Mandatory Page 2

Hi, Im Velouria. One mysterious night, I went to sleep under my blankets.

Nothing strange about that. But I didnt expect to be in colonial times when I woke up!
Lost on the street, I didnt have anywhere to go, not even knowing where I was in the
first place. I needed help! Wandering around, no one even really talked to me until I
met James and Delilah, two siblings who wanted to help. Their mother let me join them,
and I became a part of their family for a little while. Delilah explained to me that I was in
Delaware in 1645. She also told me a lot about Delaware; for example, that theres mild
winters and hot summers, but that no matter what, it always had great weather for
farming. I learned that Delaware is especially good for growing wheat. Surprisingly,
Delaware has a similar climate to Los Angeles. Must be because theyre both on the
coast, although on opposite sides. Los Angeles is in a drought, we do not have much
farmland in our over-populated cities, and temperatures in summer climb really high.
Delaware in 1645 seems more like the ideal place for a peaceful life. But thats not the
point. James and Delilah lived on a humongous field of wheat; thats how their father
earned a living. Life seemed so nice there, but it wasnt all good; I can tell you that for
sure.

Option 2

I woke to the rooster crowing. After waking up, the morning started regularly that is to say, regularly for the others. For me, it felt like I was in a foreign world. I had
to wear a simple green dress, a cap, and a white apron. I like dresses, but when you
see all the girls around you basically wearing the same thing, you dont want to wear it
anymore. Plus, it was about 5:00 AM! I have a hard time waking up at 6:50, okay?
Thats early for me! But everyone had to do their chores, and the boys had school which is really unfair for us girls; we couldnt go - so in order to get the chores done, you
would have to wake up early. I helped Annabelle, Delilahs older sister, sweep the floor.
I helped feed the animals with James. I was rejected by their father to help work on the
fields just because Im a girl. Instead, I milked the cows. Lastly, I helped finish making
hoe cakes (which looked and tasted like pancakes to me) with their mother and Delilah.
And by then, it was only 6:15. Thats one long morning. Earlier I had lectured Delilah
on womens rights when she told me we couldnt go to school. Then I was somewhat
forced to start sewing my first sampler. I mean, it was fun, but colonial girls had to do
that all day. Everyday. They had other chores, like making candles, cooking, cleaning,
but thats it! No running around outside, no reading a book for fun, no extra activities
(not for the poor families at least, and Delilahs family was poor). Thats a boring life! I
dont want to live like that! It may be fun for one day, but for the rest of your life? That
wouldnt be fair. I didnt leave the house that day at all. It was fun being in colonial
times, but not fair to know that someones life was like that for as long as they lived.

Option 3
I think the school part was the most unfair thing about the lack of womens rights.
If Im not allowed to go to school, then Ill just have to sneak in, I thought. Yeah, I sure
did come up with a sneaky plan. I decided to dress like a boy, stuff my hair into a cap,
and pretend I was a regular boy going to school. For safe measures, I wouldnt go into

the school, I would only stay outside so I could hear the lessons. Delilah was the only
person that knew I was going. And she said I shouldnt go. But I planned to anyway. So
when Delilahs brothers left for school, I snuck out of the house to follow them. 15
minutes later, the boys went into the school, having no idea that I was following them.
Im glad no one turned around and saw me; they wouldve either told me to go back or
freaked out because I was stalking them. More likely it wouldve been the first one. But
no one noticed. So I was able to hear Fred get sent to the corner for making fun of
George, the math lessons, and all that kind of good stuff. From what I saw in the
classroom, it was nothing like ours today. The classroom was bare except for some
hard-looking benches, the teachers desk, and something that looked like a fireplace in
the middle, but it wasnt on. The room was badly-lit by natural light from the windows. It
seemed so monotone, boring, and empty. Very unlike the colorful classroom we have
now with personal desks, laptops, a whiteboard, chairs, and projects hanging off of
every wall. I had to hide when the boys went outside to play, but they didnt play sports
like dodgeball and Chinese Jump Rope like we do at recess. They played tag, hideand-seek, and all those kinds of games. Even though I already learned the lessons that
the teacher taught in class, it was fun to hear it again. But it was even greater that I
didnt get caught.

Option 5
After a while, I was starting getting used to life in colonial times. One regular day,
while everyone was relaxing in the living room, Delilahs mother yelled to us that we
were going into town. How fun! Delilah wanted to see Father, so we visited his stand,
which, sadly, hadnt sold or traded anything that day. No matter how hard he tried, no
one would buy from him. Delilah and I decided to go around and trade things for his
wheat and tell the people we traded with to go and get the wheat from the stand. That
way, it would attract more attention to the stand and more people would want to buy!

The only problem was that I didnt know how to make a trade with someone. Delilah
told me how to do it:

Delilah: First, to be friendly, ask how their day has been going. Then attempt to make
the bargain. If they dont accept the first one, offer different ones until they like the deal.
Ill go over to that corn stand and offer 5 sheaves of wheat for 10 cobs of corn. If they
accept, they can go over to our stand to get the wheat.

It worked. However, the corn cob man did say that he wanted 7 sheaves instead of 5,
but that made it all the better for us. After that we went around making deals here and
there, and when we went back to the stand, it was crowded! Father was pleased, and
that was the end of the day in town.

Option 9
I couldnt stand it anymore. All these things women had to do and what women
werent allowed to do. Why did those men have to treat us like that? It wasnt right.
So, on a Sunday, I went up in front of the church and made this speech:

Well, good morning. I would like to speak to you today about womens rights. When
you really think about it, the way men degrade us is really unfair. We girls are
supposed to clean, cook, sew, and all that kind of stuff. But thats whats expected of
us, not what were supposed to do. And men shouldnt even expect that of us. A girl
can be just as strong, just as tough, and just as smart as a boy. Hey, some of us may

not be physically able to do it, but it doesnt mean we cant do it just because were
female. A few days ago, I was rejected from helping out some boys on a farm because
Im a girl. I had to stay inside and sew because Im a girl. I wasnt able to go to school
because Im a girl. Im a girl, and Im proud to be one. So dont make me lose my
pride just because Im not allowed to do the same things as a man. I can defend
myself. I can work in a field. I can exercise. And yes, (Velouria hears a man say,
Shes probably not as smart as me,.) I can be just as smart as you if I want to. And I
sure do want to. You know, some women are actually smarter than some of you men.
Women can be tough. Women can be strong. Yeah, we sure can. So just because
were a different gender than you men, it doesnt mean we cant do the same things that
you do. What else can we do? Oh, we can do a lot. We can do just about anything
that a man can do. Maybe some of us are that dainty damsel in distress, but not all of
us. I know for sure that Im not. So you men stop making us seem like those helpless
women that cant think or do anything for themselves. Thank you for listening, and have
a nice day.

Yeah. I was that frustrated. And the next morning, I was so glad that I was back in Los
Angeles, California, in 2014.

THE END

Works Cited
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"Colonial Schools." Colonialdays /. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
<http://colonialdays.pbworks.com/w/page/16140813/Colonial Schools>.
Gourley, Catherine. American Girl: Welcome to Felicity's World, 1774: Growing Up
in Colonial America. Middleton, Wi.: Pleasant Publications, 1999. Print.
January, Brendan. Colonial Life. New York: Children's, 2000. Print.
"The 13 American Colonies." 13 American Colonies ***. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
<http://landofthebrave.info/american-colonies.htm>.
"The Food Timeline: History Notes--Colonial America and 17th & 18th Century
France." The Food Timeline: History Notes--Colonial America and 17th &amp;
18th Century France. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcolonial.html>.

"The History of Education in America." The History of Education in America. Web.

18 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.chesapeake.edu/Library/EDU_101/eduhist_colonial.asp>.
Worth, Richard. Delaware. New York: Children's, 2004. Print.

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