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The lives and writings of these two sisters, Jennie and Ann Speer, provide us a window on a world that for a long time was rarely seen and only recently has been exposed. The life of neither sister is an altogether happy one. The writings of both-Jennie in particular-are full of a kind of yearning, of sadness, of possibilities not realized. One feels both a vast sympathy and strong admiration for these sisters who dwelled in obscurity and wanted to be heard. Now, with the publication of their writings, unread for nearly a century and a half past, they are no longer silenced.