The stone wall: An autobiography

The stone wall by Mary Casal is an autobiography written in the early 20th century. It offers an unflinching, taboo-breaking account of a New England woman’s life from childhood into later years, centering on sexuality, secrecy, and the damage done by social silence. Born in 1864 and raised a tomboy, the narrator describes coercion and abuse by men, her disdain for rigid femininity, and a lasting emotional and romantic pull toward women.

The opening of this autobiography declares a mission to tell truths long hushed, then traces a spirited New England childhood shaped by boys’ games, a mother’s punitive secrecy, and early, coerced sexual encounters that teach concealment and distrust. She argues for frank sex education while recounting predation by a neighbor, a menarche misunderstood through silence, and later harassment by an elderly lodger. Alongside this, she finds joy in sports and dancing, tenderness and nonsexual intimacy with girls, and a single, overpowering but thwarted encounter with a notorious local charmer. As a teen she endures an assault by a brother-in-law, accepts a chaste engagement she doesn’t truly feel, and heads West for college, where she is socially successful, shares kisses with a president’s daughter, recalls unexpected arousal on horseback, and is again coerced by a revered relative. These opening chapters frame a double life: publicly the cheerful, capable “good girl,” privately a survivor who questions Victorian taboos and searches for a love that fits her nature.