Back In My Time: A Writer's Guide to the 19th Century
Want to know what everyday life was like in the 1800's? You've come to the right place. From fashion and culture to slang and occupations -- Back in My Time has it all. You can even find the price of a good meal here! Whether you're a writer, teacher, student, or just a history buff, this is the site for you.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Monday, April 8, 2013
The Victorian Kitchen
source: Inside the Victorian Home, Judith Flanders, 2003
Remember
that in the 19th Century, rooms were ideally single-purpose; thus, the proper
Victorian home would have had a kitchen for cooking only, with separate rooms
for food storage (the larder) and preparation (the scullery). Of course, as
with today's kitchens, the truth was that not many homes could afford an
"ideal" kitchen, and the room was used for a wide range of functions.
In many homes, the kitchen actually had to serve as a bedroom for one of the
servants.
In the
ideal kitchen, a scullery (no matter how small) was attached, with one, or even
two sinks for cleaning food and washing and pots. A separate pantry for storing
china and glass (and silver if there was any) might be as small as a closet. It
typically had a small sink for washing dishes, of wood lined with lead to
prevent chipping. The larder for fresh food storage might only be a large
cupboard, and the storeroom for dried goods and cleaning equipment might be
another.
By the
middle of the century, most middle-class homes did have running water, but it
was expensive, nearly 10 % of the cost of the rent of the home, according to
some estimates. The kitchen was usually the first to be connected to the city
water supply, but by the 1870's, many middle-class homes had bathrooms with
running water (heated on the kitchen range) and flush toilets as well. Our Homes in 1883 estimated that the
average person needed twenty-two gallons of water a day, divided as follows:
Domestic
usage, excluding laundry 9
gallons
Toilets 5
gallons
Baths
- one per week 5
gallons
Washing
clothes 3
gallons
The kitchen
was typically located below ground, or on the lowest floor of the house. As it
supplied the hot water for the entire premises, the kitchen stove "blasted
out heat all the year round for up to eighteen hours a day." Conditions
inside the room were far from pleasant, with the gas burning all day and (at
best) only a small window near the ceiling to remove the fumes. Floors were usually covered in linoleum, for
ease of cleaning. This was often laid over a cement base in order to keep
vermin away.
"The
labor, steam and dirt all centered around the kitchen range," fueled by
coal fire. These came into common use by the 1840's. Before that time, baked
items must be taken to a communal bakehouse for preparation. There were many
styles of ranges, but the main features were a boiler to heat water and an oven
(or ovens). By the 1860's, "improved" ranges had hot plates to keep
soups simmering, keep hot dishes warm, and even to heat irons. They had a
roaster with movable shelves, which could be converted from an open to a closed
oven by moving valves. One of the main advantages of the range was that soot no
longer fell into the food in the oven (although it still might come down the
chimney and fall into the saucepans). Soot in food remained a common problem,
especially as there was no temperature controls on the range as the modern
stove has.
Another
common problem in the kitchen was waste. Thrift was a Victorian virtue, and
every good housewife made certain that anything which could be reused would be.
Of course, modern packaging had yet to be invented, so there was less to
dispose of in that area - goods either arrived unwrapped, or wrapped in simple
paper, which could be reused or burned if soiled. One reuse was as lavatory
paper.
One system
which has vanished in the modern day was the collection of different waste by
street traders who would regularly visit the back door of the home to buy
various items: paper, metals, wood, even empty bottles. "Old textiles and
bones were bought by the rag-and-bone man, who sold his wares to paper mills
and to glue, gelatin, match, toothpick, and fertilizer manufacturers."
Within the
kitchen, the range must be large enough to cook meals for the family, which
might contain a dozen people with the servants included. The Modern Householder in 1872 also listed the following
necessities for "Cheap Kitchen Furniture:" an open range, fender, fire irons; 1 deal table; bracket of deal to be
fastened to the wall and let down when wanted; wooden chair; floor canvas;
coarse canvas to lay before the fire when cooking; wooden tub for washing glass
and china; large earthenware pan for washing plates; small zinc basin for
washing hands; 2 washing-tubs; clothesline; clothes horse; yellow bowl for
mixing dough; wooden salt-box to hang up; small coffee mill; plate rack;
knife-board; large brown earthenware pan for bread; small wooden flour kit; 3
flat irons; an Italian iron, and iron stand; old blanket for ironing on; 2 tin
candlesticks, snuffers, extinguishers; 2 blacking brushes; 1 scrubbing brush; 1
carpet broom; 1 short-handled broom; cinder-sifter, dustpan, sieve, bucket;
patent digester; tea kettle; toasting fork; bread grater; bottle jack (a screen
can be made with the clothes-horse covered with sheets); set of skewers; meat
chopper; block-tin butter saucepan; colander; 3 iron saucepans; 1 iron boiling
pot; 1 fish kettle; 1 flour dredger; 1 frying pan; 1 hanging gridiron; salt and
pepper boxes; rolling pin and pasteboard; 12 patty pans; 1 larger tin pan; pair
of scales; baking dish.
Mrs. Mary
Haweis gave "a useful little kitchen list for a very small household"
which gave 109 items, not including cutlery or dishes! Among the brushes she
thought indispensable were sets of stove brushes, boot brushes and scrub
brushes, a bass (fiber) brush, a hair broom, a carpet broom, a sweep's broom,
and a broom for the banisters -- none of which could serve any other purpose.
The important thing for the Victorian home was to have the proper tools for
cleanliness.
The kitchen range
must also be cleaned thoroughly and carefully, or the heated metal would spread
the scent of scorched fat and burning food throughout the house. To clean a
range, the fender and fire irons were first removed, then damp tea leaves were
scattered over the coal to keep the dust down while cleaning was in progress.
The ashes and cinders were raked out and separated, with the unusable ash saved
for the dustman and the cinders reused in the fire. The flues were then cleaned
and the grease scraped off the stove. The steel part was cleaned with bathbrick
(powdered brick used as an abrasive) and paraffin, and the iron parts were blackleaded
and polished. In a house with only one or two servants, the oven was swept and
the blackleading applied only to the bars and front every day, and the rest was
cleaned twice a week. If there were more servants, the entire process was
repeated daily, including scraping out the oven and rinsing it with vinegar and
water.
Cleanliness
was indeed next to godliness in the eyes of the Victorian citizen, and most of
the cleaning was done in the scullery, companion to the kitchen and next up in
our look Inside the Victorian Home.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
19th Century Parlor Games
In the days
before television and video games, entertainment was both simpler and more
complicated. There were a lot of games that today's children might find more
"educational" and "cerebral" than what they're used to. Games
were easier to play, however, and required little or no specialized equipment.
Blindman's
Bluff:
One person is
blindfolded. The other guests scatter around the room, and the
"blindman" must try to find them and identify who he or she has
caught without looking. The person correctly identified is "it" and a
new game commences.
Board Games:
There were many
varieties of popular board games available in the 19th Century. Checkers and
Chess were the most popular, as today. A game similar to Tic-Tac-Toe, called
Nine Man's Morris, was also popular, as was Fox and Geese. Each of these games
relies on "capturing" an opponent's pieces to win.
"The
Mansion of Happiness" was "An Instructive Moral and Entertaining
Amusement," where players moved their pieces about a board marked with
"vices" and "virtues." Instructions at each landing spot
either advanced the player further (virtues) or sent them backwards (vices)
until they reached the "Mansion of Happiness" at the center of the
board and won the game.
Charades:
The classic
Victorian game, still popular today, of trying to act out a word or phrase so
that it can be guessed without a word being spoken. The person who guesses
correctly is "it," and acts out a new word or phrase.
Forfeits:
One person is
chosen to be the "auctioneer" and asked to leave the room. The other
guests must "forfeit" a special item of theirs, and all items are
placed in the center of the room. The "auctioneer" then returns and
pretends to sell off each item, describing it as it would be done at an actual
sale. In order to "buy" their items back, the guests must do
something embarrassing such as sing a song, dance, do an imitation, etc.
Graces:
This was a
girl's game, thought to teach grace and poise. The girls sat in a circle, and
used a pair of wooden rods to toss a be-ribboned hoop to her partner, who tried
to catch it on her rods. The girls who were the most graceful would win. This
is, of course, similar to many of the popular "toss and catch" games
played by people of all ages.
I'm Thinking of
Something:
The person who
is "it" picks something specific, such as Mount Rushmore, a person
everyone would know, an animal, or an item in the room. They give hints, such
as "I'm thinking of something large," and the guests ask questions
about the item, such as "Is it an animal?" or "Is it in
Europe?". This continues until someone thinks they know the answer and
makes a guess. If they guess correctly, they become "it" and think of
a new item. If they guess incorrectly, the original person is still "it"
and picks a new item.
I Spy:
This is a
variation of "I'm Thinking Of Something" where the item in question
must be within eyesight of the person who is "it."
Jackstraws, or
Pick-Up-Sticks:
A bundle of
"sticks," usually specially-made wooden rods, are held over the table
and released to fall into a pile. Each guest removes one stick, trying not to
disturb the remaining ones in the pile. If the other sticks move, the player
must lose that turn. The object is to collect the most sticks.
Lookabout:
The host picks
some small item and shows it to everyone in the room. All guests then leave the
room while the host hides the item "in plain sight" among the other
items in the room. The guests then return and try to spot the item, but say
nothing when they find it. Instead, they sit down once they have located the
item. The last person standing is "it" and must hide the next item.
Squeak, Piggy,
Squeak:
One person is
blindfolded and given a pillow. The other guests sit at the person's feet.
"It" is spun around until he or she doesn't know which direction they
are facing, then they drop the pillow and say "Squeak, piggy,
squeak!" The person who catches the pillow, or into whose lap it falls,
must squeak or squeal like a pig, and "it" must try to guess who the
person is. If they guessed correctly, the "piggy" then became
"it."
Throwing the
Smile:
The object of
this game is NOT to smile. Everyone forms a circle, with "it"
standing in the middle. "It" can either smile broadly, or can
"wipe off" his smile and look mock-serious in an attempt to make the
others smile or laugh, at which point they are "out." In some games,
the person then has to "pay a forfeit" such as hand over a small
item, or do something embarrassing. The game continues until only one person is
left facing "it," at which point they become the new "it."
The Name Game:
Each guest is
provided with a pencil or pen and ten slips of paper. They write down the names
of ten famous people (the object was to try not to make them too easy to
guess). The papers are then folded and placed into a large container, and
everyone forms a circle. Each round of guessing lasts 30 seconds. The first
player picks one name and tries to get the person on their left to guess the
name by giving clues without saying what the name is or what the letters are.
Gestures are not allowed. If the person guesses correctly before the round is
over, another name is drawn and the same team continues until the time is up.
The guesser keeps the paper slips and shares credit with the clue giver. The
bowl is then passed to the guesser, and the game continues until everyone has
guessed and given at least one clue -- or until the bowl is empty. The person
with the most correct guesses wins the game.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
19th Century Gambling
Gambling has always been a human
pastime. Many of the popular casino games in the 19th Century originated in
Europe and China. Games such as craps, baccarat, roulettte, faro, and blackjack
had their origins in different areas of Europe, while keno derived from an
ancient Chinese lottery game.
Craps is a dice game in which
players bet on the outcome of a roll (or series of rolls) on a pair of dice.
Players can bet against each other or against the bank. Because the only
equipment is the set of dice, this is an easy game to set up and play, and was
very popular on the streets as well as in the gambling houses.
Baccarat is a card game. There are
three popular varieties: Punto banco (North American baccarat), baccarat chemin
de fer, and baccarat banque (a deux tableaux). The first is simply a game of
chance, with no skill or strategy involved, but the others allow players to
make choices and bring a little skill to the game. Most casinos in the US, UK,
Canada, Australia, and Sweden and Finland use the first version of the game. In
baccarat, cards numbering 1 through 9 count at face value; 10 and face cards
are worth nothing; and Aces are worth 1 point. The name itself refers to
anything with a value of zero - a queen or king is a "baccarat."
Cards are valued according to the final digit of the sum (a hand with a 3 and 4
would be 7, but one with a 3 and 9 would be 2). The highest hand would be a
score of 9.
Roulette is a game of chance played
with a wheel (the name means "little wheel"). Players bet either red
or black, odd or even, or on a specific number or range of numbers on the
wheel. The wheel is spun in one direction, and a ball is spun along a track in
the wheel in the opposite direction. The ball will drop into one of the colored
and numbered pockets on the wheel. Another version, familiar as the "wheel
of fortune," features a standing wheel with a marker to determine the
final outcome of the spin.
Faro (Pharoah, named because of the
picture on the back of the typical cards) is a card game played against a bank.
Players bet on one or more cards, or could bet "high card." The cards
were dealt from a box, or shoe, which made cheating unlikely.
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-One,
is a card game played against a bank. Players are dealt cards one at a time,
and try to either attain the sum of 21, or to beat the bank's score. Cards
numbering 1 through 10 count at face value; face cards count as 10 points, and
the ace can count either as 1 or 11 (if you have an ace and a queen, you have
21, but if you have an ace and a 5, it can count as 6 and you can keep drawing
cards).
Keno is a form of lottery or bingo.
The Chinese played the game with sheets imprinted with 80 characters; the
Europeans played with 80 numbered balls which were spun in a cage. 20 balls or
characters are drawn, and players win based on how many numbers they
successfully chose.
Of course, no discussion of table
gambling would be complete without the game of poker. The game as we know it
today originated in America in the early or mid-18th Century, and had spread
throughout the Mississippi River region by the 19th Century. The game itself is
similar to many card games played in other countries, but the betting system is
different enough that the Americans can claim its invention. The game was
played in a variety of forms, with 52 cards, and included both straight poker
(cards are dealt face down and bets are made without seeing the hands) and stud
poker (cards are a mix of face-up and face-down, and bets are placed in
multiple rounds). There was even a variant played using only 20 cards.
Table games were hardly the only
forms of gambling available. Various types of races have always been popular,
with horse racing in the lead. However, people will bet on anything -- foot
races, dog races, even camel races were popular! The basic philosophy of
gambling is: if there is an outcome, you can bet on it.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Cattle Drives in 19th Century America
Cattle drives --
moving herds of cattle from one location to another on foot -- were especially
important in the American west between 1866 and 1886. Around 20 million cattle
were herded from Texas to stockyards in Chicago and other eastern cities.
Long-distance cattle driving was traditional in Mexico, California, and Texas,
and horse herds were sometimes also driven. The term "drive" does not
refer to carrying, as in driving a vehicle, but to forcing the cattle to move
forward.
Cattle drives
had to strike a delicate balance: the cattle needed to move as quickly as
possible, but not so quickly as to cause them to lose weight. Fat, healthy
cattle brought the best prices at market. The ideal speed was somewhere between
10 to 15 miles in one day, with rest periods for grazing at midday and at
night. This meant that a drive could take several months to complete on a long
trail. One of the most famous trails, the Chisholm Trail, was 1,000 miles long,
stretching from Texas to Abilene, Kansas.
The more cattle
you could move, the more money you made when you sold them at the end of the
drive. A typical drive consisted of 1,000 to 3,000 cattle. With this many
cattle, it was highly profitable for a town to encourage a drive to pass
through, or even make it their destination once the railroads began expanding.
So-called cattle towns experienced a boom between 1866 and 1890, as railroads
reached them and the towns made themselves available for gathering and shipping
cattle. The most famous towns were railheads, where the herds were shipped off
to Chicago stockyards.
Abilene, Kansas
was one of the first, and most famous, cattle towns. Other Kansas towns
included Wichita and Dodge City. There were certainly other famous cattle towns,
however: Las Vegas, New Mexico; Greeley, Colorado; Medora, North Dakota;
Cheyenne, Wyoming; Ogallala, Nebraska; Miles City, Montana; and Prescott,
Arizona are but a few of them. Texas was a frequent starting point for many
drives, and Amarillo, Fort Worth, and Wichita Falls were all important cattle
towns.
A drive couldn't
exist without the cowboy, of course. A crew of at ten to fifteen men was needed
for a sizeable herd. Each man needed from five to ten horses (ridden in shifts
so that no one horse became exhausted), so a drive also included a small herd
of horses, called a remuda. The cowboys worked in shifts to watch the cattle
around the clock, herding them in the right direction during the day and making
sure they were safe at night. Theft was a big danger, as was a stampede, when
cattle became frightened and dashed away at top speed in any direction.
A typical drive
would consist of the trail boss, who might be the owner of the cattle, the crew
of cowboys, a horse wrangler to handle the remuda, and the cook, who drove the
chuck wagon. This wagon carried not only food for the crew, but also the
medical supplies and bedrolls. The cook was especially well-respected by the
crew for his knowledge of food and practical medicine. Payment depended on your
previous experience and the job you worked. A trail boss could earn $90 a month
on a drive, while a good cook could bring in $60 a month. Cowboys typically
earned between $30 and $40 a month, and the horse wrangler, usually the
youngest member of the crew, usually earned only around $25 a month.
Once the herd
was moving, everyone had an assigned spot. A good trail boss would rotate the
positions of his crew so that no one cowboy had to ride in the most unpleasant
spots all the time. First out of the camp would be the chuck wagon. This would
travel in front of the herd, and usually be out of sight before long. A scout
traveled ahead of the herd as well, seeking out the best routes and serving as
go-between for the chuck wagon and the trail boss. The main herd followed the
trail boss and the point riders to his right and left. Swing riders were
positioned to either side of the herd, and were responsible for keeping the
cattle bunched together, chasing down stragglers and driving them back into the
herd. To the back of the herd, in roughly
the same positions as point, were the flank riders. Their job was to push the
herd along, making sure they kept to the desired speed. The worst job of all
was drag, which was directly behind the herd, pushing them forward and watching
for stragglers. Drag riders were covered with dust and less-desirable products
of the cattle, kicked up by thousands of hooves.
Here are some
words of wisdom from cattle rancher Oscar Thompson to his son Webster before
his first drive:
11.
First
of all, obey your boss -- he's paying you for your service.
22.
When
you camp at night, always point your wagon tongue toward the North Star.
33.
Explain
to your men in a quiet voice what they are to do.
44.
Never
say "no" to your employer.
55.
Be
ready to go at all times.
66.
Don't
say "You boys do this," but "Come on, boys, follow me."
77.
Put
your best two men on point.
88.
Water
your cattle and fill them up before night.
99.
Explain
to your cook that he must be ready with meals at all times.
110. Watch your horses -- don't let the men
abuse them.
111. Keep your harness and camp equipment
clean and up out of the sand.
112. Don't fight your men unless they jump
you; but if they or anyone else jumps you, give them the best you have.
113. Don't ever misrepresent anything to your
employer; tell it just like it happened.
114. Don't get rattled. No matter what
happens, keep your head clear.
115. Don't lose confidence in yourself.
116. Look after the comfort of your men, and
they will follow you to hell.
117. Keep your mind on your business and make
your head save your heels.
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