Readings for Rural Life – Cold Floors

From Moore’s Rural New-Yorker in Rochester, NY

February 20th, 1864

Cold Floors

“Keep the head cool and the feet warm,” says the physician. Some people are so unfortunate as to live in hired houses, or are too poor to repair their own, or do not wish to lay out money to fix up the old one, when they expect in a year or two that its place will be occupied by a new one. What are such people to do when the floors are filled with cracks that let in the wind and the cold? No sort of chance to follow the advice of the doctor, in such a case. The cracks change things just end for end. Cold feet and blood and heat to the head. We were in just such a fix. We read in the Family Journal, that newspapers being spread between bed clothes were excellent non-conductors, and rendered beds very warm. We applied the principle to our cold floor.  Before laying down the carpet, we covered the whole floor with newspapers, being careful to break joints. It produced a decided change in the temperature of the room. Feet and legs rejoiced, as they were comparatively comfortable. Please tell your readers, Mr. Editor, that this is about the best use some papers can be put to. – L.L.F.

A New Corset Asked For

Susie Perkins complains, in the Scientific American, that the corsets illustrated and recommended in that paper the past year, do not meet her requirements, and those of the sisterhood of corset-wearers. She talks in this wise:

“The air we ladies have to breathe up there in Vermont circulates all round the world, and is breathed by all the filthy creatures on the face of the earth, by rhinoceroses, cows, elephants, tigers, woodchucks, hens, skunks, minks, grasshoppers, mice, raccoons, and all kinds of bugs, spiders, fleas, and lice, lions, tobacco-smokers, catamounts, eagles, crows, rum-drinkers, turkey buzzards, tobacco-chewers, hogs, snakes, toads, lizards, Irish, negroes, and millions of other nasty animals, birds, insects and serpents; besides, it is filled with evaporations from dead, decaying bodies, both animal and vegetable, and we ladies are obliged to breathe it over after them, ough! Bah!

“Now we want, and must have, some contrivance that will effectually keep this foul disgusting stuff  out of our lungs. We have tried the three kinds of corsets which you noticed in your paper last year; but when we do the best with them that we can, about a teacupful of this nasty air will rush into our lungs in spite of these miserable contrivances, and when we blow it out again another teacupful of the disgusting stuff will again rush in, and when we blow that out still another will rush in; and so we are obligated to keep doing from the time we wake up in the morning till we go to sleep at night, and I do not know but we do all night.

“If these corsets are worth anything to keep this disgusting air out of a body, and we have not put them on right, please come immediately yourself, or send the inventors to show up how. If they are a humbug, I hope their inventors will be tarred and feathered and rode on a rail, and you, for noticing them in the Scientific American, be obliged to breathe about sixty pints of the nasty, foul, nauseous, filthy, disgusting, dirty, defiled, loathsome, hateful, detestable, odious, abominable, offensive, stinking air which surrounds this earth per minute for a hundred years.”

The editors, in their zeal to supply the wants of the correspondent, respond as follows:

“We can suggest but one kind of corset which would effectually meet our fair correspondent’s wishes. Instead of the ordinary laced-up corset, take a piece of strong hempen cord and apply it closely about the neck, tie one end of it to a beam, and let the whole weigh of the body suspend at the other end. We guarantee that if the cord is strong enough it will put an end to all future complaints on this subject.”

Published in: on February 20, 2014 at 6:00 am  Leave a Comment  
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The Ladies National Covenant via The Rural

This is a partial transcription from Moore’s Rural New-Yorker in Rochester, NY on May 21st, 1864. I encourage you to click over to Moore’s Rural to read the entirety.

 The Ladies’ National Covenant

Address to the Women of America – Home Products to be Encouraged.

A meeting of ladies was held at Washington recently, to inaugurate an important National movement. It is proper we should give the results thereof in this department of the Rural. The meeting was composed of the wives of members of the Cabinet, and of Senators and Representatives, of well-known authoresses, women of fashion, mothers who had lost their sons, and wives who had lost their husbands. There was an earnestness and a unison of feeling in this great meeting, which has never been exceeded in this land.

…

Address to the Women of America.

In the capital of our country we have this day organized a central society for the suppression of extravagance, the diminution of foreign imports, and the practice of economy in all our social relations. To this society we have given the name of “The Ladies’ National Covenant.” Its object is a good and generous one, which should inspire a spirit of patriotism worthy of women who are the glory of a great nation. For this society we have an example a precedent at once august and encouraging.

In 1770, the women of Massachusetts, actuated by the same impulse that inspires us, assembled in the City of Boston, as we have met here, and resolved to serve the country by an effort of self-sacrifice far greater than we are called upon to make.

On the 9th of February [of that year], 300 matrons, each the mistress of a household, met as we do now, and signed a pledge to abstain from the use of tea, the greatest luxury of the time, and the very life of all the social gatherings for which our New-England ancestors were so famous. Three days after, twice that number of blooming young girls met in the same place and signed like pledges. From that brave assemblage of women non-imporation societies sprang up, that produced an effect upon the mother country almost equal to that created by the success of our revolutionary armies. During all the terrors of the war these noble women held firmly to their pledges, and by their earnestness awoke the sympathy and co-operation of every sister colony in the land. The spirit thus aroused extended itself to imported goods of all kinds, and every hearthstone was turned into an independent manufactory. Thus it was that the flax-wheel, the hatchel, and the hand-loom became sublime instruments of freedom in the hands of American women. The house mothers of ’76 not only kept their pledge of non-importation, but with their own hands wrought from the raw materials the garments which clothed themselves, their husbands, and children. The pledge which they took and kept so faithfully evoked not only great self-sacrifice, but hard, hard toil, such as the woman of the present day scarcely dream of. Had they not endured and labored while their husbands fought, we should have had no might Union to pray and struggle for now.

We, the women of ’64, have the same object to attain and the same duties to perform which were so nobly accomplished by the women of ’76. Shall we not follow their example, and take up cheerfully the lesser burdens that the welfare of our country demands? They gave up the very comforts of life without a murmur; can we refuse when a sacrifice of feminine vanity is alone required? Can we hesitate to yield up luxuries that are so unbecoming when the very earth trembles under our feet from the tread of armed men going down to battle, and almost every roof throughout the land shelters some mother lamenting the son who has fallen gloriously with his face to the foe, or a widow whose husband lies buried so deeply among the masses of slain heroes, that she will never learn where to seek for his grave? 

…

In order to invoke this spirit of self-sacrifice, it is important that the great object of the covenant we have made should be broadly circulated and thoroughly understood. It discourages profligate expenditures of any kind, recommends the use of domestic fabrics whenever they can be substituted for those of foreign make, and advises simplicity of attire, both as a matter of policy and good taste. It asks the great sisterhood of American women to aid in this reform before it is too late. Thank God science has given us the means of reaching thousands on thousands in a single hour. While we make this covenant, the thought that thrills our hearts may tremble in fire along the telegraph, and awake kindred inspiration throughout the entire land. By every means of communication in our power, let us urge the necessity of prompt action. In every town and village throughout the Union, some woman who loves her country is implored to establish an auxiliary society and forward the names of the ladies invited to act for the State in which her duty lies. We ask simultaneous action, earnest work, and generous self-sacrifice at the hands of our sister women. With their ardent help, a work will be accomplished so important in its results, that the woman who shares in it may, hereafter, leave the emblem of our object as the richest jewel that she can leave to posterity.

http://www.libraryweb.org/~digitized/newspapers/moores_rural_new_yorker/vol.XV,no.21.pdf

 

Published in: on February 17, 2014 at 1:28 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Readings for Rural Life

From Moore’s Rural New-Yorker in Rochester, NY

February 13th, 1864

Some writer says – “Our daughters do not ‘grow up’ at all now-a-days; they grow all sorts of ways, as crooked and crooked sticks.”

Our girls hardly get sunshine enough to grow at all in. Indeed many women amongst us never could have fully got their growth, else why are they such tiny morsels, looking as if a puff from old Kewaydin would blow them away?

We need to turn our girls out of doors – that is the long and short of it. They will never be good for anything until we do. The boys knock around and get oxygen enough to expand their lungs, broaden their chests, and paint their faces with health’s own hue; but our lazy, lady daughters! Ah, there is the burden that breaks down the mother’s heart. How are they, so frail, and sensitive, and delicate, ever to get along in this rough world? Mother, you must bestir yourself quickly, or they will be as unfit as your gloomiest imagination can paint them. You are responsible chiefly for making them so tender. Protect them suitably from the weather, and send them out of doors. The pure air will brace up their unstrung nerves, strengthen the weak lungs, and some good gust of wind will in time sweep away the ill-nature and peevish spirit which sitting forever in idleness in luxurious home will not fail to engender.

The next thing you should do for your daughter is to give her some domestic employment. If you keep a dozen servants, your duty to her remains the same. No one can be happy of qualified to make others so, who has no useful work to do. Besides this, she must learn sometime, or she will be poorly qualified for ever being at the head of an establishment of her own. No one in this country can rely upon always having good, trained domestics in her house. The best require some instructions, are liable to leave you from sickness or other causes, and any household is in a pitiable condition where the mistress is not equal for such and emergency.

 

Published in: on February 13, 2014 at 6:00 am  Leave a Comment  
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Readings for Rural Life – Don’t Abandon the Hoop Skirt

From Moore’s Rural New-Yorker in Rochester, NY

February 6th, 1864

Don’t Abandon the Hoop Skirt

This is the burthen of a man-ifesto from the Editor of the Scalpel. But “There’s no use o’ talking!” A certain goddess has decreed that skirts shall be smaller, and they will be smaller. If she had said, “let there be none at all,” we are confident they would have been abandoned. But the Editor of the Scalpel is in distress; listen to him:

“We consider the modern hooped skirt of the most admirably artistic and health-giving devices of our time; and no sensible person can fail to appreciate its benefit to the young girl or woman; we will give our reasons for this opinion; of course they will be entirely professional for we are no man milliner.

“It is conceded by all correct observers, and fully recognized by our anatomists and gymnastic teachers, that the muscles of the thorax and its appendages, the arms and abdomen, are not used more than one-fourth as much by our modern women as they are compelled to use those of the legs; nearly all the movements which our unfortunate young people are permitted to perform by the inexorable flat of Japonieadom are what they may be called passive. Her hands must be reverently and lovingly folded across her chest in order that their whiteness may not suffer by permitting the least motion; the lungs, of course, must be kept quiet, not only because she is not allowed to walk fast enough to require much air, but because the position of the arms, and weight of the fore-arm and hand resting upon the lower ribs, will not allow their elevation so that the air can enter the lower part of the lungs at tall. At best, but a sixth part of those life-giving organs are now used, and only their upper part fully inflated. Now if the hooped skirt be hooked to the jacket in four places, at least, and not left to rest upon the hips, the reader will perceive that the backbone and all muscles which inclose[sic] and steady both the great cavities of the body, and keep them elegantly  erect upon the hips, must carry both the hoops and the skirt; then these may be made both light and elegant, or heavy and grand as the seasons my require; while drawers of material adapted to our severe winters, may be so artistically adjusted, and supported by suspenders, as completely to protect and clothe the limbs, without the necessity of the skirts so girding the body by drawn cords to keep them and the drawers in place, as not only seriously to cripple all the viscera, but to interrupt the healthful action of the muscles of the abdomen, and worse than this, to compress all the veins that carry back the blood from the lower limbs to the heart for purification, and often, as we have seen, to render the integument, below this girdle of many cords, very perceptibly dropsical. Every lady, if she will use her eyes, can see this for herself; the ‘horrid marks’ that they cause, she often laments. Now, reader, if the lungs are only used one-sixth part, the muscles of the body scarcely at all, and venous blood from the lower limbs, prevented from returning at the full rate of five-sixths of the speed intended by nature, when you are all walking even at the snail’s pace you are allowed to , what must be the result on the nutrition of the muscles in these limbs? for you know they act and grow by blood alone; depend upon it, though you may make them dropsical and deceptive in size, they will not help you to dance as well, or to go up and down stairs.

“And this brings us to another great evil, if we will sacrifice so much to brown-stone fronts and the fancied necessity of fashionable streets; if we must live in houses furnace-warmed and if we must live in houses furnace-warmed and eighteen feet by five stories high, for pity’s sake let us so distribute the load of dress our climate requires, as to allow every part of the body be used to carry it up stairs; let the jacket or the shoulder-straps give the chest it share of the work; in a word, let our wives and daughters shoulder their loads, if they would have their days prolonged in the land. “If the ladies will pardon us, we will venture to a hint on the dimensions of the skirt. Its most excellent end is to insure the unrestricted use of the limbs in walking; it must, therefore, be of the sufficient diameter to allow a full step and the necessary space for the underclothing; if it restrict the step in the least degree, it is too small. No woman should be ambitious of a short step; the longer the step the more breadth required, and the greater development of the thorax and lungs; quick and energetic walking, with the shoulders thrown back, will do as much for the grown of the vital organs as singing. Women must dress warmly, keep her feet dry, walk more, and eat more, or she will never fulfill the great object of her creation.”

 

Fashionable Women

Fashion kills more women than the toil and sorrow. Obedience to fashion is a greater transgression of the laws of woman’s nature, a greater injury to her physical and mental constitution, then the hardships of poverty and neglect. The slave woman at her task will live and grow old, and see two or three generations of her mistresses fade and pass away. The washer-woman, with scarce a ray of hope to cheer her in her tolls, will live to see her fashionable sisters all die around her. The kitchen maid is hearty and strong, when her lady has to be nursed like a sick baby.

It is a sad truth that fashion-pampered women are almost worthless for all the good ends of human life. They have but little force of character; they have still less power of moral will, and quite as little physical energy. They live for no great purpose in life; they accomplish no worthy ones. They are only doll-forms in the hands of milliners and servants, to be dressed and fed to order. They dress nobody; they feed nobody; they instruct nobody; they bless nobody. They write no books; they set nor rich examples of virtue and womanly life. If they rear children, servants and nurses do all, save to conceive and give birth to them. And when reared, what are they? What do they ever amount to but weaker scions of the old stock? Who ever heard of a fashionable woman’s child exhibiting any virtue and power of mind for which it became eminent? Read the biographies of
our great and good men and women. Not one of them had a fashionable mother. They nearly all sprang from strong minded women, who had a little to do with fashion as with the changing clouds.

Published in: on February 6, 2014 at 6:00 am  Leave a Comment  
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Resources for Life

“Consider that to-night is the only opportunity the gentlemen may ever have of hearing how adroitly the ladies can flatter them.”

“It is not in the bond,” replied Lucinda.

“What is not?”

“That the ladies should flatter gentlemen.”

“Excuse me,” said Colonel Kingswood; “the ladies having voluntarily taken the responsibility, the gentlemen must insist on their going regularly through the whole ball with all its accompaniments, including compliments, flattery and flirtation, and a seasoning of genuine courtship, of which last article there is always more or less at every large party. And as it appears, that Miss Mandeville has not faithfully done her part during the dance, she must make amends by doing it now.”

“On the latter subject,” said Fitzsimmons, “Miss Mandeville can need no prompting. Her own experience must have made her familiar with courtship in all its varieties.”

“Of course,” resumed the Colonel. “So, Miss Mandeville, you can be at no loss in what manner to begin.”

“And am I to stand here and to be courted?” said Fitzsimmons.

 This comes from “The Ladies’ Ball” in Pencil Sketches; or, Outlines of Character and Manners, by Miss Leslie. (Philadelphia, 1835) https://archive.org/details/atlantictalesor00leslgoog

This earlier compilation of Miss Leslies includes her stories from the periodical series “Pencil Sketches” These include: “The Wilson House; or, Village Gossip”, “The Album”, “The Reading Parties”, “The Set of China”, “Laura Lovel”, “John W. Robertson, A Tale of a Cent” and “The Ladies’ Ball”.

If you enjoy her short stories, you may also enjoy these:

Atlantic Tales: or, Pictures of Youth, by Miss Leslie. Boston. https://archive.org/details/atlantictalesor00leslgoog

Stories for Adelaide: Being a Second Series of Easy Reading Lessons, with Divided Syllables, by Eliza Leslie, Philadelphia, 1829. https://archive.org/stream/storiesforadelai00lesl#page/30/mode/2up

The Gift: A Christmas, New Year, and Birthday Present. Philadelphia, 1845 https://archive.org/stream/giftachristmasa01leslgoog#page/n15/mode/2up (A compilation of stories by others.)

 

Published in: on February 5, 2014 at 1:35 am  Comments (1)  
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Resources for Life

Women in America; Being an Examination into the Moral and Intellectual Condition of American Female Society, by Mrs. A. J. Graves (New York:1844)

Look round upon the groups of young females who crowd our private parties or public balls; who lounge upon the sofa receiving visits, or throng the city promenades to exhibit their decorated persons or to make morning calls, and how many can you point out among them who have fulfilled one useful purpose of existence to themselves, to their families, or to society? And all this waste of time and energy in the pursuit of folly is in the hope of becoming thereby candidates for matrimony, while by this very means they are seeking to attain. Nor is this all: their efforts defeat the wished for end, inasmuch as the habits of indolence and extravagance in which so many young women are brought up, deter a multitude of young men from becoming husbands, lest they should involve themselves in pecuniary embarrassment; and as wealthy young men are extremely rare, we see marriages in fashionable life every day becoming fewer; thus leaving in our cities a numerous class of finely-dressed, pretty, and accomplished young ladies, doomed to become disappointed “establishment-seekers,” and to fade into fretful and repining “’old maids.” An intelligent, useful woman, who continues in a state of celibacy from choice or from disappointed affection, is an honoured and valuable member of society, but she whose youth has been spent in idleness and folly, and is seeking for a husband in crowded scenes of amusement, becomes a pitiable object – a burden to herself, and the jest and by-word of her acquaintance. (p52-53)

Among the many causes that are tending to deaden in the heart of woman a sense of her appropriate obligations, is the fatal notion that there is something servile in labour. It is, indeed, much to be lamented, that in the praiseworthy effort to redeem herself from the life of slavery and degradation to which past ages doomed her, so many of her sex should have passed to the other extreme – a life of indolence and uselessness Nor is this notion that there is gentility in idleness, confined to females alone: we find it widely and deeply cherished by society at large. Hence we see that the aristocratic titles of “lady” and “gentleman” are by common consent thought to be applicable only to those who hold it beneath their fancied dignity to toil with their hands. The farmer who guides his own plough, and the mechanic who still plies his tools, are thus considered as belonging to a lower caste than the “gentleman” farmer who lives solely upon the toil of his dependant[sic] labourers, or the retired mechanic who has thrown aside his implements, and employs the capital amassed by their use in extensive speculations in lands or stocks. (p25-26)

Published in: on January 30, 2014 at 4:00 pm  Comments (1)  
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Book Notice: Wearable Prints, 1760-1860

It is here! Well, it isn’t here with me…. yet. So, here are KittyCalash’s thoughts on the arrival of Susan Greene’s book we’ve been waiting for Wearable Prints, 1760-1860.
Remember, the Greene collection is now housed at the Genesee Country Village in Mumford, NY.

Hmmm….. Now, I’m picturing a “Greene” Swap for the Fall. Wouldn’t it be fun to find fabrics similar to those Susan talks about?

Kitty Calash

This just in, literally, from the mail carrier: Susan W. Greene’s long-awaited book,Wearable Prints, 1760-1860. It’s discounted (and out of stock) at Amazon, but should be shipping soon, since I have one right here on my desk.

It’s fair to call this book lavishly illustrated (1600 full-color images in almost 600 pages), and while I have access to a copy at work, I am seriously thinking of buying my own copy, based solely on about 10 minutes skimming the book. There are images not just of fabric samples but also of garments, paper dolls and illustrations that help put the fabrics into context. Images of garments from collections I can’t get into? Delicious! Information to help me understand how to use a printed cotton? Even better.

The book is organized in three main sections: Overview, Colors, and Mechanics. Appendices include timelines, prohibitions, price comparisons, print characteristics, and more…

View original post 186 more words

Published in: on January 30, 2014 at 8:23 am  Comments (4)  

Resources for Life – A weekend extra

 

Dress as a Fine Art, by Mrs. Mary Philadelphia Merrifield (Boston: 1854)

We violate the laws of nature when we seek to repair the ravages of time on our complexions by paint, when we substitute false hair for that which age has thinned or blanched, or conceal the change by dyeing our own gray hair; when we pad our dress to conceal that one shoulder is larger than the other. To do either is not only in bad taste, but is a positive breach of sincerity. It is bad taste, because the means we have resorted to are contrary to the laws of nature. The application of paint to the skin produces an effect so different from the bloom of youth, that it can only deceive an unpracticed eye. It is the same with hair: there is such a want of harmony between false hair and the face which it surrounds, especially when that face bears the marks of age, and the color of the hair denotes youth, that the effect is unpleasing in the extreme. Deception of this kind, therefore, does not answer the end which it had in view; it deceives nobody but the unfortunate perpetrator of would-be deceit. It is about as senseless a proceeding as that of the goose in the story, who, when pursued by the fox, thrust her head into a hedge, and thought that, because she could no longer see the fox, the fox could not see her. But in a moral point of view it is worse than silly; it is adopted with a view to deceive; it is acting a lie to all intents and purposes, and it ought to be held in the same kind of detestation as falsehood with the tongue. Zimmerman has an aphorism which is applicable to this case – “Those who conceal their age do not conceal their folly.” (p12-13)

The immediate objects of dress are twofold – namely, decency and warmth; but so many minor considerations are suffered to influence us in choosing our habiliments, that these primary objects are too frequently kept out of sight. Dress should be not only adapted to the climate, it should be also light in weight, should yield to the movements of the body, and should be easily put on or removed. It should also be adapted to the station in society, and to the age, of the individual. These are the essential conditions, yet in practice how frequently are they overlooked; in fact, how seldom are they observed! Next in importance are general elegance of form, harmony in the arrangement and selection of the colors, and special adaptation in form and color to the person of the individual. To these objects we purpose directing the attention of the reader. (p16)

Had the Bloomer costume, which has obtained so much notoriety, been introduced by a tall and graceful scion of the aristocracy, either of rank or talent, instead of being at first adopted by the middle ranks, it might have met with better success. We have seen that Jenny Lind could introduce a new fashion of wearing the hair, and a new form of hat or bonnet, and Mme. Sontag a cap which bears her name. But it was against all precedent to admit and follow a fashion, let its merits be every so great, that emanated from the stronghold of democracy. We are content to adopt the greatest absurdities in dress when they are brought from Paris, or recommendation by a French name; but American fashions have no chance of success in aristocratic England. It is beginning at the wrong end.

 

 

Published in: on January 24, 2014 at 6:06 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Resources for Life

A TRIFLE.

 A quart of cream.
 A quarter of a pound of loaf sugar, powdered.
  Half a pint of white wine and Half a gill of brandy mixed.
  Eight maccaroons, or more if you choose.
  Four small sponge-cakes or Naples biscuit.
  Two ounces of blanched sweet almonds, pounded in a mortar.
  One ounce of blanched bitter almonds or peach-kernels.
  The juice and grated peel of two lemons.
  A nutmeg, grated.
  A glass of noyau.
  A pint of rich baked custard, made of the yolks of eggs.

 Pound the sweet and bitter almonds to a smooth paste, adding a little rose-water as you pound them.

 Grate the yellow peels of the lemons, and squeeze the juice into a saucer.

 Break the sponge cake and maccaroons into small pieces, mix them with the almonds, and lay them in the bottom of a large glass bowl. Grate a nutmeg over them, and the juice and peel of the lemons. Add the wine and brandy, and let the mixture remain untouched, till the cakes are dissolved in the liquor. Then stir it a little.

 Mix the cream and sugar with a glass of noyau, and beat it with a whisk or rods, till it stands alone.

 As the froth rises, take it off with a spoon, and lay it on a sieve (with a large dish under it) to drain. The cream, that drains into the dish, must be poured back into the pan with the rest, and beaten over again. When the cream is finished, set it in a cool place.

 When the custard is cold, poor it into the glass bowl upon the dissolved cakes, &c. and when the cream is ready, fill up the bowl with it, heaping it high in the middle. You may ornament it with nonpareils.

 If you choose, you can put in, between the custard and the frothed cream, a layer of fruit jelly, or small fruit preserved.

 

Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry Cakes, and Sweetmeat (Philadelphia, 1832) is one of Miss Leslie’s earlier culinary/cooking works. https://archive.org/details/seventyfiverecei06677gut (For those unfamiliar with Project Gutenberg, I do suggest browsing for a while. The vast majority of their texts have been transcribed into plain text, while several are read aloud.) She includes easy to follow ingredient lists and directions. I happen to think there are very tasty sounding dishes in this book.

You may also enjoy some of her other cookery books:

Miss Leslie’s New Receipts for Cooking, 1874 https://archive.org/details/misslesliesnewre02lesl

Miss Leslies’ New Cookery Book, 1857 https://archive.org/details/misslesliesnewco00lesl

Miss Leslie’s Complete Cookery, 1853 https://archive.org/details/misslesliescompcol00lesl

Published in: on January 23, 2014 at 6:00 am  Comments (3)  
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Resources for Life

It is said that soon after the publication of Nicholas Nickleby, not fewer than six Yourkshire schoolmasters (or rather six principals of Yorkshire institutes) took journeys to London, with the express purpose of presecuting Dickens for libels – “each one and severally” considering himself shown up to the world as Mr. Squeers of Dotheboys Hall.

Now, if Dickens had drawn as graphic a picture of Dothegirls Hall, we firmly believe that none of the lady pricipals of similar institutes would have committed themselves by evincing so little tact, and adopting such impoltic proceedings. They would wisely have held back from all appropriation of the obnoxious character, a passed it over unnoticed; as if it could not possibly have the slightest reference to them.

Therefore we wish that those of our fair readers whom certain hints in the following pages may awaken to the consciousness of a few habitual misbehavements, (of which they were not previously aware,) should pause, and reflect, before they allow themselves to “take umbrage too much.” Let them keep in mind that the purpose of the writier is to amend, and not offend; to improve her young country-women, and to to annyoy them. It is whith this view only that she has been induced to “set down in a note-book” wuch lapses from les bienseances as she has remarked during a long course of observation, and on a very diversified field.

She trusts that her readers will peruse this book in as friend a spirit as it was written. ~Eliza Leslie.

 This is the preface from Eliza Leslie’s The Ladies’ Guide to True Politeness and Perfect Manners; or, Miss Leslie’s Behaviour Book (Philadelphia, 1864) https://archive.org/stream/ladiesguidetotru00lesl#page/n3/mode/2up  Her guidance not only covers individual behaviour, but also how to prepare the room or home for different occasions. This includes a suggestion of opening the window sashes in the summer for tea.

Published in: on January 16, 2014 at 1:08 am  Leave a Comment  
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