“Irish Curiosity” is the name of a short story published by Augusta Browne in 1848, one hundred seventy-five years ago. The theme of the humorous story is curiosity, which is considered a commendable thirst for knowledge in a man, but in a woman, curiosity is regarded as inappropriate interference in the affairs of others. Further, as Browne expressed in deliberately misspelled language that gave the flavor of an Irish brogue, a woman “of coorse can’t kape a saycret.”
Tag: publishing
Introduction
The title page of The Lady’s Almanac for 1854 showcases a romanticized illustration of a lady writing with a quill pen at an ornate desk as time slips away in the winged hourglass.
Augusta Browne’s table and chair would have been far less grand than the engraving depicts, but she was already making contributions as a writer as well as a composer. On page 92, the almanac includes her name—lacking (as often happened) the final e of Browne—among noted American women writers.
Augusta Browne loved cats, as her prose writing demonstrates.
Does not a fluffy cat, of stately demeanor, confer a positive dignity on the family hearth?
Augusta Browne Garrett, “All Good Persons Love Dumb Animals,” Episcopal Recorder, February 7, 1877.
“The Favorite Cat,” hand-colored lithograph published by Nathaniel Currier, 1838–48, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962, Accession Number: 63.550.159
In her 1877 article from the Episcopal Recorder, shown in full below, Browne tells anecdotes about memorable cats from her family home. Some knew clever tricks. Others, like Rubin (named for the Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein), had musical tendencies. She extols the usefulness of cats to control rodents, in addition their innate “beauty, talent, amiability, and industry.” The lesson of the essay is a universal message to treat animals humanely. Browne concludes:
It is impossible to love God and be cruel to the creatures that he has committed to our care.
During fall 2020, I had the pleasure of presenting a Zoom session, “Finding Your Path into Print,” for graduate students at my alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis.
