“The Wide, Wide World,” 1896–1897

Drawing mainly on Edith’s Diaries, this chapter treats Edith’s first trip abroad. In Berlin she delivered a paper on behalf of Assistant Professor Martha Crow at the 1896 International Congress of Women. In London she lodged with women medical students, among them Kate Platt. She relished London’s cultural scene and enjoyed life with the students, but she was appalled by the city’s slums. She found much of interest while working on her dissertation in the British Museum, where she met members of the British academic establishment, including Frederick Furnivall (1825–1910). She also interviewed magazine editors and was overjoyed when “The Capitulation of her Parents” was accepted by The Windsor Magazine (1897). The chapter ends with her collecting local stories on the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides.