July 5: Happy birthday, P.T. Barnum, showman extraordinaire!
(If you like Victorian circuses like the one Barnum made famous, be sure to check out my latest book, A Trip and a Tumble!)
Image source: http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=22
July 5, 1841: Happy birthday, Mary Arthur McElroy!
Fans of Love Will Find A Wheel may remember Nurse McCoy's declaration to Mrs. Snow, the mayor's overbearing wife: "I don't care if you're Mary Arthur McElroy or the Queen of England herself, you're not frettin' a patient of mine while she's in my charge. Now get out unless'n you want to feel my boot in your hoity-toity backside!" To which the book's appendix follows up: "Nurse McCoy's comment in chapter five about Mary Arthur McElroy is a reference to the closest thing America had to a first lady in 1882. Chester Arthur's wife Ellen had died suddenly of a rapid case of pneumonia in 1880; Arthur (who never remarried) became president after the assassination of James Garfield in 1881. President Arthur's sister Mary Arthur McElroy helped him with some of the duties which would have ordinarily fallen to a first lady." --Excerpted from Love Will Find A Wheel
Image source: https://www.kateshelley.com/kate-shelley.html
July 6th, 1881: Teenager Kate Shelley climbs a desintegrating railroad bridge to save the lives of a whole train-full of passengers when the Des Moines River floods.
Brave Kate Shelley
By Mrs. M.L. Rayne. Published in What Can A Woman Do? (1883)
"It will be remembered that Kate Shelley, a young girl of fifteen years[*], on that terrible night of July 6, 1881, walked five miles, crossing in the darkness and storm a long dangerous bridge, to warn the night express on the Chicago and Northwestern Railway of a wrecked train. When the story of her heroic behavior spread throughout the State, several funds for her benefit were started, and, so far as money can pay for such devotion, she has been well rewarded for her night's work. At the session of the Iowa Legislature, last winter, it was ordered that a medal commemorative of the girl's bravery be struck, and a committee was appointed to present it to her. Her heroism was made the theme of many eloquent speeches.
"How far that little candle throws its beams,
So shines a good deed in a naughty world."
Through the whirl of wind and water parted by the rushing steel,
Flashed the white glare of the headlight, flew the swift revolving wheel,
As the midnight train swept onward, bearing on its iron wings
Through the gloom of night and tempest, freightage of most precious things.
Little children by their mothers nestle in unbroken rest,
Stalwart men are dreaming softly of their journey's finished quest,
While the men who watch and guard them, sleepless stand at post and brake;
Close the throttle! Draw the lever! Safe for wife and sweetheart's sake.
Sleep and dream, unheeding danger; in the valley yonder lies
Death's debris in weird confusion, altar fit for sacrifice!
Dark and grim the shadows settle where the hidden perils wait;
Swift the train, with dear lives laden, rushes to its deadly fate.
Still they sleep and dream unheeding. Oh, thou watchful One above,
Save Thy people in this hour! Save the ransomed of Thy love!
Send an angel from Thy heaven who shall calm the troubled air,
And reveal the powers of evil hidden in the darkness there.
Saved! Ere yet they know their peril, comes a warning to alarm;
Saved! The precious train is resting on the brink of deadly harm.
God has sent his angel to them, brave Kate Shelley, hero-child!
Struggling on, alone, unaided through that night of tempest wild.
Brave Kate Shelley! Tender maiden, baby hands with splinters torn,
Saved the lives of sleeping travellers swiftly to death's journey borne.
Mothers wept and clasped their darlings, breathing words of grateful prayer;
Men with faces blanched and tearful thanked God for Kate Shelley there.
Greater love than this hath no man. When the Heavens shall unfold,
And the judgement books are opened, there in characters of gold
Brave Kate Shelley's name shall center, mid the pure, the brave and good,
That of one who crowned with glory her heroic womanhood.
Get this poem on a poster
*Historical sources differ slightly on her exact age at the time, which may have been between 15—17 years old.
July 6th, 1865: Happy birthday, Kurre Wilhelm Ostrom!
An 1891 edition of his book, Massage and the Original Swedish Movements: http://tinyurl.com/y7nvotuv
Meiji royal family of Japan. Image courtesy http://asianhistory.about.com/od/japan/f/What-Was-the-Meiji-Restoration.htm
July 8, 1853: Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Harbor. The resulting trade alliances between the U.S. and Japan were very important to the histories of both nations, and would ultimately lead to a mutual fascination between Japan and the West, echoes of which can still be seen today. Years ago, I was standing in the Tokyo-Edo museum with a Japanese friend looking at a display about Commodore Perry and my friend told me something I'll never forget: she said that to the common people of Japan in the nineteenth-century, news of Perry's arrival was like an announcement of extra-terrestrials coming down to Earth. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/opening-to-japan
An article on Commodore Perry: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/opening-to-japan
Fans of my Tales of Chetzemoka series may remember that Ken and Addie's father captains a freighter on the Trans-Pacific route, on which Japan was an important port of call. (For those of you who've been sharp enough to catch Ken's middle name of Perry, he was named after the commodore.) Addie loves hearing her father's stories of exotic lands, and Kitty turns green with envy when Addie off-handedly remarks that she has "three china silk petticoats and two made out of Japanese silk."
Some articles about Japan seen through Western eyes
Home Fashions and Fancies—Japanese influenced (1889) http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/home-fashions-and-fancies-japanese-influencemdash1889.html
Housekeeping in Foreign Lands: A Japanese Home (1888) : http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/a-japanese-home-1888.html
Japanese Folk Lore (1889) : http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/japanese-folk-lore.html
Kingdom of Slender Swords (Fiction, 1910) : http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/kingdom-of-slender-swords-1910.html
July 10: Happy birthday, Nikola Tesla! Born July 10, 1856.
"Our first endeavors are purely instinctive, promptings of an imagination vivid and undisciplined. As we grow older, reason asserts itself, and we become more and more systematic and designing. But those early impulses, though not immediately productive, are of the greatest importance and may shape our very destinies." —Nikola Tesla, My Inventions. <https://tinyurl.com/y7zwarv6>
http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm
To celebrate the birthday of an electrical genius, please enjoy this 1882 article on electricity and its uses: <https://tinyurl.com/y7exuz59>
July 10, 1890: Wyoming gains statehood
Image courtesy https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A211064
July 11, 1851: Happy birthday, Millie Christine, the "Carolina Twins"!
<http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/millie-christine/summary.html>
July 14th, 1897: The steamer Excelsior lands in San Francisco, carrying more than half a million dollars' worth of Klondike gold. The gold rush begins. http://www.travelyukon.com/trade/Discover%20Yukon/Fascinating%20Yukon%20Trivia/Gold%20Rush%20History
July 20, 1871: British Columbia becomes Canada's sixth province. <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/british-columbia-and-confederation/>
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July 21st: Happy birthday, Frances Cleveland! :D Frances served from 1886—89 and 1893—97 as First Lady of the United States of America, and was our nation's youngest first lady ever! You can read about her in this article: http://barrybradford.com/frances-cleveland-first-superstar-first-lady/
Even though she was married to the president of the United States, Mrs. Cleveland believed that the ways women work to help society from the ground up have a bigger impact on the world than their husbands' mud-slinging politics. She welcomed shop girls and other working women to her receptions at the White House, and helped efforts to institute the first kindergartens for poor and middle-class American children. When the United States mint honored Mrs. Cleveland with a First Spouse gold coin in 2012, its reverse side depicted her shaking hands with women workers.
July 25, 1854: Walter Hunt granted patent for paper shirt collar. (Source: Farmer's Almanac, 2016, p. 141.)
Special Days in July:
Image courtesy https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-36f4-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
July 4th: Independence Day
For Fourth of July cards and bags, click here!
"This anniversary animates and gladdens, and unites all American hearts. On other days of the year we may be party men, indulging in controversies more or less important to the public good; we may have likes and dislikes, and we may maintain our political differences often with warm, and sometimes with angry feelings. But to-day we are Americans all in all, nothing but Americans."
—Daniel Webster
"The Fourth of July." Bancroft's Fifth Reader, A.L. Bancroft & Company, San Francisco: 1883. p. 239.
The Ride of Jennie M'Neal
By Will Carleton
Choice Readings, Kansas City: Fulton & Trueblood, 1884. pp. 44—47.
Paul Revere was a rider bold,--
Well has his valorous deed been told;
Sheridan's ride was a glorious one,--
Often it has been dwelt upon;
But why should men do all the deeds
On which the love of a patriot feeds?
Hearken to me, while I reveal
The dashing ride of Jennie M'Neal.
On a spot as pretty as might be found
In the dangerous length of the Neutral Ground,
In a cottage, cozy, and all their own,
She and her mother lived alone.
Safe were the two, with their frugal store,
From all the many who pass'd their door;
For Jennie's mother was strange to fears,
And Jennie was large for fifteen years:
With vim her eyes were glistening,
Her hair was the hue of a blackbird's wing;
And, while her friends who knew her well
The sweetness of her heart could tell,
A gun that hung on the kitchen wall
Look'd solemnly quick to head her call;
And they who were evil-minded knew
Her nerve was strong and her aim was true.
So all kind words and acts did deal
To generous, black-eyed Jennie M'Neal.
One night, when the Sun had crept to bed,
And rain-clouds linger'd overhead,
And sent their surly drops for proof
To drum a tune on the cottage roof,
Close after a knock at the outer door
There enter'd a dozen dragoons or more.
Their red coats, stain'd by the muddy road,
That they were British soldiers show'd:
The captain his hostess bent to greet,
Saying, "Madam, please give us a bit to eat;
We will pay you well, and, if may be,
This bright-eyed girl for pouring our tea;
Then we must dash ten miles ahead,
To catch a rebel colonel a-bed.
He is visiting home, as doth appear;
We will make his pleasure cost him dear."
And they fell on the hasty supper with zeal,
Close-watch'd the while by Jennie M'Neal.
For the gray-hair'd colonel they hover'd near
Had been her true friend, kind and dear;
And oft, in her younger days, had he
Right proudly perched her upon his knee,
And told her stories many a one
Concerning the French war lately done.
And oft together the two friends were,
And many the arts he had taught to her;
She had hunted by his fatherly side.
He had shown her how to fence and ride;
And once had said, "The time may be,
Your skill and courage may stand by me."
So sorrow for him she could but feel,
Brave, grateful-hearted Jennie M'Neal.
With never a thought or a moment more,
Bare-headed she slipp'd from the cottage door,
Ran out where the horses were left to feed,
Unhitch'd and mounted the captain's steed,
And down the hilly and rock-strewn way
She urged the fiery horse of gray.
Around her slender and cloakless form
Patter'd and moan'd the ceaseless storm;
Secure and tight a gloveless hand
Grasp'd the reins with stern command;
And full and black her long hair stream'd,
Whenever the ragged lightning gleam'd.
And on she rush'd for the colonel's weal,
Brave, lioness-hearted Jennie M'Neal.
Hark! from the hills, a moment mute,
Came a clatter of hoofs in hot pursuit;
And a cry from the foremost trooper said,
"Halt! or your blood be on your head!"
She heeded it not, and not in vain
She lash'd the horse with the bridle rein;
So into the night the gray horse strode;
His shoes hew'd fire from the rocky road;
And the high-born courage that never dies
Flash'd from his rider's coal-black eyes;
The pebbles flew from the fearful race;
The rain-drops grasp'd at her glowing face.
"On, on, brave beast!" with loud appeal,
Cried eager, resolute Jennie M'Neal.
"Halt!" once more came the voice of dread;
"Halt! or your blood be on your head!"
Then, no one answering to the calls,
Sped after her a volley of balls.
They pass'd her in her rapid flight,
They scream'd to her left, they scream'd to her right;
But, rushing still o'er the slippery track
She sent no token of answer back,
Except a silvery laughter peal,
Brave, merry-hearted Jennie M'Neal.
So on she rush'd, at her own good will,
Through wood and valley, o'er plain and hill:
The gray horse did his duty well,
Till all at once he stumbled and fell,
Himself escaping the nets of harm,
But flinging the girl with a broken arm.
Still undismay'd by the numbing pain,
She clung to the horse's bridle rein,
And gently bidding him to stand,
Petted him with her able hand;
Then sprung again to the saddle-bow,
And shouted, "One more trial now!"
As if ashamed of the heedless fall,
He gather'd his strenghth once more for all,
And, galloping down a hill-side steep,
Gain'd on the troopers at every leap;
No more the high-bred steed did reel,
But ran his best for Jennie M'Neal.
They were a furlong behind, or more,
When the girl burst through the colonel's door,--
Her poor arm helpless hanging with pain,
And she drabbled and drench'd with rain,
But her cheeks as red as fire-brands are,
And her eyes as quick as a blazing star,--
And shouted, "Quick! be quick, I say!
They come! they come! Away! away!"
Then sunk on the rude white floor of deal
Poor, brave, exhausted Jennie M'Neal.
The startled colonel sprung and press'd
The wife and children to his breast,
And turn'd away from his fireside bright,
And glided into the stormy night;
Then soon and safely made his way
To where the patriot army lay.
But first he bent, in the dim fire-light,
And kiss'd the forehead broad and white,
And bless'd the girl who had ridden so well
To keep him out of a prison-cell.
The girl roused up at the martial din,
Just as the troopers came rushing in,
And laugh'd, e'en in the midst of a moan,
Saying, "Good sirs, your bird has flown:
'Tis I who have scared him from his nest;
So deal with me now as you think best."
But the grand young captain bow'd, and said,
"Never you hold a moment's dread:
Of womankind I must crown you queen;
So brave a girl I have never seen:
Wear this gold ring as your valour's due;
And when peace comes I will come for you."
But Jennie's face an arch smile wore,
As she said, "There's a lad in Putnam's corps,
Who told me the same, long time ago;
You two would never agree, I know:
I promised my love to be true as steel,"
Said good, sure-hearted Jennie M'Neal.
Illustration from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper July 2, 1887.
Our Banner
From Home Songster: A Collection of the Most Patriotic and Popular Songs and Marching Choruses. Milwaukee: George Brumder, 1883, p. 54.
Our banner bright it flies aloft; its bunting is unfurled
We give to all a welcome—each nation in the world.
Its stood for more than a century o'er mountain, plain, and sea.
Come welcome, all come when we call to the dear land of the free.
Chorus
Come to our banner, thus welcome you shall be;
Come from every nation, over land and sea.
We will grasp you by the hand; forgotten be the past.
We'll welcome you as brothers true, in friendship sure to last.
Let England send her hardy sons; to them we'll give the hand.
We can't forget that Washington sprung from the mother land.
Brave France, her sons we'll welcome, she gave us Lafayette;
And Ireland, sweet, her sons we'll greet; Patrick Henry we'll ne'er forget
Come to our, etc.
Let Russia send her furclad sons from each ice-covered plain;
Remember that Columbus he came from sunny Spain;
Each bold Swiss leave his mountain, each rocky vale and fell;
We'll welcome great, as brothers meet the sons of William Tell.
Come to our, etc.
From Greenland's icy mountains bleak, Germany's sunny Rhine,
The tropic lands of bright Brazil, where fierce the sun doth shine;
From the dear land of Kossuth, and Denmark, in the north--
China, India, and Japan—let their manly sons come forth.
Come to our, etc.
"Celebrating The Fourth of July" —A passage in Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms: http://tinyurl.com/jb6oofx (this link goes to a 1909 edition, but the book was originally published in the 1870s. We have a hardcover copy from 1891.)
"A Girl's Fourth of July" from "How To Amuse Yourself and Others" by Lina Beard and Adelia B. Beard, 1887: http://tinyurl.com/h84bals
July 7: Tanabata (Japanese star festival)
July 14: Happy birthday to the modern Princess Victoria (Crown Princess of Sweden)! I can't wait until she assumes the throne —she's only three years older than I am and I just love knowing that there will be a Queen Victoria in this world during my lifetime.
http://www.kungahuset.se/royalcourt/royalfamily/hrhcrownprincessvictoria.4.396160511584257f218000503.html
PROVISIONS IN SEASON IN JULY
From Isabella Beeton's The Book of Household Management, 1893 edition
Vegetables. - Artichokes, asparagus, beans, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, cresses, endive, lettuces, mushrooms, onions, peas, radishes, new beet, pears, small salaaming, sprouts, turnips, vegetable marrows - various herbs.
Fruit.- Apricots, cherries, currants, figs, gooseberries, melons, nectarines, pineapples, plums, raspberries, strawberries, walnuts for pickling.
More on Victorian foods: http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/victorian-food.html
Looking for some historically-oriented summer activities? Check out these pages on our website:
Activities for grades 3-4: http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/3-4-grade-activities.html
Activities for grades 5-6: http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/5-6-grade-activities.html
Readings for grades 7-8: http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/7-8th-grade.html
Readings for grades 9-12: http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/9-12-grade-activities.html
Cards
Books
A Trip and a Tumble:
A Victorian Cycling Club Story
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Anthologies
A Bouquet of Victorian Roses
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