Wednesday, May 08, 2019

A Jury of Her Peers

A Jury of Her Peers is a 1917 short story by Susan Glaspell. You can read it online here and here. It begins,
When Martha Hale opened the storm-door and got a cut of the north wind, she ran back for her big woolen scarf. As she hurriedly wound that round her head her eye made a scandalized sweep of her kitchen. It was no ordinary thing that called her away--it was probably further from ordinary than anything that had ever happened in Dickson County. But what her eye took in was that her kitchen was in no shape for leaving: her bread all ready for mixing, half the flour sifted and half unsifted.

Arthur Streeton, At Templestowe, 1889She hated to see things half done; but she had been at that when the team from town stopped to get Mr. Hale, and then the sheriff came running in to say his wife wished Mrs. Hale would come too--adding, with a grin, that he guessed she was getting scary and wanted another woman along. So she had dropped everything right where it was.

"Martha!" now came her husband's impatient voice. "Don't keep folks waiting out here in the cold."
Listen to it here.

It's been adapted for television:



and for an Academy Award-nominated short film:


14 comments:

  1. Unlike Martha, I don't worry is there are dirty dishes left in the sink if I need or want to go out :-D

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    1. ikr? lol and unlike this woman I don't have to worry about my husband's needs in that area ;) so I just leave them. I have to say I did the FlyLady program for a while, and my kitchen looked better for it.

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  2. Sounds good, I think I have seen the film a long time back but have bookmarked it for when I have time to watch. Have a great day, Valerie

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    1. I read the story but didn't watch either video. I'm wondering how faithful they are....

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  3. It sounds like an interesting story, based on how it begins.

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    1. I find it interesting. I think it'd make a good subject for discussion.

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  4. I watched the film. Excellent! :) :)

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    1. I'll have to check it out. It's not too long, after all, and in English so wouldn't require me to keep my eye on the screen the _whole_ time ;)

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  5. If I ever quit baling water, I'll be by to watch it. This sounds like something I would enjoy.

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    1. I thought about you last night when our new deluge began. It's still raining here this morning, and the last forecast I saw had rain through Sunday. :( I am ready for sunshine!

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    2. It just keeps coming in waves and waves, doesn't it? I can't get ahead. Every (and I mean EVERY) house in my neighborhood has a basement, so I'm not alone in my plight. When I lived in MO, basements were uncommon, especially in wood frame houses, because of the high water table. Sounds like that's the same in your area, too.

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    3. I'm not sure why there aren't generally basements here. We looked at a house with a basement once and noticed water standing in it. The realtor said basements always had water in them. Yikes! My local FB friends who have basements are steadily baling. No fun :(

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  6. Sounds great! Thanks for the recommendation 😁. I hope you've had a lovely week and happy weekend! J 😊 x

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    1. I hope you enjoy it. We're getting more rain. And then even more rain. And then yet more rain. Reading and/or watching a movie will be the order of the day :)

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