Fire Place Etiquette? Yeah, you betcha!

I know I’ve talked about the duties of servants, maids, odd beauty secrets and old West etiquette in before. But it never gets old. Especially since much of the advice given back then was so outlandish it bears looking at (and laughing at) again now and then. I have an extensive research library and have collected some fun “field-guides” on these subjects ranging from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. And not all were written by women. Did you know there was a Mr. Walsh who wrote a manual of domestic economy in 1856? Someone then updated the book in 1873. He wrote extensively about household management. One tip I found from his book was this advice for women whose clothes have caught fire. According to Mr. Walsh, you should first:

 1. Call for help by ringing the bell. A servant should come. If one doesn’t then you better pray your socks off. My thought, not Mr. Walsh’s.

2. Rip off the clothes that are aflame and pour water on the clothing. The servant should have water in your room for this reason.

3. If this doesn’t stop the flames sit down on the floor in an upright position.

4. Roll oneself in a rug. Every room should have a rug in case of flaming females.

5. Stop wearing fine muslin.

 

Easy for Mr. Walsh to say. And where are the instructions for flaming males? That’s what I want to know. Maybe men never caught fire. And why would they? There was an etiquette rule that dictated gentlemen should never put their backs to the fire while conversing with others. And if one does put their back to a fire, it was considered extremely impolite to warm one’s derriere by raising the coat flaps at an angle of 45°, while the rest of the company in the room was freezing.

The queen of these tomes on cooking and domesticity was, of course, Isabella Beeton. Mrs. Beeton lived from 1836 to 1865. She was the original domestic goddess and published her famous Book of Household Management in 1861. It sold 60,000 copies in the first year, and 2 million copies by 1868. What’s interesting is that her commentary on servants, household management, and cooking are still used as primary sources today. Unfortunately, Mrs. Beeton died in 1865 from an infection during childbirth. Her husband, Samuel Beeton who was also her publisher, kept up the idea that she lived on, since her name was a large source of income. Mr. Beeton published spinoffs and abridged versions of her book to keep up the image that a matronly Mrs. Beaton was still alive and well.

I have a maid, Betsy, who works for Mayor Vander and his wife, Mercy. These characters are from my town of Independence, which is featured in my Holiday Mail-Order Bride Series. She’s the servant that would throw a bucket of water on you if your skirts caught fire or roll you up in a rug herself. Mayor Vander wouldn’t care if he conversed with his back to the fireplace or not. That’s the thing about manners and some of the other things the experts of the day wrote about. Out West folks didn’t pay as much attention to such things. Unless, of course, they were from back east and brought their manners and etiquette with them.

Until Next Time,

Kit

FOOD CHEATS AND THE 1800S: Be very afraid! by Marisa Masterson

https://www.docsteach.org/activities/printactivity/progressive-era-food-regulation

Lately, food dyes and chemicals in food are often in the news. I even heard someone talk about returning to the purity of the foods from bygone eras. Well, some of what folks ate was not all that pure! 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/389842911467779358/

  Take milk, for instance. Healthy milk. In the 1800s, sellers played an awful trick on consumers. Many watered down the milk. They added chalk to restore the white appearance. Formaldehyde, what was used in embalming, went into it to prevent spoiling. Fresh did not describe what they presented to the public. Sadly, this led to infant deaths. One more reason infant mortality was so high at that time. 

https://beavertrust.org/beaver-basics/beaver-history/

  How about sweet vanilla? What could be done to vanilla, right? Well, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a handy cheat was used to replace this. Castoreum, which tastes similar to the flavoring, was highly sought after. Its source? The anal secretions of a beaver! People knew where it came from and wanted it anyhow because of the cheaper cost compared to vanilla. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pure-Food-and-Drug-Act

  Did the flour go sour? Add ammonium carbonate so the buyer believes it is freshly milled. 

Speaking of flour, white flour was more costly than the brown multi-grain variety. To make white bread, some bakers added chalk. To increase the weight of a loaf, they added pipe clay. 

  So, if those foods could be tainted, how about simply eating candy? No, that was a risk. Lead was used to color it. If the candy was green, it probably contained arsenic. 

  Little wonder the federal government finally stepped in to create the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Before that, states were supposed to supervise what was consumed.

  

Wow! I am beginning to see how blessed my poor but healthy ancestors were to live on a farm and raise their own milk, meat, and vegetables. Perhaps we have slipped backward with our junk foods and fast food today.

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