The rest of this week

Due to some family illnesses I may not be able to post this week. I appreciate your prayers for my husband as well as my in-laws, thanks in advance for your prayers.

Clarksville Female Academy Expenses 1872

If you've ever wondered what the costs were for women to attend Academies this clipping might be very helpful for you.

1872 Arizona Stage Line

Below is an advertisement for the Arizona Stage Line in 1872. It was in the "Weekly Arizona Miner" newspaper. For those of you wondering how long stage coach travel was this advertisement lays it out well.

The bottom two paragraphs read:
Stage leaves Prescott every Saturday morning at eight o'clock; arrives at Wickenburg Sunday morning; La Paz and Ehrenburg, Monday morning; San Bernardino Thursday Evening.

Return stage from San Bernardino leaves Saturday morning at eight o'clock and arrives at Prescott every Thursday evening.

Corned Beef

I grew up in New England, primarily on Martha's Vineyard. One of my favorite meals was called New England boiled dinner. Mom often made it for our Sunday dinner, the big meal after church, not supper. So with St. Patrick's Day coming up soon I thought it might be fun to share a recipe in how to make corned beef. Personally I love going to the store and purchasing one but hey our 19th century folks didn't have that luxury. Enjoy!

CORNED BEEF.
Wash thoroughly, and if very salt leave in cold water for one hour. Put over a moderate fire, or at the side of the range, in enough cold water to cover it deeply. If you mean to use the liquor for soup, fill the pot with water and cut up in it half an onion, a carrot, and a small turnip. Cook slowly half an hour to each pound, and when done, let it stand in the liquor for at least fifteen minutes. Scrape the top of the meat and trim off the ragged edges. Serve with a white sauce made by straining through a cloth a cupful of the "pot liquor" and thickening it with a white roux, then stirring in a tablespoonful of capers or chopped pickles.

When dinner is over, cover the beef with a flat plate, and lay a heavy weight upon this, to press the meat.

Corned beef is best cold or made into hash. There is a growing dislike to it when served hot.
While the round is considered the choice cut, the brisket, or the " plate," properly cooked is less solid and sweeter, and makes a good larnily dinner dish.
Source: The National Cookbook ©1896 pg259

St. Patrick's Day

Below are several links to various sources in Google books for St. Patrick's day. It was a celebrated holiday in much of America during the 19th Century.

St. Patrick's Day or, A Tragico=Comico Farewell to Lord M---A by Dr. M*LLS"s Ghost ©1813

A St. Patrick's Day Hymn ©1861 #77 pg220
Hymn Link

An Eliza Cook Poem ©1870 from a collection of Eliza Cook Poems

And Lastly an account of St. Patrick's Day from Squibs of California ©1874
Squibs

Anti-Slavery Addresses

Below is another book free on Google that helps to paint the picture of slavery in the 19th Century. The book titled "Anti-slavery addresses of 1844 and 1845, Vol. 3" by Salmon Portland Chase and Charles Dexter Cleveland.


"Anti-slavery addresses of 1844 and 1845, Vol. 3"

Slave Songs

Today I'd like to share a link with some great information from the University of North Carolina, in their "Documenting the American South." This link was given to me by another historical novelist, Karl A. Bacon. Click his name for a link to his web site.

The link for the "Documenting the American South" is a book called Slave Songs from 1867. Here's the Slave Songs of the United States Link. Below is a summary for the University's site about the book and it's author.
Summary

In his introduction, William Allen states his purpose for publishing Slave Songs of the United States: "...it seems time at last that the partial collections in the possession of the editors, and known by them to be in the possession of others, should not be forgotten and lost, but that these relics of a state of society which has passed away should be preserved while it is still possible" (iii).

Allen continues his introduction with a thorough discussion of the songs, including their places of origin, their composition, their phonetic and grammatical properties, and their performative qualities. The editors then provide directions for singing the songs before providing the musical transcriptions of one hundred and thirty-six mostly sacred songs from Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, and Louisiana.

Brent Kinser

Irish Cottage Replica

Today I'm breaking from the 19th Century in order to show you a replica done by my husband's cousin. Michael Coleman is an artist who lives with his family in Ireland. The link will take you to an article about the replica he built of an Irish Cottage that represents the cottage Bridget Donohue left when she was heading to America on the Titanic. Many of the items in the cottage date back to the 19th century and it's just plain old fantastic. Enjoy!

Michael, Can you build me a Cottage?

19th Century Houses & Rooms

Here is a link from a fellow writer to a site that lists the rooms and inventory of the houses listed in wills. It's quite helpful for writers. Thanks Debbie Lynne!

An Index of 19th Century Virginia Room by Room Inventories

Scarlet Fever

Recently on one of the writer email loops I followed the question was asked about scarlet fever. Her time period was not the 19th Century but I thought it would be great to cover it here. The source I'm using comes from the end of the 19th Century, 1897. The source is much too large to read the entire text. So I've given some bits and pieces below. Here's a link to Google Books for the entire text.

SCARLET FEVER
By P. GERVAIS ROBINSON, M.D.
Synonyms.—Scarlatina; Scarlet rash; Scharlach (German); Scarlatine (French).
Definition.—Scarlet fever is an acute, highly infections disease, due, we may fairly believe, to the presence in the body of a specific organism. Though the malady presents, in its clinical manifestations, more variations than any other exanthem, there are certain symptoms which are so frequently present as to be characteristic: there is a punctiform scarlet rash upon the skin which terminates in a lamellar desquamation; an angina which is usually well marked ; a fever of varying degree ; and a noticeable immunity from future attacks.

Etiology.—Scarlet fever, like other diseases of its class, has ever followed in the path of commerce. It seems to have been first introduced into this country in 1735. From the coast it crept inland until all the inhabited portions of the land were affected. It is curious to note that scarlatina when introduced into a virgin soil does not seem to possess the same virulence which is displayed by measles and smallpox under similar conditions. The writers who first described the disease in the United States regarded it as a mild affection. In this country, as in all other portions of the civilized world, scarlet fever has now become endemic in the large cities ; from these as foci from time to time epidemics arise.

Symptoms.—It is a very difficult matter to give a comprehensive yet succinct account of the symptoms of a disease which presents so variable a course as scarlatina.

The Ordinary Form.—As a rule, in the period of incubation there are no symptoms or they are so slight as to pass unnoticed. Sometimes, however, slight malaise is complained of if the patient be old enough to give expression to his sensations, and if the temperature be taken a slight evening rise may be detected. The stage of invasion is ushered in abruptly, so that commonly the exact time of the beginning of illness can be stated. In a large proportion of cases chilly sensations are experienced in the commencement of an attack, and in some a decided rigor. In young children it may happen that a convulsion is the first symptom of illness. The temperature rises rapidly, and in a few hours'attains a considerable degree. It may reach 102°,' 103°, 104° F., or even higher. The increased temperature is accompanied by those symptoms which usually mark fever from any cause, such as headache, loss of appetite, flushing of the face, sparkling eyes, and thirst. Coincident with the elevation of the temperature there is an increase in the rapidity of the pulse, and it is a thing to be noted that the pulse rate in scarlet fever is out of proportion to the height of the fever.

Vomiting is one of the most important of the early symptoms of scarlet fever.

The diet of the person suffering from scarlet fever should be light, but nutritious. Milk forms the ideal food in a large proportion of the cases.

For a child three years of age the iodide of potassium may be given

One of the chief symptoms which the physician is called upon to combat is fever. As long as the temperature remains below 10."5° F., it does not constitute a dangerous condition unless it be unduly prolonged.
For the reduction of temperature the use of drugs is not, as a rule, to be so highly recommended as the abstraction of heat by means of the application to the body of cold. Quinine is a drug which has some antipyretic action, and used in reasonable doses it also acts as a tonic.

Coffee Cake

Below are various recipes for Coffee cakes from the 19th Century.

Coffee Cake.—Two cups of flour, one cup of sugar, one cup of fruit, half a cup of molasses, half a cup of butter, half a cup of cold coffee, two eggs, one tea-spoonful each of "mace, cloves, and soda, one table-spoonful of cinnamon. A nice fruit cake may be made by adding more fruit.
Source: Household Hints ©1881

COFFEE CAKE. One cup of sugar, 1 cup of butter, 1 cup of molasses, 1 egg, well mixed together; then add 1 cup of warm coffee, with 1 teaspoonful of soda, 4 cups of flour, 1 lb. of raisins or currants, 1 tablespoonful, each, of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Source: The Creole Cookery Book ©1885

Coffee Cake (for either Breakfast or Tea).
Three cups of light sponge of bread dough before flour is added for the first molding, one cup sugar, one cup of half lard and half butter, one cup currants, teaspoonful soda; add a few raisins, if wished. Put it in a long cake pan to rise, when light have melted some butter and sugar, cover the top of the cake and sprinkle over it thickly ground cinnamon. Omit the raisins and currauts for ordinary use.
Source: The Home Messenger Book of Tested Receipts ©1878

Coffee Cakes.—Take some rice that has been boiled soft, twice as much flour as rice, a little fine Indian meal, and a little yeast. Mix it with cold water, and let it rise over night, this will make a very fine biscuit for breakfast.
Source: The Family Companion ©1846

The Old Fashion Parlor

What I find kind of fun about this topic is that the source is from 1881.

THE OLD-FASHIONED PARLOR.
A great deal has been said and written against the oldfashioned parlor. Indeed, people generally have come to look upon it as a failure, and to speak slightingly of the taste which rendered it possible. "Whatever may have been its defects, there is a question in the minds of some people whether the modern parlor is a great improvement upon the ancient one, and, in fact, whether there is sufficient reason for its existence.

It is true that this modern room is not kept hermetically sealed, as is alleged of the older one. There are more feast days upon which it is opened, and children are allowed to sit upon its handsome chairs, and look out into the street through its lace curtains. The furniture is arranged more artistically, still it is not a room to be happy in, and it too often absorbs into itself the best there is in the house, not only in the way of the best furniture, the easiest chairs, but also of pictures and books, leaving the living room of the family bare as a desert so far as anything refining and educating is concerned.

That this is not best a little thought will show; we who are so wonderfully made and so mysteriously influenced gain miich by having about us every-day surroundings which are elevating and suggestive. So if there is only one picture in the house which is worth looking at or studying, let it hang where it will most frequently attract the attention of the family. To the thoughtful man who wishes well to his kind, it is saddening to see people spending their money for that which is not bread.

People who think they can not afford to buy so much as a photograph or heliotype of a good picture must have their parlor "set" and cheap lace in imitation of those who can well afford to have the real thing. They illustrate the woful facility we have in copying the failings of our neighbors instead of their virtues.

This is not a plea for the utter extinction of the parlor: a tasteful reception-room, which may always be in order for guests and for any strangers whom you may not wish to introduce into your family life, is a great convenience, and in many houses almost a necessity; but, if two pleasant, inviting rooms can not be afforded, it would be vastly better to invariably make the one cheerful, comfortablyfurnished room, with the books and the good pictures, the room for the family to meet in and enjoy. The money, or a part of it, saved by not indulging in a parlor, might be spent to good advantage in buying books and objects of interest and instruction.
It is interesting to notice the value placed upon books, by many who profess loudly to wish for them, by their always putting them after everything else. Such persons would hardly appreciate Charles Lamb's going about in his threadbare, plum-colored coat that he might buy a favorite folio. Nor would they be found wondering how much Oliver Wendell Holmes owes to the fact that he "staggered against books as a baby."

Who that has ever attempted to trace back any of his own impressions to their source has not been surprised to find that deep and lasting ones have been made by something in itself very slight?

Keeping Boys & Girls Busy at Home

To Keep Boys and Girls at Home.—An excellent and welltried recipe for keeping boys and girls out of mischief in the long winter evenings is to give them something suitable and interesting to do. Set them to making scrap-books. If there are two or three children, let each one take a subject, and see what and how much he can collect upon that for his book. For example, we have what we call an "Animal Scrap-Book," in which is pasted every fact, incident, and anecdote we can find relating to animals. We have a dog department, a horse department, etc. It is a valuable book for purposes of illustration or reference.

Burlap Mats.—A handsome and inexpensive mat for the floor may be made of burlap worked in cross-stitch with different-colored worsteds. Use for it the odds and ends left from other fancy work. Work a few stitches of one color and then of another, just as the colors happen to come, and the effect is like that of a Persian pattern. Jf one cares to spend so much time on it, a center-piece and border add much to the beauty of it. The mat may be lined with a piece of carpet, or with matting or new ticking, and the edge finished with worsted fringe or with flannel cut in scallops.

Something Warm for Supper.—When cold weather comes on it is pleasant to have something warm for supper; and there are many things so easy to get that a tired woman will not object to preparing them. Oyster and clam soup come first; then baked potatoes, with milk gravy; warmed potatoes ; fried or broiled potatoes; milk toast; canned salmon, heated in the can before opening; this is an advantage, as the oil will readily drain off, and the pieces of fish keep their shape better.
Table Covers.—Simple and tasteful table covers for bedrooms may be made of pale blue Canton flannel, trimmed with antique lace, or with velvet ribbon feather-stitched on, and finished with fringe made of blue split zephyr or Shetland wool. Table covers made of blocks of cretonne are very handsome. If two or three persons wish to make them, they can buy the materials to better advantage. Let each one get several kinds of cretonne, a quarter of a yard of each kind; then they can arrange to have each block different. Stitch the blocks on to a lining made of unbleached cotton or of colored cambric. Then, where the blocks are joined, sew on narrow braid, which can be bought at any furniture store, or use narrow black velvet, worked in fancy stitches, or common black dress braid, featherstitched with canary-colored silk. When cutting out the blocks, if a little care is exercised in placing the pattern on the cloth, strips will be left with a suitable figure which can be sewed together to make a lambrequin. Have the strips about five inches wide. One thing should be thought of when beginning to do fancy work, and that is, if you have not time to do it well, do not undertake it; it can not be slighted or hurried over without entirely spoiling the effect. In making the spread, unless the blocks are exactly square, and the edges. not stretched, your spread will not hang well on the table.

Pretty and Simple Ornaments.—A pretty decoration for the corner of a room is a bunch of ripe wheat tied with a bright ribbon ; or divide the wheat across the stems, tie, and hang over a picture. The beauty of common things is now fully established; cat's-tails, sunflowers, and dandelions are at length appreciated. Acorns may also be used to good advantage for trimming fancy baskets for waste paper; take a piece of wire and fasten around the stems, and you can arrange them in any way to suit yourself. They are pretty bronzed, or may be used in the state of nature, as they were picked up in the woods. To bronze them, get a little bronze powder at a drug store, mix it with varnish, and apply with a soft cloth. The powder must be used very quickly after mixing with the varnish, or that will harden so that it will be impossible to use it.

Socks known as Stockings during the 19th Century

Have you ever wondered how folks took care of their socks during the 19th century? Well, even if you haven't below you will find some information from 1881.

Taking Care of Stockings.—Before the children's stockings begin to be thin at the knees and to need darning, put a piece of cloth under and sew with fine stitches, so that they will not show. Soft flannel, or pieces of old stockings which are strong enough to be worth using, are better than any heavier cloth. By taking the trouble to do this, the stockings may be made to last twice as long as without it.

Putting Away Stockings.—When putting away summer stockings, see that they are clean and whole. It is a great comfort to find them ready for use in the spring. Have a calico or cambric bag to hold the stockings of each member of the family. Label each one, in order to save time, and not be obliged to look into each to find the ones you wish to use. In summer, keep the winter stockings in them.

To Preserve Old Stockings.—Pale-blue stockings which have faded can have the color restored by dipping them into hot water in which common bluing has been jiourcd, and some lumps of alum dissolved. Old white stockings can be colored in this way, and do a good deal of service.

CATARACT OF THE EYE

Below is the information about the treatment for Cataracts from 1871.

CATARACT OF THE EYE.
This disease is the result of inflammation attacking the crystalline lens, seated behind the pupil of the eye, for the purpose of refracting the rays of light. The transparent membrane which covers the lens, when inflamed becomes opaque, so that the rays of light cannot pass through it; and vision is gradually lessened until it is finally destroyed or obstructed.
Patients suffering from cataract, when they look at a candle burning, see the flame surrounded by a halo, or luminous circle; and they also see objects best in twilight, because the pupil is then more dilated, and the rays of light enter at the edges of the lens, where the opacity is thinnest.

The disease is easily recognised by looking into the eye, and observing the white or flaky appearance of the crystalline lens behind the pupil.

To cure this disease, the lens must be removed out of the axis of vision, and this operation can be performed in three different ways.

By extraction, making an incision in the pupil, and removing the lens out of the eye.
Secondly, by couching, introducing a curved needle through the white of the eye behind the pupil, and pressing the lens down below the pupil.

Thirdly, by breaking up, introducing an instrument through the pupil, tearing the opaque covering of the lens, and thus exposing the lens to the action of the aqueous humours of the eye, by which it becomes dissolved or absorbed.

The first operation, or extraction, if fortunate, and not followed by inflammation, gives a perfect cure; but it is more hazardous than the others.

The second operation, or couching, is much safer, and is easily performed; but it is not always perfect, because the lens, having been depressed, may rise again, and obstruct vision.
The third, or breaking up, is tardy in its results, for time is required to dissolve the lens, after the capsule is torn, and therefore I never adopted it; but many modern operators prefer it.