leave a responseAs my hero prepares to undress my heroine in my current book (A SEASON OF SEDUCTION starring Lady Rebecca from A HINT OF WICKED!), I am researching stays (corsets) and how they were worn in the 1820′s, and I came upon a story of a mother who has three children, like I do.
Matilda is a fine woman of good breeding, great sense, and much religion. She has three daughters that are educated by herself. She will not trust them with any one else.
Gee, so far Matilda sounds like the kind of mom I am. 
So I read on:
Matilda never was meanly dressed in her life; and nothing pleases her in dress but that which is very rich and beautiful to the eye.
Okay, I’ll admit to being attracted to nice clothes. In fact, just today I bought my daughter a very cute outfit at Gap Kids…
I continue reading on:
She stints them in their meals and is very scrupulous of what they eat and drink and tells them how many fine shapes she has seen spoiled in her time for want of such care. If a pimple rises in their faces she is in a great fright and they themselves are as afraid to see her with it as if they had committed some great sin.
Oh dear! My kids aren’t at pimple age yet, but I sure hope if they ever get pimples, I’ll not blame *them* for it! Now I’m beginning to worry about this Matilda…
It goes on to say that if the girls begin to look flushed, she calls in a doctor to keep their complexion from becoming too “coarse and ruddy.”
Uh. Okay.
By this means they are poor, pale, sickly, infirm creatures vapoured through want of spirits, crying at the smallest accidents, swooning away at anything that frights them, and hardly able to bear the weight of their best clothes.
This is seriously beginning to depress me. And then I read this:
The eldest daughter lived as long as she could under this discipline and died in the twentieth year of her age. When her body was opened it appeared that her ribs had grown into her liver and that her other entrails were much hurt by being crushed together with her stays which her mother had ordered to be twitched so strait that it often brought tears into her eyes whilst the maid was dressing her.
Wow. Just wow. 
Yes, that is definitely freaky, but what fascinating characters!
by SabrinaDarby August 26th, 2009 at 2:16 amThat reminds me of the Chinese foot binding–and it’s just as morbidly fascinating!
by Jen August 26th, 2009 at 10:21 amNote to self: don’t dress my daughter in overly-tight corsets.
by Trent Hamm August 26th, 2009 at 10:45 amUnreal what women are willing to do for what they consider beauty.
by Melissa August 26th, 2009 at 11:37 amAnd so sad the even though the methods are different, today some of this stuff still goes on, and much of it self inflicted. Sigh.
Yeah, I have a 16 yr old daughter, so this stuff is uppermost in my mind alot.
Thanks for your responses, everyone.
Sabrina, you’re right–I find it fascinating, too!
Jen, you’re right about that comparison–ugh. The things women do for beauty…
Trent, I’ll be keeping that in mind, too, as my daughter gets older!
Melissa, that is so true today–we just inflict it upon ourselves in different ways. So very sad!
by Jennifer August 26th, 2009 at 11:43 amI had a friend who would eat Chocolate laxatives after every meal so she would not gain weight. She passed away at a young age because her stomach and intestines were completely destroyed. susan L.
by susan leech August 26th, 2009 at 7:40 pmOh my gosh. That’s awful!
by Robin August 27th, 2009 at 12:02 amOh, Susan, that is so sad! And I agree, Robin, it is awful. I was reading so cheerfully at the beginning, but by the end, I was just sad!
by Jennifer August 28th, 2009 at 11:13 amThis is fantastic historical weirdness. Great blog-now I must read your books!
by Michelle August 28th, 2009 at 11:09 pm