aspect of her 525 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: health either, especially because this was a time when that 526 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: sort of thing was not even part of the vernacular. No, 527 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: there was no concept of this. Uh. And it is 528 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: worth noting that Bird herself seems to have started to 529 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,960 Speaker 1: put together an idea of a connection between her mental 530 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: state and her physical health. In a letter she wrote 531 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: to her publisher John Murray while she was traveling in 532 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,479 Speaker 1: Korea in the eighteen eighties, Bird wrote, quote, I suffer 533 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: from fatigue of a social kind, and that part of 534 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:45,200 Speaker 1: ordinary life, the attempt, often fruitless to make things fit 535 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 1: in produces attacks of nervous exhaustion, and partial failure of 536 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,320 Speaker 1: the heart. She similarly wrote about some of the things 537 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 1: she was experiencing with language like constitutional depression and prostration 538 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 1: of the nervous system. And we know that on several 539 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: occasions doctors prescribed travel for the sake of Isabella's wellness. 540 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: One of the other things that some historians have theorized 541 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: on with Isabella was that she used her ill health 542 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,719 Speaker 1: as a way to kind of validate her desire for travel, 543 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: and part because her strict religious upbringing would see traveling 544 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: simply for its own pleasurable sake in a negative light. Again, 545 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 1: though this is conjecture. Yeah, I feel like we should 546 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:29,480 Speaker 1: also mention, and we don't have records of any doctors 547 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:33,200 Speaker 1: actually saying I think you should go on a trip um. 548 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 1: So that is something that you'll sometimes see people question like, 549 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 1: did did that really happen? Or was she concocting this 550 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,480 Speaker 1: whole thing to try to negotiate this world where it 551 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 1: would feel weird for her to just say I want 552 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: to travel. What we know is that she really did, 553 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,480 Speaker 1: indeed have some health issues from childhood. Early on, there 554 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 1: were complaints related to her back and spine. When she 555 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,760 Speaker 1: was eighteen, Bird had a surgery to remove a fibrous 556 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,160 Speaker 1: tumor from her spine, she would have aches in that 557 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 1: same area the rest of her life. She also had 558 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: carbuncles on her back on and off as well, which 559 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 1: were incredibly painful, and she also had what sounds very 560 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,520 Speaker 1: much like chronic sleep disorders. She writes a lot about 561 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: having long periods of her life plagued by insomnia. Curiously, though, 562 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: it seems like as soon as she was out in 563 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 1: the world and off on an adventure, at least to 564 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 1: a place that she liked, a lot of remalities seemed 565 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: to vanish. They would come back when she got home again. 566 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: For example, that eighteen seventy eight to eighteen seventy nine 567 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:33,240 Speaker 1: tour of Asia would have been exhausting. But the only 568 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,680 Speaker 1: time she felt ill was as she was going back 569 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,640 Speaker 1: to Scotland. And this was not something that went unnoticed. 570 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 1: We're not like having a gotcha moment of like has 571 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:43,800 Speaker 1: anybody noticed that she didn't feel bad while she was traveling. 572 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 1: This was part of her public identity in some ways. 573 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 1: The Edinburgh Medical Journal referred to Isabella Bird in her 574 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: obituary as quote the invalid at home and the Samson abroad. 575 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: The journal acknowledges how difficult it would be to the 576 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: lay mind to make sense of her quote mass of 577 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 1: physical contradictions. These contradictions were summed up this way quote. 578 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,960 Speaker 1: When she took to the stage as a pioneer and traveler, 579 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: she laughed at fatigue. She was indifferent to the terrors 580 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: of danger. She was careless of what a day might 581 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,240 Speaker 1: bring forth in the matter of food. But stepping from 582 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: the boards into the wings of life, she immediately became 583 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,920 Speaker 1: the invalid, the timorous, delicate, gentle voiced woman that we 584 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: associate with the Mrs Bishop of Edinburgh. But that same 585 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: writing actually makes an effort to make sense of this 586 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,560 Speaker 1: seeming disparity, these two different states that Isabella Bird lived in. 587 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,400 Speaker 1: Continuing on quote, Mrs Bishop was indeed one of those 588 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: subjects who are dependent to the last degree upon their 589 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:46,120 Speaker 1: environment to bring out their possibilities. It is not a 590 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:49,640 Speaker 1: question of dual personality. It is the varied response of 591 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: a single personality under varied conditions. They have also been 592 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 1: historians who have pointed out that when Isabella was home 593 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:01,080 Speaker 1: in Scotland, the medical treatment she received at times included 594 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:05,800 Speaker 1: things like bleeding and a possible overdosing on potassium bromide 595 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 1: that easily could have made her feel a lot worse. 596 00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:12,000 Speaker 1: So her health, which was often a part of articles 597 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,880 Speaker 1: about her, both in her own time and since then, 598 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,880 Speaker 1: and was often part of her own writing, really becomes 599 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,040 Speaker 1: a difficult matter to parse in a lot of ways. 600 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,280 Speaker 1: In nineteen or six, which was two years after her death, 601 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,799 Speaker 1: the first biography was printed of Isabella Bird. For it 602 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 1: was always really careful when it came to managing her image, 603 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,480 Speaker 1: and that biographer Anna Stoddard has been friends with Isabella 604 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: since eighteen sixty when she first moved to Edinburgh with 605 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,600 Speaker 1: her mother and sister, and Stoddard it seems, was kind 606 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: of um on this path of writing this biography before 607 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 1: Isabella had died, and possibly had gotten some instruction about it. 608 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: But she clearly adored Isabella Bird, and her resulting work 609 00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: was very very flattering. Uh As this section of the 610 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: pres this makes clear. She wrote quote as a traveler, 611 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: Mrs Bishop's outstanding merit is that she nearly always conquered 612 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:11,560 Speaker 1: her territories alone, that she faced the wilderness almost single handed, 613 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:16,080 Speaker 1: that she observed and recorded without companionship. She suffered no 614 00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,759 Speaker 1: toil to impede her, no study to repel her. She 615 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 1: triumphed over her own limitations of health and strength, as 616 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,399 Speaker 1: over the dangers of the road. Nor did she ever 617 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: lose in numberless rough vicissitudes in intercourse with untutored people's 618 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,800 Speaker 1: or in the strenuous dominance which she was repeatedly compelled 619 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: to exercise. Her womanly graces of tranquil manner, gentle voice, 620 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:46,840 Speaker 1: reasonable persuasiveness. Wherever she found her servants, whether Coolie's mule drivers, soldiers, 621 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:51,439 Speaker 1: or personal attendants, she secured their devotion. The exceptions were 622 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:58,359 Speaker 1: very rare and proved the rule. Really, I have this 623 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:02,840 Speaker 1: vision that it's unkind, but I have this vision of 624 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:06,080 Speaker 1: miss Stoddart writing this and feeling like, yes, I am 625 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:10,360 Speaker 1: really nailing this. This is incredibly moving work. Um. Also, 626 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:14,719 Speaker 1: a lot of this is flatly untrue. Um. Isabella Bird 627 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 1: was very brazen in her travels, like she didn't shy 628 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:21,719 Speaker 1: away from doing things by herself. But in a lot 629 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:26,360 Speaker 1: of these places she had guides, She had people that 630 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:29,120 Speaker 1: were helping her along the way. Like it wasn't like 631 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,440 Speaker 1: she was just a woman out alone in the world. 632 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,680 Speaker 1: She almost always had some connection in a place she 633 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,920 Speaker 1: was going, and would be traveling with other Europeans A 634 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,799 Speaker 1: lot of the time. It's not quite this the way 635 00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:43,560 Speaker 1: it's characterized here. So one thing we have not really 636 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 1: touched on at all was that Isabella wrote poetry, so 637 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,600 Speaker 1: Holly wanted to include a brief bit of it at 638 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:53,479 Speaker 1: the end. This is a piece that, uh, that really 639 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: appealed to Holly, who is also, as she said earlier, 640 00:36:57,239 --> 00:37:04,000 Speaker 1: having some insomnia always since I was a kid. Yeah. 641 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:08,680 Speaker 1: This is from a poem entitled under Chloroform Psychological Fragment, 642 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:12,239 Speaker 1: which first appeared in Murray's Magazine in eight seven, and 643 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 1: it's only the first stanza because it kind of tickled me. Uh. 644 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 1: She wrote, Sleep, Sleep, Can I ever wake again? To weep? 645 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,680 Speaker 1: Wake from this charmed lotus? Dream? To battle again with 646 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: storm and stream and the whirl of life and it's 647 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:31,759 Speaker 1: ceaseless strife, to be ever weary, toiling and dreary. Oh, 648 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 1: awaken me, not again to weep for a blissful thing? 649 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:39,400 Speaker 1: Is this falling asleep? I have been in that mode 650 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 1: where I'm just like, yes, sleep is happening. Um. Although 651 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,799 Speaker 1: I don't mind insomnia at all, I think it's been 652 00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,480 Speaker 1: my constant companion since I was like tiny, So it 653 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: just feels normal. Um. In any case, that is Isabella Bird. 654 00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 1: She's so complicated. Yeah. Well, and when we were we 655 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 1: were kind of getting the ball rolling on doing this episode, 656 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:11,440 Speaker 1: and you made reference to her problematic at best attitudes, 657 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:14,640 Speaker 1: and I was like, I feel like that is every 658 00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:20,040 Speaker 1: white woman world traveler of the nineteenth century. Yeah, oh 659 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,160 Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, it's it's really interesting. I mean, Isabella 660 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:26,040 Speaker 1: Bird is one of those people. One of her most 661 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 1: famous images, there's a photograph of her in like a 662 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:38,560 Speaker 1: full Manchurian costume and I'm just like below cringe e um. 663 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,239 Speaker 1: But at the time it really does crack me up 664 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:46,240 Speaker 1: when she talks about how the poor, like uneducated people 665 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,840 Speaker 1: of the places she traveled were so thankful that a 666 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:52,840 Speaker 1: white European woman was there to record what their world 667 00:38:52,920 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 1: was like. Yeah. Like girl, really but in my uch 668 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:05,040 Speaker 1: more delightful thoughts and talks. Um. I have two pieces 669 00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:07,719 Speaker 1: of listener mail because they're both short. One is from 670 00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:10,600 Speaker 1: our listener Eva, who wrote Tracy and Holly, I wanted 671 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,440 Speaker 1: to thank you for making the episode about free Frank mcwarder. 672 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:16,279 Speaker 1: His life story provides a new and inspiring perspective on 673 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:20,560 Speaker 1: an important part of world history. Uh and then she mentions, 674 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:23,560 Speaker 1: there is a really cool thing that the Guardian newspaper did, 675 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:27,000 Speaker 1: which are these black history charts. Um, if you go 676 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:29,160 Speaker 1: to the Guardian, I think you can do you can 677 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:32,680 Speaker 1: just search black history wall chart. They have them for sale. 678 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:35,160 Speaker 1: But it's just a cool idea that like someone has, 679 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,239 Speaker 1: uh parst a lot of this information that kind of 680 00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:40,440 Speaker 1: gets left out and you can see where everything fits 681 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,360 Speaker 1: into world history. So that is cool. Um, thank you 682 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,319 Speaker 1: for that. I'm probably ordering those. The other is from 683 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:49,520 Speaker 1: our listener Margaret, who did one of those things that 684 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: will always win my heart. Sure it's dear Holly and Tracy, 685 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:56,240 Speaker 1: my two standard poodles, Henry and George and me. Margaret 686 00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: always love y'all's podcast. I'm a huge history buff slash geeks. 687 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:03,200 Speaker 1: I love learning new and old things that happened in history. 688 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:06,760 Speaker 1: She also gives us an episode idea. But man, here's 689 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,200 Speaker 1: the important part. She sent us a video and a 690 00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:11,960 Speaker 1: picture of these dogs. And what I don't know if 691 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:15,560 Speaker 1: people know, is that I have a weakness for standard poodle. 692 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:21,680 Speaker 1: I just think they're darling. Um. I mean, I like 693 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,800 Speaker 1: all dogs, but standard poodles just they're they're really beautiful dogs. 694 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,520 Speaker 1: Uh So thank you, Thank you, Margaret. Now I covet 695 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: your sweet pooches. Um, please hug Henry and George for 696 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:36,560 Speaker 1: me because they're delightful. If you would like to write 697 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:38,359 Speaker 1: to us, and especially if you want to send dog 698 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:41,600 Speaker 1: and kittie pictures or any other pet you may have, Uh, 699 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:44,640 Speaker 1: that sounds grand I always love getting those. You can 700 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:48,120 Speaker 1: do that at History Podcast at iHeart radio dot com. 701 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:50,560 Speaker 1: You can also find us pretty much everywhere on social media. 702 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:52,640 Speaker 1: And if you would like to subscribe to the podcast 703 00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:54,680 Speaker 1: and you haven't yet, that is super easy to do. 704 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:56,880 Speaker 1: You can do it on the iHeart Radio app, at 705 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:04,400 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever it is you listen. M Stuff 706 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:06,400 Speaker 1: you Missed in History Class is a production of I 707 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:09,959 Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit 708 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,880 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 709 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:18,160 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. H