The Letter Kills but the Spirit gives Life
1993, Historical Society of Glastonbury
www.hsgct.org/books.htm The story of the remarkable Smith family—abolitionists, suffragists, and Bible translators. Julia Smith was the first woman in history to translate the Bible. Her version was published by Mark Twain’s publishing house in 1876. “Housley presents the lives of five noble women: the Smith sisters of Glastonbury, Connecticut. Although they never strayed beyond the boundaries of their hometown, their intellectual gifts and abilities led them far afield. This slice-of-life portrait of life in early 19th-century New England is ripe with caricatures of the American frontier spirit as well as Yankee determination as the sisters become involved not only in Bible translating but in advocating abolition and women’s suffrage long before either became fashionable.” Sandra Collins, University of Pittsburgh for Library Journal. |