A midwife's tale

             "A midwife's tale" was written by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrick who transforms the humble diary of a midwife into a magnificent commentary that depicts the missing treasures of everyday colors of the eighteenth century. In the year 1785, America was still a green and chaotic nation the dairy of Martha Ballard began in the remote corners that is Maine. In that year the fifty year old Martha begins the dairy for which she would keep for the next twenty seven years well into her dead bed. What is amazing however was not how long she could keep the journal well into her seventies but that during that time only fewer than half of all women in America was literate. She faithfully took into account of daily weather and her household tasks, her duties as a midwife, and countless incidents that depict the young America of the eighteenth century. After many years, Martha's diary was unearthed in the Maine State Library by Laurel Thatcher Ulrick who was immediately captivated by her story and brought it to light. It is the extraordinary story that brewed between these two extraordinary women that allowed us to peak into their lives and take insight.
             A commentary on American life during the early Republic, Martha Ballard's writings did indeed provide a wide-ranging glimpse of New England society at a time when the American people were striving for a separate identity, distinctive from the mother country. Many women become educated and knowledgeable. They were starting to become familiar with the events in the world. They were able to go to schools and they began to have a voice in the republic. However, the education was not an option in the town where Martha Ballard lives. Martha and her surveyor husband, Ephraim, moved from Massachusetts to the frontier of Maine during the Revolution; the rapid social changes in their new republic are felt at the domestic level. Ballard cared for many sick people,
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A midwife's tale. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 16:46, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/3161.html