The wood-road was not a place for common noisy conversation; one would interrupt the birds and all the still little beasts that belonged there. But it was mortifying to find how strong the habit of idle speech may become in one’s self. One need not always be saying something in this noisy world.
—Sarah Orne Jewett
—from “A Dunnett Shepherdess”
—found in The Country of the Pointed Firs and Selected Short Fiction (1896)
eristic /ə-RIS-tik/. adjective or noun. Of, given, or relating to, argument, particularly argument for its own sake. A person who engages in such (usually tedious) debates. From Greek eristikos, from erizein (wrangle), from eris (strife). In Greek mythology, Eris was the goddess of discord and discontent.
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The lavishly illustated story of the beautiful Reforma font. Three fully featured families of typeface goodness. Did I mention that it’s free?
Today in 1849, poet, novelist and short story writer Sarah Orne Jewett is born in South Berwick, Maine. Jewett began publishing at just 19, with stories—like her later longer work—notable for a keen ear for local color and dialogue. Often compared to Flaubert, and a strong influence on later writers including Willa Cather, Jewett’s 1909 New York Times obituary observed that she was “regarded as one of the foremost women writers of America,” and her reputation has only increased in the intervening years. For your reading pleasure, a baker’s dozen of Jewett’s books free on Project Gutenberg.
