little miss austin

When Alice went out, she only brought a small suitcase with her, but when she came home, she had two more large suitcases.

The little girl who went out for the first time brought back a lot of gifts, including an exquisite Chinese-made glass body painting enamel snuff bottle for her father George, which was filled with high-quality snuff. Now the rich people in England, especially when they are old, It is fashionable to sniff snuff, because the production process of snuff is more complicated and the price is more expensive, and most young people or civilians smoke tobacco. This snuff bottle was given by Warren Hastings;

I brought back to my mother the latest fabric in London, a thicker muslin cloth with stronger and brighter colors. It is said that the brighter colors are due to the addition of expensive foreign dyes. Alice bought royal blue turquoise green peach blossom pink, all of which are The color is bright and suitable for girls, and I bought a darker dark slate blue for my mother;

Brought Cathy a pair of fine white satin wedding shoes; a few books for Jane;

In addition, they also brought back 5 pots of tomatoes of different varieties.These are all cultivars grown in the greenhouses in Daylesford. They have been selected and bred as ornamental plants, and they are all varieties with small fruits. Because Alice likes to eat tomatoes, Pastor George planted many varieties with large fruits in his own vegetable garden. , my mother thinks that tomatoes have too few uses, and can only be used as an embellishment in potato soup or broth, but I didn’t expect that Alice mainly eats raw tomatoes. Most of the time, they are washed, peeled and sliced. Eat several in one breath.

The most expensive gift is not a snuff bottle or cloth, but a lot of spices, all in small glass jars with wooden stoppers, wrapped in off-white muslin cloth, which can well insulate the air.

Cloves, cinnamon, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla, black pepper, cumin, anise, saffron, rhubarb, ginger, galangal, turmeric, dill, basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, and more Spicy fruit, coriander seeds, celery seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, and 7 or 8 kinds of peppers, which are divided into fruits, husks, seeds, leaves, tubers, powders, etc. according to different usage methods, There were so many varieties and so many that Mum thought she had robbed Daylesford's kitchen.

The market prices of most of the spices are very expensive, especially cloves, cardamom, and saffron. In some years, the value is comparable to the same weight of gold. So many spices are specially packed in a box, and the value probably exceeds the annual income of Pastor George. .

"Mr. Hastings brought a lot here from India specially, and the East India Company sends him some spices every year, and many of them--I mean the East India Company--have been in India For many years, I have been used to eating food with spices."

Everyone knows that the Indian subcontinent is rich in spices.Many housewives in England like to add spices to their food, but with so many spices, Cassandra has never seen more than half of them and doesn't know how to eat them.

After the two sisters accepted their gifts, they also began to admire Alice for getting back so many spices.

"Mr. Hastings must be very fond of you," said Cathy.

"Sister Xiaocaifan, tell me, do your eyes shine when you see so many spices?" Jane teased her.

"Yeah, I'm still a child, so I can just say what I want. Mr. Hastings likes me. The cook doesn't really want to give it to me. You know, if she secretly takes some and sells it, no one will know." " Alice made a grimace, "Mr. Hastings said he couldn't eat all these spices by himself, please don't be polite, you can get whatever you want."

The sisters rubbed her little head and couldn't help laughing.

"Oh, by the way, Dad, this is a letter from Mr. Hastings." Alice offered the treasure for a long time, and then remembered another more important thing.

Pastor George took the letter and immediately opened it to read.After thinking about it for a while, I said to her: "I think you are too young to go out to study now. You should stay at home and follow me to lay a good foundation. Good teachers are not easy to find." Hasting Mr. Si asked if I have found a good teacher for you. If not, he can recommend a lady in London to teach you. But he also thinks you are too young, and he will wait until you are 7 years old. What do you think? "

Alice also thought for a while, "London is not very far from home, I can accept it." After all, who doesn't want to be a baby loved by their parents at home?No matter how kind that lady is, she is not her parents.

Pastor George smiled, "He also said that he will pay all the fees. You will have to study for at least two years. Whether you want to continue studying after that depends on whether the lady is willing to continue teaching you."

Two years, it's okay, she will only be 9 years old by then, no problem at all, just study for two more years.

"When you are 10 or 12 years old, he will personally teach you for two years, as long as you are willing to learn from him." Pastor George was very curious: I didn't see that my youngest daughter is a good material for learning.He doesn't have the kind of thinking of "Girls learn to dance, music, cooking, female celebrities, grow up and prepare to be brides", but he still thinks it is necessary to learn from intellectual women, and learning from Mr. Hastings may be a bit supernatural. Outline.

Alice was pleasantly surprised, "Is he willing to teach me? That's really great! Dad, Mr. Hastings is very powerful and knowledgeable, especially about the East India Company and the colonies of the Indian subcontinent. He knows a lot!"

At this time, my mother was a little worried: the family already had a second daughter who had learned too much knowledge, and she couldn't quite understand what was going on in Jane's mind. Could it be that the youngest daughter was also on the path of no return as a female scholar? Yet?

Quickly interrupted, "Okay, okay, I'll talk about this later, Alice is still young!" After all, she is the youngest child, and I really don't want her to leave home too early.This time she was away from home for two months, and my mother suddenly found that although she didn't seem to pay much attention to her, but she was not at home, it was like a piece of emptiness in her heart, and she always felt a lot less.

Alas, every child is her heart and soul. She remembered the situation when Edward moved to the Goldmusham Manor, and she was really reluctant to part with it, but for the future of the child, she reluctantly let him go.

Pastor George put away the letter, and mother was busy packing the spice jars. Cathy went to help mother, and Jane took Alice upstairs, brought her hot water, told her to wash her face and feet, and go to bed.

"Look, I haven't seen you for two months, it feels like you've grown up a lot." Jane sat by the bed and covered her with a quilt.

"I may have grown a little taller. I will measure my height when I wake up."

Jane laughed. "It must have grown taller. In London—have you enjoyed yourself?"

"I'm so happy! Henry took me to the circus twice! Have you ever seen a circus?"

"Of course I did. What's your favorite genre?"

"Aerial trapeze and equestrianism, these are both very skillful performances."

"I like it too. What else?"

"Do you want to ask Tom?" Alice's eyes sparkled.

Jane blushed a little, and said in a low voice: "Who, who wants to ask him."

"He has to go to class every day, and he has to go to the court to sit in. Henry said we can't go to him. He is very busy during the day, and he is only free to play on Sunday."

Jian Po hesitated, "Did he... mention me?"

"Almost always mentions you," Alice smiled. "Didn't he write to you?"

"—No!" Jane said angrily.

"—Oh! Then he may be afraid that you are still angry with him."

Jane snorted.

"Then I'll write to him and tell him not to be shy, but to write to you first."

Jane blushed again, "Who cares about it!" Looking at her, "You are a big kid!"

After finishing speaking, I couldn't help laughing, "Okay, let's not talk about him. Are you tired? Go to sleep for a while, and tell me about it when you have dinner at night. What have you gained from going out this time?"

Jane coveted the super large library of Daylesford House, and wished she could run to it and live in it.She had been to Daylesford House before, but Mr. Hastings had not left London then, and the library was not as full as it is now.She is very fond of the few books that Alice helped her bring back, and she can't put them down.Her reading habits are more literary. There are not many literary theoretical works in this era, but there are already some newspapers that publish book reviews.

Alice went to the bookstore on Charing Cross Road to inquire about it, and the marketing methods are also very poor, almost none. The best-selling of a book mostly depends on word of mouth from readers, especially if you are a fashionable and well-known aristocrat , In your circle, say "So-and-so's new book is good to read", this advertisement is far more effective than the almost useless leaflets placed in the window.

So the Austins began to discuss how they know whether a book is "good-looking" and worth buying: it is basically recommended by others.

In Alice's little head, she had already silently gone through the various marketing methods of the later generations. She felt that the current publishers and bookstores were really weak, and her confidence was greatly increased for a while. It can crush this era.

——However, the problem is that the first is the purchasing power of the masses. Before the cost of books has been reduced, it is not easy to increase sales; second, who can listen to the opinions and suggestions of her 6-year-old child?

This is really a very depressing thing.

Thinking about it, Alice had a sudden thought: Or should I consider, when I have money, I can start a publishing house at home?Come to think of it, "Austin Press" -- wow!It sounds very tall, doesn't it!

For the principal issue, you can find Edward and ask him to participate in the shares and become the major shareholder, and then everyone in the family with income will pay a little.

correct!And Wesley!He doesn't have much money to spend anyway, so he must be happy to become a shareholder!

Alice has already begun to daydream happily.

The author has something to say:

* Snuff bottles in my country have been popular since the Kangxi Dynasty. Yongzheng especially liked snuff and developed many varieties of snuff bottles.

*In the middle of the 18th century, tomatoes were already a frequent visitor on the table of the British. In the early 19th century, the consumption of tomatoes became more popular and the price was not expensive.Tomatoes first entered Europe at the end of the 15th century, probably brought back by Columbus; they became popular in Italy, Spain and other countries in the 16th century, where they were used as ingredients and horticultural ornamental plants, and they were introduced in England at the end of the 16th century.

*Allspice is not passion fruit, which is also known as jalapenos.

*It is mentioned in "Becoming Jane" that Tom is from Bond Street in London. Bond Street and its surrounding areas are now a shopping area. At that time, Bond Street was a high-end residential area. Maybe the court is near there. It has not been turned to the end of the 18th century. A map of London, so to speak.