The Colonial Cavalier; or, Southern Life before the RevolutionGoodwin, Maud Wilder
History
The Colonial Cavalier; or, Southern Life before the Revolution
Goodwin, Maud Wilder
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- To 1775; Upper class -- Southern States
It is a pleasant glimpse we thus gain of one great statesman writing to
another, and turning away from public enterprises to remember the private
longings of the two little maidens at home, whose hearts are to be
gladdened, though the flesh suffers, by these bits of finery.
It was not little girls alone who were willing to endure discomfort in the
cause of personal appearance. Washington's false teeth still remain, a
monument of his fortitude. They are a set of "uppers and unders" carved in
ivory, inserted in a ponderous plate, with clamps in the roof that must
have caused torture to the inexperienced mouth. The upper set is connected
with the lower by a spiral spring, and the two are arranged to be held in
place by the tongue. No one but the hero of Trenton and Valley Forge,
could have borne such an affliction and preserved his equanimity.
Tooth-brushes are a modern luxury. In the old times, the most genteel were
content to rub the teeth with a rag covered with chalk or snuff, and there
was more than a suspicion of effeminacy in a man's cleaning his teeth at
all. It is not strange that there was such a demand for the implanted
teeth which Dr. Le Mayeur introduced toward the end of the century.
I think it may be fairly claimed that the nineteenth century has marked a
great advance in personal cleanliness. To this, as much as anything,
except perhaps the use of rubber clothing, we owe its increase of
longevity. It is impossible to overestimate the importance to modern
hygiene of water-proof substances, keeping the feet and body dry. Pattens
and clogs were of service in their day and generation, but they were a
clumsy contrivance as compared with the light overshoes of India-rubber.
It was not till 1772 that the first efforts were made in Baltimore to
introduce the use of umbrellas. "These, like tooth-brushes," writes
Scharf, "were at first ridiculed as effeminate, and were only introduced
by the vigorous efforts of the doctors, who recommended them chiefly as
shields from the sun and a defence against vertigo and prostration from
heat. The first umbrellas came from India. They were made of coarse oiled
linen, stretched over sticks of rattan, and were heavy and clumsy, but
they marked a wonderful step in the direction of hygienic dress. Before
their introduction, ministers and doctors, who, more than any one else in
the community, were called to face the winter rains, wore a cape of oiled
linen, called a _roquelaire_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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