| There is nothing comparable to the endurance
of a woman. In military life she would tire out an army of men, either in
camp or on the march. I still remember with admiration that woman who got
into the overland stagecoach somewhere on the plains, when my brother and
I crossed the continent in the summer of 1861, and who sat bolt upright
and cheerful, stage after stage, and showed no wear and tear. In those days,
the one event of the day in Carson City was the arrival of the overland
coach. All the town was usually on hand to enjoy the event. The men would
climb down out of the coach doubled up with cramps, hardly able to walk;
their bodies worn, their spirits worn, their nerves raw, their tempers at
a devilish point; but the women stepped out smiling and apparently unfatigued. - Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (2010) |
 AI image created by R. Kent Rasmussen |
| Now, why will a man, when he gets to be
a thousand years old, go on hanging around the women, and taking chances
on fire and brimstone, instead of joining the church and endeavoring, with
humble spirit and contrite heart, to ring in at the eleventh hour, like
the thief on the cross? Why will he? - Letter to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, December 5, 1863 What, Sir, would the people of the earth be without woman? They would
be scarce, sir, almighty scarce. |
and Irene Gerken -- at the Princess Hotel in Bermuda. (Irene Gerken identified by her granddaughter, Irene Harlow.) Photo from and courtesy of the Kevin Mac Donnell collection. |
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