Our school is in lockdown, due to the state tests being given. Today was the first of four grueling test days for me. I can physically tolerate having to stand the whole time (four hours) but mentally it’s tougher because I can’t read or write while I’m pacing the room making sure the test is secure. At last the first two sessions ended, and I returned the materials. Now, I’m settling back to read Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone 1861-68 to prepare for this Thursday’s session at the Winnsboro library.  The series is called, Battlefield Louisiana. I had read a borrowed copy some years ago, but I’m enjoying this read better. For one thing, it’s my own book and I can mark in it. Second of all, I know MUCH more about the Civil War and Louisiana than I did then.

If you want to know about Antebellum plantation life in north Louisiana, then this is the book you should read. This edition is printed by LSU press, and is rich in footnotes, well-indexed, and has two fine summary/introductions, as well as Stone’s own preface. I’ll leave this post with a quotation from the book that illuminates the frustration women felt with the role and status in society. Kate Stone said,  “I hate weary days of inaction. Yet what can women do but wait and suffer?”