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elaby...and then I'm obliged to remind myself.
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coastal_spirit rented the BBC miniseries Cranford from Netflix and since my dad didn't really want to watch it with her, when we went over on Sunday, we did :) It was very good, mostly because the cast was awesome. It all turned out satisfactorily in the end, but good LORD, the body count was higher than RIII! *boggles* Which was not something I expected from an early Victorian story about small-town old ladies. Okay, so they were kickass old ladies.
Anyway, I was once again seized by the love of Victorian things. Luckily, there's so much on the internet for resources :3
Cassell's Household Guide: A never-ending source of amusement. This time it's about pregnancy and child-rearing.
When pregnant:
We know that it is utterly impossible for the wife of the labouring man to give up work, and, what is called, "take care of herself;" as others can. Nor is it necessary. The "back is made for its burthen." It would be just as injurious for the labourer's wife to give up her daily work and exercise, as for the lady to take to sweeping her own carpets or cooking the dinner. Habit becomes second nature.
The argument here is not that people can still work when they're pregnant. The argument is that POOR people can work when they're pregnant, because they're poor and they're used to it and making them stop now would be injurious to their health. Uh-huh. Nice justification you got going, there. I hope it helps your conscience.
To one inured to toil from childhood, ordinary work is merely exercise, and, as such, necessary to keep up her physical powers, though extra work should be, of course, avoided as much as possible.
Gee, thanks. Merely exercise, indeed.
The vulgar notion of what is called "longing" for unusual food should be discouraged as inconsistent and ridiculous.
No pickles and ice cream for you, working-class women! Although I don't doubt Mrs. Cassell would offer the same admonition to higher-class ladies, knowing her.
Country women very seldom send for the doctor until it is too late, and are therefore subjected to the treatment of an amateur, and often utterly ignorant, nurse, who acts with the best intentions in the world, and saves her neighbour a few shillings, but will often lay the foundation of many years of debility and suffering.
Midwifery, one of the last female-dominated professions, was discouraged in the Victorian era because then male doctors wouldn't get paid as much.
Here's some sense, finally:
There is a fatal error in the idea, very prevalent, in some classes of society, that to get up soon [after giving birth] is the sign of a "clever woman;" and a sort of rivalry exists upon the point - the mother who can soonest "feel her feet," and get to her usual work or business, being looked up to and envied by her neighbours. There can scarcely ever be any reason why a woman should get up and work under a fortnight, at least.
A nursing mother should live well. She may take a glass of porter or ale at dinner.
HEE. So extravagant!.
A healthy child will always stretch and use its small limbs in a most lively and energetic manner when it is naked; nor does it at all relish having itself dressed again.
There's nothing quite like the Victorian turn of phrase.
On the merits of getting children into a sleeping routine:
Children that are early accustomed to be put awake into their beds may be even heard to crow with delight at the fancies their small imaginations picture in the dimly-lighted chamber.
*snerk* I imagine it's more a vague impression of "yay I get to go someplace warm and familiar and sleep" rather than whatever these fancies are that their small imaginations are supposed to picture.
I just LOVE the way Mrs. Cassell puts things, omg. On kids learning to walk:
Left to themselves, little folks generally fall neatly, and manage to keep their heads uppermost. The cry which is heard after these accidents arises from surprise and mortification, and the trouble is best treated as a joke. If, instead of catching the child up in her arms and smothering it with caresses, accompanied with expressions of sympathy, the nurse said, in a cheerful voice, "jump up, and see where you sat last," the child's mind would be diverted from its grief; and braced to fresh exertion.
Mortification! XD The writing style makes everything seem so exquisitely serious.
I do consider Mrs. Cassell to be pretty sensible in many things, though.
No harsh words, no impatient gestures, need be added to enforce the rule, which consists simply in not doing as the babe demands, if it be not the right time and the proper place for the desired gratification.
I've also been known to enjoy some Victorian-to-modern translation:
If children were left to their own choice, they would be eating and drinking perpetually of whatever came in their way, till the stomach could no longer retain the improper substances.
Or
If kids could have their way, they'd eat until they puke.
Wholesome food would be rejected for more palatable sweets a and dainties. Before long, depraved tastes would be confirmed.
Ah, word-meaning shift, how I love you.
coastal_spirit rented the BBC miniseries Cranford from Netflix and since my dad didn't really want to watch it with her, when we went over on Sunday, we did :) It was very good, mostly because the cast was awesome. It all turned out satisfactorily in the end, but good LORD, the body count was higher than RIII! *boggles* Which was not something I expected from an early Victorian story about small-town old ladies. Okay, so they were kickass old ladies.Anyway, I was once again seized by the love of Victorian things. Luckily, there's so much on the internet for resources :3
Cassell's Household Guide: A never-ending source of amusement. This time it's about pregnancy and child-rearing.
When pregnant:
We know that it is utterly impossible for the wife of the labouring man to give up work, and, what is called, "take care of herself;" as others can. Nor is it necessary. The "back is made for its burthen." It would be just as injurious for the labourer's wife to give up her daily work and exercise, as for the lady to take to sweeping her own carpets or cooking the dinner. Habit becomes second nature.
The argument here is not that people can still work when they're pregnant. The argument is that POOR people can work when they're pregnant, because they're poor and they're used to it and making them stop now would be injurious to their health. Uh-huh. Nice justification you got going, there. I hope it helps your conscience.
To one inured to toil from childhood, ordinary work is merely exercise, and, as such, necessary to keep up her physical powers, though extra work should be, of course, avoided as much as possible.
Gee, thanks. Merely exercise, indeed.
The vulgar notion of what is called "longing" for unusual food should be discouraged as inconsistent and ridiculous.
No pickles and ice cream for you, working-class women! Although I don't doubt Mrs. Cassell would offer the same admonition to higher-class ladies, knowing her.
Country women very seldom send for the doctor until it is too late, and are therefore subjected to the treatment of an amateur, and often utterly ignorant, nurse, who acts with the best intentions in the world, and saves her neighbour a few shillings, but will often lay the foundation of many years of debility and suffering.
Midwifery, one of the last female-dominated professions, was discouraged in the Victorian era because then male doctors wouldn't get paid as much.
Here's some sense, finally:
There is a fatal error in the idea, very prevalent, in some classes of society, that to get up soon [after giving birth] is the sign of a "clever woman;" and a sort of rivalry exists upon the point - the mother who can soonest "feel her feet," and get to her usual work or business, being looked up to and envied by her neighbours. There can scarcely ever be any reason why a woman should get up and work under a fortnight, at least.
A nursing mother should live well. She may take a glass of porter or ale at dinner.
HEE. So extravagant!.
A healthy child will always stretch and use its small limbs in a most lively and energetic manner when it is naked; nor does it at all relish having itself dressed again.
There's nothing quite like the Victorian turn of phrase.
On the merits of getting children into a sleeping routine:
Children that are early accustomed to be put awake into their beds may be even heard to crow with delight at the fancies their small imaginations picture in the dimly-lighted chamber.
*snerk* I imagine it's more a vague impression of "yay I get to go someplace warm and familiar and sleep" rather than whatever these fancies are that their small imaginations are supposed to picture.
I just LOVE the way Mrs. Cassell puts things, omg. On kids learning to walk:
Left to themselves, little folks generally fall neatly, and manage to keep their heads uppermost. The cry which is heard after these accidents arises from surprise and mortification, and the trouble is best treated as a joke. If, instead of catching the child up in her arms and smothering it with caresses, accompanied with expressions of sympathy, the nurse said, in a cheerful voice, "jump up, and see where you sat last," the child's mind would be diverted from its grief; and braced to fresh exertion.
Mortification! XD The writing style makes everything seem so exquisitely serious.
I do consider Mrs. Cassell to be pretty sensible in many things, though.
No harsh words, no impatient gestures, need be added to enforce the rule, which consists simply in not doing as the babe demands, if it be not the right time and the proper place for the desired gratification.
I've also been known to enjoy some Victorian-to-modern translation:
If children were left to their own choice, they would be eating and drinking perpetually of whatever came in their way, till the stomach could no longer retain the improper substances.
Or
If kids could have their way, they'd eat until they puke.
Wholesome food would be rejected for more palatable sweets a and dainties. Before long, depraved tastes would be confirmed.
Ah, word-meaning shift, how I love you.
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 12:49 am (UTC)I got so depressed when Michael Gambon (I think) died, that I was never inspired to watch the last episode!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 01:58 am (UTC)There are a bunch more episodes of Cranford! Or at least there were on the DVDs (not sure how they broke them up on TV). I think there were five. I was so bummed about Matty's suitor too -_-
no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 01:24 am (UTC)Your Victoriana posts always make me grin, dahling. :) Thank you for sharing this one!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 02:00 am (UTC)^_^ It's my pleasure!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 01:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 10:55 pm (UTC)I would have loved to have had someone tell me that I needed to rest for a fortnight after childbirth - instead, it was all "You can take a shower when you can walk down the hall to the bathroom" and "If you want the head of your bed up, you have to get up and crank it up yourself" (there was no automatic levers, just a crank at the foot of the bed - really!) I really think they push women out of the hospital too soon, but they probably get better treatment at home. :P
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 11:51 pm (UTC)I love how things haven't changed :) Kids don't like to put on clothes! Shocking news bulletin from the Victorian era XD