Marietta Holley (Essay Date 1906)

SOURCE: Holley, Marietta. "'A Male Magdalene,' from Samantha vs. Josiah. "In The Oxford Book of Women's Writing, edited by Linda Wagner-Martin and Cathy N. Davidson, pp. 56-62. London: Oxford University Press, 1995.

In the following excerpt, originally published in 1906 in her Samantha vs. Josiah, Being the Story of a Borrowed Automobile and What Came of It, Holley addresses the issue of the double sexual standard.

I attended a beautiful party yesterday; it wuz a anniversary, and carried on regardless of style and expense. Over seven wuz invited, besides the happy folks who gin the party. And the cookin' wuz, I do almost believe, as good as my own. That's dretful high praise, but Miss Chawgo deserves it. It wuz to celebrate their weddin' day, which occurred the year before at half past two, and dinner wuz on the table at exactly that...