Hall, Sarah Ewing

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HALL, Sarah Ewing

Born 30 October 1761, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died 8 April 1830, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Wrote under: Constantia, Florepha, Mrs. Sarah Hall

Daughter of John and Hannah Sargent Ewing; married John Hall, 1782; children: eleven (two died young)

Although she was not formally educated, Sarah Ewing Hall's active and inquisitive mind absorbed a great deal from conversations with her father, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and provost of the University of Pennsylvania from 1779 until his death in 1802. Her favorite subject was astronomy, in which her father was expert. She acquired an extensive knowledge of Greek and Latin while listening to her brothers recite.

In 1782 Hall married the son of a wealthy Maryland planter. They retired to the family estate for eight years, but returned in 1790 to Philadelphia, where John served as secretary of the land office and a U.S. marshal. Although they moved to New Jersey in 1805 and later were forced by financial reverses to move back to Maryland, the family returned to Philadelphia in 1811.

Throughout her life, Hall continued her self-education through reading. In the midst of rearing 11 children (nine reached adulthood), she found little free time, so she borrowed "the hours which are usually appropriated for repose," staying up until midnight or later. She wrote primarily for periodicals such as Port Folio, edited for 10 years by her eldest son, John. Another son, Harrison, collected Selections from the Writings of Mrs. Sarah Hall (1833). He included extracts from letters, book reviews, poems, prayers, and essays.

Hall's views on the role of women were quite conventional. In an essay "On Female Education," she argues against another woman's plea that she be allowed to learn Greek and Latin. The end of education, says Hall, is to qualify people "to act with propriety the part assigned to us by Providence." Hall sees in the "wise and beautiful order of created being" a "different destination of man and woman." While they share common moral duties, "the superior strength of the man declares that he is designated to wrestle with the world." As for woman, "retirement is her element, domestic and social life is her proper sphere."

In another essay, "On the Extent of Female Influence," she accepts the traditional view that "obedience in a wife is a scriptural doctrine." A woman's proper sphere of influence is as wife and mother; those without children can raise money for missions, distribute tracts, or write, as did British educator Hannah More. Hall did assert, however, that no talent should be wasted; and she sensed that times were changing. In the poem "Line for an Album," she claims that while women have been denied the exercise of intellect, "Now, men are wiser grown—they see…that she may read and write, like man, / And every form of being scan."

A frequent subject of Hall's writing was religion. Throughout her life, she studied the Bible, and at age fifty she began to learn Hebrew in order to more accurately research her only book-length publication, Conversations on the Bible (1818). The 365-page volume went through one British and three American editions in her lifetime. It is actually a commentary on the Old Testament and the Gospels, but since it would have been unusual for a woman and a nonscholar to write such a work, Hall styled hers as a series of conversations between "Mother," "Catharine," and "Fanny."

Mother begins with an interesting introduction to each book, and then, in response to questions, offers comments about the probable authorship; explanations of unusual words, places, or customs; a summary of the plot or argument; and sometimes a contemporary application or parallel. Under the heading "Song of Moses and Miriam" (Exod. 15:1-21), Fanny offers her own poem-paraphrase of the text. Although Conversations on the Bible represents precritical biblical scholarship, it is well researched and presented in a lively, cogent, clear, and careful manner.