Tea at Trianon: Civilizing The West

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

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Civilizing The West

From Southern Lady:

It is often said that women were the key to civilizing the West—representations of family and comfort, stability and order. Through my research, it became evident that the two most powerful tools used to civilize the West were the Bible and Godey’s Lady’s Book. Both were wielded with exacting skill by women for the purpose of creating a better world for all.

The average woman who went west left behind the comforts of home. She had heard the horror stories of sickness, wild animals, and unfriendly natives, not to mention the lack of mercantiles that could provide the essentials of daily living. She was often required to leave behind her lovely wedding gifts and precious family heirlooms—so God help the man who suggested there was no room for her Godey’s.

Godey’s Lady’s Book was the thread that connected many a pioneer woman to the civilization she’d left behind. The magazine provided stories and poetry along with how-to articles in sewing, cooking, arts and crafts, and medical needs. A woman sitting in her dirt floor soddy in Kansas could flip through the pages to learn how to make her house a home, she could teach her daughters how to style their hair in the latest fashion or how to make the perfect apple butter. (Read more.)