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Sunday 16 December 2018

Confused and Distressed?

'Women have great reason to be thankful for their ignorance on some topics.   Our heads are not confused and distressed with the mists and mazes of politics; with a few painful exceptions, we are blessedly unaware that the country will be shipwrecked and the world overturned if B. is elected and C. is not; we do not have to contend at elections; we know that the country has gone on and the Government endured though B. was made an MP and C was not.'   Home Notes, 1894.


In Norway, some time ago, the women supporters of the Temperance movement asked the authorities to forbid the employment of women and girls in public-houses.   The petition has been granted, and now no alehouse-keeper can employ any other woman than is wife to help him in his business.  What a good thing it would be if this most excellent example were followed here.   I know nothing more pitiful or more derogatory to the dignity of womanhood than to see a girl behind a bar over which dissolute half-drunken men are lounging, and indulging in coarse conversation.   Home Notes, March 1894.


A woman's desire to look nice is a right and natural instinct, and even amongst criminals it is said to be very strong.
A prison wardress, in telling of her charges, relates that the hardest punishment of all to the majority of women is being obliged to wear the coarse, ugly, prison garb.  Even the most hardened female convicts never quite lose the desire to look nice.   Home Notes, March 1894.



Busy women are invariably the happiest.   It is in the idle women that we find hysteria, depression, melancholy, and morbid feeling of all sorts arise.   Those who are not obliged to earn a living, and have not much work to do in the house, should take up a hobby, and occupy themselves steadily in one way or another.
Outdoor exercise for at least two hours daily should be taken.  Teaching poor children, making clothes for the poor, visits of charity, and visiting the sick are occupations in which all may feel that they are doing good.
Every woman should make a point of taking lessons in cookery, for the talent of cooking does much to promote happiness in life, as well as economy, should she have to set up housekeeping on her own account.   Home Notes, 1894


Coloured stockings are pretty, but not always harmless, as the Archduchess Maria Immaculata, widow of Archduke Charles Salvator, has lately discovered to her cost.  A slight scratch on her right foot was poisoned by the dye from her stocking, and she had to undergo a very painful operation in consequence.    Home Notes, 1894


Drunkeness is such a terrible affliction both to the drunkard and to all his family, that anything which tends to prevent it must be welcomed.   The feeling of craving for a drink may be obviated by making a decoction of half an ounce of ground quassia bark in a pint of vinegar.
A teaspoonful of this may be drunk in a little water every time the drink craving comes on.   Home Notes, April, 1894


BEWARE   OF   BUTTONED   BOOTS
Why do women who haven't got pretty feet, and who know they haven't, wear the boots that make their feet look their very worst?   A woman with big, shapeless feet, or crooked feet, can afford to wear but one kind of boot - a laced one, and never a low shoe under any circumstances.  Home Notes, 1894




This is boy, my younger son's cat.   Don't worry, he wasn't confused or distressed, merely grumpy.


I could be posting about the mincemeat which I made, the mince pies I baked, sousing the Christmas Cake with alcohol, or decorating the house and making it jolly for the season, for I have done all of that, but what I am most enjoying at the moment, is reading my battered copy of Home Notes, 1894.   

I hope you enjoy what is left of the weekend.
x   








20 comments:

  1. My grandmother was born in 1898, four years after the Notes were written. She died in late 1999, nearly 101. What changes in attitude during her lifetime. Women have come such a long way and opinions of their place in society have for the most part changed dramatically, thank goodness. Let me wear coloured stockings whenever and wherever I choose!

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    1. Hello Catherine, Relatively recent times, and yet so very different. Social history is fascinating, and these tatty old books and magazines give such fascinating glimpses. Some articles make me smile, others show how things really do go in a full circle.
      Sounds like you have some good strong family genes!

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  2. I'm so pleased about the first paragraph as I am quite happy to be ignorant about politics at the moment!
    But I don't want to wear laced boots!
    I should be working my way through a list of jobs rather than fiddling on the blog = better get started

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    1. Hello Sue, You seem to keep busy and do such interesting things, I am constantly being surprised by how much you fit in. On those days when it is not so easy to get motivated I try the old carrot and stick approach. I bargain with myself - an hour of work, three hours off for good behaviour!

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  3. I must admit i love laced boots still , but they are usually Dr Martens ..lol

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    1. Hello Kate, Laced boots are great. I have a couple of pairs, not nearly so stylish as Dr Martens, but they comfortably encase my big, shapeless, crooked feet - otherwise known as flippers!

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  4. I often wonder how the 'well to do' ladies of the past filled their time when all that was available to them day after day was a little water colour painting, singing, reading, astroll in the garden or playing the piano - although I would love time to do any of these I do enjoy keeping house and cooking. It is no wonder they often went to stay with other people and wrote novels like the Brontes or Jane Austen - it was probably to relieve the boredom of not having much to do.
    It seems like a very absorbing book.

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    1. We certainly seem to have more choice and opportunities. Just looking at the fashions illustrated in this particular book, I reckon they must have spent quite a chunk of each day in simply getting, or being, dressed. Such beautiful, intricate, detailed outfits with lots of tiny buttons. Give me some jeans and a warm jumper, especially in this wild weather!

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  5. Tying laces was always a problem for me, all that bending didn't augur well and I hated being forced by teachers to 'tie your shoes, girl'. I was glad when slip-on shoes became fashionable....lolol.

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    1. Hello Valerie, I know what you mean! I spend a lot of time wearing Wellington boots around this place; it feels quite strange to wear shoes these days - though I will have to wear some tomorrow, when I go to the local pub for my free OAP Christmas Dinner!

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  6. I should say-- Home Notes, indeed! Of the things that I did learn from my Grandpa's Antique store, was his love for books. He bequeathed over 2,000 books to me, and most are published in the 1800's. While researching sometimes, I start reading, and the book overtakes the research for a day or two, until I have finished the story. I am not a disciplined researcher... lol. Thanks for sharing your Home Notes... I am quite sure I would be overtaken by this book too!

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    1. Hello wyomingheart, Two thousand books! What a marvellous gift to leave you! I guess your Grandpa knew who would most appreciate them. Are you researching anything in particular, or shouldn't I ask?

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    2. I research the value, along with the rarity of the edition. Many are first edition American, which means they usually are originally published in England, and then published for the first time in the US. There are many editions which I don't care about the value, as I would not consider selling them. Those are editions which were owned by my family from many generations ago. I have traced my family back to Lancaster England to the 1700's, and know they were stone mason's and worked on structures that are still standing, so the thought of not having their books is out of the question. I do sell some copies, but it's only after reading and researching the value. I guess booking is just one of my many hobbies...lol.

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  7. That is one grumpy face. I wake up to it most every morning.

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    1. Hello Joanne, He really does get quite a grump on him if I forget to take a cat treat for him! Enjoy your holiday.

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  8. For all its woes, I'm glad we're living in 2018 and not 1894. And I love love that pussy cat expression. Brilliant photo xxx

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    1. Hello Molly, Absolutely agree! He is a beautiful, slightly grumpy, cat. He adores my son and his wife but regards me as only fit to take him some treats. Without them, I am nothing!

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  9. Now I know why I am happy - always busy - never enough hours in the day, week or month. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Hello Susan, I hope you are beginning to feel a bit (a lot) better now after your accident. I'm sure you have your own methods for dealing with bruising, but I always use Arnica gel, it really does work wonders.

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  10. Had me a little worried for a moment till I saw the dates on the notes. Got to disagre with the female convict one becase the photos I saw of them in Reading Prison they made no effort at all

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Lovely to hear from you.
I will try to answer comments in the next post.