Arctic Expeditions

While searching a bit further on the 1852 Winter I came across this list of expeditions to the Artic. I was personally surprised to find the list dated back to 1848. It lists Ships, Captains, and deaths as well as how many days in Melville Bay.

Arctic Expeditions (from the Times, December 29, 1874).—"The following is a list of ships, comprising Government and Private Expeditions, British and Foreign, which have been on exploring service within the Arctic Circle since the Franklin Expedition sailed. It will be seen that the crews of all these vessels have returned in safety to their respective countries, with only such loss of life as might well have occurred had the men stayed at home :—
1. 1848 to 1849—H.m.'b ship Enterprise, Sir J. C. Ross. One winter, 26 days in Melville Bay.
2. 1848 to 1849.—H.M.'s ship Investigator, Captain Bird. One winter, 25 days in Melville Bay. Seven deaths (one officer) on board the Enterprise and Investigator.
3. 1849 to 1850.—H.M.'s ship North Star, Mr. Saunders. One winter, 57 days in Melville Bay. Four deaths.
4. 1849.—H.M.'s ship Plover, Captains Moore and Maguirc. Three winters. Three deaths.
6. 1850.—H.M's ship Enterprise, Captain Collinson. Three winters. Three deaths.
6. 1850.—H.M.'s ship Investigator, Captain M'Clure. Four winters. Six deaths (one officer).
7. 1850.—H.M.'s ship Resolute, Captain Austin. One winter, 45 days in Melville Bay. One death (accident).
8. 1850.—H.M.'s ship Assistance, Captain Ommanney. One winter, 45 days in Melville Bay. No death.
9. 1850.—H.M.'s ship Pioneer, Lieutenant Osborn. One winter. No death.
10. 1850.—H.M.'s «hip Intrepid, Lieutenant Cator. One winter. No death.
11. 1850.—Brig Lady Franklin, Captain Penny. One winter. No death.
12. 1850.—Brig Sophia, Captain Stewart. One winter. No death.
13. 1850.—Schooner Prince Albert, Captain Forsyth. Summer Cruise.
14. I860.—Schooner Felix, Sir John Ross and Captain Phillips. One winter. No death.
15. 1850.—Advance (American), Lieutenant Griffith. One winter drifting.
16. 1850.—Rescue (American), Lieutenant Dehaven. One winter drifting.
17. 1851.—Schooner Prince Albert, Mr. Kennedy. One winter. No death.
18. 1852.—H.M.'s ship Assistance, Sir E. Belcher. Two winters, 38 days in Melville Bay. No death.
19. 1852.—H.M.'s ship Resolute, Captain Kellett. Two winters, 38 days in Melville Bay. Six deaths.
20. 1852.—H.M.'s ship Pioneer, Commander OBborn. Two winters. No deaths.
21. 1852.—H.M.'s ship Intrepid, Lieutenant M'Clintock. Two winters. No death.
22. 1852.—H.M.'s ship North Star, Mr. Pullen. Two winters. 38 days in Melville Bay. Three deaths.
23. 1852.—Steamer Isabel, Captain Inglefield. No detention in Melville Bay; summer cruise.
24. 1853.—H.M's ship Phoenix, Captain Inglefield. Nine days in Melville Bay; summer cruise.
25. 1854.—H.M.'s ship Phojnix, Captain Inglefield. Took the pack—30 days; summer cruise.
26. 1854.—H.M.'s ship Talbot, Captain Jenkins. Summer cruise.
27. 1853.—Advance (American brig). Dr. Kane. Two winters. Took the pack—10 days.
28. 1857.—Steamer Fox, Captain M'Clintock. Two winters; first winter in pack, second season through in nine days. Three died.
29. 1850.—Schooner United States, Dr. Hayes. One winter, two days in Melville Bay. One death (accident).
30. 1871.—Steamer Poluris, Captain Hall. Twowinters; no detention in Melville Bay. One death.
31. 1873.—Steamer Juniata, Lieutenant Merriman. No detention in Melville Bay ; summer cruise.
32. 1873.—Steamer Tigress, Captain Green. Summer cruise.

1873 Depression

I don't know about you but when I hear the word Depression, I think of the Great depression of the 1929. But the 19th century wasn't without it own share of economic depression. A while back I wrote a post about the Panic of 1873

In google books I came across a periodical called "Commercial and Financial Chronicle, Vol. 17" There is an article written there about the two possible causes for the panic. Click Here to read the prevailing thoughts of the day regarding the cause of the 1873 Panic and Depression.

Etiquette & Manners

Etiquette & Manners is something often discussed on some of my of the writer loops I belong to as they pertain to the 19th century. Through Google books I've found a great source of books regarding such topics. Below is a list ordered by the year they were published. I've gathered this resource list over the past two years from Google Books. Hope it helps you in your search for proper behavior in the time period of your setting.

1832 Domestic Manners of the Americans
1835 Pencil Sketches
1837 The Young Lady's Friend
1839 Miss Leslie's Behavior Book
1842 Elegant Extracts
1843 Etiquette or, A Guide to The Usages of Society with a Glance at Bad Habits
1854 Etiquette Social Ethics and the Curtiousy of Society
1854 The Behavior Book
1860 The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manners
1860 The Hand Book of Etiquette
1866 Marine's Sensible Letter Writer
1868 Manners or Happy Homes
1870 Good Manners a Manual of Ediquette
1872 The Ladie's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness
1873 The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness
1884 Don't: A Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties More or Less
1888 Manners
1889 American Etiquette and Rules of Politeness
1889 Perfect Etiquette or How to Behave in social...
1892 Etiquette An Answer to the Riddle, When? Where? How?
1896 Social Etiquette or Manners and Customs of Polite Society
1897 Manners for Men
1897 Practical Letter Writing
1899 Twenty Letters in Letter Writing and Business

English Sparrows

I stumbled upon this little tidbit while reading a history of Essex, MA.

In 1873 English sparrows began to make their presence known here about this year--probably the progeny of those imported into Boston. It was believed that they would benefit agriculturists by destroying ravaging insects, but they did not fulfill expectations, and were soon declared worthless.

In 1889 "The English Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in North America" was published. According to their research the English Sparrow was brought to America via Brooklyn, NY. Eight pairs. They were released into the wilds in the Spring of 1851. Several trips to England were made for these birds and during the last delivery some escaped in Boston. Ten years later (1868) the English Sparrow was seen regularly in the Boston Commons.

Rosemary

Recently I watched a television program concerning improving health for the over 40. One item really stood out to me and that was the herb Rosemary. Apparently it helps improve memory. So I decided to do a quick search about the use of Rosemary in the 19th century. There are many poems written that mentioned rosemary. Here are a couple of my finds.

Below is an excerpt from The Antiquary. Vol. 3 pg. 209 ©1873
Rosemary was also considered influential in making love,* was worn at weddings, and sometimes hung before the doors of houses as a charm against the plague and evil spirits, and used as a token of remembrance. Many of our poets allude to this herb in their works.


Below is a lengthy excerpt but there are many key points, this comes from The House and farm accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Vol. 46 Pg 943 ©1858


Rosemary. (Rosmarinum Coronarium.) Ger. describes and figures this, the golden rosemary, named coronal because women have been accustomed to make crowns and garlands thereof; the Ros sylvestre or wild, and the poet's rosemary or garderobe; so named because the people of Grenada, Montpellier, and Valencia use it in their presses and wardrobes. Rosemary groweth in France, Spain, and other hot countries; there is such plenty in Langucdoc that the inhabitants burn scarcely any other fuel; they make hedges of it in the gardens of Italy and England. Wild rosemary groweth in Lancashire in divers places, especially in a field called Little Reede, amongst the hurtleherries, near unto a small village called Maudsley [in the parish of Croston, eight miles south-west from Chorley] there found by a learned gentleman, often remembered in our history, and that worthily, Master Thomas Hesketh. Rosemary is spice in the German kitchens and other cold countries. The flowers made up into plates with sugar, after the manner of sugar-roset, and eaten, comforteth the heart, &c. The people of Marchia use to put it into their drink, the sooner to make their clients drunk; and also into chests and presses among clothes, to preserve them from moths or other vermin. (Ger.) It is not properly called rosemary, but ros marinus, as it were dew of the sea, for commonly it growith in places by the sea side. The floure of rosemaryis called anthos, and of it an electuary is named dianthos. The herb is called libramondos, or dendrolibanos;some call it liantis, others ycterycon, and others lerim. When rosemary is found in recipes, it is the floure, and if ye find libramondos or dendrolibanos, it is the leaves. (Grete Herball, 1516, which gives recipes ofrosemary for the heart, weakness of brain, throat as a gargarism, stomach, &c.) The oil, essence, or quintessence of rosemary is not much used in medicine, but very much by perfumers, to aromatise their liquors, wash-balls, &c. Some esteem it very greatly for the cure of wounds, as a specific balsam, which has given occasion to some strollers and mountebanks to make it a mighty commodity, when what they sell for it is nothing but oil of turpentine and pitch melted together and coloured with orcanet [alkanet]. The next merchandise we sell that comes from rosemary is " the Queen of Hungary's water," which has made such noise in the world for many years together, and is pretended to be a secret delivered by a hermit to a certain queen of Hungary. The great virtues of this water must be owing to the spirit of wine and rosemary flowers, from which two things only it is made ; but there are a thousand cheats imposed upon the world by those who pretend to have the true recipe; and these people generally spoil this medicine by making it of the worst materials and in coarse vessels. You have it described at large, and the best methods of preparing it, by Mr. Verni, master apothecary of Montpellier, in his " Pharmacopeia, or treatise of Distilled Waters," p. 829; and by Mr. Charas, in his " Chymical Pharmacopeia," p. 632. [Recipes for Hungary or rosemary water abound in the old books. Mark,gives one and says that a bath of this decoction is called the Bath of Life ; it maketh a woman look young, and hath all the virtues of balm, cleansing away the spots of the face and comforting the heart. Rosemary enters largely into some of his recipes for "aqua composita." Price makes Hungary water of rosemary flowers and spirit of sack. C. C. Die. uses 4 lb. of the former, and 3 quarts of well rectified wine, for " the Queen of Hungary's water."] We likewise sell the dried flowers, seed, and salt of rosemary ; we have likewise a liquid conserve of the flowers; besides which they bring us from Languedoc and Provence, oil of spike, which is made of the flowers of rosemary and the small leaves of a plant — the spike, male lavender, or bastard nard. This oil of spike or rosemary is proper for painters, farriers, and others, besides its use in physic. (Pomet.) The plant was considered a symbol of remembrance, and was so used at weddings and funerals. Shakspere uses it repeatedly. In Hamlet poor Ophelia says, " There's rosemary; that's for remembrance." In the Winter's Tale,rosemary and rue are beautifully put together, rue for grace, and rosemary for remembrance. Rosemary was stuck around the coffin of the dead, not only from its fragrance and funereal character, but perhaps also for some antiseptic qualities it was supposed to possess. So in Rom. and Jul. : —
Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary
On this fair corse.
At weddings, it was usual to dip the rosemary in the cup and drink to the health of the new married couple. Sometimes it garnished meats, as in a play of Beaumont and Fletcher, " a good piece of beef stuck with rosemary." The custom of carrying it at funerals is noticed as late as the time of Gray in his " Pastoral Dirge." In an old play, direction is given that the mourners have

A sprig of rosemary, dipp'd in common water,
To smell at as they walk along the street.
 Instances of the popular favour of this " herb of remembrance," might be greatly multiplied. (See Nares, Brand, &c.) In the Accounts, in Decemher 1608 at Islington, some rosemary was bought for 1 1/2 d. In November 1617, amongst spices and confectionary bought of Mr. Thomas Lever, confectioner, London, was one lb. rosemary comfits, 18d.

Storing Oranges

I ran across this tidbit while reading Harriet Beecher Stowe's Palmetto Leaves ©1873

She was visiting Col Hart's orange grove and discovered that they packed the oranges picked four months prior(she was visiting in May) in Spanish Moss. She said they were as delicious and fresh as ones just picked.

Palmetto Leaves by Harriet Beecher Stowe

We all know of Harriet Beacher Stowe from her work of Uncle Tom's Cabin but in 1873 she released another book Palmetto Leaves writing about life in North Florida. It's a great work, I haven't read all of the entries but enough to know she has a real flare for the people and the times she's writing about. I loved having this resource when I was working on my St. Augustine Series. Winning the Captain's Heart, The Innkeeper's Wife and The Shepherd's Betrothed.

Here's a link to Google Books to download or read online. Enjoy!

Barbed Wire

For all of you who write or just plain old love those cowboy stories, barbed wire goes hand in hand. Below you'll find an excerpt from the 1910 Encyclopedia Britannica on the history and subject of barbed wire. Henry Rose exhitits barbed wire at the Illinois County Fair on in May of 1873. Joseph Gidden "the inventor"(not really but he's given the title by some sources) invented the machine to mass produce barbed.

BARBED WIRE, a protective variety of fencing, consisting usually of several strands of wire twisted together with sharp spikes or points clinched or fastened into the strands.

In the United States, barbed wire for fencing was originally suggested to meet conditions existing in the western states, by reason of the large cattle-raising industry in sections where timber was scarce. Prior to its introduction, a No. 9 round or oval iron wire was popular on the frontier of the United States and in South America, as a fencing material. Large amounts were used annually for this purpose, but iron lacked strength, and single wire strand was not fully satisfactory on account of stretching in warm and contracting in cold weather, and of thus being broken. Cattle would rub against a smooth fence, and this constant pressure loosened the posts and broke the wire. To overcome this defect, ingenious people—the most successful being farmers—set themselves to find a way by which wire could be used and at the same time be free from destruction by the animals it was intended to confine. This investigation resulted in the invention of barbed wire. Soon after, automatic machinery was invented for rapidly and cheaply placing the barb upon the smooth wire, so that the cost of barbed wire is much less than the cost of smooth wire when it was in general use. So immediately did barbed wire find favour with the farmers of the United States, and, in fact, all over the world, that the manufacture of wire was revolutionized.

The history of barbed wire fencing is of recent date. In the United States—the real home of this industry—patents were taken out by Lucien B. Smith, Kent, Ohio, in 1867; by William B. Hunt, of Scott, N.Y., at almost the same time; and by Michael Kelly, of New York, a year later. The practical beginning of the industry, however, was in the patents issued to Joseph F. Glidden, De Kalb, 111., 1874, on barbed fence wire, and during the same year, to Joseph F. Glidden and Phineas W. Vaughan, for a machine to manufacture the same. These inventions were the foundation of the system of patents under which barbed wire has been protected and sold. The development of the barbed wire industry would hardly have been possible without steel. Iron wire, used for fencing prior to the introduction of steel, was not suitable, seeing that iron does not possess sufficient tensile strength and lacks homogeneity, qualities which Bessemer and open-hearth steels possess in a high degree.

The advantages of galvanized barbed wire fencing are that it is almost imperishable; is no burden on the posts; does not oppose the wind with enough surface to rack the posts, thus allowing water to settle around them and rot them; is economical, not only in the comparative cheapness of its first cost but also in the amount of land covered by it; and is effective as a barrier against all kinds of stock and a protection against dogs and wild beasts. Cattle, once discovering what it is, will not press against it, nor even go near it, and thus it becomes an effective means of dividing the farmer's ranch into such fields as he may desire. It is quickly and cheaply constructed, and has the advantage of freedom from harbouring weeds. It affords no impediment to the view. A man can see across his farm, and ascertain what is going on in every portion within the scope of vision, as plainly as if there were no fences. It does not contribute to the formation of snow drifts as do other kinds of efficient fence. This makes it a favourite form of fencing for railroads and along highways. Finally, barbed wire composed of two wires twisted together, once firmly put in place, will retain its taut condition through many seasons without repair. The fact of the wire being twisted allows it to adapt itself to all the varying temperatures.

The introduction of barbed wire met with some opposition in America on supposed humanitarian grounds, but ample and extended tests, both of the economy and the humanity of the new material, silenced this objection. Now no American farmer, especially in the west, ever thinks of putting any other kind of fencing on his farm, unless it may be the new types of meshed wire field fencing which have been coming so generally into use since 1899. Generally speaking, the use of barbed wire fencing in other countries has not been as extensive as in the western United States. While it has been used on a comparatively large scale in Argentina and Australia, both these countries use a much larger quantity of plain wire fence, and in Argentina there is an important consumption of high-carbon oval fence wire of great strength, which apparently forms the only kind of fence that meets the conditions in a satisfactory manner.

It is interesting to note the largely increased demand for meshed wire field fencing in the more thickly settled portions of the United States, and along the lines of railway. Beginning with 1899, there has been an annual increase in this demand, owing to the scarcity and high cost of labour, and the discontinuing of the building of rail fences. _ Meshed wire is considered by many a better enclosure for small animals, like sheep and hogs, than the barbed wire fence. Barbed wire has been popular with railroads, but of late meshed wire fencing has been substituted with advantage, the fabric being made of wires of larger diameter than formerly, to insure greater stability. The popularity of barbed wire is best shown by the following statistics:—

Barbed wire is usually shipped to customers on wooden spools, each holding approximately 100 lb or 80 to 100 rods. A hole is provided through the centre of the spool for inserting a bar, on which the reel can revolve for unwinding the wire as it is put up. After the wire is stretched in place, it is attached to the wooden posts by means of galvanized steel wire staples, ordinarily made from No. 9 wire. They are cut with a sharp, long, diagonal point and can be easily driven into the posts. On account of the rapid decay and destruction of wooden posts, steel posts have become popular, as also have reinforced concrete posts, which add materially to the durability of the fence. It is essential that barbed wire should be stretched with great care. For this purpose a suitable barbed wire stretcher is necessary.

Barbed wire fencing is now manufactured in various patterns. The general process may be outlined briefly as follows:—The wire is made of soft Bessemer or Siemens-Martin steel, and is drawn in the wire mill in the usual way. Galvanizing is done by a continuous process. The coil of wire to be galvanized is placed on a reel. The first end of the wire is led longitudinally through an annealing medium—either red-hot lead or heated fire-brick tubes—of sufficient length to soften the wire. From the annealing furnace, the wire is fed longitudinally through a bath of muriatic acid, which removes the scale, and from the acid, after a thorough washing in water, the wire passes through a bath of spelter, heated slightly above the melting point. After coming from the spelter and being cooled by water, the wire is wound on suitable take-up blocks into finished coils. From 30 to 60 wires are passing simultaneously in parallel lines through this continuous galvanizing apparatus, thus insuring a large output. The galvanizing gives the wirt a bright finish and serves to protect it from the corrosive action of the atmosphere. There is a considerable demand for painted fencing, in the manufacture of which the galvanizing is dispensed with, and the spools of finished barbed wire, as they come from the barbing machine, are submerged in paint and dried. The barbing and twisting together of the two longitudinal strand wires is done by automatic machinery. A brief description of the manufacture of 2 and 4 point Glidden wire is as follows:—Two coils of wire on reels are placed behind the machine, designed to form the main or strand wires of the fence. One of the main wires passes through the machine longitudinally. One or two coils of wire are placed on reels at either side of the machine for making 2 or 4 point wire respectively. These wires are fed into the machine at right angles to the strand wire. At each movement of the feeding mechanism, when fabricating 2 point wire, one cross wire is fed forward. A diagonal cut forms a sharp point on the first end. The wire is again fed forward and instantly wrapped firmly around one strand wire and cut off so as to leave a sharp point on the incoming wire as before, while the bit of pointed wire cut off remains as a double-pointed steel barb attached firmly to the strand wire. This wire armed with barbs at regular intervals passes on through a guide, where it is met by a second strand wire—a plain wire without barbs. The duplex strand wires are attached to a take-up reel, which is caused to revolve and take up the finished barbed wire simultaneously and in unison with the barbing machine. In this way the strand wires are loosely twisted into a 2-ply strand, armed with barbs projecting at right angles in every direction.

When once started, the operation of barbed wire making is continuous and rapid. The advantage of two strands is the automatic adjustment to changes of temperature. When heat expands the strands, the twist simply loosens without causing a sag, and when cold contracts them, the twist tightens, all without materially altering the relative lengths of the combined wires. A barbed wire machine produces from 2000 to 3000 lb of wire per day of ten hours.

In some American states, the use of barbed wire is regulated by law, but as a rule these laws apply to placing barbed wire on highways. Others prohibit the use of barbed wire fencing to indicate the property line between different owners, unless both agree to its use. In some states the use of barbed wire is prohibited unless it has a top rail of lumber.

Barbed wire is also employed in connexion with " obstacles " in field fortifications, especially in what are known as " high wire entanglements." Pointed stakes or " pickets," 4 ft. high, are planted in rows and secured by ordinary wire to holdfasts or pegs in the ground. Each picket is connected to all around it, top and bottom, by lengths of barbed wire.

In England, where the use of barbed wire has also become common, the Barbed Wire Act 1893 enacted that, where there is on any land adjoining a highway within the county or district of a local authority, a fence which is made with barbed wire (i.e. any wire with spikes or jagged projections), or in which barbed wire has been placed, and where such barbed wire may probably be injurious to persons or animals lawfully using the highway, the local authority may require the occupier of the land to abate the nuisance by serving notice in writing upon him. If the occupier fails to do so within the specified time, the local authority may apply to a court of summary jurisdiction, and such court, if satisfied that the barbed wire is a nuisance, may by summary order direct the occupier to abate it, and on his failure to comply with the order within a reasonable time, the local authority may execute it and recover in a summary manner from the occupier the expenses incurred.

Hot Air Balloons

The 19th century saw many hot air balloons. They were invented in the last quarter of the 19th century in France but they were becoming more common and ventured into America during the 19th century. HOwever, the first manned flight in America actually took place in 1793 and George Washington was in attendance.

In 1838 John Wise invented a ripping panel which solved the problem of the balloon being dragged along the ground once landed. This panel is still in use today.

Thaddeus Lowe a professor from New Jersey built his second balloon, Enterprise in 1858. It was in this balloon that the first telegraph message was sent in 1861.

Around the World in 80 days was written by Jules Verne in 1873 then into English in 1875.

Wikipedia 19th century Aviation has a great list of events in aviation during the 19th century.

Language of Flowers Part 3

To continue with this topic I'm including a couple of links. These links and books greatly expand the list I've given you the past two days from Houghtaling's Handbook. Below are five books representing the tip of the iceberg in Google books relating to this topic.

In 1832 Louise Cortambert wrote "The Language of Flowers" Google books full copy of the text

In 1848 Frederic Shoberl wrote "The LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS WITH ILLUSTRATIVE POETRY; TO WHICH ARE NOW ADDED THE CALENDAR OF FLOWERS AND THE DIAL OF FLOWERS. EIGHTH AMERICAN, FROM THE TENTH LONDON EDITION. REVISED BY THE EDITOR OF " FORGET ME NOT. ..." Google books has a complete copy of this book online. This book gives more than a list of what a flower means but also gives some of the background information as to why the flower means thus and so.

In 1863 Henrietta Dumont published a book "The Language of Flowers: The floral offering: a token of affection and esteem; comprising the Language and Poetry of Flowers." Google books has a full copy of this text.

In 1874 Miss Ildrewe composed "The Language of Flowers" and in her book she also expands with the use of flowers in poetry. Google books link The author also breaks down the flowers in order of seasons.

In 1884 Kate Greenaway illustrated and Edmund Evans printed in color "Language of Flowers" It's a quite expansive list encompassing 60 pages then breaks from the listing to poetry. Again you can find a complete copy of this book at Google Books This book is no longer free.

Web sites with lists:
Victorian Bazaar

Language of Flowers

Enjoy!

3 cent piece

Yes, you read that correctly back in 1851 a three cent piece was minted. Postage rates had gone down from 5 cents to 3 cents giving people the ability to have a single coin to make small purchases with. The coin was smaller than our current dime and was minted from 1851 - 1873. They were made of silver but also included with cooper so folks wouldn't melt them down for their silver value.

There were two different three cent pieces. The three piece silver and the three cent nickel. The later was produced during the Civil War to help stop the hoarding of silver coins. The nickel was produced from 1865-1889.

You can read more about this at Wikipedia

A three cent piece became the discussion of politicians again in 1911 but that isn't our century of focus.

You can also do a search at Google books and come up with several references of three cent pieces. Along with the "Laws of the United States relating to loans, paper money, banking, and coinage, 1790 - 1895. In there you'll find the percentage of metals to use to produce the coin.

St. Nicholas A Monthly Magazine for Boys & Girls

St. Nicholas: a monthly magazine for boys and girls, edited by Mary Mapes Dodge was a children's illustrated magazine from 1873 to 1924. The magazine was edited by Mary Mayes Dodge the author of Hans Brinker of The Silver Skates. Mary's editorial policy was:
To give clean, genuine fun to children of all ages.
To give them examples of the finest types of boyhood and girlhood.
To inspire them with an appreciation of fine pictorial art.
To cultivate the imagination in profitable directions.
To foster a love of country, home, nature, truth, beauty, and sincerity.
To prepare boys and girls for life as it is.
To stimulate their ambitions--but along normally progressive lines.
To keep pace with a fast-moving world in all its activities.
To give reading matter which every parent may pass to his children unhesitatingly

You can read more about this magazine at: Link

Some of the authors who contributed regularly to this magazine were:
Louise May Alcott
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Emily Dickinson
J. Frank Dobie
Rudyard Kipling
Sidney Lanier
Robert Louis Stevenson
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Mark Twain
Kate Douglas Wiggin

Blue Jeans

Yup you guessed it, blue jeans came from the 19th century. The first pair to roll off the tailor's patent came in 1873. Jacob Davis, a Nevada tailor, partnered with Levi Strauss. Levi was trained in Germany and in 1853 left New York for San Francisco. He sold dry goods, tents, linens, etc. to the 49ers who had come for the California Gold Rush.

The original jeans were called "waist overalls" and were made from duck canvas (brown) and heavy blue denim fabric. The duck fabric never caught on but the blue jeans did. The company is still going strong.

Blessed Assurance

Enjoy the Lord's Day with this classic hymn from Fanny Crosby written in 1873.

1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

2. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
(Refrain)

3. Perfect submission, all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love.
(Refrain)

A Lady's Chance of Marrying

From Houghtalings Handbook ©1887

Every woman has some chance of marry, it may be one to fifty, or it may be ten to one that she will. Representing her entire chance at one hundred at certain points of her progress in time it is found to be in the following ratio:
Between the ages of 15 and 20 years . . . . 14 1/2 per cent.
Between the ages of 20 and 25 years . . . . 52 per cent.
Between the ages of 25 and 30 years . . . . 18 per cent.
Between the ages of 30 and 35 years . . . . 15 1/2 per cent.
Between the ages of 35 and 40 years . . . . 3 3/4 per cent.
Between the ages of 40 and 45 years . . . . 2 1/2 per cent.
Between the ages of 45 and 50 years . . . . 3/8 of 1 per cent.
Between the ages of 50 and 56 years . . . . 1/4 of 1 per cent.

After sixty is is one-tenth of one per cent. or one chance in a thousand. A pretty slender figure--but FIGURES are often SLENDER at that age.

End of quote from Houghtalings.

I don't know about you but I had to chuckle at this list and the author's comment at the end. I have no idea if such a lists exists today of the same statistics but it is interesting to note that there isn't a list for men in this little handbook.

Upon further research I found earlier stats that gives both men & women, listed below.

The Ladies Repository ©1873
Hymeneal Statistics.—This subject is always interesting, and marriage statistics are curious as well as instructive. In England, this class of statistics are "got up" with official accuracy. From the "Register-General of England," it appears that a lady's chance of getting married is at its maximum between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. Before twenty, her chances are but one-fifth, and from twenty to twenty-five one-third, of that maximum chance. Men marry later than women, and yet a great majority of marriages are agreed upon while both parties are under twenty-five. Men contract marriages to a later period than women; out of 27,483 single persons who were married in 1848, there was only one spinster above sixty years old, while there were twelve bachelors. A widower selects a more steady age than a bachelor ; while a widow prefers that her " second husband " shall be younger than herself

End of quote from Ladies Repository

Panic of 1873

Also referred to as the beginning of the Long Depression.

Many things helped to set the stage for this issue:
The over expansion of the Northern Pacific Railroad
Black Friday panic of 1869
Chicago Fire 1871
Equine Influenza in 1872
The US government going to a gold standard (no longer using silver and gold)
And last but not least the crash of the Vienna Stock Exchange

Here's an account from the strike of 1877 how the panic of 1873 affected salaries.
"The wages paid the men were on the average as follows: Freight conductors before the panic of 1873, per day, $2.14; in 1877, $1.71. Freight brakemen before the panic of 1873, $2.05 to $1.80; in 1877, $1.42 to $1.15. Switchmen before the panic of 1873, $1.90 per day; in 1877, $1.46. Freight firemen before the panic in 1873, $2.55 to $2.05 per day; in 1877, $1.90 to $1.32. Switchmen, $60 per month before the panic in 1873, and $40 to $45 per month in 1877. Yard engineers before the panic in 1873, $2.90 per day and $2.02 in 1877. Yard firemen $1.50 before the panic in 1873, and $1.20 in 1877. On some of the roads there were higher wages, but such roads were exceptions." From the Life of Walter Gresham ©1919

Here's a tiny bit regarding real estate during the Panic of 1873
"Cross-Examination of Robert W. Hyman by Col. Cooper, on behalf of James and Elizabeth G. Couch.

Q. Mr. Hyman, the truth about the matter was, as to outside real estate here, from 1874 or '5' aDout the time of the panic of 1873, there was practically a panic in real estate, wasn't there—outside real estate, so far as making any sales was concerned?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. The panic did not begin to affect real estate until some time after 1873, did it?

A. Yes, sir, it affected it as early as the spring of 1874. I think the panic was in September, 1873.

Q. What was this property worth, say in the fall of 1873, tne 371 acres in section 19, in Cicero?

A. I should judge it was worth eight or nine hundred dollars an acre before the panic of 1873." Taken from Supreme Court Transcript Oct. Term 1889

In another account from the "History of the United States from the compromise of 1850 to The Final Restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877" ©1920
"The course of the panic emphasizes the truth of my statement at the outset that its prime cause was the excessive railroad building — the putting into roadbed, rails and equipment a large part of the circulating capital of the country and all the money that could be borrowed abroad. But other influences may have served to hasten this panic of 1873, which according to the cyclic theory came four years before it was due. One of these was the waste and impoverishment contingent upon the prosecution of the Civil War;4 another, the immense destruction of property by the great fires of Chicago and Boston."

Authors Comments: It is not unlike what we're experiencing today with the current status of our economy, over spending, over lending and panic...imho it sounds like the ingredients for a recession and at the very worse a depression.

Mark Twain

One of the famous authors from the 19th century and also continued work in the 20th was Mark Twain. Below is a list of the novels/books he published during the 19th century. Many of these books can be downloaded at various internet sites, my favorite is Gutenburg's.

The Innocents Abroad 1869
Curious Republic of Gondour 1870
A Burlesque Autobiography 1871
Roughing It 1872
The Gilded Age 1873
Sketches New and Old 1875
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876
Carnival of Crime in CT 1877
A Tramp Abroad 1880
1601 1880
The Prince and the Pauper 1881
The Stolen White Elephant 1882
Life on the Mississippi 1883
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1885
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 1889
The American Claimant 1892
Tom Sawyer Abroad 1894
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson 1894
Tom Sawyer, Detective 1896
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc Vol 1 1896
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc Vol 2 1896
How to Tell a Story and Others 1897
Following the Equator 1897

Swine

From the Student's Reference Handbook by Charles Belden Beach © 1893

Swine are among the most important of food animals. For the wild boars from which swine are probably descended, see Boar. The word boar is now used of the male hog ; the female is termed sow—the young are called pigs, and when half-grown, shoats. A sow has two litters a year of from eight to twelve pigs each, or even more ; and it has been caculated that in ten generations the descendants of a single sow would number over 6,000,000. Pork is held to be unwholesome in warm countries, and the ancient Egyptians, as also the Jews and Mohammedans, did not use it. The wild hog is a clean animal, and the tame hog's bad habits are largely due to the way in which it is kept.

The Neapolitan hog is the finest of the Italian breeds; it is black, with a short snout, and upright ears. The Berkshire English swine are both black and white, and make fine bacon and hams. One of the most valuable of English breeds is the Essex, a black hog, which is easily fattened, and at 12 to 18 months furnishes from 250 to 400 pounds of dressed meat. Suffolk swine, though small, put on a large amount of fat for the food they eat. Chinese swine are easily fattened, but are chiefly used to cross with English breeds. Pork-

Eacking is one of the great branches of usiness in the United States. Its leading centers are Chicago, Cincinnati and Kansas City, in the order named. In 1890 the packing establishments put on the market 3,04'/,651,000 pounds of hog product, not counting hogs killed by farmers for their own use, or sold by them in towns and cities. This output was nearly three times that of 1873.

Gold

Below is a picture taken from page 30 of Houghtaling's Handbook. It's the high and low of the value of gold for each month over a sixteen year period. Since many write historical novels during that time period I thought it might be of value to some of you.

Here's the link to an enlarged image of the page. Link

1873 Men's Fashions