Art & the Victorian Cottage Garden

written by Rosa Morgan

Salutations, Gentle Reader, Spring's Vernal Equinox has arrived and it presents the ideal time to stroll through a few choice gardens captured forever by talented Victorian painters. Enjoy!

Charles Hunt's painting, Behind the Hollyhocks depicts the flower's tall stems and multiple blooms as an essential addition to the cottage garden. Thomas Jefferson cultivated a dark red one at his plantation, Monticello.

Charles Courtney Curran delightfully captured this young woman in his painting Blue Delphiniums. The flowers are also known as Larkspur because their spur is the shape of a lark's hind toe.

What a treat this little girl is enjoying in Rose Mary Barton's watercolor, Grandpa's Garden. 

Charles Walbourn's father initially disapproved of him leading the life of an artist. Thankfully he persevered and painted many landscapes including The Country Garden.

 You can practically smell the flowers in the French painter, James Jacques Joseph Tissot's painting, The Garden Bench.

 

     

Isabella Beeton's Book of Household Management

What moved me, in the first instance, to attempt a work like this, was the discomfort and suffering which I had seen brought upon men and women by household mismanagement. I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife's badly-cooked dinners and untidy ways. I will present a few tips from my book to ease the burden of today's busy homemaker.

 

Silk handkerchiefs require to be washed alone. When they contain snuff, they should be soaked in lukewarm water two or three hours, rinsed, soaked in cold water for an hour, soaped in lukewarm water and rinsed in salted water.








 After items are mangled, they should also be ironed in the folds and gathers; dinner napkins smoothed over, also tablecloths, pillowcases and sometimes sheets. The bands of flannel petticoats and shoulder straps to flannel waistcoats must also undergo the same process.



 


Brick ovens are generally considered the best adapted for baking bread: these should be heated with wood faggots, and then swept and mopped out to cleanse them for the reception of the bread.



 

Cold water, a clean scrubbing brush and a willing arm are all that are required to make bedroom floors look white.

 










After having lighted the kitchen fire, carefully brush the range, and clean the hearth, proceed to prepare for breakfast. Thoroughly rinse the kettle, and, fill it with fresh water, put it on the fire to boil. Then go to the breakfast-room or parlour, and there make all things ready for the breakfast of the family.




Gentle Readers, of course it is most desirable to direct these instructions to your housemaid rather than you do them yourself. However if circumstance makes it necessary for you to follow them then I hope you will rise to the occasion with a smile on your face.

Victorian Invalid

written by: Rosa Morgan

Illness can waylay you in the most inopportune times.
For the fairer sex it may be an attack of the vapors.

Upon which time aromatic spirits of ammonia or smelling salts can be duly utilized. Distilled from shavings of deer horns and hooves and scented with lavender oil or eucalyptus, it is a most effective method of bringing someone around.

If however a more serious sickness prevails then it is imperative to retire to your bed. Here with curtains draped around the bed to keep out the draft you can begin to recuperate.

This does not entail a family gathering or prolonged visits as this will only serve to tax the invalid's reserve.

Beecham's Pills containing ginger and aloe are well worth a guinea a box.

And if the invalid's constitution is very poor then it behooves the caretaker to  purchase a pretty feeding cup that makes meal time oh so more convenient.

When the patient begins to regain their strength then amusement in small quantities is vital.

And if the weather is temperate, then do take them outdoors for fresh air in this very stylish vehicle.

 




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Lenore & Archibald's First Christmas Tree

written by Rosa Morgan


Lenore stood on the underground train as it rattled it's way to Paddington station. It was one of those dreary London mornings shrouded in fog when all the men in her cabin displayed not a shred of chivalry and continued to read their newspapers rather than offer her a seat.

Shrugging away the insult, she took the opportunity to peruse their papers and to her delight came upon the latest edition of the Illustrated London News. There on its cover was the royal family gathered round their live Christmas tree. She had heard that several years before the German Prince Albert had introduced the tradition to his wife, Queen Victoria, and she had embraced the custom each year at Windsor Castle. If only Archibald would agree, Lenore was certain it would be a glorious sight to behold in her bay window.

 And so that night when they were enjoying much frivolity at 
the parson's house, Archibald playfully led Lenore directly under the mistletoe. Though she longed to kiss his warm lips, she giggled and squirmed like a schoolgirl, saying she would bestow him a kiss on one condition: if they could procure an evergreen. Archibald laughed merrily, readily agreeing, for he had already thought of buying one as a surprise for her.

With the very next day having seen several feet of snowfall, Archibald arranged a sleigh ride into the countryside and to their mutual delight they found their tree.

 Their Tannenbaum was not an eight foot fir like the royals enjoyed, but rather a tiny spruce. However when it was alight with tapers and tinsel and homemade paper chains encircled its branches, it became the perfect tree.

Wishing You Good Tidings this Season!