James Pyles Pearline

Description of Illustration: color trade card for Pearline, child with doves, text reads "Bright eyes and dull, near-sighted, far-sighted, anybody (except those who won't--and they are worse than blind) can see at a glance the advantages gained by using Pearline . . . 

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Ladies Winter Coats, 1916

 

Description of Illustration: color catalogue page of ladies winter coats, fur trim, velvet hats, fine leather boots, 1916

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Rosie Victorian Girl

Description of Illustration: fully restored die cut of a Victorian girl wearing coral jewelry, pink satin ribbons, lace and dress holding a small pink rose bud, brown eyes and thick brown wavy hair

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Turnips

 

Description of Illustration: black and white illustration of a bundle of turnips

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Playing The Harp

Description of Illustration: black and white illustration of a Victorian lady sitting and playing a harp

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Business Prospects

Description of Illustration: black and white illustration of a business man studying charts and statistics

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Die Cut of Blowing Bubbles

Description of Illustration: fully restored die cut of Victorian children blowing bubbles, blue pillow top, laurel of flowers

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Bullock's Sewing Machine

Description of Illustration: black and white illustration of a Victorian lady sitting at a Bullock's sewing machine

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Owning the House

He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,
Feels no the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door.
Cowper's Translation of Horace.

        It is not always easy to own a house there; not only because large holders of property there are unwilling to part with it, but because the first expense is too much for the light purse. If it is the want of funds that oblige one to forego the happiness of owning the house, it is not impossible to practice a strict economy till enough money is laid by for a first payment, if the house is purchasable; and then a mortgage is easily to be negotiated at any savings bank or with any money-lender, and the house is practically ours. We find then that there is something to live up to in laying by money each year that otherwise we should have wasted in uncourted and unthinking ways; and it gives us presently a great pleasure to do this, and almost before we know it the mortgage is wiped out. But if that may not be, it is our best interest to obtain a long lease of the house, not only that the rent may not rise upon us, but that we may not lose it at a landlord's caprice or at the wish of another tenant, and also and more important than either, that we may secure permanence and establish the idea of home. For when our children have to note the years of their lives "when we lived in the Blank Street house," and "when we were living in the Naught Square house" and the rest, it is impossible that they should have the idea of home that a permanent stay in any one spot gives. The house is a residence then and not a home. As it is, moving from house to house has become a sort of habit with us, and one of the first signs of advancing spring among us is a certain restlessness beginning to be apparent in every house holder, together with an anxious inspection of those placards that are then blossoming out in the windows, and in the advertising columns of the daily news, with more unerring instinct as to season than the dandelions have in the parks. As the days grow longer, and the robins are seeking us out again, and the swallows are flitting round the eaves, these other migratory beings are also on the wing running from house to house in search of a proper place for their nests; that is to say, judging whether or not their furniture will look better in this house than it does in that, and if all other things are equal, not to say a trifle superior. It is a singular commentary upon the insufficiency of our builders that this is so.

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The Saviour's Love

Description of Illustration: Victorian postcard image paired with a religious poem, Text reads:

I have read of a Saviour's love--

And a wonderful love it must be;

But did He come down from above,

Out of love and compassion for me?

Oh! yes; for His love is as wide

And as deep as the fathomless sea;

And love such as this will provide

Even blessings eternal for me.

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Coming To Jesus

Description of Illustration: Victorian postcard image paired with a religious poem, Text reads:

If I come to Jesus

He will hear my prayer,

For He loves me dearly,

And my sins did bear.

If I come to Jesus

He will take my hand;

He will kindly lead me

To the better land.

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Bible Verse: Mark 10:14

Description of Illustration: Victorian postcard image paired with Mark 10:14, purple and red raspberries and yellow bird

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Lily-Of-The-Valley Fairy

Description of Illustration: A Victorian die cut of a female fairy with blue butterfly wings, surrounded by lily-of-the-valley, stands on moss, white gown, pink ribbon

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Coat of Arms

       Yet it is pleasant to know, albeit in a country where coats of arms are out of order, what the coat of arms was that fell to one's ancestors in the great strifes for existence and booty in previous centuries, as historically illustrative of the character and attainment of a man whose ever-so-many-times-diluted blood may run in our veins, and of the standard which he was obliged to live up to, as we now try to live up to our blue china. And one also naturally takes pride in the motto that indicates, if it chances so to do, a lofty character in the man from whom we have some part of our character as well as of our blood. Many a coat of arms, indeed, as well by its bearings, its crest, as its motto, indicates the whole character and nature of a family a nature impressed so powerfully that all the other sides of the house have failed to make themselves felt in material modification, and if the family were to be characterized by heraldry today, it might be in the same manner. Thus one may actually have an interest in the arms of the family that is perfectly legitimate, and not a subject of pompous parade or improper pride an interest in the expression of heroism, or force, or whatever it may be that they commemorate, shut up in that little space as if it were crystallized there; and one feels a right to hope that something of such worthy ancestry may at some time reappear in one's self or in one's children.

       For other use than this, which may be called a virtual and virtuous use, citizens of a republic have no need of a coat of arms, which is recognized neither by the laws nor the customs of a republic; and it is to be expected that it will be looked on with suspicion, when blazoned abroad in all its bravery, by those who are jealous of the preservation of so costly a boon as liberty, wrenched as that was from the hands of those who still display their armorial bearings in countries that do not present so fair a view of human nature in the masses as this one, in which the common people mount heights of thought and education and comfort hand in hand with the liberty that their fathers gained. 

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       "It's about constructing your personal narrative. It's about knowing who you are and where you came from." - Kate Cordes The Milstein Division collects materials documenting American History on the national, state and local level, Genealogy, Heraldry, Personal and Family Names, and Flags. Its holdings and research services are used each year by thousands of scholars, students, family historians, city planners, television and film producers, novelists and playwrights, visual artists and anyone interested in history. Learn more at www.nypl.org/milstein

Family Traditions

       Few things stimulate this family love more than the treasuring in common of family love and tradition, the looking for the repetition of family traits in mind and body, and a certain jealous respect for the honor of those who are not here to maintain their own honor, no matter should it even go so far as to make sure that the descendants of these ancestors shall themselves be decent and honorable people. A certain tenderness for these dead and gone persons is a worthy feeling that, far from doing harm, is deepening and enlarging to the nature; a certain determination to feel this tenderness puts one already into the attitude of reverence that, if it does no other good, inclines one to consider more warmly the good of their other descendants and bind more nearly the family tie. One need not, in order to do fit reverence to the old root of a family tree, follow the example of the Chinese, and make a solemn business of worshiping one's ancestors with prayer and sacrifice and genuflection; nor even the example of those among ourselves who, judged by their conversation with its boasts of past splendor, would seem to be trying to make other people worship their ancestors in order to throw glorification on themselves. For, after all, the most fit act of reverence that we can possibly show this old family tree of ours is to prove to the world that the best part of it is not that which is under the sod.

       To be sure there is a certain pride in armorial bearings and titled descent, with which a republican people have and should have little or nothing to do, and which to those who believe ardently in our institutions seem but agencies of harm, even if looked at more as matters of curiosity and art than in any other way.

The possession of a home.

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Love of Ancestors

Tenderness for those dead and gone.

       Yet, if they think of it, in every link of the chain of relationship the tenderest closeness of affection has probably subsisted; they themselves were kissed by lips that in turn received the kisses of those behind, and they again received the love and caresses of those yet behind, kisses and caresses forming the long chain between people dear to one another, and not strangers, though the last known be many generations gone. As they look at the stiff, prim likeness of some grandame five or six times removed, they would not regard her so critically if they bethought themselves how that face had lighted up with smiles, and those lips had gathered sweets from the babies that grew up to hand down the line that ends in themselves; they would feel as if they, too, had come in for some share of the warmth of her nature, and recognize the kinship of race; they would possibly find themselves even loving this woman whom they have never seen, and of whom they know nothing but that she lived and loved. It is not easy always to throw ourselves into the personality of those who belonged to a life so long past and so different from our own; but we are sure to know that, whatever their lives were, their hearts were the hearts of mothers and fathers, and into those imagined natures, then, there is not a heart of their posterity which beats that cannot pulse some of its own warm life-blood, and make them for the nonce alive.

      There can hardly be too much closeness in family ties between the members of an existing generation; there is none too much love broadcast in the world, and if it is not our duty to value and cherish those of our own blood, it would be hard to say whose duty it is. The more this obligation is recognized, the better for the world in general, and surely for the world in particular, for there is nothing that smooths the way through life like love, and love that is also a duty has an added force, and is twice loved.

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Plutarch's Advice

       Something of this was known to Plutarch, who advises his readers to imitate one who, "when he knows himself far superior to his brother, calls for his help and advice, whether it be the business of a rhetorician, a magistrate, or a friend; in a word, he that neglects or leaves him out in no honorable employment or concern, but joins him with himself in all his noble and worthy actions, employs him when present, waits for him when absent, and makes the world take notice that he is as fit for business as himself, but of a more modest and yielding disposition, and all this while he has done himself no wrong, and has bravely advanced his brother. "This same old heathen author, indeed, who speaks so commendably of brotherly honor and help, has a great deal more to say in the same vein, which makes one see that fine family feeling, if not universal with the ancients, was yet by no means confined to our later day; and one can not but be struck at the advice he gives a young man in relation to a married brother, adjuring him, to "have the highest esteem and honor for his brother's wife, respecting and honoring her as the most sacred of all his brother's sacred treasures, and thus to do honor to him; condoling with her when she is neglected, and appeasing her when she is angered; if she have a little offended, to intercede and sue for her peace; if there have been any private difference between himself and his brother, to make his complaint before her in order to reconcilement When he has children, let him express his affection and respect to both parents with the greater ardency. Let him love the children equally with his own, but be more favorable and indulgent to them, that, if it chance that they commit some of their youthful faults, they may not run away and hide themselves among naughty acquaintances through fear of their parents' anger, but may have in their uncle a recourse and refuge where they will be admonished lovingly, and will find an intercessor to make their excuse and get their pardon."

The stiff, prim likeness of some grandam.

       If all this were in accordance with advice and custom among the best in heathen times, how much further should fraternal feeling go now, led along in the gentle paths of Christianity! Yet although great things are sometimes more easily done than small ones, we doubt if there are, in our own virtuous days, any better instances of brotherly love than that between two Eastern brothers whose dust has for thousands of years been a portion of the common earth, "in a question," to quote our good old Plutarch again, "not concerning a little patch of land, nor a few servants or cattle, but no less than the kingdom of Persia. When Darius was dead, some were for Ariamenes' succeeding to the crown, as being eldest son; others were for Xerxes, who was born to Darius of Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, in the time of his reign over Persia. Ariamencs, therefore, came from Media, in no hostile posture, but very peaceably, to hear the matter determined. Xerxes, being there, used the majesty and power of a king. But when his brother was come he laid down his crown and other royal ornaments, went and, meeting, greeted him. And sending him presents, he gave a charge to his servants to deliver them with these words: 'With these presents your brother Xerxes expresses the honor he has for you; and if by the judgment and suffrages of the Persians I be declared king, I place you next to myself. ' Ariamenes replied: ' I accept your gifts, but presume the kingdom of Persia to be my right. Yet for all my younger brethren I shall have an honor, but for Xerxes in the first place. ' The day of determining who should reign being come, the Persians made Artabanus, brother to Darius, judge. Xerxes excepting against him. confiding most in the multitude, his mother, Atossa, reproved him, saying: 'Why, son, are you so shy of Artabanus, your uncle, and one of the best men among the Persians? And why should you dread the trial where the worst you can fear is to be next the throne, and to be called the King of Persia's brother?' Xerxes, at length submitting, after some debate Artabanus adjudged the kingdom to Xerxes. Ariamenes presently started up and went and showed obeisance to his brother, and taking him by the hand, placed him in the throne. And from that time, being placed himself by Xerxes next in the kingdom, he continued the same affection to him, insomuch that, for his brother's honor engaging himself in the naval fight at Salamis, he was killed there."

       It is not every crowned Christian that in the years since Salamis has rivaled the behavior of these brothers. It is not every one in private life that rivals them today. For, however the blood may run in our veins, neither natural affection nor family feeling is always quite sufficient to carry us through all the temptations and trials and small annoyances of daily life without constant use of the Golden Rule, without hourly remembrance of that Divine love which shadows forth all family love.

       It is true that the jest concerning the man who, in settling the estate left him by his brother, had so much trouble with it that he "almost wished he hadn't a' died," is still for some households more a literal interpretation of the prevailing spirit there than anything hyperbolic and absurd. But we thank Heaven that we are able to believe such households are not many; that, so far as domestic happiness and union go, most of our homes are as full of peace as the House Beautiful; that our land is one long succession of such homes; and that few of us need to learn a lesson in these high morals from such a people as the Persians, or from such a man as Xerxes.

       But although doing their whole duty to the living, there are many people who are unable to feel an interest in those of their race who have passed from earth, beyond at furthest the last two generations. Perhaps they have half a sensation that these people are strangers, they are so remote they would not care for them, so why should they do more? 

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Household Associations

       But cannot much more of the sentiment be traced to association? There must be ties, equal to those of blood, in life from the earliest remembrance about the same hearth and at the same mother's knee that mother who remains sacred, we will not say either because of instinct or because of the result of long teaching, but because she bore us. And while we are a portion of the flesh and blood of our parents, and love is thus compelled, they would be strange beings if we might not also love them for themselves. But whether or not, we see that there is no time, in all that season when emotions are fresh and character is forming, in which the others of the family are not integral and inherent portions, and again through our very love of self they are dear to us.

       But whether this family feeling is, in its essentials, a God-given instinct or a matter of growth and education, it is at the foundation of all our civil polity, and the family is at the base of the town, as the town is at the base of the State; and so long as the family relation is kept pure and undefiled among any people, so long as children honor their parents, as parents bear in mind their responsibility concerning those whom they have brought into the world, as the hearts of brothers and sisters beat as one, so long will that people possess shields and safeguards against enemies in having homes and altar-fires worth fighting for.

       There are few things more beautiful to see than this family affection, the solicitude of the old for the young, the reverence of the young for the old, the gentle ties of affiliation between sister and sister, the noble loyalty of brother for brother, the attention to trifles that makes happiness for one another, the deadening of strife and destruction of envy, the mutual aiding and uplifting. 

Reverence of the young for the old.

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Liberty Flag

 

Description of Illustration: black and white American flag, Text reads, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty"

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The song, "My Country, Tis of Thee" is also "God Save The Queen."

and no folks, it's not an accident, but very intentional!

Angelic Red Cross Nurse

 

Description of Illustration: vintage color poster illustration of an angelic Red Cross nurse

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"Mother of The World" Red Cross Logo

Description of Illustration: vintage color illustration and black and white version of "The Mother of The World" red cross ads, these are very old folks

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Visit the American Red Cross site here.

Decorated For Bravery

Description of Illustration: vintage color illustration of a child decorating a wounded soldier for the Red Cross

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Vintage Red Cross Logo

 

Description of Illustration: vintage black and white drawing of a logo for the Red Cross

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