USA > New York > Kings County > Flatbush > The social history of Flatbush : and manners and customs of the Dutch settlers in Kings county > Part 9
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Taffeties, Persians, Damasks, Lutestring, Padusoys, Sattens, Amozeens, Modes and Peelongs Dowlas, Garlix, Tandems, Plat- tilas royal, Pistol lawns, Minionets.
Also in Horse and Cart Street, a large assortment of Printed Linens, Shalloons, Rattinets, Kentings, Tamies, Durants, Calli- mancoes, Alapeens and Silverets.
We surely can not say, after this list of material, that our grandmothers had no choice of the wherewithal to make their dresses and petticoats.
HOOP-SKIRTS.
History tells us that in the year 1709 the petticoats worn by the ladies of fashion in England had attained an enormous size. The "Tatler," the great "censor of the morals and manners of the day," jestingly speaks of it as a " silken rotunda, not unlike the cupola of St. Paul's."
This fashion seems to have reached its most absurd height in 1745. A pamphlet was at that time published against the fashion, entitled, "The Enormous Abomi- nation of the Hoop Petticoat," because the garment "had become of so enormous a circumference that it could not be longer endured."
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DRESS.
Slowly and gradually this unnatural fashion passed away, but its extinction was not to be final. Somewhere about 1858 it was revived in a more moderate form, and hoop-skirt making became an industry that gave em- ployment to thousands of workmen. There were man- ufactories in all the large cities. The ribs were made of steel or tin, with a woven cover over each rib. They were pliable and not expensive.
It is probable that through the invention and im- provement of machinery the hoop-skirts of this century were much lighter and less cumbersome than the "stiff hoops" which Pope denounces in his "Rape of the Lock."
The fashion held sway for nearly twenty years, only varying in the size and shape of the framework. Then the modern hoop-skirt passed into disuse, and woman once more presents herself in the size of her natural figure.
STOCKINGS.
Even articles so simple as stockings have been sub- ject to the mutations of fashions. We read that Queen Elizabeth had them "of black knitted silk." There is little doubt but that at an early period they were of bright colors. In 1737, or thereabout, white stockings were first worn. At first they occasioned some dispute as to whether they were modest and lady-like. White stockings, however, continued to be worn, even in the deepest mourning, we are told, until 1778 ; at that time black silk stockings were introduced as the usual wear in England.
Black silk stockings were always worn in our recol- lection in this country by ladies in mourning until about 1855, when the fashion of wearing high boots hid
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
the stocking, and unbleached cotton hose were worn with all dresses, whether dark or light. At that same period, also, children always wore white stockings with white dresses ; a dark stocking with a white dress would have been considered in very bad taste. At present that has been changed ; colored hose of the deepest, or of the most brilliant, dye are worn with white dresses, and white or unbleached cotton hose are worn only at the will of the owner.
The knitting of stockings was an important industry in the family in the last century and in the beginning of this. The ball of gray and dark-blue woolen yarn was always in the knitting-basket ; the stockings for the whole family were knit by hand at that time ; the chil- dren's were often of red yarn ; the men's were of gray or blue, and the women's of any color to suit the fancy of the wearer. To-day, when a good pair of unbleached cotton hose can be purchased for twenty-five or thirty cents, and coarse cotton at even a less price, we can not advise the resumption of the knitting-needle, although it seems like a pleasant, home-like way of spending the long winter evening, when conversation, or even reading, offers no interruption to the industrious fingers.
SHOES.
If Fashion stoops to select the color of the stocking, we can not expect to have the shape of the shoe exempt from her tyranny.
With the bridal dress, to which we have referred as having been worn in 1780, there were also preserved two pairs of shoes. We may judge from these of the style worn in full dress at this period. One pair was of dark, maroon-colored silk, embroidered ; the other was
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of pink satin. Both pairs were very pointed at the toe, and the heels were at least two inches high, and some- what in shape of a flattened hour-glass.
Probably that shape was out of fashion for some eighty years ; to-day we find an approximation to it in the high heels placed almost under the instep, which one sees in the window of the fashionable shoemaker. High-heeled shoes passed out of fashion when that ex- treme was reached.
Slippers were always worn in full dress some thirty years ago, and high boots were only used in the street. Afterward boots for ladies were made with paper soles and of handsome material to match the dresses, and then slippers were for a time out of fashion. These thin boots were laced up at the side. Buttoned boots were first used some fifteen or twenty years ago.
The thick, coarse shoes worn before India-rubber overshoes were made were not sufficient to keep the feet dry in stormy weather, and it is only since the pres- ent perfected use of gum overshoes that there is entire protection afforded.
India-rubber shoes and boots were unknown in the time of our grandmothers ; they are comparatively a recent invention. They were at first bulky and stiff, but now such a degree of elasticity has been attained that, whether in the shape of sandal or high shoe, they are pliable, light, and strong.
Before and even a few years later than 1800, the shoes for the farmer's family were made in his house. The skins of the calves killed on his farm were sent to the tanner, who reserved a certain share for his own pay, and of the remainder the boots and shoes were made by a shoemaker who came to the house for that
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
purpose. At such times the whole family, including master and mistress, children and slaves, were supplied with common shoes for ordinary use.
APRONS.
About the close of the last century fancy aprons were not considered out of place even in full dress, although it is not probable that they were worn at balls and parties.
We find in a newspaper bearing date April, 1773, an advertisement in which there is a great variety of these offered for sale :
Spotted and figured Scots lawn . aprons. Spotted and figured silk
Plain and flowered, figured and spotted, black gauze .
Figured and flowered black and white silk
Needle-worked lawn.
Fancy aprons, more or less trimmed, were worn by young ladies, and formed a very pretty addition to their afternoon dress. Until within some ten or fifteen years they were not considered inconsistent even with a silk dress. At present they are only worn by children, or, if used by ladies, only to serve the temporary purpose of neatness, and not an ornamental part of their gen- eral costume.
GLOVES
are an expensive and necessary part of a lady's equip- ment, but they have not, from the nature of things, been subjected to the same changes as have other arti- cles of dress, except as to improvement in color and quality.
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The buttoned gloves worn in full dress were not so common a few years ago as they are now.
When children and young misses all wore short sleeves, there were long kid gloves which could be drawn up above the elbow ; for school-children these long gloves were made of "nankeen." For weddings and parties, long kid gloves reached half way to the elbow, and were trimmed with lace, swan's-down, or quilled satin ribbon ; when they were not worn so long, then buttoned gloves came in fashion.
Silk gloves and mitts were in more general use for- merly than they are at present. As long ago as in the past century they were worn of colors selected to match the rest of the dress.
We copy the following advertisement from a news- paper published in 1773 :
Women's silk and worsted gloves and mitts.
white and purple kid
purple.
66
66
crimson
blue. 66
black 66
66
66 white.
66
66 cloth-coloured
66°
This last-named color is as much a puzzle to us as some of the fancy names which are now given to various colors may be to those of the next generation.
WORK-BAGS.
A work-bag, or reticule, carried on the arm, was at one time fashionable ; the article itself seems to be revived at this present time, but it is now most fre- quently worn appended to the waist, upon the belt.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
Bead-bags were made of canvas entirely beaded over in designs of flowers, etc .; others were of velvet, silk, or of cloth to match the rest of the dress.
These bags were used for the pocket-handkerchief, instead of a pocket in the dress ; perhaps they also held the snuff-box when that habit was indulged in.
JEWELRY.
If there was much jewelry worn by the young men , and maidens in Flatbush before the Revolutionary War, there is very little of it now remaining except some few rings, brooches, and the knee- and shoe-buckles which formed so important a part of the gentlemen's dress.
The jewelry worn in New York in 1770-1780 may be judged from the jewelers' advertisements, one of whom speaks of himself as " the only real Maker in this city of Ladies Sett Shoe buckles, Ear rings, Egrets, Sprigs and hair pins, Seals, Necklaces, Combs, Crosses and Lockets, Sleeve buttons and Braslets, etc. Gen- tlemen's Setts shoe, knee, and stock buckles, Seals, Brooches, Buttons and rings. The above articles done in the neatest and best manner and sold as cheap as in London, wholesale or retail."
HATS AND BONNETS.
There is in this present day an improvement in the covering worn upon the head. Hats and bonnets arc more tasteful and pretty than those formerly worn. For children the Normandy cap is comfortable and child-like. as also are the round straw hats worn in sum- mer. The shade hats used by young ladies, and the stylish shapes of their dress hats, are also very pic-
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turesque and becoming. Even the bonnets of elderly ladies, when not overladen with trimming, are more tasteful than the poke bonnets formerly worn.
When children were out at play in the summer they wore gingham sun-bonnets ; as these were made over stiff pasteboard, they were heavy and very uncomfort- able. A child has been many a time punished for throwing off these scoops in its out-door games, when the fault really lay with the parent who required the child to wear such an uncomfortable covering upon the head.
The elaborate bonnets worn some thirty years ago consisted of a front piece, a crown, and a cape at the back of the neck ; they were varied in their general ont- line every season-the front flared more or less, the crown was at a greater or less angle of inclination, the cape was very full and deep, or it was scant; it was plain, or it had frill trimming. The face trimming in these fanciful results of the milliner's art was an elabo- rate semicircle of lace, ribbons, and flowers. There were generally tabs of lace against the cheeks, and flow- ers above the forehead ; or there were lace and flowers intermingled at the sides, and bows of pink, blue, or yellow ribbon above, like the keystone uniting the arch. These bonnets met under the chin, and were tied there with broad ribbon, but, in some of the senseless changes of fashion, were worn so far back upon the head that the strings were useless ; the bonnet almost rested upon the back of the neck, and if it was not apt to drop off, it had at least that appearance.
There is a picture of Queen Victoria in one of these large bonnets, of the style when they were drawn for- ward over the face.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
On or about 1835 a covering for the head, known as a caleche, was much worn while walking or driving. These were somewhat in shape of a gig-top. They were made of reeds covered with silk ; black was the color for elderly ladies, green for young ladies ; they were lined with white. When laid aside, they were perfectly flat ; when worn, they were drawn forward over the face with a ribbon fastened on both sides about three inches from the top, which was held in the hand.
A writer in "Scribner's Magazine " for August, 1879, on New York fashions in 1814-1830, says : " Chip and Leghorn bonnets were the favorites for summer wear. Twenty dollars, or even more, were paid for an un- trimmed Leghorn bonnet. But then we expected a nice thing, once bought, would last a long time ; our bonnets were done over and retrimmed, and came out again as good as new next season-or, if we were of a frugal mind, for several seasons.
" . . . Merino or raw-silk underwear, or anything resembling it, had not yet been heard of.
Merino long shawls, with a broad border at the ends, and a narrow one along the length, came up during the war, and were considered a part of a nice toilet. At first they were white, but black and scarlet soon appeared.
"Tortoise-shell combs and thread-lace were among the desirable possessions of ordinarily well-dressed peo- ple ; of jewels we heard but little. A person had a set of pearls, perhaps, or sometimes you saw a ruby or a diamond finger-ring, but precious stones of a high rank were very infrequent."
Water-proof cloaks, whether of the rubber silk or the water-proof cloth, were unknown until within the
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last twenty years. They are now almost a necessary part of a lady's outfit, and we hope there may be some significance in the fact that these modern inventions of women's wear are in the direction of the comfortable and the useful.
The long trains and tieback style of overskirt which are at present worn may soon be followed by some other absurdity ; but it is, at least, a cause for congratulation that that which is fantastic and arbitrary does not re- tain its hold as long as that which is natural and grace- ful.
Now that intercourse between this country and Paris is so easy and frequent, the fashions of France are adopted almost as quickly here as they obtain favor abroad.
In the beginning of this century, instead of the fashion-plates, with their full directions as to the changes in costume, a doll was dressed in Paris in the height of the prevailing mode, and sent by the " regular fast-sail- ing packet " to the mantua-makers in New York as a model to be copied.
As early as 1712, these dolls, dressed in the fashion of the period, were sent from Paris to London ; it was by this means that the changes of fashion were intro- duced before steam opened up the facilities for constant intercourse. We have a vivid remembrance of the old age of one of these fashion-dolls which had been sent from Paris to a fashionable mantua-maker in New York. When the dress had changed as to style, the dressmaker sold the doll to one of her customers, and " Miss Nancy Dawson" passed into the obscurity of humbler dollies who had never been sent as ministers plenipotentiary from the court of fashion.
10
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
Let us hope that in time women will not be subser- vient to the dictates of French modistes, but will select for themselves that which is healthful, becoming, taste- ful, and simple.
To spend so much thought, time, and money upon the garments which we wear is a wasteful expenditure of time which might be better employed, and of money which might be better spent, especially if the result is the cumbersome and tasteless dress which women, in some seasons, have been led by fashion to adopt.
We here insert an extract from a historian of the Dutch in New York, which may be of interest in this connection :
"Every household had from two to six spinning-wheels for wool and flax, whereon the women of the family expended every leisure moment. Looms, too, were in common use, and piles of homespun cloth and snow-white linen attested the industry of the active Dutch maidens.
" Hoards of home-made stuffs were thus accumulated in the settlement, sufficient to last until a distant generation. . . .
"There was a good deal of wealth and intelligence here, and the necessities of their occupations did not prevent them from devoting time to mental, social, and religious matters. . . .
" The Dutch ladies wore no bonnets, but brushed their hair back from their foreheads and covered it with a close-fitting cap; over this they wore, in the open air, hoods of silk or taf- feta, elaborately quilted. Their dress consisted of a jacket of eloth or silk and a number of short petticoats of every conceiv- able number or material, quilted in fanciful figures. . . . The wardrobe of a fashionable lady usually contained from ten to twenty of these, of silk, camlet, cloth, drugget, India stuff, and a variety of other materials, all closely quilted, and usually costing from five to thirty dollars each.
"They wore blue, or red, or green worsted stockings of their own knitting, with parti-colored clocks and high-heeled shoes.
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"Considerable jewelry was in use among them in the shape of rings and brooches. Gold neck and fob chains were un- known. The few who owned watches attached them to chains of silver or steel, though girdle chains of silver or gold were much in vogue among the most fashionable belles. For neck- laces they wore strings of gold beads."
In an autobiography of Mrs. Sigourney, she de- scribes the food and clothing of children in New Eng- land during her childhood. Her description agrees in every particular with the manner in which the children on Long Island were trained during the same period. We prefer to give her words, rather than our own, for we could not reproduce a more perfect picture of house- hold life such as it was with us than that which she shows us of her New England home :
"The diet allotted to children in those days was judicious and remarkably simple. Well-fermented and thoroughly baked bread of the mingled Indian and rye meal, and rich, creamy milk were among its prominent elements. I never tasted any bread so sweet as those large loaves, made in capacious iron basins. Light, wheaten biscuits, delicious gold-colored butter, always made in the family, custards, puddings, delicate pastry. succulent vegetables and fruits, gave sufficient variety of condi- ment to the repasts allotted us. The extreme regularity and early hours for meals-twelve being always the time for dinner -obviated in a great measure the necessity of intermediates, and saved that perpetual eating into which some little ones fall until the digestive powers are impaired in their incipient action. If sport, or exercise in the garden, led me to desire refreshment between the regular meals, a piece of brown bread was given me without butter, and I was content. Candies and confec- tionery were strangers to us primitive people. The stomach, that keystone of this mysterious frame, not being unduly stimu- lated, no morbid tastes were formed, and no undue mixture of saccharine or oleaginous matter caused effervescence and dis-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
ease. The name of dyspepsia, with its offspring stretching out like the line of Banquo, I never heard in early years. Spices were untasted, unless it might be a little nutmeg in the sauce of our nice puddings, which I still counted as a foe, because it ' bit my tongue.' When seated at the table I was never asked whether I liked or disliked aught that appeared there. It never occurred to me whether I did or not. I never doubted but what I should be fed ' with food convenient for me.' I was helped to what was deemed proper, and there was never any necessity, like poor Oliver Twist, to ask for more. It did not appear to me, from aught that I saw or heard, that the pleasure of eating was one of the main ends of existence.
" My costume was simple, and unconstrained by any ligature to impede free circulation. Stays, corsets, or frames of whalebone I never wore. Frocks, low in the neck, and with short sleeves, were used both winter and summer. Houses had neither fur- naces nor grates for coal, and churches had no means of being warmed, but I can not recollect suffering inconvenience from cold. Thick shoes and stockings were deemed essential, and great care was taken that I should never go with wet fect. Clear, abundant wood-fires sparkled in every chimney, and I was always directed, in cold seasons, to sit with my feet near them until thoroughly warmed, before retiring for the night."
CHAPTER XVI.
WEDDINGS.
WEDDINGS among the old Dutch people were cele- brated at the house of the bride's parents. There may have been instances in which the ceremony was per- formed in the church, but we have never known of such. It was not until some twenty years ago that a bridal party assembled in the church for the marriage service. It is now quite common.
Furman says that the marriage fees were not the perquisite of the minister, but were paid over to the consistory. Dominie Solyns paid 78 guilders, 10 stivers, as the sum which he had received officially for this duty, this being the amount of fourteen marriage fees. In the account of subscriptions received for the building of the first church in 1660, we find an item which is ex- plained by this fact, viz., " 43 guilders for marriage fees."
As far back as we have any personal recollection of the matter, or as we have been informed by others, the service was performed early in the evening, in the pres- ence of the immediate relatives of the bride and groom ; the invited guests assembled soon after.
A table was bountifully spread with very substantial refreshments, and as no expense was spared to entertain the wedding guests, the good things prepared were in characteristic abundance. The elderly people left at a
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
comparatively early hour, but the younger guests con- tinued the festivity until after midnight, as they are wont to do even at the present day.
The office of groomsman and bridesmaid was not the sinecure then that it is now ; they were expected to as- sist at the serving of the supper, to carve, to see that the guests were all helped, to entertain the company, and to feel a certain responsibility that everything went off well. The cutting and giving the guests the bridal cake was also the work of the bridesmaids, and the guests all expected to be provided with a piece to take home.
The custom of having a large circle of friends and relatives present at a wedding was very general, particu- larly if the choice of the young couple about to be mar- ried was acceptable to the parents. It was considered as the proper time for rejoicing and merry-making, for the Dutch, although quiet and sober in their family life, were not as austere as their Puritan neighbors ; they were very willing upon the proper occasion to throw open their houses for festivity and rejoicing, and a wedding was considered very emphatically as the proper time.
There were no wedding journeys undertaken by the bridal party whose marriage was celebrated before steam made traveling easy and opened so many places of re- sort. The day after the wedding the bridal party went, accompanied by the bridesmaids and groomsmen, to the house of the parents of the groom, where the bride was welcomed by her husband's parents, and where it was very frequently the case that the festivity of the pre- vious day was continued.
A great deal of visiting followed upon the occasion
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WEDDINGS.
of a wedding ; at one time it was customary for the bride and groom to drive about on horseback, the bride upon a pillion ; the happy couples of a later date paid and exchanged their visits in a chaise. They were in- vited by their relatives and friends, and entertained at tea drinkings and evening suppers in a continued round of gayety.
It was customary for the bride to wear her bridal dress to church on the Sunday following her marriage. The young couple were accompanied to church by the bridesmaids and groomsmen, who took seats with them.
Some rich and handsome fabric was chosen for the bridal dress, which could be worn upon other occasions, this practical view of everything showing itself among our Dutch ancestors even in their festivities. We refer now to the customs of the last century. As bright colors and rich fabrics were worn by gentlemen as well as by ladies in that age, it was considered a delicate compliment to the bride for the groom to recognize her taste in dress by adopting the same color in his. In the wedding dress to which we have referred as being worn in 1780, the petticoat of the bride and the waist- coat of the groom were from the same piece of blue satin damask.
To the full bridal dress of a more recent date orange blossoms and the bridal veil are indispensable, and white must be the only color worn by the bride.
The engagement ring which the maiden expects from her lover in this age was not looked for in the last century, or it was left optional as to whether it should be given or not. A gold ring was generally a wedding gift, although it was not used in the ceremony of the Dutch Church.
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