Hints and Sketches, by An American Mother.
“The Influence Of Woman…Cannot Be Overrated”
[Religion]. [Anonymous]. Hints and Sketches, by An American Mother. New York: John B. Taylor, 1839.
8vo.; endpapers occasionally yellowed, foxed; brown cloth, blind-stamped, spine stamped in gilt; a good copy.
First edition. A tutorial or educational book, consisting of chapter-length essays with a Christian religious subtext. (The publisher, John S. Taylor, lists himself as a “Theological and Sunday-School Bookseller”). Like many religious tracts of the day, this one is anonymously written by a woman for a female audience.
Consisting of 12 chapters, whose subjects are “Female Influence;” “The Christian Wife and Mother;” “American Nunneries;” “Prejudice;” and “Slavery in the United States.” Throughout the volume the author walks a fine line between feminism and what’s proper for a Christian lady; similarly, she opines against religious prejudice and slavery, but stops short of advocating religious freedom or abolition.
The meat of the book is really in the first essay, “Female Influence,” which opens with the following:
The influence of women is a theme which has employed the pen, the pulpit,
and the press; and it has not been, it cannot be overrated. Its extent, its
value, its importance, will never be realized until eternity shall open, until
the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed.
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