ELA 11 EQT 3 Practice Test

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

ELA 11 EQT 3 Practice Test ELA 11 EQT 3 Practice Test Read the next two poems. Then answer the questions that follow them. Spring in New Hampshire Claude McKay Too green the springing April grass, Too blue the silver-speckled sky, For me to linger here, alas, While happy winds go laughing by, 5 Wasting the golden hours indoors, Washing windows and scrubbing floors. Too wonderful the April night, Too faintly sweet the first May flowers, The stars too gloriously bright, 10 For me to spend the evening hours, When fields are fresh and streams are leaping, Wearied, exhausted, dully sleeping. “Spring in New Hampshire” by Claude McKay. Courtesy of the Literary Representative for the Works of Claude McKay, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations Reading Comprehension Use “Spring in New Hampshire” to answer these questions. ____ 1. In lines 1–2, the writer establishes the mood through his use of — A. metaphor B. diction C. personification D. imagery ____ 2. The personification of the winds in line 4 conveys a sense of — A. lost happiness B. innocent joy C. unrequited love D. great excitement ____ 3. The rhythm of the poem changes at the beginning of which line? A. Line 3 B. Line 4 C. Line 5 D. Line 6 1 ____ 4. The repetition of the word too in lines 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9 emphasizes the — A. intense beauty of nature B. great loneliness of the speaker C. utter pointlessness of work D. new freshness of springtime ____ 5. 5. How does each stanza contribute to the poem’s meaning? A. The speaker rejoices at being outside in the first stanza and rejects performing menial jobs in the second stanza. B. In the first stanza, the speaker describes an April afternoon, and in the second stanza the speaker describes an April evening. C. The speaker is lured away from work by an April day in the first stanza and from rest by an April night in the second stanza. D. In the first stanza, work renders the speaker indifferent to nature, and in the second stanza the speaker is exhausted. ____ 6. Which phrase best describes the speaker’s attitude toward the audience? A. Criticizing the audience for seeking pleasure B. Rejecting the audience’s values and concerns C. Admiring the audience’s commitment to hard work D. Sharing with the audience the joys of the season ____ 7. The personification of the streams in line 11 emphasizes the — A. confinement of the speaker B. dangers of nature C. bewilderment of the speaker D. freedom of nature ____ 8. Which image from the poem appeals to the reader’s sense of smell? A. Too blue the silver-speckled sky (line 2) B. Washing windows and scrubbing floors (line 6) C. Too faintly sweet the first May flowers (line 8) D. exhausted, dully sleeping (line 12) ____ 9. The poem’s diction helps create a style that is — A. spare and cold B. formal and complex C. rich and descriptive D. abstract and vague Use the excerpt from How Reading Changed My Life to answer these questions. ____ 10. This selection stresses the author’s belief that reading — A. will make a person smarter B. helps people experience other places 2 C. makes a troubled childhood better D. lets a person avoid real life ____ 11. From the author’s comments about her childhood, the reader can tell that her wandering was — A. a symbol of her love for books B. an attempt to escape her home C. an expression of her ambitions D. the result of her not fitting in ____ 12. From the author’s description of her scholarship test, the reader can tell that — A. the school had a challenging reading program B. her parents had helped her prepare for the test C. the other girls did not share her love of reading D. she was the only girl at her table who had read the book ____ 13. Which statement expresses what paragraph 7 is mainly about? A. I would rather read than go to school. B. My home was outside Philadelphia. C. I really lived somewhere else. D. Books always seemed real to me. ____ 14. From the author’s description in the last sentence in paragraph 8, the reader can tell that her childhood — A. was full of friendship, fun, and games B. was sometimes just like any other child’s C. did not have any ordinary childhood joys D. had nothing in it but books and reading ____ 15. Which sentence best expresses what paragraph 10 is mainly about? A. The author always felt she was alone in her love of books. B. For the author, books were better than children’s games. C. The author learned much about life and herself from books. D. For the author, books were more perfect than everyday life. ____ 16. Which detail from paragraph 10 helps convey the main idea? A. All the other children preferred playing outside. B. The author learned the difference between right and wrong from reading. C. The author felt like she was in a different dimension. D. Books were a parallel universe for the author. ____ 17. Which sentence best expresses what paragraphs 11–13 are mainly about? A. Many people prefer reading to any other activity in life. B. Important people have shared the author’s love of books. C. Many people have risked their lives for literacy. D. The author is influenced by women she admires. 3 ____ 18. Oprah Winfrey’s childhood experiences differ from the author’s because Winfrey — A. was criticized for reading too much B. had a lovely childhood in a lovely place C. drew a lifetime of inspiration from books D. lived most intensely through books Use context clues and your knowledge of connotation and denotation to answer the following questions about words in How Reading Changed My Life. ____ 19. What connotation does the word wild have in paragraph 3? A. Danger B. Freedom C. Desolation D. Energy ____ 20. What connotation does the word diminished have in paragraph 4? A. Immensity B. Chaos C. Unhappiness D. Disappointment ____ 21. What connotation does the word sprawled have in paragraph 8? A. Relaxation B. Punishment C. Disorder D. Security ____ 22. What connotation does the word different have in paragraph 10? A. Superiority B. Prejudice C. Individuality D. Exclusion Use context clues and your knowledge of homographs to answer the following questions about words in How Reading Changed My Life. ____ 23. In which sentence does the word block have the same meaning as in paragraph 1? A. Her school was only one block away from her grandmother’s apartment building. B. With a quick block, the basketball player ruined his opponent’s final shot. 4 C. The child placed one block on top of another until she had built a tower. D. The plumber said any debris could block the drain, leaving water in the sink. ____ 24. In which sentence does the word rest have the same meaning as in the end of paragraph 6? A. The score called for the flutes to rest while the oboe played a solo. B. Many cultures hold funerals to honor loved ones going to their final rest. C. The hikers were ready to rest after reaching the mountain’s summit. D. She gave the rest of her sandwich to a student who had forgotten his lunch. ____ 25. In which sentence does the word curb have the same meaning as in paragraph 10? A. Mr. Smith asked her to curb her dog when she walked it in the neighborhood. B. Some riders use curb bits to keep their horses under greater control. C. The teacher reminded the students to curb their speaking during the film. D. He waited at the curb for the light to change before crossing the street. ____ 26. In which sentence does the word glare have the same meaning as in paragraph 11? A. Thomas offered a smile, but Elizabeth would only glare at him. B. With their colorful clothes, they would glare in the drab crowd. C. I shaded my eyes from the spotlight’s harsh glare and said, “Hello?” D. She wanted nothing more than to hide from her mother’s angry glare. Revising and Editing Directions Read this passage and answer the questions that follow. (1) People have to make choices about life. (2) “A Wagner Matinee” examines the effects of one character’s choices. (3) Willa Cather, the author, explores this idea. (4) From Aunt Georgiana’s physical appearance and the narrator’s observations, we see that her choice brings loss. (5) Her nephew Clark narrates the story. (6) Clark learns Aunt Georgiana will be returning for a visit. (7) Clark reveals the painful consequences of Aunt Georgiana’s choice. (8) Clark remembered her as “pathetic and grotesque.” (9) Her appearance when she arrives matches this description and more. (10) Her clothes are dirty, unshapely, and unfashionable. (11) Her false teeth is “ill-fitting” and her leathery skin yellowed. (12) Aunt Georgiana’s posture is stooped, and “her shoulders were now almost bent together over her sunken chest.” (13) Her hands are “stretched and twisted.” (14) Clark describes her as a Boston lady who meets a “handsome country boy.” (15) To everyone’s shock, Aunt Georgiana “eloped with him, eluding the reproaches of her family and the criticisms of friends by going with him to the Nebraska frontier.” (16) This impulsive choice—abandoning her life in Boston—leads to Aunt Georgiana’s great sacrifice.
Recommended publications
  • If You Like My Ántonia, Check These Out!
    If you like My Ántonia, check these out! This event is part of The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. Other Books by Cather About Willa Cather Alexander's Bridge (CAT) Willa Cather: The Emerging Voice Cather's first novel is a charming period piece, a love by Sharon O'Brien (920 CATHER, W.) story, and a fatalistic fable about a doomed love affair and the lives it destroys. Willa Cather: A Literary Life by James Leslie Woodress (920 CATHER, W.) Death Comes for the Archbishop (CAT) Cather's best-known novel recounts a life lived simply Willa Cather: The Writer and her World in the silence of the southwestern desert. by Janis P. Stout (920 CATHER, W.) A Lost Lady (CAT) Willa Cather: The Road is All This Cather classic depicts the encroachment of the (920 DVD CATHER, W.) civilization that supplanted the pioneer spirit of Nebraska's frontier. My Mortal Enemy (CAT) First published in 1926, this is Cather's sparest and most dramatic novel, a dark and oddly prescient portrait of a marriage that subverts our oldest notions about the nature of happiness and the sanctity of the hearth. One of Ours (CAT) Alienated from his parents and rejected by his wife, Claude Wheeler finally finds his destiny on the bloody battlefields of World War I. O Pioneers! (CAT) Willa Cather's second novel, a timeless tale of a strong pioneer woman facing great challenges, shines a light on the immigrant experience.
    [Show full text]
  • Willa Cather and American Arts Communities
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English English, Department of 8-2004 At the Edge of the Circle: Willa Cather and American Arts Communities Andrew W. Jewell University of Nebraska - Lincoln Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishdiss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Jewell, Andrew W., "At the Edge of the Circle: Willa Cather and American Arts Communities" (2004). Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English. 15. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishdiss/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. AT THE EDGE OF THE CIRCLE: WILLA CATHER AND AMERICAN ARTS COMMUNITIES by Andrew W. Jewel1 A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: English Under the Supervision of Professor Susan J. Rosowski Lincoln, Nebraska August, 2004 DISSERTATION TITLE 1ather and Ameri.can Arts Communities Andrew W. Jewel 1 SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Approved Date Susan J. Rosowski Typed Name f7 Signature Kenneth M. Price Typed Name Signature Susan Be1 asco Typed Name Typed Nnme -- Signature Typed Nnme Signature Typed Name GRADUATE COLLEGE AT THE EDGE OF THE CIRCLE: WILLA CATHER AND AMERICAN ARTS COMMUNITIES Andrew Wade Jewell, Ph.D. University of Nebraska, 2004 Adviser: Susan J.
    [Show full text]
  • 11Th Grade Summer Reading
    May 2021 Dear Incoming 11th Grade Student, With your summer vacation right around the corner, I know you are looking forward to having some time to rest, read a few good books, and enjoy the lovely weather. For this summer, you will read two books and complete an assignment for each book. Please take note that you must read the Required Reading book, but for your second book, you do have a choice of selected options as listed below. Book #1: Required Reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass ISBN-13 : 978-0451529947 Book #2: Reader’s Choice (choose one) Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe any edition Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck ISBN-13 : 978-0140177398 My Antonia, Willa Cather any edition The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck any edition A Separate Peace, John Knowles ISBN-13 : 978-0743253970 Book Assignments For both books, you will complete a Dialectical Journal by logging your response and analysis as you read. Your Dialectical Journal should include 18 entries per book. Directions: 1. As you read, choose quotes or passages (Concrete Details) that stand out to you and use Google Docs or Microsoft Word to record them in the left-hand column of a T-chart, like the one below. Always include page numbers, or if you are reading a digital version, chapter numbers. 2. In the right column, write your commentary (1:2+) responding to that quote using one of the following codes: Journaling Codes ● (CH) Characterization – Analyze details or dialog the author gives you to build his/her characters.
    [Show full text]
  • “Garden-Magic”: Conceptions of Nature in Edith Wharton's Fiction
    W&M ScholarWorks Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 5-2021 “Garden-Magic”: Conceptions of Nature in Edith Wharton’s Fiction Jonathan Malks Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses Part of the American Art and Architecture Commons, American Literature Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, Theory and Philosophy Commons, United States History Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Malks, Jonathan, "“Garden-Magic”: Conceptions of Nature in Edith Wharton’s Fiction" (2021). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 1603. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1603 This Honors Thesis -- Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Malks 1 “Garden-Magic”: Conceptions of Nature in Edith Wharton’s Fiction A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English from William & Mary by Jonathan M. Malks Accepted for Honors ________________________________________ Melanie V. Dawson, Thesis Advisor Elizabeth Barnes ________________________________________ Elizabeth Barnes, Exam Chair ________________________________________ Alan C. Braddock Francesca Sawaya ________________________________________ Francesca Sawaya Williamsburg, VA May 12, 2021 Malks 2 Land’s End It’s strangely balmy for November. I feel the heat and pluck a noxious red soda apple off of its brown and thorny stem. Many people here are bent on keeping “unwanteds” out, but these weeds grow ferally. They go without direction, and you can’t restrain them with a rusty, old “no photo” sign.
    [Show full text]
  • Newsletter & Review
    VOLUME 54, NO. 2 FALL 2010 Willa Cather NEWSLETTER & REVIEW Food and Drink and the Art of Willa Cather Special Double Issue Letter from the President Jay yOST ow! has it really been two funds will allow us to better fulfill our mission, which in- years since I became Presi- cludes taking care of our wonderful archives and making dent of the Cather Founda- sure today’s school kids become avid Cather lovers. To those Wtion? What a great ride it’s been! no who have already given, thank you so much, and to our gen- other literary society, performance erous year-end donors, we are able to do all we do because space, bookstore, art gallery, prairie of your faith in us. manager, historic house trust, living The Cather Foundation also continues to attract new and museum or archives does what we do, passionate members to our Board of Governors. Sara Cor- because we do all of these things, and less of Kansas City, Daryl Palmer of Denver and Gabriel we do them amazingly well. Scala of Oxford, Mississippi were recently elected to join This issue highlights the many aspects of our magnifi- us on our mission, and we are so excited about how each of cent 2010 Spring Conference, for which we published the them is going make the Foundation even better. Cather Foundation’s cookbook, At Willa Cather’s Tables— So as I sign off, I want to thank you for your kindness, and need I remind you—a great gift idea. your support, and the opportunity to have been the President We recently began our new giving campaign: Preserv- of this wonderfully unique organization.
    [Show full text]
  • Sorbonne Keynote Address: Shadows of a Rock: Translating Willa Cather
    54 | golden handcuffs review Sorbonne Keynote Address: Shadows of a Rock: Translating Willa Cather Marc Chénetier Dear colleagues, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, A warm welcome, first, to a city that Mrs Wheeler, inOne of Ours, describes as “the wickedest”, “the capital of a frivolous, wine-drinking, Catholic people”, “responsible for the massacre of St Bartholomew and for the grinning atheist, Voltaire.” I hope you enjoy every component of this infernal scene, steps away from the greystone bordering rues St Jacques and Soufflot in Godfrey St. Peter’s memory, a stonethrow from a Sorbonne sitting for lectures on the hard benches of which I never could quite muster the same passion for Puvis de Chavannes’s scenes as the great lady to whom we owe this occasion consistently entertained. Today, forty years later, I see her point, but I still feel the bench, still hear the drones, and feel for you... I thank the organizers of this conference who were imprudent enough to invite me, and particularly Robert Thacker, whose plot to that effect is old, having been hatched in Berlin several years ago, and to Françoise Palleau who prevailed upon me to address you today, a token, I take it, of her desire to salute Willa Cather’s cooking skills since real gastronomical know-how lies with what is known as “l’art d’accommoder les restes”: this being the last lecture I shall deliver Marc Chénetier | 55 during the course of my official professional life, her gesture testifies to a belief in the possibility to make acceptable use of leftovers that hold little gustatory promises in themselves… We meet today in a place founded, in Auclairian times, as a school for draughtsmanship, an activity relevant to Cather’s literary art, a place where 30 years ago I remember introducing to the French public young aspiring writers I was to specialize in all my life, named Robert Coover, John Hawkes, Ishmael Reed, Grace Paley or John Barth.
    [Show full text]
  • The Glasgow Paradox : a Study of Ellen Glasgow's Sad Ladies Frank Alexander Lovelock
    University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Master's Theses Student Research Summer 1972 The Glasgow paradox : a study of Ellen Glasgow's sad ladies Frank Alexander Lovelock Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses Recommended Citation Lovelock, Frank Alexander, "The Glasgow paradox : a study of Ellen Glasgow's sad ladies" (1972). Master's Theses. Paper 352. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE GLASGOW PARADOX A STUDY OF ELLEN GLASGOW'S SAD LADIES BY FRANK ALEXANDER LOVELOCK, III A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH AUGUST 1972 APPROVED BY THC: DEPAHTi'•ii·;t~ :· : , 1 .\~LJ ~;:i AND THE GRADUATE SCHCCL Reader Chairman of Graduate Studies in ~nglish Dean of Graduate School UNIVEFtSiTY or~ t-~ICHM()Nn "/ ! r ,' ~ ! t >.I ! ."_ PREFACE This study intends to examine the career of Ellen Glasgow to determine how her personal philosophy is re­ flected in her work--and more especially in the characters of her long-suffering heroines (the sad ladies). It is hoped that the reader will come to understand how Glasgow moved from an initial phase of hope, through a period of pain and sorrow, and into a final time of despair. For the purpose of this study, special emphasis has been placed. on the importance of the novels which were written after 1900.
    [Show full text]
  • REVIEW Volume 62 | No
    Willa Cather REVIEW Volume 62 | No. 2 | Winter 2021 “I always feel very deeply that I am a Virginian.” +++++++++ Willa Cather REVIEW Volume 62 z No. 2 | Winter 2021 3 7 10 2 12 17 23 32 41 25 28 30 CONTENTS 1 Letters from the Executive Director and the President 23 Songs and Sapphira: An Interview with Barbara Davis z Barbara Davis and Ann Romines 2 Black Lives in Sapphira and the Slave Girl: New Perspectives from Archaeology and History 25 My Life, My Story, and Who I Am Yicel Hernandez 3 “As Much a Slave To-day”: Freedom’s Reality for the Shenandoah Valley’s African Americans in the 28 Selections from the Newly Acquired David Porter Reconstruction Era z Jonathan A. Noyalas Willa Cather Collection z Robert Thacker Setting History Straight: Josephine School Community 7 30 A Lost Painting: Nancy’s Return z John Jacobs Museum and Sapphira and the Slave Girl z Adeela Al-Khalili 32 Writing, Revising, and Promoting The Professor’s 10 Willa Cather and Enslaved Life in the Shenandoah Valley House: New Evidence of Willa Cather at Work Matthew C. Greer Melissa J. Homestead 12 Willa Cather’s Virginia z Ann Romines 41 In Memoriam: Laurie Smith Camp z Glenda Pierce 17 Wee Winkie Goes to Washington: Cather’s Early Impressions Contributors to this Issue of the Nation’s Capital z Timothy W. Bintrim 44 On the cover: Cather’s birthplace and Willow Shade, with an excerpt from a letter from Cather to Stringfellow Barr, Dec. 5, 1928 (Complete Letters no. 2049, The Willa Cather Archive, cather.unl.edu).
    [Show full text]
  • Willa ( Ather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation VOLUME Xvlll, Number 2 RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA
    Copyright © 1974 by the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation Summer Newsletter--1974 Willa ( ather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation VOLUME XVlll, Number 2 RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA he wishes and stay down until he has to come up for Newsletter--Literary Issue Summer 1974 air. The reader who enters the world of Thomas Wolfe, to cite another example, is overwhelmed by the aston- Edited by Bernice Slote ishing vitality of his work, but, as Lionel Trilling notes, he is dismayed by "the disproportion between the Twice a year literary issues of the Newsletter will present new Willa Cather material: reprints of energy of his utterance and his power of mind." It some of Cather’s early, hard-to-find, and still un- is the intellection coming from the European tradition collected journalistic writings; early reviews, inter- that gives the reader room to swim in Willa Cather’s views, and notes about Cather’s work; bibliographical fiction. One would not accuse Cather of writing intel- information; and--from Cather readers--original brief notes, observations, explications, or short cri- lectual novels~ but the intellectual content is there, well tical articles. (Submit manuscripts to CATHER assimilated and carried along lightly by the emotional NEWSLETTER, 201 Andrews Hall, University of content. The emotional content, I think, owes its Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68508). vigor to Cather’s Nebraska experience and to the com- . In This Issue . mitment she was fond of calling "the gift of sympathy." . The relationship between Willa Cather’s ex- ~- The Art of Willa Cather perience and her fiction is close and important, but the experience is of two kinds.
    [Show full text]
  • Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Newsletter
    Copyright © 1996 by the Willa Cather Pioneer ISSN 0197-663X Memodal and Educational Foundation Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Newsletter The Willa Cather Society 326 N. Webster Street VOLUME XXXX, No. 2 Red Cloud, Nebraska 68970 Summer/Fall, 1996 Telephone (402) 746-2653 "Willow Shade," Virginia, home of Willa Cather (1874-83). -- Photo Courtesy of David T. Parry Destinations and Admonitions: Virginia Seminar Plans for Willa Cather’s Obscure Destinies June 21-28, 1997 Joseph R. Urgo Plans are taking shape for the Seventh Internation- Bryant College al Willa Cather Seminar, to be held in Winchester, Virginia, June 21-28, 1997. The Seminar topic is But certainty generally is~illusion, "Willa Cather’s Southern Connections," and seminar and repose is not the destiny of man. presentations and discussions will focus on the impor- -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., tance of Southern culture and issues throughout The Path of the Law(1897) Cather’s career, on her complex connections to South- Obscure Destinies (1932) stands in opposition to ern writing and writers such as William Faulkner, the universal application of experience, or to the Eudora Welty, Zora Neale Hurston, Ellen Glasgow and transference of experience into admonition. Conclu- others. The intricate and troubling racial dynamics of sions that seem irrefutable in one of the text’s three Cather’s fiction, especially Sapphira and the Slave Girl, narratives are inapplicable, even absurd, if transferred wil! be a major topic, as will the important issues of to another of the stories. In the introductory paragraph childhood and continuity raised by Cather’s early years to the last of the three narratives, Cather writes, "we in Virginia.
    [Show full text]
  • Willa Cather
    WILLA CATHER "The church looked powerful and triumphant there on its eminence, so high above the rest of the landscape, with miles of warm color lying at its feet..." Has anyone ever written about the way Catholicism enters into the work of non­Catholic writers? I am sure this has been done, at least in a piece meal fashion. In reading the Brontes or Thackeray or Dickens or Trollope one notices the odd way Catholics and things Catholic are treated. Recently Robert Fussel wrote The Catholic Side of Henry James, a remarkable study that traces the way the Church attracts and repels James's characters. A bonus of reading this book was learning that Ralph Waldo Emerson had a habit of visiting the old cathedral of Baltimore when he was in that city. Surely this is one of the most American of Catholic churches, architecturally speaking, but it was the difference rather than the similarity that interested Emerson, and his eye was on the service. He wrote his wife that it was such a relief to see a ceremony in which the preacher was not the star. Surely such a book could be done on Howells and Hawthorne as well, since it was often the European experience that unsettled the native American. At home, the American Protestant might think of Romanism as a foreign and exotic business, but in Europe he was forced to see that it © Ralph McInerny, 2005. was he who was outside the dominant culture and religion. The role that Dante played in altering the attitude of Yankee Protestants toward the `old religion' is well known.
    [Show full text]
  • Women Subjects on U.S. Postage Stamps
    Women Subjects on United States Postage Stamps Queen Isabella of Spain appeared on seven stamps in the Columbian Exposition issue of 1893 — the first commemorative U.S. postage stamps. The first U.S. postage stamp to honor an American woman was the eight-cent Martha Washington stamp of 1902. The many stamps issued in honor of women since then are listed below. Martha Washington was the first American woman honored on a U.S. postage stamp. Subject Denomination Date Issued Columbian Exposition: Columbus Soliciting Aid from Queen Isabella 5¢ January 1893 Columbus Restored to Favor 8¢ January 1893 Columbus Presenting Natives 10¢ January 1893 Columbus Announcing His Discovery 15¢ January 1893 Queen Isabella Pledging Her Jewels $1 January 1893 Columbus Describing His Third Voyage $3 January 1893 Queen Isabella and Columbus $4 January 1893 Martha Washington 8¢ December 1902 Pocahontas 5¢ April 26, 1907 Martha Washington 4¢ January 15, 1923 “The Greatest Mother” 2¢ May 21, 1931 Mothers of America: Portrait of his Mother, by 3¢ May 2, 1934 James A. McNeil Whistler Susan B. Anthony 3¢ August 26, 1936 Virginia Dare 5¢ August 18, 1937 Martha Washington 1½¢ May 5, 1938 Louisa May Alcott 5¢ February 5, 1940 Frances E. Willard 5¢ March 28, 1940 Jane Addams 10¢ April 26, 1940 Progress of Women 3¢ July 19, 1948 Clara Barton 3¢ September 7, 1948 Gold Star Mothers 3¢ September 21, 1948 Juliette Gordon Low 3¢ October 29, 1948 Moina Michael 3¢ November 9, 1948 Betsy Ross 3¢ January 2, 1952 Service Women 3¢ September 11, 1952 Susan B. Anthony 50¢ August 25,
    [Show full text]