Other editions of book Aunt Jane of Kentucky

“A character who became a Kentucky icon in the early twentieth century, along with Mrs. Wiggs and the Little Colonel, was Aunt Jane, the garrulous old woman who tells stories of olden times in the Pennyrile area of western Kentucky. Writing under her maiden name, Eliza Calvert Hall (she married a Mr. Obenchain) lived all her life in the country she wrote about.” [Wade Hall, The Kentucky Anthology: Two Hundred Years of Writing in the Bluegrass State, Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2005, 184.] The author grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky and was educated at a prestigious school in Ohio. Her father, Thomas Calvert, was a prosperous businessman whose success permitted him to build a mansion on Vinegar Hill in Bowling Green. When Eliza (called Lida) was still a teenager, he was suspected of embezzling money from the Bank of Kentucky where he held a high position; subsequently, he disappeared for thirteen years. Newly impoverished, the family experienced social embarrassment, with their home property on Vinegar Hill being liquidated. Lida began writing short stories to help support her family. “Aunt Jane”, an elderly widow, relates the experiences of the people in a rural community named Goshen, to a younger woman visitor who conveyed them to the reader. This rhetorical device called a “double narrative,” was a common form of storytelling in the late nineteenth century. [Niedermeier, Lynn E., Eliza Calvert Hall: Kentucky Author and Suffragist. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2007, 120–130.] By way of Aunt Jane and the other characters in her stories, the author voices the difficulties encountered by women of her time with metaphors and symbolism derived from the homey arts of sewing, cooking, and gardening. [Piecing and Reconciling: Eliza Calvert Hall's Aunt Jane of Kentucky. Edited by Melody Graulich. Albany, NY: New College and University Press, 1992.] Aunt Jane of Kentucky is an assemblage of stories about pastoral life permeated with the essence and humor of its aging raconteur, Aunt Jane. While struggling to juggle her writing with the responsibilities of a wife and mother, Mrs. Obenchain joined Laura Clay’s campaign for women’s right to vote. Her imaginative writing celebrated the strength, humor, love, and art of the commonplace woman. President Theodore Roosevelt recommended the book to the American people during a speech, saying, “I cordially recommend the first chapter of Aunt Jane of Kentucky as a tract in all families where the menfolk tend to selfish or thoughtless or overbearing disregard to the rights of their womenfolk.” [Niedermeier, Lynn E. Eliza Calvert Hall: Kentucky Author and Suffragist. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2007, 120–130.]

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Copyright, 1S9S, 1899, 19Q0, By John Brisbane Walker. Copyright, 1904, By Cosmopolitan Publishing Company. Copyright, 1907, By Little, Brown, and Company. All rights reserved Published March, 1907. S. J. Pabkihll Co., Boston, U. S. A.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at

Eliza Caroline "Lida" Obenchain, was an American author, women's rights advocate and suffragist from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Lida Obenchain, writing under the pen name Eliza Calvert Hall, was widely known early in the twentieth century for her short stories featuring an elderly widowed woman, "Aunt Jane," who plainly spoke her mind about the people she knew and her experiences in the rural south.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.