Ladies! It is your moral duty to read on...

[susie_flo]

Gentle lady readers, you may often have asked yourself "which type of lady am I - charming or earnest?" Or "why are the poor so damned extravagent with needlework?" or "Should I move to Albania?" or "Can a plain girl like me use make up in order to improve my looks?" or "What can be done to stem the out-of-control reading habits of my female staff?" To answer all of these and more, read on....

The articles below are all taken from ladies' magazines of the late 19th century, the vast majority being lifted from an especially sanctimonious New York mag by the name of Dorcas*. A little gem from the 1880s...

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* (Most of the above is edited from much longer articles... anyone wanting full text copies of Dorcas Magazine can find them on the Harvard University online digital repository. The worktable books can be found in Google Books or Gutenberg)

Comments

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

I hereby crown you Punster Supreme!

[(Anonymous)]

Ha ha! Too funny! I fear I would be frowned upon if met today by the authors of these, especially given my propensity for avidly reading "moral poison" (and deliberately too!) instead of doing the housework.

CatherineEH

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Yes the moral poison goes down a treat in my house too... shame about the dishes.

As for Lady Coventry... one can only suspect that her death by consumption was really just a suicidal bid to get away from her husband!

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

That portrait of an earnest lady sounds horribly like Margaret Thatcher.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Oh hell... maybe they were right. Being an insincere vacuum head is the only way to go...

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Priceless gems - especially the one about reading. I'm presuming that today's contaminating literature would 'take a break' and others of that ilk.

On a nephew related note - I'd love it if you could make him an Elijah, that would be splendid :-)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Yes, I especially love the way that idleness and stupidity are deemed "infinitely preferable to the habits of mind formed by imbibing such literature".

I will message you re: Elijah... (y'know, tell you his dimensions and character reference and so on)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Actually I can't msg you via LJ... so here goes:

He's quite small (about 11" tall from top of head to toe, or 8" from a sitting position). He's made from Rowan Cashsoft Baby yarn (a merino/cashmere blend) with a little scarf made from a similar cashmere/merino blend and silk thread for eyes. I would guesstimate his total cost to be about £10 (the cost of the stuffing is negligible).

Does that sound ok? There is no need to pay for the making time... you can just send me a pic of him "in use". (Depending on your nephew's age I am thinking along the lines of a few well-placed ribena stains and a thoroughly drooled on head.)

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much - that would be marvellous.

My email is siobhan of love of our hearts at googlemail dot com (without the gaps obviously *grin*) so if you email me your address I'll send you the dosh by cheque if that's okay. I am very old fashioned and so don't have a paypal account.

I should imagine he'll end up smeared with rusk and drool - like all the best loved toys and of course I'll send you a pic. My Mum knits loads of baby clothes and has lots of pics of my friends babies in her creations - looking over those photos makes her smile.