![]() ![]() ![]() Bethia’s own life is circumscribed by work (her mother has died, and at age 12, she runs the household) and by her father’s conviction that the learning she craves is for boys only - in particular, her despised elder brother Makepeace.īethia tells her story in language rich in archaic and Indian words - she eats in the “garth,” sets out “the scraps for bever and supper,” performs tasks that are by turns “friggling” and “cackhanded” and, at night, sleeps in a “shakedown.” Later, she takes employment in Cambridge, where “since the townsfolk do not trouble where they tip their slops, the air reeks, and everywhere the middens rise, rotting in steaming piles of clutter and muck.” Canoes are “mishoons,” Indian spiritual leaders are “pawaaws,” and their homes are “wetus.” On almost every page are richly evocative and often unfamiliar words.ĭespite this archaic language, Bethia thinks like a modern girl. ![]() As a child, she meets and secretly becomes friends with Caleb, who later seeks out her father to request instruction from him and comes to live with the family. ![]() Caleb’s crossing from his American Indian culture to membership in the educational elite of Colonial society is seen through the eyes of a fictional character, Bethia Mayfield, the island-born daughter of an English clergyman. ![]()
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