1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 2: Today's episode is on journalist and writer Elizabeth Bisland, and 5 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 2: I moved her up to the top of my shortlist 6 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 2: because of her trip around the world, which started in 7 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty nine. Somehow I got it into my head 8 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 2: that this trip involved a hot air balloon. And I 9 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 2: don't know about everybody else, but there have been some 10 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,839 Speaker 2: moments lately when the idea of getting into a balloon 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 2: and just floating away, having a break from everything going on, 12 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 2: that has sound very appealing. There were no hot air 13 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 2: balloons on this trip. It was called a flying trip 14 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 2: for its speed, not for its altitude. There was also 15 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 2: no balloon travel in the partial inspiration from this trip, 16 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 2: which was Jules Verne's eighteen seventy two novel Around the 17 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 2: World in Eighty Days. Hot air balloons didn't start showing 18 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 2: up in Around the World in Eighty Days until movie 19 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 2: adaptations of the book No Balloon Travel. I say partially 20 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 2: because it was Nellie Bly who started an attempt to 21 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 2: beat the fictional record set in that book when Elizabeth 22 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,479 Speaker 2: Bislin started a trip in the opposite direction. A lot 23 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 2: of the more recent writing about Elizabeth Bislin frames this 24 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 2: entire story, her story of her life in relation to 25 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 2: blyis like all the way through or It's focused mostly 26 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 2: on the trip, and it juxtaposes these two women. But 27 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 2: Elizabeth Bisland had a whole career outside of this trip 28 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 2: around the world, and it was one that was mostly 29 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 2: totally disconnected from the kind of stunt journalism that this 30 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 2: trip was part of. 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Bisland was born in Saint Mary Parish, Louisiana, on 32 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: February eleventh, eighteen sixty one. That is, in southern Louisiana. 33 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,679 Speaker 1: It's about one hundred miles west of New Orleans. Her 34 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: parents were Thomas Shields Bisland and Margaret Cyrilla Brown's. In Bisland, 35 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: Thomas had trained as a doctor, but when Elizabeth was born, 36 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: he wasn't practicing medicine. He came from a wealthy slaveholding 37 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: family that owned property across the region, and he had 38 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: purchased Fairfax Plantation in eighteen fifty eight. It was struggling 39 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: in the wake of a hurricane in the Panic of 40 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven, so Thomas was pretty focused on turning 41 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: it around. By the time Elizabeth was born there, its 42 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: output had surged. Bisland enslaved about one hundred and twenty people, 43 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: so the Bisland family's wealth came from that forced labor. 44 00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 2: For more than a year after the start of the 45 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 2: Civil War, the enslaved workers at Fairfax Plantation kept up 46 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 2: a really robust output of sugar, and that was in 47 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 2: spite of increasing disruptions to supply and shipping lines. But 48 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 2: then in the spring of eighteen sixty two, the United 49 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 2: States Army cut off the region's access to the Mississippi River, 50 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 2: which was a really primary shipping route. The Confederate Army 51 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 2: started fortifying positions around nearby Bayoutesh, and that included earthwork 52 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 2: fortifications at a fort known as Fort Bisland. One of 53 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 2: the major battles in this area was the Battle of Bisland, 54 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 2: which took place on April twelfth and thirteenth, eighteen sixty three. 55 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 2: By the time that happened, Elizabeth's mother had taken Elizabeth 56 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 2: and an older sibling and fled to Natchez, Mississippi, to 57 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 2: stay with family. Elizabeth's father had joined the Confederate Army, 58 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 2: where he served as a doctor. He was eventually captured 59 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 2: at the Siege of Vicksburg and was paroled after the 60 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 2: Confederates render on July fourth, eighteen sixty three. The Civil 61 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 2: War ended in eighteen sixty five. At that point, Elizabeth 62 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 2: was four. We don't have a lot of other detail 63 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 2: about Elizabeth's life during these years. Her nineteen oh three 64 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 2: novel A Candle of Understanding clearly draws some inspiration from 65 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 2: her early life and from her family's return to Louisiana 66 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 2: after the war, But this is also a work of fiction, 67 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 2: and its main character's life goes in a different direction 68 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 2: from her own. It's tricky to puzzle out how much 69 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 2: of this book might be a retelling of her own experiences. 70 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,480 Speaker 2: That also incorporates a lot of the racist language of 71 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 2: the period that it's depicting, And it's very obviously influenced 72 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,840 Speaker 2: by the Lost Cose mythology of the Civil War, which 73 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 2: was simultaneously inaccurate and really popular when she wrote this book. 74 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 2: Some of Bislin's other writing describes slavery as a century's 75 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 2: long injustice that was contrary to the nation's founding ideals 76 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 2: of liberty and equality, But it is hard to get 77 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 2: a sense of what her actual opinions were about all 78 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 2: of this as an adult, at least based in the 79 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 2: written material of hers that I was able to read. 80 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 2: We do know, however, that the Bislins lives changed after 81 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 2: the war ended. Bislin's enslaved workforce had been freed, and 82 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 2: the sugar fields at Fairfax Plantation had been torn up 83 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:35,359 Speaker 2: in the course of various military actions. For comparison, the 84 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 2: plantation's sugar production in eighteen sixty nine was only about 85 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 2: thirty five percent of what it had been before the 86 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,720 Speaker 2: US Army advanced into the area in eighteen sixty two. 87 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 2: Thomas Bisland could no longer make his payments on the property, 88 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 2: and he had to turn it back over to Judge 89 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 2: Joshua Baker, who he had purchased it from. The terms 90 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 2: of their retrocession agreement gave Baker the rights to any 91 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 2: compensation that might be made for this damage, not Bisland. 92 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 2: Although Baker was also a slaveholder, he had remained loyal 93 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 2: to the United States during the war, and he had 94 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 2: strongly advocated against Louisiana's secession from the Union. Because of this, 95 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 2: Baker was eligible for compensation for three hundred dollars for 96 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 2: every enslaved person on the plantation who had been freed. 97 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 2: He also served as governor of Louisiana during reconstruction. Thomas Bisland, 98 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 2: on the other hand, wasn't eligible for anything, and he 99 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 2: mostly became known for having previously been one of the 100 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 2: South's most prominent landowners. 101 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: But the glimpses we get of Elizabeth's young life from 102 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: her own writing essays that are directly about herself, not novels, 103 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: suggests as she grew up bright and engaged in spite 104 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: of the family's changed circumstances. Here's how she described herself 105 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: in the preface to her essay collection At the Sign 106 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: of the Hobby Horse. That collection was published in nineteen ten. Quote, 107 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: as soon as articulate speech was at my command, it 108 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: was my practice to catch and mount, bear backed any 109 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: small wild hobby which might happen to graze in the vicinity, 110 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: and with beating heart and flying hair, to write it 111 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: round and round the narrow enclosure of my immature ideas. 112 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 2: In her essay collection The Secret Life Being the Book 113 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 2: of a Heretic, which came out in nineteen oh six, 114 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 2: she writes about teaching herself French while churning the butter 115 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 2: so that she could read the entirety of Russou's Confessions 116 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 2: in its original language, and she did that because George 117 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 2: Elliot had called this the most interesting book that she knew. 118 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 2: It turned out that Elizabeth loathed Russeau, but after suffering 119 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 2: through all four volumes of the Confessions, she wound up 120 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 2: with a passable knowledge of French. She also sold the 121 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 2: butter to make a little money for the family, which 122 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 2: included her parents and at least five siblings. She also 123 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 2: started writing poetry and submitting it to the New Orleans 124 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 2: Times Democrat under the pseudonym B. L. R. 125 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: Dane. She wanted to keep this a secret, to the 126 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: point that she walked for miles to mail her poems 127 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: from a different post office than their local one, with 128 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: the hopes that they wouldn't be connected to her. The 129 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: style of her writing made the editor think that the 130 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,439 Speaker 1: poems must have been written by an older gentleman from England. 131 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's mother had also been submitting poetry to the newspaper, 132 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: but she was not disguising her identity, and an editor 133 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: eventually wrote to ask her to see if she knew 134 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,200 Speaker 1: who this man might be, since it seemed like he 135 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,960 Speaker 1: lived in a neighboring town. This is the best sitcom 136 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: plot of all time. Eventually everyone put two and two together, 137 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: and in eighteen eighty one, when she was twenty years old, 138 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Bislin was off for a job working for The 139 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: Times Democrat. Later on in her life, she described her 140 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: transition into journalism this way quote, almost before I was grown, 141 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 1: I was thrust out of leisure into the life of journalism. 142 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: I did reporting and wrote verse book reviews and stories 143 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: of all sorts and descriptions. One piece of reporting that 144 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,439 Speaker 1: stands out in my memory is a supper given to 145 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: Joaquim Miller in New Orleans, which I attended as reporter, 146 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: and where I was never once made to realize that 147 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: I was the only woman present. Joaqui Miller was only 148 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: one of the poets and writers that Bislin met while 149 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,199 Speaker 1: she was living in New Orleans. Another was Greek writer 150 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: and translator Lefcadio Hearn, who had immigrated to the United 151 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: States in eighteen sixty nine. He had first arrived in 152 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: New Orleans as a political correspondent for the Cincinnati Commercial 153 00:09:55,360 --> 00:10:00,080 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy six, covering the presidential election. He he 154 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,320 Speaker 1: eventually started working at The Times Democrat, which is where 155 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: he met Bisland. Hearn might be the subject of a 156 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,839 Speaker 1: future episode. He's pretty interesting. That might be a good 157 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:15,199 Speaker 1: October episode because he had a strong interesting ghost stories 158 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: and the occult. Yeah, that's also some of his published work. 159 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: Hearn and Bisland had a lifelong relationship, one that was 160 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: intense and maybe even obsessive on his part, and it 161 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:29,080 Speaker 1: seemed to be even more so when they were not 162 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: in the same place. He clearly saw her as something 163 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:36,679 Speaker 1: of a muse. Her feelings are not quite as clear. 164 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,280 Speaker 1: Her side of their correspondence has not survived, and when 165 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: she edited and published letters of his after his death, 166 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: she did not really comment on their contents about her 167 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's work as a journalist is what led her to 168 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:53,599 Speaker 1: taking her trip around the world, and we're going to 169 00:10:53,640 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: get into that after a sponsor break. To quote from 170 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: an interview Elizabeth Bisland gave later on quote, after some 171 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: years in New Orleans, I decided to come to New York. 172 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: I arrived with fifty dollars in my pocket and was 173 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: advised by mister chester Lord, who was everything that was courteous, 174 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,440 Speaker 1: considerate and charming to go home. Finding that I was 175 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,400 Speaker 1: bent upon staying, he helped me to get work and 176 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: accepted himself the first thing that I had published here. 177 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:36,959 Speaker 1: So Chester Lord was managing editor at the New York Sun, 178 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: and that first thing that he published was a brief 179 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: sketch of a funeral. Bisland went on to say, quote, 180 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: New York proved a great opportunity. My work was accepted 181 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: by Puck, though mister Bunner, under the impression that I 182 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: was a man, did return my first article on the 183 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: score that it was too masculine the Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bizarre, 184 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: and other leading magazines. That quote was from a two 185 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: part article by Julia R. Tuttweiler in the Bookmen Called 186 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: Southern Women in New York that was published in nineteen 187 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: oh four, so it was roughly twenty years after Bislin 188 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: moved there. This piece was about the numerous women who 189 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: moved from the South to New York in the late 190 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to try to make their 191 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: livings as writers or journalists. The article profiled several of them, 192 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: including Bisland, and walked through what the trajectory was like 193 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 1: for most Southern women who arrived in the city without 194 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: an established relationship with a newspaper or publisher. There, they 195 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: would submit articles and stories to an assortment of newspapers 196 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,680 Speaker 1: and magazines to try to build a more ongoing stream 197 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: of work based on their early acceptances. But a lot 198 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 1: of women found that those early successes did not turn 199 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: into a steady writing job. So Tutwiler also wrote about 200 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:00,440 Speaker 1: related jobs that these women might also be fit for, 201 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: like readers for magazines and publishing houses, editors, and literary advisors. 202 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: By the time Tutwiler wrote this piece, which again was 203 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: like twenty years after Bisland had come to New York, 204 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 1: Bisland had become a success, but her early experience after 205 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: arriving in New York around eighteen eighty seven paralleled Tuttweiler's 206 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: description of what a hopeful writer or journalist to be 207 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:31,600 Speaker 1: should expect. She submitted pieces to a range of periodicals, 208 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,440 Speaker 1: and some of them were accepted and published, but it 209 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: was harder to turn that into a steady job. When 210 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,559 Speaker 1: she did get a steady job, it was not as 211 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: a writer or a reporter. It was as literary editor 212 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:49,319 Speaker 1: at The Cosmopolitan, an illustrated monthly magazine. Her work as 213 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: a literary editor did allow her to write. She was 214 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: responsible for a monthly review of recently published books titled 215 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 1: in the Library, and it ran under an illustration and 216 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,520 Speaker 1: of a reader sitting in front of a fireplace in 217 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,680 Speaker 1: a home library book in hand with a quote from 218 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: Edmund Spencer's The Fairy Queen on the Mantle in eighteen 219 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: eighty nine. Some of her other pieces in the Cosmopolitan 220 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: were the Studios of New York Cooperative Housekeeping in Tenements 221 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: and the New York Flower Market. Much of her work 222 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: was published without a Byeline. 223 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 2: Lefcatiohearn came to visit her in New York in eighteen 224 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 2: eighty nine, and he wrote a letter to physician and 225 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 2: lexicographer George M. Gould saying quote, she is a sort 226 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 2: of goddess here keeps a Southern salon. It is hard 227 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 2: to get to talk to her. She is a witch, 228 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 2: turning heads everywhere, but some of her best admirers are 229 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 2: afraid of her. One told me he felt as if 230 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 2: he were playing with a beautiful, dangerous leopard, which he 231 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 2: loved for not biting him. As for me, she is 232 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 2: like has she. On November fourteenth, eighteen eighty nine, The 233 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,240 Speaker 2: New York World announced that Nellie Bly would be trying 234 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 2: to travel around the world faster than the fictional character 235 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 2: of Phileas Fogg and Jules Verns around the world in 236 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 2: eighty days. John Brisbane Walker, the owner of The Cosmopolitan 237 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 2: and Bislin's boss, saw this headline and thought it could 238 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 2: be an opportunity for his magazine. So The Cosmopolitan was 239 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 2: only three years old, and when Walker bought it in 240 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty nine, it was struggling. It had a circulation 241 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 2: of only about sixteen thousand copies a month. On the 242 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 2: other hand, Joseph Pulitzer had bought The New York World 243 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 2: in eighteen eighty three, and it was on its way 244 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 2: to becoming New York's most read daily newspaper. It was 245 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 2: on its way to becoming the first to reach a 246 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 2: circulation of one million. Pulitzer had turned to sensationalism and 247 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 2: sometimes misleading reporting to try to get an audience. That 248 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 2: was a style that would become known as yellow journalism, 249 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 2: and that had worked. Walker was trying to do something 250 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 2: similar with The Cosmopolitan, although without offending the sensibilities of 251 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 2: its more highbrow literary audience. An industry publication called The 252 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 2: Journalist described Walker's changes as the magazine as quote timeliness 253 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 2: and dignified sensationalism. The magazine's circulation did seem to be growing, 254 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 2: and Walker thought sending a conventionally pretty lady reporter of 255 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:37,240 Speaker 2: his own to try to beat Nellie Bly could bring 256 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 2: in even more readers. Here is how Elizabeth Bislin described 257 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 2: learning that this was going to be her next assignment. Quote, 258 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 2: the very first intimation I received of the coming thunderbolt 259 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 2: out of the serene sky of my existence was a 260 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 2: hurried and mysterious request at half past ten o'clock that 261 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 2: I would come as soon as possible to the office 262 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 2: of the magazine of which I was one of the editors. 263 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 2: My appetite for mystery at that hour of the day 264 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 2: is always lamentably feeble, and it was nearly eleven before 265 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 2: I found time to go and investigate this one, although 266 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,119 Speaker 2: the office in question was only a few minutes walk 267 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 2: from my residence. On arriving, the editor and owner of 268 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 2: the magazine asked if I would leave New York that 269 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 2: evening for San Francisco and continue from there around the world, 270 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 2: endeavoring to complete the journey in some absurdly inadequate space 271 00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:37,639 Speaker 2: of time. She went on to say, quote, if my 272 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 2: appetite for mystery that hour is not strong. 273 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: My appetite at eleven in the morning, for even the 274 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: most excruciatingly funny jokes may be said to actually not exist, 275 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: and this one, I remember, bored me more than most. 276 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,400 Speaker 1: But in the course of half an hour I had 277 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: become convinced that the editor really wished me to make 278 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: the attempt, and I had earnestly endeavored to convince him 279 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 1: that I meant to do nothing of the sort. To 280 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:07,960 Speaker 1: begin with, I didn't wish to in the second place, 281 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:10,439 Speaker 1: guests were coming to my house to tea on the 282 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: following day. Thirdly, I was not prepared in the matter 283 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 1: of appropriate garments for such an abrupt departure. And lastly, 284 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,439 Speaker 1: but most weightily, I foresaw the notoriety that an effort 285 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:25,680 Speaker 1: to outdo the feat of Jules Vern's hero was likely 286 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: to bring upon me, And to this notoriety I most 287 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:34,880 Speaker 1: earnestly objected. In spite of all of those feelings, Elizabeth 288 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: Bisland boarded a train to San Francisco about six hours 289 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,920 Speaker 1: after her boss gave her this assignment, as Nellie Bly 290 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: was sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. Bisland and Bly were 291 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: not the only people to try to make this journey 292 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: in the years just after Jules Fern's novel was published, 293 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: but most of the other people who tried were men. 294 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:00,919 Speaker 1: Both publications were trying to reclaim some of the of 295 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 1: nineteenth century travel writing. Because of the travel schedules and 296 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: the limitations of communication systems in eighteen eighty nine, it 297 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 1: wasn't possible for either woman to write and file stories 298 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: during the journey. The World dealt with this with daily 299 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:22,119 Speaker 1: front page coverage, giving Blyi's likely location and itinerary and 300 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: maybe a map of where she probably was, and running 301 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: contests like having readers guess exactly when she would arrive home. 302 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:35,160 Speaker 1: They also published an interview with Jules Vern and various 303 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 1: songs and poems about Nellie bly. 304 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:43,359 Speaker 2: Cosmopolitan was a monthly magazine, so it could not do 305 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,679 Speaker 2: that kind of daily coverage. The timing of all this 306 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,919 Speaker 2: meant that it could not even announce Bislin's trip in 307 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:54,880 Speaker 2: its own pages until she had already gotten back from it. Instead, 308 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,920 Speaker 2: Walker tried to bet an editor from the World one 309 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,879 Speaker 2: thousand dollars that Bislind would finished her journey first. The 310 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 2: editor turned that down. He also tried to get other 311 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 2: newspapers to cover what Bisland was doing, which was most 312 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 2: successful in San Francisco, since she actually had a stop there, 313 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 2: newspapers were a lot more eager to cover Blly, but 314 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 2: Bisland got some publicity from publications that framed it as 315 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:25,439 Speaker 2: a race between the two women, like Frank Leslie's Illustrated newspaper, 316 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 2: which published an illustration of the two women in January 317 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 2: of eighteen ninety that framed them as rival tourists. 318 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: Bly and Bisland each wrote accounts of their voyages after 319 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,920 Speaker 1: returning home, publishing them in the World and The Cosmopolitan. 320 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: Bli got started right away, and The World published her 321 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 1: story over four Sunday editions. Bli's whole story was out 322 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: there within a month of her return, and quickly published 323 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: as a book. She also went on a lecture and 324 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: publicity tour to talk about it. Bisland, though tried to 325 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,679 Speaker 1: distance her from publicity afterwards. She had said from the 326 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:06,199 Speaker 1: very beginning that she did not want this notoriety. She 327 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 1: finished her journey on January thirtyeth eighteen ninety, and the 328 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:13,440 Speaker 1: first installment of her account of it appeared in Cosmopolitan's 329 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: April issue. From there, she covered one stage of the 330 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:22,239 Speaker 1: journey every month until October a book incorporating all of 331 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: it was published as Seven Stages A Flying Trip around 332 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 1: the World a year after she returned. Blis and Bislin's 333 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:35,920 Speaker 1: accounts are so different from one another. This reflects each 334 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: woman's sensibilities and those of the publications that they were 335 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,680 Speaker 1: writing for. Blis are much more sensational, with a lot 336 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 1: of reference to how many well wishers turned out to 337 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: greet her and wish her well on her journey, whereas 338 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 1: Bislins are more restrained and often quite poetic. So, for example, 339 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: here is what Bli had to say about her crossing 340 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,959 Speaker 1: the United States from west to east on the last 341 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: leg of her trip. Quote, I only remember my trip 342 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: across the continent as one maze of happy greetings, happy wishes, 343 00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: congratulating telegrams, fruit flowers, loud cheers, wild herahs, rapid handshaking, 344 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:22,439 Speaker 1: and a beautiful car filled with fragrant flowers, attached to 345 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 1: a swift engine that was tearing like mad through flower 346 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:31,119 Speaker 1: dotted valley and over snow tipped mountain, on on on. 347 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: It was glorious, a ride worthy of a queen. She 348 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,639 Speaker 1: ends with quote the station was packed with thousands of people, 349 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,200 Speaker 1: and the moment I landed on the platform. One yell 350 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:46,440 Speaker 1: went up from them, and the cannons at the battery 351 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: and Fort Green boomed out the news of my arrival. 352 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,159 Speaker 1: I took off my cap and wanted to yell with 353 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: the crowd, not because I had gone around the world 354 00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:01,399 Speaker 1: in seventy two days, but because I was home again. Meanwhile, 355 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: since Bislin made her trip in the opposite direction of Bly, 356 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,199 Speaker 1: her last stage was by sea, and she wrote of 357 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,880 Speaker 1: approaching New York City quote, the water has smoothed itself 358 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,119 Speaker 1: into a bay, and a huge gray woman holding an 359 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:20,000 Speaker 1: uplifted torch awaits our coming. The emigrants regard her wonderingly, 360 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,959 Speaker 1: the symbol of liberty held aloft, and a benignant countenance 361 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,439 Speaker 1: turned towards all the outer world. We are by the 362 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:31,159 Speaker 1: shores of Staten Island. A pretty English girl, who has 363 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,879 Speaker 1: braved the winter storms to follow her new husband to 364 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 1: a foreign country, remarks surprisedly that all this looks much 365 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: like England, evidently having expected log cabins in a country town. 366 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,040 Speaker 1: But I have no time to be amused at her ignorance. 367 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: I am saying joyously to myself, Is this the hill? 368 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:53,920 Speaker 1: Is this the kirk? Is this my name? Country? Suddenly 369 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,159 Speaker 1: a great flood of familiarity washes away the memory of 370 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 1: the strange lands and people I have seen, and blots 371 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,439 Speaker 1: out all sense of time that has elapsed since I 372 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:08,640 Speaker 1: saw all this. I know how everything, the streets, the houses, 373 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,399 Speaker 1: the passers by are looking at this moment. It is 374 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: as if I had turned away my head for an 375 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:19,160 Speaker 1: instant and now looked back again. My duties, my cares, 376 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: my interests, which had grown dim and shadowy in these 377 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:26,200 Speaker 1: last two months, suddenly take on sharp outlines and become 378 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: alive and real once more. I feel as if I 379 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,399 Speaker 1: had but sailed down the bay for an hour and 380 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,439 Speaker 1: was now returning. Uh yeah, that bit about is this 381 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 1: the hill? Is this the kirk? That's from rhyme of 382 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,639 Speaker 1: the ancient mariner? If people did not recognize it. 383 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,320 Speaker 2: As far as the race aspect of this trip went, 384 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:50,920 Speaker 2: Nellie Blyde did not even know that another reporter had 385 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,240 Speaker 2: been sent to try to beat her until almost forty 386 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,160 Speaker 2: days into her journey, when she passed through Hong Kong, 387 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 2: just a few days after Bislund did. Bly was trying 388 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,240 Speaker 2: to beat Phileas Fogg's time, with a goal of seventy 389 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 2: five days. While Bisland was trying to beat Bli's time, 390 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 2: because that was her assignment. Bisland was on track to 391 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,199 Speaker 2: do that, but after changing train cars at four in 392 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 2: the morning so that she could make a connection to 393 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,040 Speaker 2: a fast ship called the trans at Latique in France, 394 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 2: an agent from Cook's tourist bureau in Paris told her 395 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:30,280 Speaker 2: that she had already missed her boat. This was not true. 396 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 2: By some accounts, the ship had been paid to wait 397 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,919 Speaker 2: for her, and by others, the captain was interested in 398 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,119 Speaker 2: her pursuit, and so he took it upon himself to 399 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:41,920 Speaker 2: try to hold the ship for her. Either way, though 400 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 2: when she thought she had missed it, she made other 401 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 2: slower arrangements, and Bisland's words quote the cause of this 402 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 2: false information was never satisfactorily ascertained. It, however, succeeded in 403 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:01,359 Speaker 2: lengthening the voyage four days. Her around the world trip 404 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:05,120 Speaker 2: took seventy six days, while Blize took seventy two. 405 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: We will get into Bislin's life after all of this, 406 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:10,119 Speaker 1: after a sponsor break. 407 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,879 Speaker 2: As we said earlier, Elizabeth Bislund had known that a 408 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 2: trip around the world made by a woman reporter would 409 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 2: bring her fame and notoriety, which she absolutely. 410 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:30,520 Speaker 1: Did not want. 411 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 2: The idea of the lady stunt reporter became a whole 412 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:39,160 Speaker 2: genre of late nineteenth century journalism, and that was largely 413 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 2: because of Nelly Blyi's influence, but Bislund really tried to 414 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 2: distance herself from that. It does seem like her writing 415 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,600 Speaker 2: about her trip brought new readers to The Cosmopolitan. At 416 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 2: least its circulation did keep going up. It reached about 417 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 2: sixty thousand by eighteen ninety two, and it just kept 418 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 2: growing from there. After returning to the US, Bisland went 419 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 2: to the UK and lived there for a year. While 420 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,880 Speaker 2: she wasn't doing the kind of lecture tours that Bligh did, 421 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,480 Speaker 2: she had made enough of a name for herself that 422 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,119 Speaker 2: she was able to connect with writers while she was there. 423 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 2: One was Welsh author Rhodea Broughton. The two of them 424 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 2: collaborated on a novel called A Widower Indeed that was 425 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,760 Speaker 2: published in eighteen ninety one. Bisland also met Rudyard Kipling, 426 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 2: and the two exchange letters afterward. While Bisland was in 427 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:36,840 Speaker 2: the UK, lawyer and industrialist Charles Whitman Wetmore traveled there 428 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:38,320 Speaker 2: to propose to her. 429 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: They had met at a ball back in the United States. 430 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:45,920 Speaker 1: Their engagement was announced in August of eighteen ninety one, 431 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: at which point he was president of the North American Company, 432 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,040 Speaker 1: which was the primary owner of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 433 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 1: the Edison Company, and the Oregon Transcontinental Company. They got 434 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: married quietly on October sixth, eighteen ninety one. A piece 435 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,879 Speaker 1: on the wedding that ran in the Society column of 436 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:10,199 Speaker 1: the Chattanooga Daily Times described Bisland as famous because of 437 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: her race with Nelly Bly, but quote, Miss Bisland is 438 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 1: entitled to fame on much higher grounds. She has one 439 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 1: earned laurels in the literary field as the most graceful 440 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 1: and graphic writer, and as a shining star in society. 441 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:30,919 Speaker 1: This marriage made Elizabeth very comfortable financially. That nineteen oh 442 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: four profile of Southern Women Writers included a photo of 443 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:39,120 Speaker 1: the expansive drawing room at Applegarth, which is the estate 444 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:44,000 Speaker 1: that Wetmore built on Long Island at Applegarth. She continued writing. 445 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety four, her thirty page illustrated essay The 446 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: Art of Travel, was published in the Woman's Book, dealing 447 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 1: practically with the modern conditions of home life, self support, 448 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:01,720 Speaker 1: education opportunities, and everyday problems. She wrote in this piece 449 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: as she intended this travel advice for women of moderate means, 450 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,160 Speaker 1: meaning women who had enough money to travel, but not 451 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: so much money that they didn't have to think about economy, 452 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: or could travel with a whole staff to deal with 453 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: their day to day needs. I found her advice really 454 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:22,080 Speaker 1: fascinating considering what travel is like in today's era of 455 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 1: cars and airplanes and I don't know roll a board luggage. 456 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: She writes that in her opinion and experience, a woman 457 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: can travel comfortably with one trunk, one dressing bag, and 458 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 1: one shawl strap. She talks about the merits of the 459 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: newly introduced bureau trunk, which had drawers in the top lid. 460 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 1: The dressing bag was for toiletries and small articles, and 461 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,200 Speaker 1: she also recommend getting one that was big enough to 462 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: hold night dress slippers and a dressing gown so that 463 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: you could comfortably refresh yourself and have something to sleep 464 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,800 Speaker 1: in if your trunk was stowed somewhere. The shawl strap 465 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: held what a traveler would need to deal with the weather, 466 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,960 Speaker 1: so an ulster coat, an umbrella, and overshoes all rolled 467 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: together in a traveling rug or a carriage blanket, which 468 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 1: is basically something to stay warm under. It was not 469 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 1: common for women to travel alone, especially not women who 470 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: weren't truly wealthy, but Bisland argued that in reality, there 471 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: was quote nothing to prevent a woman from seeing every 472 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: civilized and even semi civilized country in the world without 473 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: other protection than her own modesty and good sense. This 474 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: sounds somewhat progressive until she gets to her reasoning, which 475 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: is that most men are chivalrous and that in the 476 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 1: event of a disaster, everyone will be focused on the 477 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: safety of women and children. That's cute. She also says 478 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: that when women have painful experiences traveling alone, it is 479 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: their own fault nine times out of ten, and she 480 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:01,760 Speaker 1: recommends that solo women travelers ensure again voyage through good manners, 481 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 1: modesty and quote cool and nimble, wit, and recognition that 482 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: the woman is not the center of the world, and 483 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 1: her own discomforts and needs do not take priority over 484 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: all the other solo travelers. 485 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 2: You know, when I first read that, I was like, Okay, 486 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:23,480 Speaker 2: the idea of civilized and semi civilized, that's a little problematic, 487 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 2: but I see where you're getting at. And then I 488 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 2: got to the part where she was basically like, if 489 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 2: you have a bad trip and you're a woman, it's 490 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 2: your own fault. And I was like, oh, that's because 491 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 2: men are totally cool men. It'll be great and as 492 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 2: long as you're great to them, then you'll have a 493 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,239 Speaker 2: good times. I was like, Wow, what a what a 494 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 2: tangle this essay is, Liz, We got to have a talk. 495 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:44,960 Speaker 1: Yeah. 496 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 2: She does have other practical travel tips in this as well, 497 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 2: for women in general and for women traveling alone, like 498 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 2: she recommends selecting seats and state rooms very well in advance, 499 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 2: carrying letters of credit rather than large amounts of cash, 500 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 2: keeping valuables in the hotel safe, and if you really 501 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 2: do need to carry a lot of money around with 502 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:10,960 Speaker 2: you for some reason, put it in a silk bag 503 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 2: around your neck. In nineteen oh three, Bislin started working 504 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 2: on something that surpassed her trip around the world in 505 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 2: how well known it was at least for a while. 506 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 2: That was the two volume Life and Letters of Lefcadio Hearn. 507 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 2: In eighteen ninety, Hern had gone to Japan on assignment 508 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 2: for Harper's, but he had left the magazine to pursue 509 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 2: his own interests. A year later, he married Koizumi Setsu, 510 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:40,640 Speaker 2: who became his creative partner. Five years after that, he 511 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,560 Speaker 2: was adopted by a Japanese family so he could become 512 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 2: a Japanese citizen, and he took the name Koizumi Yakumo. 513 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 2: Hern is not nearly as well known today as a 514 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 2: lot of his contemporaries, but at the time he was 515 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,520 Speaker 2: one of the best known writers in English. He introduced 516 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 2: a lot of information about Japan and Japanese culture to 517 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,640 Speaker 2: English speaking audiences, although in more recent times he has 518 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:09,680 Speaker 2: been criticized for exoticizing Japan. He died in nineteen oh four, 519 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 2: and in spite of having become very well known in 520 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 2: the US and Japan, he did not leave much money 521 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 2: for his widow and their four children. Bisland made an 522 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,160 Speaker 2: agreement with Koizumi Setsu, saying that she would publish this 523 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 2: work and Koizumi would receive all of the money from it. 524 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 2: Then thus became complicated when Black journalist Alathea Foley said 525 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 2: that she and Hern had gotten married in eighteen seventy 526 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 2: four and that they had never gotten divorced. Fully filed 527 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 2: suit for the proceeds from the book, but this marriage 528 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 2: was found to be invalid because it had been illegal 529 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 2: under Ohio's anti miscegination laws when it happened. Ohio is, 530 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 2: of course, where they had gotten married. Bisland glossed over 531 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 2: all of this in her work on him. In addition 532 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 2: to the books we've already mentioned, Bislin published essays in 533 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:06,520 Speaker 2: a range of magazines and other publications. For example, her 534 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 2: nineteen ten essay Societies for Minding One's Own Business was 535 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:14,840 Speaker 2: published in the North American Review. It was about efforts 536 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 2: to bring the kinds of services that are available in 537 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:22,439 Speaker 2: many cities to rural communities. Minding one's own Business meant 538 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,880 Speaker 2: quote to see that our taxes are properly spent, that 539 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 2: the elected officials do their duty, that our roads are 540 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 2: kept in order, the public health guarded, the laws obeyed, 541 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,719 Speaker 2: the schools maintained at a high standard, the beauty of 542 00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:40,440 Speaker 2: the countryside preserved and increased, and that every one of 543 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 2: us has an opportunity for healthful pleasure. She described one 544 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 2: such society as having three membership tiers based on income, 545 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,520 Speaker 2: with annual dues of twenty five dollars, ten dollars, or 546 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:56,319 Speaker 2: five dollars, but everyone having the same voting rights and 547 00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:00,440 Speaker 2: eligibility for office in the society, regardless of how much 548 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 2: dues they paid. The society was maintaining libraries, establishing kindergartens, 549 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,839 Speaker 2: hiring a nurse to care for people who didn't have 550 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 2: the means, and providing other services. Bislin's husband died in 551 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 2: nineteen nineteen. Her last collection of essays, The Truth About 552 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,320 Speaker 2: Men and Other Matters, was published in nineteen twenty seven. 553 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:28,280 Speaker 2: Its title Essay, unsurprisingly from that title, was focused on gender. 554 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,200 Speaker 2: She wrote quote, whatever has been recorded of the human male, 555 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 2: his deeds, his aspirations, his nature, needs and qualities, has 556 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:41,239 Speaker 2: been written, said, and sung by himself. Whatever has been 557 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:45,319 Speaker 2: told of woman, her faults, her vices, her limitations, and 558 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:50,040 Speaker 2: more especially her loquacity and vociferousness, has also been set 559 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 2: down by the same hand. The record of the race, 560 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:57,239 Speaker 2: hitherto accepted as the truth about ourselves, has been the 561 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 2: story of facts and conditions as the male saw them 562 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:03,520 Speaker 2: or wished to see them. So far we have not 563 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:05,799 Speaker 2: heard at all what the truth may have seemed as 564 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:08,000 Speaker 2: seen through the consciousness of the other sex. 565 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:12,239 Speaker 1: Later on in this essay she wrote quote, perhaps no 566 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,839 Speaker 1: secret can be kept forever here and there of late, 567 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:20,560 Speaker 1: the hitherto so sacredly guarded feminine tongue amidst murmurs of revelation. 568 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:26,080 Speaker 1: Generally accepted beliefs imposed upon the race by the constantly 569 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:31,440 Speaker 1: reiterated masculine assertions are along with every creed being finally 570 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:32,680 Speaker 1: cross examined. 571 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 2: One of the essays in this book is straightforwardly antisemitic. 572 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,080 Speaker 2: In this essay, she acknowledges that Jewish people have faced 573 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:46,839 Speaker 2: persecution for centuries, but then she frames that persecution as 574 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:51,200 Speaker 2: being the inevitable result of their being parasites. She tries 575 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 2: to make the argument that quote intrinsically, the parasite is 576 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,800 Speaker 2: neither reprehensible or contemptible, it but acts by the laws 577 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:03,240 Speaker 2: of its nature. But this is an antisemitic and frankly 578 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,239 Speaker 2: offensive trope that a lot of people were writing about 579 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,279 Speaker 2: in the nineteen twenties and thirties after Bisland's lifetime. This 580 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,280 Speaker 2: kind of reasoning was part of the underpinning of Nazi 581 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:18,000 Speaker 2: Germany's racial policies in the Holocaust. Elizabeth Bislin died of 582 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 2: pneumonia on January sixth, nineteen twenty nine, at the age 583 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:25,920 Speaker 2: of sixty seven. She died in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was 584 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,400 Speaker 2: buried with her husband at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. 585 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,040 Speaker 2: An obituary ran in The New York Times, which did 586 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,960 Speaker 2: not mention her trip around the world, but did list 587 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:41,279 Speaker 2: seven Stages among her public works. The terms of Bisland's 588 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:45,759 Speaker 2: will established the Charles and Elizabeth Wetmore Fund, a charitable 589 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:49,200 Speaker 2: fund to provide care for people with tuberculosis and other 590 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:53,200 Speaker 2: respiratory diseases and disorders, and to fund research into such 591 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:56,920 Speaker 2: disorders in and around the city of New Orleans. Her 592 00:37:56,960 --> 00:38:00,520 Speaker 2: book Three Wiseman of the East was published posthumously by 593 00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:04,440 Speaker 2: the University of North Carolina Press. It drew from her 594 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 2: travels in Asia and other research to write biographies of 595 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:12,720 Speaker 2: three figures from three countries. Sha Jahan, fifth Mughal Emperor 596 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:17,719 Speaker 2: of India, Chen Lung Manchu Emperor of China, and Toyotomi 597 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 2: Hideyoshi samurai and Daimyo, who is described as one of 598 00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 2: the great unifiers of Japan. The Press reissued this book 599 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:31,240 Speaker 2: in twenty eighteen and describes Bisland as demonstrating quote great 600 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:35,880 Speaker 2: sensitivity to the distinguishing national characteristics and inner spirit of 601 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:37,320 Speaker 2: the countries themselves. 602 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:41,319 Speaker 1: Although Bisland did not want the kind of fame that 603 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:44,840 Speaker 1: had come from her trip around the World for the Cosmopolitan. 604 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:47,879 Speaker 1: It did help propel the career that she had after 605 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:52,080 Speaker 1: that was over regarding that magazine. In nineteen oh five, 606 00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:55,400 Speaker 1: John Brisbane Walker sold it to William Randolph Hurst, who 607 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,200 Speaker 1: took it in a very yellow journalism direction as part 608 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:02,960 Speaker 1: of his rival with Pulitzer. It then went through another 609 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,720 Speaker 1: big shift in nineteen sixty five when Helen Gurley Brown 610 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:10,400 Speaker 1: became chief editor and made it into the Cosmopolitan women's 611 00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 1: magazine of today. Do you have a listener mail for us? 612 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:16,040 Speaker 1: I do have listener mail. 613 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,319 Speaker 2: The listener mail is about something that Holly and I 614 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:22,279 Speaker 2: actually discussed off screen. It is from Jen and the 615 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:26,480 Speaker 2: title of it is French pronunciation fun and Gen wrote, 616 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:29,319 Speaker 2: Dear Holly and Tracy, I adore the show and have 617 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 2: listened for a decade now. I love how you broach 618 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:36,040 Speaker 2: a wide variety of topics and always with research and compassion. 619 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 2: It's a breath of fresh historical air. Please keep being brilliant. 620 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:42,919 Speaker 2: I am writing about the differing pronunciation of the word 621 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:47,279 Speaker 2: catastrophe from the Lisbon earthquake episode. I was reminded of 622 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:50,800 Speaker 2: a comedy set in French by Eddie Izzard. Eddie Izzard 623 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,399 Speaker 2: has this brilliant set from her show in France, which 624 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 2: she performs in French. It was filmed while she's still 625 00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:01,960 Speaker 2: publicly identified as a man and a transvestite. She talks 626 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,200 Speaker 2: about how the word for transvestite in French is pronounced 627 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 2: as travesty, which an English means catastrophe, and she is 628 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:15,760 Speaker 2: walking about the stage going boonjour suezon catastrophe. 629 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:16,720 Speaker 1: It is so funny. 630 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:19,240 Speaker 2: I can't find it on YouTube, but the whole show 631 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 2: is an extra on one of her DVDs. As pet tax, 632 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:27,000 Speaker 2: please find enclosed a picture of Nelson, the grumpy old Shetland. 633 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:29,760 Speaker 2: He is nearly thirty and likes to hang out alone 634 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:32,920 Speaker 2: in his field shelter aka his manchet and watch the 635 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:37,880 Speaker 2: world go by. He also loves kisses all the best Jen. 636 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:41,560 Speaker 2: We have a picture of Jen being kissed by a 637 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:47,279 Speaker 2: Shetland pony. It is extremely cute. What an adorable little 638 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 2: horse pony, quadruped cutie pie. I found this very funny 639 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:57,279 Speaker 2: and it compelled me to go look. So part of 640 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:02,040 Speaker 2: this set in French is from a Dress to Kill special, 641 00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:06,120 Speaker 2: which I then wound up watching at my desk and 642 00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 2: laughing at and feeling very proud of myself that I 643 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:11,800 Speaker 2: do know enough French that I can follow the parts 644 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:13,319 Speaker 2: of it that are in French. 645 00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:15,919 Speaker 1: In the actual comedy set. 646 00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:19,799 Speaker 2: It does not include the part about zusuuzuing catastrophe, which 647 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,200 Speaker 2: is also very funny. So Holly and I had a 648 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:26,920 Speaker 2: conversation after the Lisbon earthquake episode about how in French, 649 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:30,960 Speaker 2: which a lot of people in Morocco speak, catastrophe is 650 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:32,280 Speaker 2: pronounced catastrophe. 651 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:33,840 Speaker 1: I do not think. 652 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:38,239 Speaker 2: That's why the speaker that we were talking about in 653 00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:41,319 Speaker 2: that behind the scenes said it that way, because I 654 00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:44,879 Speaker 2: think that speaker's first language was Spanish, and Spanish does 655 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,400 Speaker 2: pronounce the e in catastrophe, although not quite as hard 656 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:53,880 Speaker 2: as Americans do in English. But it is very funny 657 00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:57,240 Speaker 2: and a great chance to talk about Eddie Izzard because 658 00:41:57,480 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 2: we love her find her. 659 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:02,080 Speaker 1: She's the most marvelous. 660 00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:05,120 Speaker 2: So thank you very much for this email and these 661 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:09,919 Speaker 2: great pictures. I love Nelson. I want to give him 662 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:13,920 Speaker 2: some pets and maybe, if it's allowed, feed him something. 663 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:14,840 Speaker 1: That he likes to eat. 664 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,960 Speaker 2: So yeah, thank you so much for this. If you 665 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:21,200 Speaker 2: would like to send us an email where at History 666 00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 2: podcasts atiheartradio dot com. The show notes to our episodes 667 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:27,920 Speaker 2: are on our website. Which is at missinhistory dot com, 668 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:32,000 Speaker 2: and you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio 669 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:36,160 Speaker 2: app and anywhere else you like to get your podcasts. 670 00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:43,160 Speaker 2: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 671 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:48,080 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 672 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,240 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.