Cold Friday (Henniker, 1810)

A severe cold snap means opportunity for this punctual young lady…

I happened to visit the Henniker Historical Society on the day I was drawing this piece, and mentioned the anecdote to them. Their eyes lit up, and they ushered me into the museum gallery to view Rebecca’s attendance medal, still shiny & bright 200+ years later:

So there it is… The front side says, in Latin, “The Sun of Science Never Sets.” The back side says, in lovingly hand-carved letters, “A TRIBUTE for LEARNING / Dec 1809″… Wait, what?! It looks like maybe Ms. Ramsdell amassed more than one of these medals! So is this NOT the medal from the story!? (The search continues…)

This photo of Ms. Ramsdell at age “100+” stands next to the medal in the HHS display:

19 January 1810

Marek

6 December, 2012

1810s, education, Henniker, SOURCE=Cogswell, weather

Henniker, James Bartlett, Rebecca Ramsdell

2 responses to “Cold Friday (Henniker, 1810)”

The Cold Friday of 1810 – New England Historical Society

January 19, 2016 at 8:19 am

[…] intrepid little girl in Henniker, N.H., braved the cold to walk a mile to school. Her teacher, who awarded medals to his most punctual students, gave her the prize. She kept it during the term. In fact, she kept it her whole life. The Henniker […]

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Jim G.

January 22, 2016 at 11:56 pm

‘Little” Ms. Ramsdell displayed so heroically, even at her tender young years, that character, courage and determination of a people which truly proceeded to mold a Frontier Nation into the Greatest and most courageous people ever to populate this Planet.

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