Tea at Trianon: The Miracle House

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, December 14, 2014

The Miracle House

It no longer stands, but it was in Claiborne, Maryland, not far from my house. To quote:

In 1913 the Claiborne Fresh Air Association, Inc. was formed in Claiborne, a small township on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Eastern Bay in Talbot County, Maryland and the "Miracle House" was established.

The purpose of Miracle House was to provide 10 weeks of fresh air and summer vacation for children who had been exposed by their sick parents to tuberculosis. It was considered a "preventorium"with a goal to help children that had been exposed to tuberculosis build up their resistance to TB through fresh air, nutritious food and swimming in the Bay. The facility was bought and expanded by the Maryland Tuberculosis Association (MTA) in 1919 and operated until it was closed in 1944 after the TB vaccine was developed. The 10 week stay at Miracle House was free to children and while being run by the MTA was funded by Christmas Seals. At it's height, the facility could house up to 200 children. Food for the children was prepared by residents of Claiborne and Tilghman. (Read more.)