One More Thing About Mary

Didn't mean to publish yet! Had me an oh-no moment. I wanted to say to whomever happens to come across this post, try to look past the grainy black & white, Civil War-era photo in my previous post re: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who'd have turned 179 years old today if she hadn't died back in 1919 - not long after the close of WWI, just a few weeks after Teddy Roosevelt died, by the way], the somber, poignant expression and note how pretty "Dr. Mary" was. But the larger pic posted here definitely does. These smaller images of Dr. Walker, Dress Reformer, taken later on in her long life, shows how bold and courageous she was, going about in her 19th century world, in trousers. When asked about them - even arrested for wearing them- Dr. Walker would boldly reply: "These are not men's clothes - they are MY clothes!"

And Another

"Oh, they’d heard whispers of such things, but they’d never EVER seen it! Not in clear, summer daylight on a public street! Scandalous!

Positively sinful! Illegal! Outrageous!

“That’s that Miss Walker.”

“Didn’t I read about her in the newspaper?”

“I hear she met with President Lincoln himself!”

“She gave a lecture over at the town hall.”

“What’s that fancy medal on her coat?”

“Why, that’s the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration a man can get.”

“But isn’t she a woman?”

“I’m afraid so,” his mother replied.

“But she’s wearing PANTS!”

From a book I wrote about Dr. Walker, but am not allowed to illustrate, which hurts my feelings. I'm told that it will be published sometime in 2013, which goes a long way towards cheering me up, but not entirely. Still, no big deal and not worth a backward glance when compared to what that lady put up with.

It was on this day in 1832 that the fearless Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was born up in Oswego, NY.