Here are the relevant passages:

Miss Smith, and Miss Bickerton, another parlour boarder at Mrs. Goddard's, who had been also at the ball, had walked out together, and taken a road, the Richmond road, which, though apparently public enough for safety, had led them into alarm.—About half a mile beyond Highbury, making a sudden turn, and deeply shaded by elms on each side, it became for a considerable stretch very retired; and when the young ladies had advanced some way into it,they had suddenly perceived at a small distance before them, on a broader patch of greensward by the side, a party of gipsies. A child on the watch, came towards them to beg; and Miss Bickerton, excessively frightened, gave a great scream, and calling on Harriet to follow her, ran up a steep bank, cleared a slight hedge at the top, and made the best of her way by a short cutback to Highbury. But poor Harriet could not follow. She had suffered very much from cramp after dancing, and her first attempt to mount the bank brought on such a return of it as made her absolutely powerless— and in this state, and exceedingly terrified, she had been obliged to remain

How the trampers might have behaved, had the young ladies been more courageous, must be doubtful; but such an invitation for attack could not be resisted; and Harriet was soon assailed by half a dozen children, headed by a stout woman and a great boy, all clamorous, and impertinent in look, though not absolutely in word.—More and more frightened, she immediately promised them money, and taking out her purse, gave them a shilling, and begged them not to want more, or to use her ill.—She was then able to walk, though but slowly, and was moving away—but her terror and her purse were too tempting, and she was followed, or rather surrounded, by the whole gang, demanding more.

After this, Harriet is rescued by Frank Churchill, whereupon Emma tells her that she will let Mr. Knightly know that "such people" have taken up residence in the area; Mr. Knightly will then presumably take steps to deal with them.

Some more detailed questions:

• Was Austen referring to Romani, Irish Travelers, or something else?
• How familiar would her likely readers have been with gypsies of whatever stripe Austen refers to?
• How would Austen herself have come to know of these people?
• What might Mr. Knightly have done to deal with/remove the "gipsies?"

Hey everyone, I’m currently doing research for a project on the history of masculinity. How did we get from the “hunter gatherer” trope to what's being called toxic masculinity in the 21st century. I think there’s a lot of interesting stand out points like how a lot of Louis XIV wore tights and heels that seem to make the evolution of masculinity a lot less Point-A-to-Point-B than most people think.

Does anyone here have any recommendations on resources for this history and evolution of masculinity? Or even things that disprove ideas of why men are the way they are? (Or even disprove some of the things I just said)

I appreciate it so much! Thank you!

Obviously, the movement leading up to the Civil War was pretty extensive with Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. I don't remember learning about any previous major movements for black civil rights after the Atlantic slave trade started.

With all that's happening currently, I was wondering if there was more I should be aware of. Any info is appreciated!

As the title states the Klan was designated a terrorist organization in 1870, but today it seems it isn't one. I know they disbanded and reorganized several times over the last 150 years. Is it as simple as the first klan being outlawed but subsequent versions are not?

Repost in the hopes that an expert on the topic will see this.

The Wehrmacht famously circumvented the Maginot line in 1940 by going through the Ardennes forest. Why did the French think that the forest would have been impassable for an army? How did the Wehrmacht cross it this quickly nevertheless?

Hi! I'm not an expert and I have no studies on the field, but there's any explanation? Thanks!

From what I found, most soldiers carried bayonets, but why? At that point, repeaters were around for a long time, popular, and the best thing you had.

It makes no sense to use a bayonet instead of a winchester. Is there something I'm missing here?

In his introduction to Funeral in Berlin, Len Deighton mentions that East and West Berlin shared their water, sewage, gas and electricity networks. It makes sense that you can't just suddenly split these networks (especially water and sewage) into two, but I'm interested to know if this continued until unification and how this worked in practice. How did charging work?

Was supply ever shut off by one power, or was it threatened? Were the sewers used as a way of moving under the wall undetected?

I suppose I'm intrigued by the idea of two countries who are in conflict with each other having to share these basic, essential utilities.

Hey there, my title is a little misleading so you're gonna have to read on.

From what I've read online about various personality disorders, I've understood that few mental health doctors were really aware of them before the 1980s. Director Todd Phillips said Joker takes place in 1981.

In the film, the clerk at Arkham State Hospital looks through the medical file of Arthur's mom and mentions she was diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He also said these files were thirty years old at the time.

The clerk could had rounded up to thirty from 25. With 1956 being the youngest her file could possibly be written, what is the likelihood of a woman like her being diagnosed with that? Say these doctors added to her file a few things after 1956, then what's the likelihood of NPD being diagnosed later?

Maybe back the only people getting diagnosed were extreme cases, and Arthur's mom would had been an extreme case. Then there's the question, did her character match up with what NPD looks like? I will greatly appreciate your insight into this question as well. As long as this thread is on the topic, why not?

I've seen a few articles online about therapists not knowing to look for these so I was just thinking about how Joker could had made lay-people aware of the concept of personality disorders for the first time. But then I had to ask, if doctors today have trouble diagnosing it then how'd the doctors in 1980s Gotham diagnose someone with it?

Claims that police forces originated as slave patrols have been making the rounds on the Internet alongssde the movement to defund police forces across the United States. How accurate are these claims, and what was the actual origin of police forces in America?

Apologies if this question isn’t right for this sub.

My grandmother recently passed, and at her house I found an old rolled up document. It was my great great grandfathers discharge paperwork from the Civil War.

It isn’t in horrible shape, but it has been rolled up sitting in a closet for who knows how long.

I’ve tried going to some local antique shops but I haven’t had any luck in getting help trying to restore it. I live in Northern Virginia currently if anyone knows anything in the area.

Where should I begin with a project like that? I would like to restore it and frame it. It’s like 24”w x 36”l.

For the interested- he joined the 95th Illinois volunteer infantry in August of 1862, fought at Vicksburg where he lost a finger, continued on to Atlanta, pursued Hood into Tennessee, and then it states he was transferred to Sherman for the march into Georgia. It closes with his honorable discharge “by reason of the close of the war.”

Thanks for any help.

Both of these ideologies have been tied to mass atrocities, but it's only Fascism where we see the atrocities as central to its doctrines. Why is this?

It can be quite a chore to keep a half-acre yard maintained even with modern equipment. Media portrayals of fine homes in the 1700s-1800s (as one example - but basically any time before large-scale mechanization was possible) show what seem to be quite large well maintained lawns.

So how were these lawns kept so well without the consistency and speed of mechanized devices? Was it just a lot of human labor? Were there animals grazing on estate grounds? Or is it anachronistic to ascribe these lawns to this era?

I’m confused because of their attitudes during other wars, where defeats didn’t matter too much, like the Punic wars. During the second one, they had their armies wiped out multiple times, but they kept coming back. I know more was at stake and everything, but still.

There’s that point about how Germania wasn’t really worth it, but that didn’t stop the Romans elsewhere. Gaul wasn’t some super-developed utopia, and I don’t think places like Illyria, Pannonia, Dacia etc were either.

Also, Caesar had shown that the Germans could be defeated. He’d crossed the Rhine and done it, so I don’t get what the “fear” of Germania that people talk about came from.

There has been debate over which was the reason why Japan surrendered. Traditionalists believe that the nukes made Japan surrender but revisionists think the Soviet invasion of Manchuria did. I personally believe it is the later or a combination of both but I would like to see your opinions on this.

Nearly every photo I've seen of MLK is in black and white. Looking on google colour photography for the average person became popular in the 60s and MLK was killed in 1968. It seems strange that we could land someone on the moon the year after but have barely any colour photos of MLK.

My sister suggested it's done on purpose to make the civil rights movement seem more distant when it was only 40ish years ago. But is this true?