1885 Dish patterns

Below are some images from The Art of Interchange ©1885 with various designs on the newest service wares.
The first image is for an After Dinner coffee cup

After Dinner Coffee Cup and Saucer Japanese Design

Plate Design

Japanese Sugar Bowl

Teacup and Saucer

Oyster Plate with Depression in the middle

Another Oyster Plate

And yet another Oyster Plate Design

Piano & Table Scarfs

Below is a description of the various types of scarfs for use on the piano or table. Various colors and fabrics are noted for specific locations.

THE PIANO AND TABLE SCARF.
The scarf, as its name indicates, is a long and comparatively narrow covering or adornment, that has grown in favor and almost entirely superseded the ordinary covers formerly in use. There is no rule as to their width, or length, or manner of adominga piece of furniture; some are laid across the width of the table, some down the length, with ends hanging: some are used diagonally. They are made variously of silk, cotton, and linen momie, of plush, velvet, felt, satin, pongee, and in fact of any textile of good color, weave and substance. Painting in oil, water-color, dyes, iridescent colors, and colored bronzes, silver and gold; embroidery, appliques in velvet, leather, satin, beads, plush and metals; drawn work, lace, and ribbon work are among the forms of scarf decoration.
For ordinary wear in bed-chambers and sitting-rooms, washable fabrics are mostly in use for table-scarf making, and for use in summer rooms, whether parlor, drawing-room or chamber. A great variety of embroidery stitches may be seen on one scarf, take. for example, a cream white linen exhibited by the Decorative Art Society. On the soft ground is embroidered in button-hole stitch in linen floss, a border of bold arabesques outlined in Kensington stitch in dark blue working cotton with very pleasant effect. Basket stitches of various kinds. lace stitches, feather, coral. and herringbone in linen floss figure in this border. On either side is a band of herringbone in linen floss, between lines of blue stitching. The finish of this lovely scarf is a deep antique lace enlivened by dark blue filling-in in various stitches. A second scarf is composed of a cream tinted linen on which is embroidered an all-over design of boldly outlined poppies. worked in dark blue cottons outlined by linen flosses, the foliage putlined and partially filled in, as the flowers are, in soft olive-greens. A deep, ravelled fringe, with a knotted heading, is the finish of this pretty garniture. Kensington crepe forms the ground of a third small table scarf on which are embroidered, in colored silks, outline disks irregularly grouped, some enclosed geometric ornament, others a spray of blossoms. A very handsome scarf also shown is composed of Italian toweljng, showing abird's-eye figure and a border charmingly conventionalised from the blue corn flower, which is shown worked in dark blues. the foliage and scrolls in olives. A handsome scarf in linen momie is effectively bordered by appliques from the washable “dimity cretonne," a new fabric showing very bold designs and soft colorings. Madras, in anotherinstance, is made to do duty very effectively by being laid over another material as a border. the flowers being worked to the ground by outline stitch in colored silks; in this case the web of the Madras is almost invisible, and the effect is like that of needle work and painting. Old-gold and pale blue narrow ribbons, run through drawn work at the ends of finer linen scrym, make a dainty scarf for a small polished table.
Piano scarfs for summer cottages may be charmingly made of dyed Bolton sheeting, which has a heavy body and soft surface, rendering it suitable for the purpose. On a width of dull blue Bolton sheeting may be applied a broad band of deep cream tinted velvet, couched to the sheeting by a heavy blue silk cord. A pomegranate conventional design is shown on the soft surface done in triple coaching of heavy blue and red silks with a slender gold cord. The finish of this scarf is composed of a deep fringe of heavy blue silk, with occasional threads of gold. This scarf is to hang across the top of a cottage piano and show the velvet border and fringe at the front of the iano. For the ordinary iano the scarf is laid engthwise and must have oth ends finished. For a grand piano the scarf is often thrown across the front part of the body, that is to say, behind the music rack. A band of velvet, embroidered
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with some bars of song music in gold is a pretty decoration, applied to scarf of gray linen. Tassels and fringes are employed on these scarfs in ways to suit individual taste.
The richer table and piano scarfs employ all sorts of beautiful silken fabrics. Gold couching and appliques seem to be the leading favorites in decoration. They have this in their favor, so much is accomplished by comparatively little labor and the results are often exquisite. One of the most effective scarfs shown is composed of the deepest shade of 01d~gold silk Turcoman. On a broad band of deep old-gold velvet are scattered irregular groups of disks in golden bronze plush, on these are painted in cream white and gold great whitemagnolia blossoms. the large leaves in tawny browns and golds. The bottom of this scarf is simply finished by a very deep fringe of the ravelled Turcoman with a few gold threads twisted in effectively. A second scarf for a piano is somewhat similar, being composed of sagegreen silk Turcoman bordered by deep bands of sage velvet, on which are painted in bronzy browns and golds bold groups of autumnal oak leaves. Kensington painting decorates with fine effect a scarf of peacock-blue velvet. The design, conventional in character, shows a border with irregu‘ar network enclosing nasturtium-like flowers in orange, red-olive and silver-green bronzes. A handsome border of half diamond figures in red and olive bronzes encloses the main design on either side. A deep edging of Cluny lace painted in colored bronzes finishes this sumptuous scarf, lined with soft peach-blossom pink Chinese silk. A very striking table scarf is composed of silvergreen plush, showing a deep border of ivorywhite satin darned in heavy gold silk, throwing up an outlined design of flowers and leaves in gold couching. Another piano scarf for an upright piano, or suitable for a table, is composed of pale purple silk momie The decoration is formed by a broad band of white linen momie, the ground of which is darned all over with a sort of honeycomb stitch in pale crimson. Thrown up on the white momie is a beautifully arranged pomegranate design in gold and red outline and partially filled in with button-hole and basket stitches. The finishing fringe is composed of the raveliings of the purple momie and the pale, silver-green lining silk.
Perhaps one of the most unique scarfs is one composed of a lovely salmon colored domestic silk, on which is thrown up a bold horse-chestnut design in pink. The worker utilising this pink design for a border has outlined it in gold couching, and filled in portions of the great nut~forms with solid darning in deep, dull pinks and olivegreens. The ravelled pink and salmon silk makes a charming finish. Wheeled disks, rayed disks and solid disks in gold thread form the striking ornament of a deep garnet scarf in felt We must not omit lastly to mention a very delicate scarf of the palest peach-bloom plush lined with peach colored silk. Across the ends are applied Oriental arabesques in silver thread, pale lavender, green and pink silks. The fringe, composed of pale pink saddlers’ silk, is enlivened by silver threads, the whole forming a lovely piece of decoration for a drawing-room table.
Source: The Art of Interchange ©1885

Egg Collecting

Here's an interesting hobby you're historical characters might participate in. Or they might be on the opposite side that felt egg collecting was wrong, taking away future generations of the birds. The article below is about the process of collecting and storing the eggs. But I did find several articles that did not favor the art.

Collecting Eggs.—In connection with a collection of nests, each nest holding its own lawful and original contents, a good collection of birds' eggs possesses much interest and beauty.
In collecting and preserving eggs, the most difficult feature of all is to remove the embryos successfully. In the days when I diligently collected eggs in many lands, it seemed to me that out of every dozen eggs I gathered, about thirteen contained from one to two embryos each 1 But there are ways in which this difficulty can be successfully overcome.
The full set of eggs laid by a bird for one brood is called a "clutch," and in collecting it is of scientific importance that whole sets should be collected and always kept separate, and the number of eggs in each set taken should be recorded.
Eggs are always blown through a small, round hole in the middle of one side, preferably in each instance on the poorest side of the egg, if it has one. Of course, the smaller the egg, the smaller the drill must be, and the greater the care in handling. It is often a good plan to pierce the shell with a needle in order to furnish the drill a point of attack. If an egg is cracked, or happens to be of such value that it must be saved at all hazards, reinforce it by pasting narrow strips of goldbeater's skin or court-plaster across the line of fracture.
Having drilled the hole, insert the end of a small wire, having a small portion of the end bent at a right angle, and if the embryo has not begun to develop, or happens to bo quite small and soft, twirl the wire rapidly between your thumb and finger, to thoroughly break up the contents of the egg. Having accomplished this, insert the tip of your blow-pipe (the best in the world consists of a tube of glass bent at a right angle and terminating in a fine point, with the large end set in the end of a rubber bulb, which saves the mouth and lungs all trouble) and with gentle and gradual pressure blow in air. Hold the egg with the hole downward, of course, so that the contents will run out freely. Go slowly and carefully, even coaxingly, for too great pressure will burst any ordinary egg in two parts very neatly. If the embryo is small and disposed to be accommodating, help it out by inserting the point of your smallest scissors, snipping it to pieces, and then drawing out the parts, one by one, with your smallest forceps.
Having emptied the egg of its contents, introduce some clear •water by way of the blow-pipe, wash out the inside thoroughly, and in case the egg is in a clean, healthy condition, it can now be laid away on cotton or corn-meal, with the hole downward, to drain and get dry. Observe this point, however. The thin, membranous lining of an egg, which the point of the drill pierces but cannot cut away, often closes together inside.the hole so closely as to retain, for some time, whatever water might chance to remain. For this reason it was my custom to cut away this membrane around the edges of the hole. Captain Bendire remarks that "eggs that have been thoroughly cleaned will retain their original color much better, and insects or mice are not so apt to trouble them."
Eemoving Lahge Embryos.—It often happens that eggs are taken quite near the hatching point, containing embryos so lusty in size, and so "very fillin'" that their successful ejectment seems impossible. Nil desperandum. The way out of the difficulty is through a very small hole. On this point I appealed to the highest authority, Captain Bendire, and he kindty gave me, in general substance, the following directions:
In the first place, make up your mind to go slow, and take plenty of time. If the egg is valuable and the embryo is large, reinforce the egg all over with strips of gold-beater's skin or court-plaster. Having drilled a fairly large hole, then insert the head of a needle in a small stick for a handle, and with the point pierce the embryo in twenty or thirty places. The egg sac, which is always present, should be taken out, if possible with the forceps, to give room for water.
Having cleared out the egg as far as possible, fill it up with water to assist in the decomposition of the embryo. Cover the bottom of a box with a layer of cornnleal or saw-dust; lay the egg on this, with the hole upward (still full of water), cover the box, and place it under a stove or in any other place warm enough to hasten the process of decomposition. Work at the egg a little about every alternate day, but without hurrying matters, and keep this process in operation until the embryo softens, falls to pieces, and is ready to be drawn out piecemeal. In removing a large embryo, try to get hold of the tip of the mandible with the small forceps, so that it can be drawn out, point foremost, without splitting the shell.
Eggs that emit an offensive odor after they have been blown need to bo rinsed out with carbolic acid and water, or some equally good disinfectant.
It is, of course, to be understood that eggs must be clean on the outside before they are fit for the cabinet. Usually soap and warm water is sufficient to remove dirt and stains, but occasionally a particularly hard case calls for the addition of a little washing soda in the water. The last washing, however, should always bo iu clour water.
Inasmuch as a label cannot bo attached to an egg, the data necessary to give the egg a respectable position in the oological world must be written on the under side of the egg itself, either in lead pencil or India ink, which is capable of being erased at will.
The following are the data that should be recorded on every egg collected and kept:
1. Name of species, or number in A. O. U. check list, if North American.
2. Collector's number, which belongs to every egg of a given set, and refers to his catalogue and field notes.
3. Number of eggs in the set, or "clutch."
4. Date in full.
In packing eggs for shipment, a great many small boxes of wood or tin are absolutely essential, and in these the eggs must be carefully packed in cotton, each one separated from the rest of the world by a layer of cotton. It is an excellent plan to wrap every large egg separately in cotton, as oranges ore wrapped in papers. Captain Bendire recommends the making of divisions, one for each egg, with strips of pasteboard, like the crates in which egg producers pack eggs for shipment to market. This gives each egg a compartment by itself, with a bit of soft cotton cloth at top and bottom. If produce dealers can afford to take such care of eggs worth only thirty cents per dozen, surely oologists can do the same when they are within the pale of civilization, and can get the materials.
At the National Museum the duplicate eggs are stored in small, rectangular, shallow pasteboard trays, or half boxes, each of which has its bottom covered very neatly and exactly with a section of cotton wadding, which gives a soft, springy cushion for the eggs to lie on without the undesirable fluffy looseness of ordinary cotton batting.
Source: Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting ©1897

Barbecue

It's that time of year down here in Florida when we fire up the grill as often as possible. Georgia made Barbecues popular and the excerpt below comes from The Strand Magazine ©1898 at the end of the 19th century when Barbecues had traveled the country and large groups gathered to enjoy the feasts. After the pictures is an excerpt from Current Opinion ©1895 that gives a great description of a Georgian Barbecue.

Barbecues.
By John R. Watkins.
O one who has had the good fortune to attend a barbecue will ever forget it. The smell of it all, the meat slowly roasting to a delicious brown over smoking fires, the hungry and happy crowds waiting in patience until the spits are turned for the last time, and the clatter of thousands of dishes as they are set upon the long tables before the hungry multitude—all this lingers in the memory, and makes one long to see a '"cue" again.
For " "cue " is what they call it in Georgia, where it has been famous for many, many years. England has'its roast beef and plumpudding dinners, Rhode Island its clambakes, Boston its pork and beans, but Georgia has its barbecue which beats them all.
And the article continues Here

However there are some great pictures of these barbecues in the magazine which I'm posting below:
Georgia Barbecue

New York Barbecue

Just as the Creole Kitchen represents the living of the Southern coast country, so the Georgia Barbecue gives an insight into a true open-air Southern feast. Whoever first thought of a barbecue, and why it should be strictly Southern, is not on record. It is just as easy to make a pit, fill it with coals, and roast meat over it in New Hampshire as it is in this State, and yet barbecues are associated exclusively with the life of the South. Perhaps it was the art of Southern cooking that established their fame and made it noted as one of the royalest of feasts. The inner Georgia man longs for the barbecue. About the first of June you will hear the male folks around the dry-goods boxes in Southern towns expressing their longing for the barbecued meat, with the longing for gore of the giant in Hop o' My Thumb, and the result is that a feast of this kind is quickly planned to be held on the farm of one of the hungry parties. The barbecue is in the Exposition grounds, on the left side of the entrance, in a shady nook with a spring near by—for no barbecue is complete without this rock-incased living stream of water. Neither is it perfect without the long tables rudely made of boards beneath the trees. The Georgia Colonel who has charge of this feast is a famous cook; he is from Wilkes County, Ga., the place where barbecues first originated, and has inherited his talents from past generations. The process of barbecuing sounds barbarous, and it is one of the relics of barbarity that it will take a long time for Georgians to cultivate a dislike for.
The night before the roast, Col. Calloway had his men make a fire of pine bark in the pit. This fire is kept up all night, and in the morning the earth is red hot, through and through, for several feet. In another pit another fire is kept constantly burning, so as to replenish the roasting pit with hot coals. The carcasses are speared through by hickory limbs, and laid across the fire, to be turned from time to time until done. Some barbecue authorities baste the meat as it cooks, but Col. Calloway's method is to cook the meat without basting, and then lay it, when done and cut, into great dishes of gravy made of butter and highly seasoned with pepper, salt, and vinegar. The genuine barbecue begins at 12 o'clock, and, though you may not be hungry, you begin to be so when you sniff the savory odors from afar. There is something indescribably delicious about meat cooked in this way, and delicious, too, are the other things that go with it. There is a succulent stew made of corn, tomatoes, ochra, onions, carrots, green peppers, and meat boiled to shreds, which forms an important part in the barbecue menu; and another stew is made of the tongues, heads, and feet of pigs whose carcasses have been roasted. This is good, but very rich, and likely to make one see the dreams that little boys see the night after Christmas. The strangers gather in crowds to watch the roasting over the pit, and they seem to enjoy the life about it quite as much as the culinary part, for the genuine little negro of the Topsy type, the country cracker with his weary, forlorn wife, his swarm of children, and their yellow dog, can be found here in their natural state.

1866 Fashions Part 2

It's Historical Fashion Wednesday and were continuing with 1866 emphasizing women's outfits.

Fried Chicken

In our town we have something called cheap chicken Mondays. In other words, Fried chicken goes on sale on Mondays and a whole fried chicken is a bargain. Paul and I rarely take advantage of this but yesterday we did. Thus the reason behind today's post. I'm also working on the proposal for my third St. Augustine series and will probably be putting one of these recipes together for the story.

Enjoy these various recipes
FRIED CHICKEN.
Wash and cut up a young chicken, wipe it dry, season with salt and pepper, dredge it with flour, or dip each piece in beaten egg and then in cracker crumbs. Have in a frying pan, one ounce each of butter and sweet lard, made boiling hot. Lay in the chicken and fry brown on both sides. Take up, drain them, and set aside in a covered dish. Stir into the gravy left, if not too much, a large tablespoonful of flour, make it smooth, add a cup of cream or milk, season with salt and pepper, boil up and pour over the chicken. Some like chopped parsley added to the gravy. Serve hot.
If the chicken is old, put into a stew pan with a little water, and simmer gently till tender; season with salt and pepper, dip in flour or cracker crumb and egg, and fry as above. Use the broth the chicken was cooked in to make the gravy instead of the cream or milk, or use an equal quantity of both.
Source: The White House Cook Book ©1889

This next recipe comes from Whitehead's Family Cook Book ©1891 and gives more than just the recipe. It opens the section with information that no hotel should be without fried chicken and a chicken less hotel remains closed. Here's the recipe:
But the houses that make reputation out of the excellence of their fried chicken put on a touch above that, and a more expensive one for it uses up eggs, but as eggs are comparatively cheap in the chicken region they find it to their interest. The way they do is to dip the pieces of chicken in egg and then in flour, or more literally, they beat two dozen eggs enough to mix them well and pour them into a panful of cut up chicken, add salt and white pepper enough to season well, tumble the pieces about till well egged over, then drop them into a pan of flour and take them, well coated, into the kettle of hot lard or pork fat, frying only a few pieces at a time and taking them up when of a rich yellowb: own color, draining on a sieve for a minute or two and sending to table.

Fried Chicken.
Cut the chicken into small pieces, steam until tender, dip in the beaten yolk of an egg, roll in flour and fry until a nice brown, in butter and lard; season with salt and pepper to taste.
Fried Chicken.
Cut up a chicken as you would for fricassee, steam until tender, dip in beaten egg, roll in flour or crumbs and fry until nicely browned; season with salt and pepper, turn often, when done a‘d to the gravy half a cupful of cream. M. E.
Fried Chicken.
Take a young chicken, cut it up, place two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of lard in a kettle, let it get hot, add the chicken, season with pepper and salt, let it cook slowly, stirring often; when done remove the chicken, pour sufficient milk into the kettle to make a gravy with a little flour.
Source: Second Edition of the Ellis Cook Book ©1898

I love that this one calls for a short brining.
Fried Chicken.
Clean and joint, then soak in salt water for two hours. Put in frying-pan equal parts of lard and butter—in all enough to cover the chicken. Roll each piece in flour, or dip in beaten egg, then roll in cracker crumbs, and drop into the boiling fat. Fry until browned on both sides. Serve on flat platter garnished with sprigs of parsley. Pour most of the fat from the frying-pan, thicken the remainder with browned flour, and add to it a cupful of boiling water or milk; serve in gravy-boat.
Source: Good Housekeeping ©1898

Everyday Occupations

I'm often searching censuses and historical books for clues into different occupations for 19th century characters. I love reading the censuses from areas where I'm setting a book, as an example from St. Augustine, FL, for my current three book series. The census gives me a clue into what various people did in the town or city during the time frame I'm writing about.

All of that is to say I came across this little gem for those of us who write Historical Fiction it's a Boston Primer but sometimes school books can be very helpful.

Every Day Occupations ©1891

Here's an example:
Pottery.

To the ordinary potters are due the brown pans of the kitchen, our cheap tea and dinner sets, better sets of white and gold — often in several hundred pieces — and ornamental dishes of all shapes, designs, and prices. To the intelligence which directs their making must be added the genius of designers who decide the patterns, and of first-rate artists who paint the articles. So much valued is the very best ware, that royal porcelain factories were supported at Sevres near Paris, and at Dresden in Germany, whose productions were fit presents for royalty.
Costly candelabra, flower-stands, enriched with colors and gold, burned in to last for ages, figures for ornament, reduced copies of sculpture and vases, in spotless Parian of every form of beauty, are found in rich homes of taste. The poorest, too, share in the benefits from the potter's art. It has long banished the old pewter platters and wooden trenchers of our forefathers, and given us instead an abundance of cheap, clean, bright and beautiful earthenware, which, if easily broken, is as easily replaced. Worcester is the seat of English trade in the finest china or porcelain, though a great part of the raw material is brought from afar. The great bulk of our earthenware is made in New Jersey.

Easter Parade Hats Expenses of for 1896

Below is an amazing article on the costs of hats for Easter in the U.S. for 1896 Easter Parades. This report comes from the Annual Report of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture ©1897.

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS SPENT ON HATS.
There took place in Atlantic City last Sunday the most extravagant parade the resort has ever seen—the parade of the Easter hats. More hats and more expensive ones, were sold than ever before.
There are 10,000,000 women in the United States old enough and rich enough to wear Easter hats. These 10,000,000 women spent $100,000,000 upon Easter hats. This places each hat at an average of $10.
Many wore Easter hats that cost less. Miss Poverty Row bought only a bunch of violets, which she pinned on last year's frame—total cost 15 cents. Miss Upper Flat purchased a hat upon the bargain counter and got a cheap wreath plume to dress it out with—cost $1.50. And some bought no hat at allcost absolutely nothing. But Mrs. Veryrich, on the next street, whose back windows lookrd into the rear ones of Miss Poverty Row, purchased an Easter hat that cost $40, and that is where the matter evened Itself up.
Mary Ellen Lease would say: "It one women went without an Easter hat It was because some other woman had a hat that cost twice as much as it ought to." But that is another story and does not affect the enormous figures that must be thought out, when the Easter parade of last Sunday is figured.
Of the one hundred million dollars spent on hats,
Twenty-five millions went for ostrich plumes.
Five millions went on Bird of Paradise feathers.
Birds, wings and other feathers cost six millions more.
Twenty millions were spent for ribbons.
Flowers cost fifteen millions.
The straw hats themselves footed up to ten millions. The labor upon the hats is estimated at ten millions moTe. The wire that was covered with velvet and twisted into hats cost eight millions.
Incidentals, linings, trimmings, etc., came to a million.
The ostrich plumes cost one-quarter of the entire Easter outlay. The work of getting these plumes and the high price at which they can be held year after year is responsible for the expense of the Easter hat. Ostrich farming is both uncertain and expensive. The land Is held high in California and South Africa, where the birds can live, and even when once secured the ostrich is a hard bird to raise. The feathers must be plucked when exactly "ripe" or they crack after being dried and are useless as far as high prices are concerned. In the natural state they are brown or gray, and unlike the plumes of commerce, until they are dried, dyed and seasoned and curled. They bear no resemblance to the original feather beyond the featherlness which Is the charm of the Easter hat.
The ostrich plume acts as a frame to the hat, Just as the hat frames tht face, and its demand year after year shows the high esteem In which it is held by milliners and women. Birds of paradise plumes are the costliest of all decorations for the money, and "pay" so well that the ladies of France raise them for pets and sell the feathers.
The cost of the ribbon begins, like the plume, at the animal that bears it. The silk must go through all the processes of manufacture from the time it is unwound from the cocoon of the silk worm until it comes into the mill ready for the weavers.
After the silky fibre has gone through the mill and comes out ribbon, yards and yards long, it passes into the hands of thousands of pretty girls, who take it and wind it upon wooden bolts, carefully laying a strip of paper in each revolution until It is wound tight and hard—a roll of ribbon. In more modern mills, with winding machinery, they stand ready to feed the paper strips to the maichine that turns and twists the roll of ribbon, until it lies flat and hard and smooth ready for the shop counter.
The making of flowers is one of the most interesting steps in the manufacture of hats that paraded so gorgeously last Sunday. This is done in back streets by men, women and children, who take home the flowers to make. They are mostly foreigners and do the work at sweaters' prices. To get the privilege of making the flowers and to obtain enough raw material to work upon they must deposit a considerable sum of money with the flower manufacturer, which is held as a guarantee that they will bring back the materials made into sellable flowers.
The more expensive roses and the silk violets are made at long tables In the factories by all who can handle them deftly. This is work that the Chinese have long tried to get on account of their skill at handling small things. But the Greeks have outbidden the Chinese on personal grounds, and they do most of the work. Men, women and children gather around the tables, the men and children banding up the bits and the women wiring, sewing and twisting them into the wonderful flowers that bloom on my lady's hat.
The making of the hat frames is remarkable, for It is mostly done by hand. German wire twisters, with a marvelous facility for turning the wrists quickly, take the long strips of silk-covered wire and turn out a hat brim with lightning rapidity. Those who have ever seen the ladies of Berlin at work upon their wonderful beaded passementerie which the wealthiest of them make for the shops, will appreciate this almost sleight-of-hand with which German women twist the wire hats.
In good old colonial days, when imported servants were scarce and very dear, the good old puritanical dames who were beginning to get a taste for dress took care to bring over none but workers upon wire and weavers of silk and wool. And this accounts for the marvelous creations in millinery which adorned the heads of our grandaunts of a century ago.
Of the one hundred million spent for hats one million only went for "labor." This means the labor of putting the hat together. The girl who sat up late at night for six weeks before Easter poising the bird of paradise upon the side of the English walking hat, so that it would float far behind my lady's head, who heaped ribbons at the back to make her the acme of grace and style, who stood bird wings In profusion around the crown to give the hat that exquisite Parisian chic, and studied every art of color to place the ribbons and flowers so as to win approbation and dollars, got only one million, minus "incidentals," divided among thousands of her. The statistician got down to twenty cents for trimming each hat, and stopped for fear of getting it too low if he investigated further.
But a girl can trim more than one hat a day, so she is satisfied. And she works willingly to bring forth the brilliant plumage which is the pride of the Easter parade.
Horace Greeley, In one of his addresses to working men, showed that a man, if he were to make his own watch, would work a lifetime. The digging of the gold, the melting, the refining and shaping, the making of the machinery and placing of it In the frame, and finally the adjustment of the watch, each would require months of work and study. Before completing his watch he .would have to learn twenty-seven trades and occupations and go into forty-seven distinct employments to the final polishing and burnishing of the case and the making of the spring to close it. But by division of labor he "makes" his watch in much less time.
So with the Easter hat. The man off on the ostrich farm, the dyer in the factory, the ribbon weaver, the girl who winds, the flower maker and the wire twister, all work industriously, with the result that my lady came last Sunday Queen of Easter in a gorgeous production that she would not have produced herself had she worked until too bent and too old to enjoy the sun and sky.
I am informed by a member of the House of Representatives that in one of the counties in the western part of Pennsylvania a professional "bird hunter" has for some years past engaged extensively in the slaughter of bright-plumaged and other insect-eating birds. He skins and preserves the harmless creatures, and ships large consignments, several times each year, to Europe. It is believed these skins are used in the millinery trade.
Hon. Wm. M. Kennedy, of Allegheny City, President of the Board of Game Commissioners, and his colleagues, have prepared a section in the game bill which, if it becomes a law, will unquestionably put a sudden stop to this kind of wanton bird-butchery.
The Pittsburg Commercial Gazette of January 25th, 18i)7, says, in referring to the annihilation of bright-coated birds:
"The State Game Commission Is particularly interested in the protection ol song and beneficial birds. The destruction of these birds is being carried on to an alarming extent for millinery and other purposes. The absolute necessity for preserving the lives of these insect-eaters is a matter that the State Agricultural Department is giving considerable attention. Fine plumaged birds are killed irrespective of their species. Hunters send them to the East, where the feathers are used in the large millinery stores for the decoration of hats. This fact is receiving some attention from women's societies throughout the State. It Is not desired that the birds should be killed mereiy for the gratification of a fashionable whim. The birds are useful so long as they destroy the Insects that do so much harm to farm crops."
A correspondent from Elk County, Pa., writes to the Department of Agriculture, under date of April 4th, 1S97, as follows:
"Our county is well adapted to all kinds of game, as it was at one time covered with a dense growth of hemlock, and as the bark was used by our tanneries in large quantities, much waste land is the result. A new growth of a different forest vegetation is coming up, which will be very suitable as a trysting place for birds, wild animals, and fish. I also mentioned the killing of robins; they were killed by the farmers during the time of ripe cherries, and now and then by some of our latest importation of Huns and Italians, who eat them. Last year a very marked decrease in the robins was noticeable, and as yet we have but few this spring."
In one consignment recently a feather dealer In London received 6000 birds of paradise. 360,000 birds of various kinds from the East Indies, and 400,000 humming birds. In three months another dealer imported 356,398 birds from the East Indies. Some of our most desirable birds are threatened with extermination. The common quail and ruffed grouse are becoming very scarce. Wrens and bluebirds are driven from their old haunts by sparrows. Terns are slaughtered by thousands for the millinery business, and Florida is similarly despoiled of its herons, ibis, pelicans, and smaller birds. The wild pigeon has disappeared. Fashion at present is the greatest enemy of bird life, but collectors of eggs are also responsible for great destruction. Protection of birds must come through the education of the people, especially the rising generation, and by protective legislation sustained by game wardens. Thus far no state legislature has given the subject the attention it deserves and must soon demand, if the present ravages continue.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

A CRUSADE AGAINST TRAILING SKIRTS 1874

Okay for those of us who write historical fiction we tend to sit at our computers with jeans, shorts, pajamas, whatever meets our fancy at the moment. We're relaxed and we enjoy running out on errands without dressing up. One of my frustrations has been understanding how my characters enjoyed wearing some of the outfits I've seen in fashion magazines. Personally, I'm a much more casual dresser. I don't mind dressing-up for the right occasion but I'm much more comfy in my shorts and loose fitting tees.

All of that is to prelude why I wanted to share this tidbit with all of you. It's kinda nice to find someone from the past who thinks a bit like me. So much so, that they signed a statement saying so. The article comes from Arthur's Illustrated Home Magazine ©1874

A CRUSADE AGAINST TRAILING SKIRTS.
PERHAPS among all the foolish and absurd requirements of fashion there Is nothing, if we make the one single exception of tight lacing, which is so ridiculous, so disgusting and so contrary to all ideas of appropriateness and delicacy, as that of sweeping the streets with the skirt of the dross, and gathering upon it all the mud and filth with which it comes in contact. Yet many women do this because they hardly dare set themselves in opposition to
prevailing custom. They would gladly assert their independence if they really knew how to do so.
Several ladies of Vlneland, New Jersey, wishing to gauge popular sentiment in this matter, and find really how many women would prefer being sensible to being ultra-fashionable, drew up a paper to which they appended their own names, and then circulated for signatures. The paper read as follows:
"We, the undersigned, pledge ourselves to shorten the skirts of our dresses to four inches from the ground provided twenty-five ladies can be found who will sign this pledge."
Within two days the pledge had twenty-two names appended, and, no doubt,by this time, the full number required is obtained. But tho ladies, pleased with their success, do not purpose to stop at the twenty-five names. They desire to see how many women there are throughout the country who aro willing to go with them in this very mild crusade against fashion, a crusade which involves no startling change of dress, but which will allow a lady to walk the streets unnoticed save by thoso who may remark her good sense in refusing to bo a scavenger. They therefore make the request that all women throughout the country who are willing to take this slight step toward dress reform, will send their names to Mrs. E. B. Duffey, Vineland, N. J., and they shall be recorded in a book which shall bear the title "The Sensible Women of America;" and, in time, if the facts justify, a report shall be made of the number of names recorded.
These ladies expect the co-operation, In the publication and circulation of this request, of every editor in the country who has ever, in tho columns of his paper, given place to any fault-finding against, sneers at, or ridicule of trailing skirts. They look, also, for the thanks of women and the hearty approval of men.

Surgery during the 19th Century

I'm sorry this post comes late today. I was out of town for the past two day helping my parents while my dad had to have a second procedure on his thumb. He nearly cut it off several months back with his table saw. Yesterday's surgery was to try and improve the flexibility of the thumb. In the end the surgeon was pleased with the op and is hopeful. We're continuing to pray that dad will regain full use of his thumb. My dad works with his hands, even though he is retired he is quite active.

All of that is to say why I picked this topic. I found a great resource and wanted to share it with all of you. It is Illustrated Manual of Operative Surgery and Surgical Anatomy ©1864

What I love about this book is the illustrations. There are illustrations of the tools used, some of which have not changed much, others you might find very crude but it is what they had to work with at the time. They also give a brief name and description of each of the tools. Unfortunately it is a poor scanned copy of the book but it is readable. It is a good tool to give a quite overview of what you might be looking for if your character is in need of surgery. Or what kind of surgery might have been performed on your characters during the Civil War.

If your story is set before the war you might be interested in A Dictionary of Practical Surgery ©1823

Another source for much later in the 19th Century is Pye's Surgical Handicraft ©1893

And for those characters who might be delivering a baby here's a link to Obstetric Surgery ©1895

1866 Fashions

It's Historical Fashion Wednesday and today we're concentrating on 1866 and primarily male fashions.

Oddly enough these were called Riding Dresses but I believe they were for riding in a coach.

Wagon Train & Prairie Resources

Over the years I've posted several blogs regarding wagon trains and traveling west. Below is a list along with a few other items of interest for those of you writing during the 19th Century Historical West.

Westward Ho!
Westward Ho! Part 2
Westward Ho! Part 3
Westward Ho! Part 4
Westward Ho! Part 5

Conestoga Wagon One of the most common used as the Prairie Schooners.

Oregon Trail Outfits

Prairie Traveler Water

Prairie Traveler Livestock

Prairie Traveler Boots

Tabacco Alternative

Prairie Traveler Food Sustenance

Prairie Traveler Medicine

First Major Wagon Train

Pioneer Preacher

Each of the Books listed below are available for free on Google Books:
The Prairie Farmer

Prairie Traveler ©1859

Story of the Wild West and Camp-fire Chats by Buffalo Bill ©1888

Illustrated Sketches of Death Valley and Other Borax Deserts ©1892

Boy Life on the Prairie ©1899

The Romance of Conguest ©1899

ON THE STYLE OF LIVING AND EXPENSES

Yesterday I celebrated my 40th wedding anniversary with my husband and while the day was full with church activities, Paul and I managed to celebrate the day before with a delightful time in New Smyrna Beach. Which brought to mind our early days of married life to our current days.

Which brought to mind Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book suggestions for a young housewife has some advice that seems fitting. It's more about attitude than on the practical.

ON THE STYLE OF LIVING AND EXPENSES
This work is designed primarily for young and inexperienced housekeepers, and the following suggestions are presented as the advice of many judicious and experienced matrons in our country, to their young country-"women, who are to follow them in the trying duties of housekeeping.

Nothing in this country is a greater source of suffering to housekeepers, than bad taste in their style of living and expenditure. Good taste is that nice perception of fitness and propriety which leads a person to say and do whatever is suitable and appropriate in all possible circumstances. Such good taste is ordinarily the result of good feelings and well-cultivated mind, and an acquaintance with the world. Yet this correct taste is sometimes found in minds that have enjoyed but few advantages, but by nature are endowed with refilled feelings and good common sense.

Where this good taste exists, it leads a woman to wish to have her house, furniture, and style of living, in all its parts, exactly conformed to her means, and her situation. If she is not rich, she will not wish to have a house, or furniture, or dress like those who are rich, and will find a pride and pleasure in making a small house, plain furniture, simple dress, and an economical table, so neat, and orderly, and comfortable, and tasteful, as to ensure comfort and satisfaction to all around her. If she cannot command good domestics, nor live comfortably in a house, and with furniture which requires them, she will aim to alter the style of her establishment, and adopt one which can be thoroughly and successfully carried out by such domestics as she can obtain.

Where good domestics are scarce, it is a very great mistake to attempt to live in a large house. The labor of house cleaning, and window cleaning, the sweeping, the care of furniture, and many other items of labor, are much increased by enlarging the size of the house. In the country, where good help is scarce, a house on the plan of one of the cottages drawn in the Domestic Economy, with bed presses instead of chambers, will be found to be a great saving of labor, and the expense that might be incurred in building, furnishing, and taking care of chambers, can be laid out in making conveniences for carrying water, and furnishing the kitchen properly. The drawings for this purpose in the Domestic Economy will be found useful in this respect.

In cities, nothing is more pernicious to a housekeeper's health, than going up and down stairs, and a woman who has good taste and good sense, will not, for the sake af show, keep two parlors on the ground floor and her nursery above and kitchen below. One of these parlors will be taken for her nursery and bedroom, even should all her acquaintance wonder how it can be, that a wife and mother should think her health and duties of more importance than two dark parlors shut up for company.

When a woman has good sense and good taste, these are some of the things she will not do.
She will not be so anxious to obtain admission into any circle as to seek it by a conformity to its fashions, which will involve her in labor, or expenses that lessen domestic comfort, or are inappropriate to her income.
She will not be particularly anxious to know what the fashion is, in dress and furniture, nor give up any important duty or pursuit to conform to it. Nor will she be disturbed if found deficient in these particulars, nor disturb others by making apologies, or giving reasons.
She will not, while all that is in sight to visiters, or to out-door observers, is in complete order, and in expensive style, have her underclothing, her bedroom, her kitchen, and her nursery ill furnished, and all in disorder. She will not attempt to show that she is genteel, and belongs to the aristocracy, by a display of profusion, by talking as if she was indifferent to the cost of things, or by seeming ashamed to economize. These things are marks of a vulgar, unrefined person, that fancies that it is money, and not character, that makes the lady. And by persons of education and refinement, such things are always regarded as indicating a vulgar, uncultivated mind.

Let a young housekeeper, then, adopt these maxims as her guide in regulating the style of her dress, fuini tuie, table, and the size of her house.
Do not begin housekeeping in the style a which you should end it, but begin on a plain and small scale, and increase your expenditures as your experience and means are increased.
Be determined to live within your income, and in such a style that you can secure time to improve your own mind, and impart some of your own advantages to others.
Try to secure symmetry in your dress, furniture, style of living, and charities. That is, do not be profuse in one direction, and close and pinching in another.
Cultivate a taste for intellectual pleasures, home pleasures, and the pleasures of benevolence.

Have some regular plan for the employment of your time, and in this plan have chief reference to making home pleasant to your husband and children. It will save them from a thousand snares, and you from many sorrows.

An Anti-Fashion Movement

I found this editorial article interesting with regard to fashion, the fashion world and how changes were affecting the industry. The article comes from Arthur's Illustrated Home Magazine ©1874


AN ANTI-FASHION MOVEMENT.
EDITOR HOME MAGAZINE: The New York Times has given to tho world a perverted and fallacious report of tho doings of an anti-fashion convention recently held in Vineland, New Jersey. It is true there were certain persons who, having made dress reform a hobby, naturally felt themselves entitled to take a prominent part in the proceedings; and to those who were prejudiced, or who desired to ridicule rather than to think, these perhaps furnished an opportunity for sneers and fault-finding. Cut by far the larger portion of those taking part in the proceedings of the convention were earnest, intelligent men and woman, including tho very best citizens of Vineland (than whom no town has better), and who gave to it a character for sobriety and moderation far beyond that which its most ardent friends had dared in advance to hope for it, knowing as they did the discordant nnd almost unmanageable elements which were sure to compose it.
This convention has, I believe, a significance which time alone will reveal. Its platform—a broad and a sensible Otic—is the embodiment of tho spirit which is manifested among sensible people everywhere, and is even expressed in the columns of our fashion magazines. It protests against unhealthful moods of dress, and against following the extremes of a fickle and unreasoning fashion; against meretricious ornament—not against appropriate ornament in dress by any means. It suggests that the dress of both men and women should be made healthful, comfortable and appropriate to its especial use,
while it recommends perfect individual freedom in the matter of dress, and guarantees to all tho countenance of those who composed the convention in exercising this individual freedom.
I consider this a step in tho right direction, in these times of panic and enforced retrenchment. There Ib not a fashion magazine in the land which should not cooperate heartily with this attempted reform, and do all it can to so modify the fashions that they shall prove acceptable to those who have pledged themselves to a better mode of dress.
Dcmorett'g Magazine, which has always done worthy battle against the street-sweeping abominations called trains/cannot but enter heart and hand into this movement. We find in the February number an excellent article touching on somo of the very points'which have to bo considered in making a revolt against fashion, from which we make an extract:
"The reactionary current which has set in against the waste, extravagance and unhealthful methods employed in tho dress of women, under the name of fashion, will probably have the effect of assisting to call the attention of intelligent women to the facts in the case, and show them what is their own duty in tho matter. To exchange one absurdity for another, or attempt to establish a uniform style of dress, is useless and impracticable. Tastes differ, moans differ, education and habits of thought differ, and all find their expression in dress. It is true, however, that tho majority have no absolute knowledge, and therefore no fixed ideas upon the subject of dress, any more than upon other questions which belong to social science and ethics, and they accept tho assertions of others, therefore, as authority—they will do this in any case, and unless, therefore, dress critics can erect themselves into a recognized standard of dress authority, their action can amount to nothing so far as the majority of women are concerned.
"Our would-be dress educators, as a general rule, lamentably fail to recognize this cardinal principle, that now methods, new principles, new motives of action, must be, in themselves, their own excasc for being at all. That is to say, their claim to equality, or superiority, must bo so obvious as to be easily recognized."
To my mind tho namo of tho convention was a misnomer, both in its intent and in its actuality. It should have been called an "Anti-foolish-absurd-extravagantunhcalthful-immoral-fashion Convention." But such a namo would hardly have been convenient to announce upon tho hand-bills and in tho reports. As long as women wear clothes, they will of necessity follow fashions of somo sort, because every woman has not the time to study out the matter of dress in all its minutiao for herself. She will from sheer necessity borrow her patterns of a neighbor, if she does not go to a fashion book for them; so it will be a fashion after all. What wo as American women should do is to shake off the thrall of the foreign fashion inventors, and daro to make the fashions for ourselves; or, what is equivalent to it, follow the lead of those who have time, conscience and common sense to expend upon the devising of appropriate and attractive modes of dress. Then we should assume sufficient individual freedom to allow us to accept or reject a fashion according as it does or does not suit us, and have courage to retain a fashion when it seems to exactly meet a want £. B. D.
Vineland, N. J.

Friendly Counsels for Domestics

I thought this interesting tidbit in Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt book written for household staff. I could see potential conflict developing as I read down the list. All kinds of items came flooding in with regard to a historical I'm proposing soon. Perhaps, you'll find some interesting ideas to run with yourself, enjoy.

FRIENILY COUNSELS FOR DOMESTICS.
My friends, you fill a very important and respectable station. The duties committed to you by God are very apt to be considered of small account, but they are in deed most solemn and important.

On your faithfulness and kindness depends the com fort of a whole family, and on you often depends the character and happiness of a whole flock of children If you do your part faithfully in assisting the mother to carry forward her plans, she will be able to train them aright. If you fail to perform your part, she will be perplexed, discouraged, and disabled, and everything will" go wrong.
Every person finds troubles and trials in their lot, and Bo you must find them in yours. But trials are sent by God, not for evil, but for good, so that we, by patiently bearing them, and by striving to improve under them, may grow wiser and better, and thus more happy than we could be without them.

Whenever therefore, anything vexes, or troubles you, comfort yourselves by thinking that it is designed for your good, and reap at least one benefit, by bearing i with patience and cheerfulness.

In all your dealings with those who employ you, try to follow "the golden rule" and do by them as you will wish to have others do by you, when you are the mistress of a family, and hire others to help you.

Do you find that many things are uncomfortable and unpleasant in your present lot? Remember that you never can find a place in this world where everything will be just as you want it, and that it is a bad thing for you, as well as for your employers, to keep roving about from one place to another. Stay where you are, and try to make those things that trouble you more tolerable, by enduring them with patience. Do not fret and be angry at your employers when they oppose your wishes, but wait until you feel in better humor, and then tell them what troubles you, and what you wish they would alter, and in a kind and respectful way, and you will be ten times more likely to gain what you desire.

Do you think that you are found fault with too much, and that your employer is so hard to please that you wish to change for another? Perhaps you do not know how often you do things different from what she wishes, when she does not complain. Perhaps she tells you only just what she thinks she ought to do, for your good. Perhaps she does not know that she does find fault a great deal, or that her manner is an unpleasant one. Perhaps she has a great many cares and troubles that you know not of, which try her nerves, and make her feel very irritable, and thus speak hastily when she does not intend it.

Be patient with her failings, if you think you see any, just as you wish to have her bear with your faults, when they trouble her. If you find your patience failing, it may be well in some cases, to say to your employer, that you should do better, if she would find fault less, and praise you more when you do well But never say anything of this kind when you are angry yourself, or when you see that she is displeased.

Be careful, in all your dealings with children, always to speak the truth, and, never let them hear from you any filthy or wicked language. Never promise to do a thing and then break your word, for this teaches them to break promises. Never tell them frightful stories, or try to make them mind you by saying what is not true. Never help them conceal what they have done that is wrong, but try to persuade them to confess their faults.

Never take the least thing that does not belong to you, and never tempt children to give you what does not belong to them.
Never tell tales out of the family, nor tell to your em ployers the bad things you have seen, or heard in other families, for this is mean and ungenerous.

Do not spend your money for useless and expensive things, but learn to be economical and prudent, that you may be preparing to be a good housekeeper, wife, and mother, if ever you have a family of your own.

Do not form a habit of roaming about to see company, but be industrious in hours not employed for those who hire you, in mending and making your own clothes.

Take care and keep your person clean, and your hair and clothes in order, and have your chamber always neat and tidy.

Do not be rude and boisterous in manners, but always speak politely to all, especially to those who employ you.

Do not waste any of the provisions, or property of your employers, nor let it spoil by neglect, and never lend or give away anything belonging to the family without leave.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Read your Bible daily, and try to obey its teachings.

Pray to God to forgive your past sins, and to help you keep all his commands, and li /e every day so that you will not be afraid to die.