|
In Victorian Parlors and Tea
Parties, Patricia B. Mitchell tells the story of how tea came to be a meal and how it may have shaped the history of the American women.
… in the mid-1800’s, an appreciation of the nation’s English Heritage was rekindled. The approaching centennial, and admiration of Queen Victorian’s successful rule of Britannia, sparked people’s enthusiasm for British ways. The styles and habits of England were suddenly dear to U. S. citizens. One of the results of this obsession with English life was the revival of “kettledrums” or afternoon tea. This mini-meal was an opportunity for ladies to boil up some water in the teakettle and have a social event.
Despite 18th century novelist Henry Fielding’s comment that “Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea,” and 19th century writer Oliver Wendell Holmes’s rather unflattering, yet funny, description of a tea party as “. . .giggle, gabble, gobble, and git . . .” women did actually reach beyond the façade of superficiality of chit-chat and converse on deeper topics, and at tea tables perhaps were whispered comments such as “Would it not be advantageous for Daughter to attend a college?” or “If women could vote . . .” or “I think that someone would actually pay me to make a christening gown for her baby.”
At the tea parties in houses near Seneca Falls, New York, Elizabeth Stanton met with Lucretia Mott and her circle of Quaker women in 1848. These two reformers planned a convention on women’s rights, the first such political gathering.
Mrs. Mitchell’s book, which in available in the Hunter House Victorian Museum gift shop for $3.75, contains, not only commentary on the history of tea and the place of tea in history, but also delightful recipes that could grace even the simplest of tables such as “Tea Dance Date-Nut Bread”.
Click here for
recipe.
Return to Online Tea
Society
|
|
|
|
“.
. . women did actually reach beyond the
façade of superficiality of chit-chat and
converse on deeper topics . . .”
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you are cold,
Tea will warm you -
If you are heated,
It will cool you -
If you are depressed,
It will cheer you-
If you are excited,
It will calm you.
William E. Gladstone
|
|
|
|
