March 16, 2015 - The Woman's Reading Club met on March 5 in the home of Mrs. Carolyn Bounds. President Donna Holt presided with 18 members present. Following the business meeting, Carolyn reviewed Linda Lear's biography Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature.
Best known as the author and illustrator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and many other children's classics, Beatrix, was also an amateur scientist (mycologist and botanist), an artist who celebrated the natural world, a very successful business entrepreneur, and ultimately a farmer and Herdwick sheep breeder who used her literary royalties to acquire over 4,000 acres in the lovely Lake District of northern England.
Reared to believe that one should improve the condition of her fellow man and the natural world and committed to preservation of the land and its culture, Beatrix Potter upon her death in 1943 bequeathed her 4,000 acres, 19 cottages, and her Herdwick sheep herds to the British National Trust so that future generations could know the beauty and sanctity of the natural world that she was privileged to have experienced.
Brilliant, gifted, self-reliant, far-sighted and philanthropic, Beatrix Potter deserves to be recognized as one of the most accomplished women of her era and beyond.
Following her book review, Mrs. Bounds treated members to refreshments, including a "Peter Rabbit cake," the artist creation of Mrs. Mary Ellen Lowe. Everyone found Mrs. Lowe's rendering of Peter Rabbit in the midst of cabbage and carrot garden rows a delight to both the eye and the palate!
