Keeping Hearth and Home in Old Texas is a book of such charm that you smile as you turn the pages. Author Carol Padgett, Ph.D. has scoured mid- to late-nineteenth century magazines, letters and books to compile the home-spun advice given to ensure successful living in the Texas of yesterday. Padgett's selections are artfully made, and the book amuses even as it provokes thought. This is a wonderful gift for friends in or out of Texas, a book to have next to a guest's bed, a book to sit back and enjoy yourself.
Divided into eighteen short chapters, Padgett has organized advice that would take the Texan of yesterday from childbirth to the end of life. Many of the entries are amusing, the language is prim and old-fashioned, often eliciting a laugh, but the difference in the rich and easy lives of today contrasts so sharply with the struggles of yesterday that the book opens thought even as it amuses.
This was the wild west where dangerous varmints and critters lurked. Inevitably, there is advice that states which seat on a stagecoach is most comfortable, how to treat gunpowder burns, what to do in case of venomous snake bite. But wild west or no, humans yearn for civility, and the etiquette for the proper young Texas woman, for the mother, for courting couples -both male and female- is included.
Many forms of advice are included. Among them you will find:
- advice on grooming: "...shampooing is a great detriment to the beauty of the hair..."
-advice on attiring oneself: "...suit the bonnet to the face...."
-advice on health: "...the corset or tight clothing can do damage to the vital organs below the diaphragm..."
We laugh as we read these comments, but women made soap at home which probably did yellow the hair. We who expose our midriffs over low cut jeans are quite lucky to not be lacing into a corset. Laughter and thought run together as one reads this book.
The proper young woman of yesterday was dealing with a more complex cooking life than we know today. Padgett has found advice on how to select young pigs for roasting, and how to prepare the pig : "As soon as it is killed, plunge it into cold water for five minutes; then rub it all over..."
Children and food are always a focus of family life and they are not neglected. There is advice that covers all aspects of child-rearing and there are numerous recipes, many familiar and still in use. The recipes are written simply, as if intended for women who already knew how to cook. There was no take-out for a last minute rush.
One riveting entry, the last in the book, reads, "PREVENT BURYING A LOVED ONE ALIVE. Since there are no reliable methods for determining death and since new chemical and industrial methods of putting people in comas are multiplying in society, the fear of burial alive is very real."
Read a poem about Christmas pudding, taken from the book.
About the author: Carol Padgett's fascination with how folks live was seeded in childhood elder-love, blossomed into a psychotherapy practice, and now bears fruit in her work with the dying.
©
