Abigail Adams advocated for an equal education in public schools for boys and girls. In her earliest years, she was often in poor health. She spent most of her time reading. In addition to that, she corresponded to family and friends before getting married.
Adams did not get any formal education in any school or college. Her father had a big library, so she studied many books and became smart that way. She married John Adams in 1764. In the next ten years, she had five children (a sixth was stillborn). One of her children was John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States.
Adams was a vital confidant and adviser to her husband John Adams. She opposed slavery and supported women's rights. In 1776, her husband participated in the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. There, Adams wrote her most famous letter to the Founding Fathers "remember the ladies".
In 1784, Adams joined at her husbdat his 's diplomatic post in Paris. She became interested in the manners of the French. After 1785, she filled the difficult role of wife of the First US Minister to Great Britain. She did so with dignity and tat.
Martha Jefferson Randolph
Martha Washington Jefferson Randolph (September 27, 1772 – October 10, 1836) was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States. Because her father was a widower, Martha Washington Jefferson Randolph acted as the First Lady of the United States from March 4, 1801 to March 3, 1809.
Martha was born in Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia. She was named Martha Washington in honor of Martha Washington, the wife of the first President of the United States, George Washington. She was educated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Paris.
In 1790, Martha married Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. They had twelve children. Shortly before her death, she and her husband developed differences. She died in 1836 in Albemarle County, Virginia at the age of 64.
Aracaju
Aracaju is the modern capital city of the state of Sergipe in the northeastern region of Brazil. It has about 470.000 inhabitants (estimate 2003) and lies between the cities of Salvador and Maceio, also in the northeast of Brazil. It was planned and built to be the state capital in 1855.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play by William Shakespeare. The exact date the play was written is unknown. It is generally accepted that the play was written in 1595 or 1596. It was first printed in 1600. In 1623, the play was printed in the First Folio, a collection of all of Shakespeare's plays.
Shakespeare's sources include works by Plutarch, Apuleius, Ovid, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Edmund Spenser. He found a description of Puck in Reginald Scot's "The Discoverie of Witchcraft" (1584). It is generally believed that the play was written for the festivities surrounding the aristocratic marriage of either Elizabeth Vere, Lord Burghley’s granddaughter, in 1595, or Elizabeth Carey, daughter of Sir George Carey, in 1596.
The play is about four confused young lovers, a group of clumsy workmen, the royal court of Duke Theseus, and the royal fairy court of King Oberon and Queen Titania. The play is set mostly at night in the woods near Athens.
The play has been made into movies on numerous occasions. One movie stars Mickey Rooney as the fairy Puck. Benjamin Britten wrote an opera based on the play, George Balanchine and Frederick Ashton have both made ballets about it, and Felix Mendelssohn wrote many pieces of music for the play which include an "Overture" and a "Wedding March".
The Court at Athens:
The Lovers:
The Fairies:
The Rustics:
Egeus wants his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius. Hermia does not want to marry him. She loves another man named Lysander. Hermia and Lysander decide to run away. Demetrius follows them. Helena, Hermia's best friend, is in love with Demetrius. She follows him. All four become lost in the woods near Athens.
Meanwhile, Oberon and Titania are having an argument. Oberon decides to teach Titania a lesson. He puts a love potion into her eyes while she is asleep. This potion will make her fall in love with the first thing she sees when she wakes.
Oberon finds Helena and Demetrius. He tells Puck to give Demetrius some of the love potion so that he will love Helena. Puck makes a mistake and puts the potion in Lysander's eyes. When Lysander wakes up, he loves Helena instead of his real sweetheart Hermia.
The workmen are practising a play in the woods for the upcoming marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. Puck plays a trick on Nick Bottom by giving him donkey ears. The other actors run away, so Bottom goes to sleep. He is sleeping near Titania. She wakes up and falls in love with him.
Oberon realises everything is all mixed up. He gives some of the love potion to Demetrius. Now Demetrius and Lysander both love Helena. Sad and confused, all the lovers fall asleep. At last, Puck rights all the wrongs. He makes Lysander love Hermia again, and makes Demetrius love Helena. Everyone is happy.
The workmen perform their play after the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Oberon has stopped Titania being in love with Bottom. They are happy with each other again. The fairies use their magic to bless all the lovers.
Vodka
Vodka is a Russian alcoholic drink that is usually about 40% alcohol. It is clear (but can be flavoured), though it is sometimes mixed with other liquids before people drink it. It was first popular in the Slavic countries of Eastern Europe and former republics of the Soviet Union.
Vodka can be made from different things:
The process to make vodka is:
Unlike cognac or whisky, vodka is not usually matured in barrels, but bottled immediately. Some Scandinavian vodkas called "akvavit" (Latin "aqua vitae", "water of life") are matured in oak barrels before they are bottled. When the vodka is bottled, it is ready for drinking.
Most people think the name "vodka" comes from the Slavic word for water in its diminutive form, "little water". The earliest mention of Vodka in Poland is in 1405. The Russians are known to have first used the word in June 8, 1751. It is not known if it was the Russians or the Poles who made the first drinks that could be classified as vodka, as sources provide various views on this topic (though it's important to remember that the first mention of the word "vodka" in Cyrillic refers to a medicinal drink bought by the merchants of Kievan Rus from Poland). It is also worth noting that vodka was first used as medicine. When it became a popular drink, it was first known in Polish as "gorzałka" - from the Old Polish word "gorzeć", meaning burn. At first, gorzałka was a people's drink, but in the Slavic countries it soon became common among the nobility as well. it is worth noting that the common Ukrainian word for vodka is "horilka" which bears an extremely close resemblance to the Polish gorzalka. Both words roots have the same meaning ("hority" - to burn; "gorzeć", also to burn)
There are two basic kinds of Vodka: clear vodka and flavored vodka. Some types of vodka have plants or herbs added to the unflavored vodka to make it taste better. Contrary to popular belief, flavoured vodka is not new - it has been a part of Polish drinking tradition for centuries. It is only relatively recently in history that clear and flavoured vodkas have found their way to Western countries such as the UK or US.