Two things I didn't understand until I got older

[conuly]

1. Diamond mines.

I read A Little Princess incessantly as a child. Over and over and over again, cover to cover and start over. And one thing that never made sense to me, even as a kid (well, aside from the "India is unhealthy for children" line which - duh, don't people in India have kids of their own?), was the taunting about diamond mines. First it was "I bet there aren't any really" from the mean girl, what was her name?, and then it was "See, we knew there weren't any, that's why you're not still rich", and then, at the end, it was "Oh, I guess there really are such things as diamond mines after all", and it just didn't make sense, because the only place I knew of to get diamonds was, well, from mines! But they were talking like they'd never heard of such a thing, while meanwhile every cartoon ever made eventually has an episode where Huey, Dewey, and Louie; or Chip and Dale; or Baloo; or whoever wanders into a mine, finds a perfect diamond, and is forced through fate to leave it behind. Common knowledge! Diamonds come from mines!

It wasn't until I was grown that I happened, by chance, to find out that diamond mines weren't discovered in Africa until the mid 1800s! Now it all made sense! (And diamond production had increased tenfold from pre-mine numbers, incidentally.)

2. Passover.

Oh, okay, I understood the whole Passover concept. It's matzoh I didn't get. Well, I got it - unleavened bread, leavening means "fluffiness" (as my child mind put it), but I didn't get how leaving in a hurry could keep your bread from rising and becoming fluffy. Shouldn't it continue to rise on the way? And even if it doesn't, wouldn't it make more sense to prepare bread in the usual fashion (with leavening) and then bake it before it has time to rise, to be more traditional?

Then I grew up, and grew up some more, and found out that commercial yeast is a new thing. Formerly, bread was leavened by letting it sit around until yeast spores happened to colonize it; or by using a started created by using the previous process. And it made sense. Or, at least, it did until I found out that there are apparently a zillion and a half other reasons to avoid leavened foods, few of which happen to have anything to do with the literal "they ran really fast, and the bread didn't rise" part of the story, but have to do with various forms of symbolism. That would have made sense all on its own.

Comments

[leora.livejournal.com]

I think her name was Lavinia. It's been a long time since I read it, but I loved that book as a child. I didn't really know what the Bastille was or much about it though, but there was some context in the book to get it. However, I would tell myself that my life was better than Sarah's, which was basically the trick I picked up from her.

[conuly]

I think you're right, it was Lavinia. And Sara, no h, which irritated me immensely.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay. It's been a long time, as I said.

[conuly]

You've probably blocked it from your memory. The no -h form is strange.

[crymytears.livejournal.com]

No it's not, the exclusion of the extraneous letter is just keeping things nice and simple.

And yes, my full name includes Sara. No 'h'. :o)

I'm Abby (aka youreyesxonmine at TBW) btw. hi!

[conuly]

I know it's a legit name, but it still looks weird to me! It's one of those things. I'll try not to hold it against you, though :P

Hi!

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

So, where did diamonds come from before the mid 1800's? (Assuming anyone ever had them)

[conuly]

Alluvial deposits, as near as I can see. Understandably, this made them rarer than rare, back then.

[ncp.livejournal.com]

Try actually being a little child from India, and then reading about how India is bad for little children. It's even worse in "The Secret Garden", which has more staying power into adulthood.

"A Little Princess" started out as a long short story. Burnett expanded it to novel length later. I read the short story many years later, and prefer it to the novel. Sarah is a much more interesting character in the short story.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/137/137-h/137-h.htm

[conuly]

Try actually being a little child from India, and then reading about how India is bad for little children.

I don't think I want to try that, no. It doesn't sound like fun at all.

When I was a kid, I alternated wildly between thinking that deep down everybody spoke English and (therefore) all read the same books, etc. etc. etc., and consciously realizing that was very silly and therefore assuming that people in, say, India, would never ever EVER read a book originally published in English unless they were weird.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Diamond mines: I must have been reading carelessly, because I knew there were such mines (quite firmly) and so I thought that the taunting was more of a 'there may be diamond mines, but YOUR family could never own any' sort of thing.

About India being bad for children....well, in those days, what WAS the rate of infant/child mortality in India? (I'm guessing it was pretty bad, most pre-industrial societies are.)

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too on the diamond mines. And I disliked Sara anyway for being so insufferably wonderful no matter what happened to her. She made Pollyanna look like Eeyore.

[conuly]

She had a tantrum once and threw her doll at the wall.

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

I also read A Little Princess about a thousand times as a child. I never really thought the teasing about diamond mines was weird though. I think it's because of the way they were portrayed in other kids shows/cartoons as being these fantastical places where adventures happened. It just made sense that other characters from the fiction world would have the same attitudes towards diamond mines.

I realise now that all fiction does not happen in the same 'world', but it was a nice cozy justification for me as a kid.

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

I love the Little Princess. I always thought they thought India is bad for children was because of malaria. Her dad died of 'brain fever', didn't he?

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

He didn't die, IIRC. He got amnesia, and they found each other near the end of the book.

[conuly]

That's the movie. In the book, he definitely died. Died dead. Deceased. Dead as a doornail. As a dodo. As something that is very dead.

DEAD!

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Really?? You'd think I'd remember that after reading the book 89312749832174 times and seeing the movie like, 2 times.

Damn you, Shirley Temple. Damn you.

[conuly]

Really.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Interesting.


Sooooo, how have you beeeen?

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

That was the movie. In the book, he died. His business partner had amnesia and found her at the end. I liked the ending of the book better, personally.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Yes, my sister corrected me. :)

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

When I read that book in junior high I never got it as a question of whether or not such a thing as diamond mines existed at all. I figured just like you said, Lavinia was just being ignorant when she said there weren't any such things as diamond mines. There was plenty of ignorant bilge going around my school from kids and teachers. If they hadn't happened to have heard of something they would tell you you were making it up or lying.

I did not know that about the way people got diamonds before there were mines. (there is a ton of history here about it (http://www.oldandsold.com/articles21/diamond-8.shtml)).

It said there were diamonds found, so Carrisford's trying to start a mine. I knew at the time that a lot can happen with mines. You dig in the wrong place and something collapses, it can look like total ruin. Then the lawyer says it would have been better if there weren't any diamond mines so I assumed there were, but it was Carrisford's mining attempt that had failed, not that there weren't any diamonds.

As far as matzoh I thought the way you did, that leavening was starter the way my grandma used and they just didn't put some in. I knew it wasn't like Pepperidge Farm bread, I figured it was made of barley or something. I still don't think of them as having wheat like today's in the Middle East at that time. It says wheat in the Bible but I figured we're supposed to read spelt or something like in Ezekiel. After all we all know that Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. (snicker).

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Funny how they never cook Ezekiel bread the way it says to, in verses twelve through fifteen. (http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Eze&c=4#12)

where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. (snicker)

Where they undoubtedly met Sir Francis Drake circumcising the world with his hundred-foot clipper.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I think her name was Lavinia. It's been a long time since I read it, but I loved that book as a child. I didn't really know what the Bastille was or much about it though, but there was some context in the book to get it. However, I would tell myself that my life was better than Sarah's, which was basically the trick I picked up from her.

[conuly]

I think you're right, it was Lavinia. And Sara, no h, which irritated me immensely.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay. It's been a long time, as I said.

[conuly]

You've probably blocked it from your memory. The no -h form is strange.

[(Anonymous)]

No it's not, the exclusion of the extraneous letter is just keeping things nice and simple.

And yes, my full name includes Sara. No 'h'. :o)

I'm Abby (aka youreyesxonmine at TBW) btw. hi!

[conuly]

I know it's a legit name, but it still looks weird to me! It's one of those things. I'll try not to hold it against you, though :P

Hi!

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

So, where did diamonds come from before the mid 1800's? (Assuming anyone ever had them)

[conuly]

Alluvial deposits, as near as I can see. Understandably, this made them rarer than rare, back then.

[(Anonymous)]

Try actually being a little child from India, and then reading about how India is bad for little children. It's even worse in "The Secret Garden", which has more staying power into adulthood.

"A Little Princess" started out as a long short story. Burnett expanded it to novel length later. I read the short story many years later, and prefer it to the novel. Sarah is a much more interesting character in the short story.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/137/137-h/137-h.htm

[conuly]

Try actually being a little child from India, and then reading about how India is bad for little children.

I don't think I want to try that, no. It doesn't sound like fun at all.

When I was a kid, I alternated wildly between thinking that deep down everybody spoke English and (therefore) all read the same books, etc. etc. etc., and consciously realizing that was very silly and therefore assuming that people in, say, India, would never ever EVER read a book originally published in English unless they were weird.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Diamond mines: I must have been reading carelessly, because I knew there were such mines (quite firmly) and so I thought that the taunting was more of a 'there may be diamond mines, but YOUR family could never own any' sort of thing.

About India being bad for children....well, in those days, what WAS the rate of infant/child mortality in India? (I'm guessing it was pretty bad, most pre-industrial societies are.)

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too on the diamond mines. And I disliked Sara anyway for being so insufferably wonderful no matter what happened to her. She made Pollyanna look like Eeyore.

[conuly]

She had a tantrum once and threw her doll at the wall.

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

I also read A Little Princess about a thousand times as a child. I never really thought the teasing about diamond mines was weird though. I think it's because of the way they were portrayed in other kids shows/cartoons as being these fantastical places where adventures happened. It just made sense that other characters from the fiction world would have the same attitudes towards diamond mines.

I realise now that all fiction does not happen in the same 'world', but it was a nice cozy justification for me as a kid.

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

I love the Little Princess. I always thought they thought India is bad for children was because of malaria. Her dad died of 'brain fever', didn't he?

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

He didn't die, IIRC. He got amnesia, and they found each other near the end of the book.

[conuly]

That's the movie. In the book, he definitely died. Died dead. Deceased. Dead as a doornail. As a dodo. As something that is very dead.

DEAD!

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Really?? You'd think I'd remember that after reading the book 89312749832174 times and seeing the movie like, 2 times.

Damn you, Shirley Temple. Damn you.

[conuly]

Really.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Interesting.


Sooooo, how have you beeeen?

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

That was the movie. In the book, he died. His business partner had amnesia and found her at the end. I liked the ending of the book better, personally.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Yes, my sister corrected me. :)

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

When I read that book in junior high I never got it as a question of whether or not such a thing as diamond mines existed at all. I figured just like you said, Lavinia was just being ignorant when she said there weren't any such things as diamond mines. There was plenty of ignorant bilge going around my school from kids and teachers. If they hadn't happened to have heard of something they would tell you you were making it up or lying.

I did not know that about the way people got diamonds before there were mines. (there is a ton of history here about it (http://www.oldandsold.com/articles21/diamond-8.shtml)).

It said there were diamonds found, so Carrisford's trying to start a mine. I knew at the time that a lot can happen with mines. You dig in the wrong place and something collapses, it can look like total ruin. Then the lawyer says it would have been better if there weren't any diamond mines so I assumed there were, but it was Carrisford's mining attempt that had failed, not that there weren't any diamonds.

As far as matzoh I thought the way you did, that leavening was starter the way my grandma used and they just didn't put some in. I knew it wasn't like Pepperidge Farm bread, I figured it was made of barley or something. I still don't think of them as having wheat like today's in the Middle East at that time. It says wheat in the Bible but I figured we're supposed to read spelt or something like in Ezekiel. After all we all know that Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. (snicker).

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Funny how they never cook Ezekiel bread the way it says to, in verses twelve through fifteen. (http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Eze&c=4#12)

where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. (snicker)

Where they undoubtedly met Sir Francis Drake circumcising the world with his hundred-foot clipper.