Happy 235th Birthday Jane!

__________________________________________

Miss Jane Austen

16 December, 1775

Steventon, Hampshire

The watercolor by her sister Cassandra
c. 1810

She grew up to be, in my opinion, the greatest author to ever grace the English page with her pen. Yet she led such a humble life, and wrote about such everyday subjects, little could anyone during her lifetime know how highly praised and popular her work would be!

She was born during a cold winter, but on the day she was born the famous naturalist Gilbert White noted: "fog, sun, sweet day." It was as if God was showing us what a happy event was taking place! Jane's father George wrote of her to a friend that she would be "a present plaything to her sister Cassy and a future companion. She is to be Jenny."

She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt and friend. And as great a writer as she was, that love was what makes her truly great and her work so enduring. God blessed this world when He gave us Jane Austen!

_________________________________

"Jane lies in Winchester—blessed be her shade!
Praise the Lord for making her, and her for all she made!"

-- by Rudyard Kipling from The Janeites