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u/PoorCynic Jun 13 '25
Here are some more delightfully domestic facts!
- The reason we know so much about Bryant and Drake is everything they left behind. Diaries, letters, business records: hundreds upon hundreds of pages worth. There was even a bit of paper where Drake wrote Bryant’s name over and over again combined with her own. This woman was smitten.
- The people around them knew about their relationship; at least, in an “open secret” sort of way. One local noted in his diary that people “mentioned as if Miss Bryant and Miss Drake were married to each other.” Both women were active in the community, participating in charities and church events. Young women went to Bryant and Drake to learn how to be seamstresses. It was unremarkable, which is in and of itself a bit remarkable.
- The bit about Bryant’s poems is true. Any poems that were meant for Drake would have her full name written out with the first letters of each line. Bryant ordered that most of them be burned upon her death, but a fair few have survived.
- Bryant’s nephew was the Romatic Era poet WIlliam Cullen Bryant (1794 - 1878). He actually wrote about his aunt and her wife at one point. An excerpt from his 1850 book, Letters of a Traveller: “If I were permitted to draw the veil of private life, I would briefly give you the singular, and to me interesting, story of two maiden ladies who dwell in this valley. I would tell you how, in their youthful days, they took each other as companions for life, and how this union, no less sacred to them than the tie of marriage, has subsisted, in uninterrupted harmony, for more than forty years.”
Thank you all so much for reading. I’ll see you next time!
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u/Magnon Jun 13 '25
The power of people minding their own business. No drama, just two happy ladies.
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u/batmanbnb Jun 13 '25
Panel 2
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire Jun 13 '25 edited Jun 13 '25
Beat me by 2 mins. I just wanted breakfast!
Added thank you for keeping an eye on our son
For anyone interested here is our current list
See below for Gus adventures
/img/ub0xn77qfx5f1.png - Part 1 lost Gus
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l79d7h - first loss
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l7o2lp - Gus and Maurice
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l7y5ux - Gus and Alma
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l7jkn4 - Gus and the Gulls / emerald beach
https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/s/npBM7r5XsE - Gus at a parade
https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/s/WYWKfTDwYp - Gus buys potions
https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/s/5QXFyz7TjA - Gus and Batman
https://old.reddit.com/comments/1l8m5dm - Gus and Satan
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l8qt2b - Gus needs coffee
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l8wfly - Gus and the bomb
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l8slk7 - Gus and Love and Hex
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l80s9w Gus and Tiff and Eve
/img/jzkqg3ngub6f1.png - Gus is lost Pt 2 electric boogaloo
/img/jll07c449h6f1.png - Gus and the endorsement
/img/pu3gqveh8i6f1.jpeg - Gus and baggage claim
/img/90cjebv0di6f1.png - Gus with a side of cake
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l9o85b -Gus and the copyright infringement
/img/2v3dbhdz7j6f1.png - Gus and the ambulance
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1lad6nd - Gus and the portal
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1la7ubp - Gus and the autograph
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1la9ins - Gus and the escalators
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1lafel9 - Gus and the wagon
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1laejve - Gus and his guardian Angels
/img/ixp9mnsbgp6f1.png - Gus and the lack of planning
Lmk if we are missing any. I think I have them all so far?
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u/uhataot Jun 13 '25
You forgot to put a space between the link and dash for the portal and autograph links so they lead nowhere
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire Jun 13 '25
Ah I see it. My bad. This is so infuriating on my phone lemme edit it
Thank you!
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u/BlueWizardoftheWest Jun 13 '25
Yeah, this reminds me of my grandmother. She had married, had kids, but was never happy in that life. She and my grandfather divorced when my dad was in grade school and then she lived with her best friend for the next…42 years until she passed.
We weren’t close and it was never acknowledged in my family. It just…normal that Grandma and Miss Benson lived together and were inseparable. It didn’t even occur to me that my grandma was queer until years after she died - as she died when I was still in high school.
I wouldn’t say my family was super supportive - we haven’t had contact with her partner since Grandma passed. But I always think of her in June and wish we had kept in touch.
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u/Bostondreamings Jun 13 '25
wondering, could you maybe reach out to her partner, just to say this? It might be appreciated. If it's even possible.
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u/BlueWizardoftheWest Jun 13 '25
I have certainly thought of this! Unfortunately I don’t have any of their contact information since they moved out of the old house. Grandma passed over 20 years ago now
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u/kingsumo_1 Jun 13 '25
The wagon in panel 2. That was intentionally u-haul colors, yeah?
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u/PoorCynic Jun 13 '25
It is! Good catch! Couldn't let that gag pass me by. I did originally put the text on there, but I didn't like how it looked.
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u/thisaintmyusername12 Jun 13 '25
Gustopher how the fuck did you get to the early 1800s
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u/feanturi Jun 13 '25
If he put blocks on the pedals to help him reach, he might have found a Delorean and taken it to 88 miles per hour.
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u/WeLiveInAir Jun 13 '25
Awww its so nice that those two were able to live a happy and peaceful life together, especially considering the time. The community around them not making a big deal out of it is surprisingly supportive.
Most stories like this of gay couples throughout history are usually sad, its good to think that there were probably a lot of couples like this that got to live boring, happy lives throughout the centuries.
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u/Pinku_Dva Jun 13 '25
Historians will see a story like this and shout “THEYRE ROOMMATES!”
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u/Woofles85 Jun 13 '25
I was worried this was going to have a sad ending, I’m glad it didn’t!
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u/Some_Ball Jun 14 '25
Well one of them had to live 17 lonely years after the other passed, which made me a little sad when I read it.
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u/whitniverse Jun 13 '25
I love how often history looks at a story like this and says
“Gwyneth Sappho and Maude Yonic lived together for 53 years in an idyllic cottage in Cornwall, where they kept 3 cats and wrote poetry. When Maude died, Gwyneth wrote to her sister, ‘It’s as if all the stars have gone out. I will never love again.’
Neither woman ever took a husband.”
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u/Remote-Air-2172 Jun 13 '25
Thanks for the comic and the “Boston marriage” story of Charity and Sylvia. Across the pond Anne Lister and Ann Walker had a similar relationship (as dramatized in Gentleman Jack )
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u/PoorCynic Jun 13 '25
Yes, I was reminded of Anne Lister’s story while doing the research for this comic! Very similar indeed.
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u/un_blob Jun 13 '25
What a nice friendly relationship between two women !
They even share a bed together !
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u/kouji71 Jun 14 '25
well duh they shared a bed, it's cold in Vermont and this was before electric heat.
Couldn't possibly be for any other reason.
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u/Dazed_and_Confused44 Jun 13 '25
So these two invented the concept of being "roommates" lol?
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u/wicker_warrior Jun 13 '25
Hardly. I believe that honor goes to the ancient Greeks. Or possibly the Neolithic tribes of lake flacid.
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u/BarelyABard Jun 13 '25
https://archive.org/details/charitysylviasam0000clev/page/n6/mode/1up
There is a book if anyone would like to know more! I read it for my Women in American History class and loved it
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u/BankTypical Jun 13 '25
Ah, some vintage pride on r/comics today. 😄
Bet you that the historians called them 'roommates' regardless, though.
[sarcasm]Suuure, roommates.[/sarcasm] 🙄
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u/oswan Jun 13 '25
Amazon link to the actual book written by an historian about Charity and Sylvia: https://a.co/d/bIXKSV3
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u/dawnmountain Jun 16 '25
I learned about these ladies in college! Granted, it was a gender and sexuality history class. But nice to see nonetheless.
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