The Victorian Era took place during the reign of Queen Victoria of England, and was considered a time of greatness in English history. Today our concept of that time has been shaded by critics who claim that women were unhappy, uneducated and confined. Modernists would like us to believe this, so that we will remain in a constant state of flux, and never be able to return to the stability of former times. Yet the paintings of that era tell a different tale, and that is why I use them on the Lady Lydia pages and in emails. If the women of the past were so uneducated, before they were "liberated" in the 20th century, then why did so many of the paintings depict women reading books and writing letters? Consider the picture above. This woman certainly does not looked stressed out or unhappy as modernists would have us believe. I have come to the conclusion that the reading and writing paintings were considered very glamorous for a woman. So many of the paintings depicted what the artists and their society considered ideal womanhood. Check the paintings again on the site and you will see very intelligent women doing great things.

1.I have noticed this trend among the young ladies who have grown up in home school, that they enjoy wearing the full names of their husbands, such as: Mrs. John Stacey, Mrs. Charles Bougeville, Mrs. Joseph Windsor, etc. This is a wonderful return to the old ways, and I absolutely love it. Remember when you could not get checks and address labels printed in your own name? Well now, young women are insisting on having their husband's name, with "Mrs." in front of it on checks and address labels.

2. Dress in such a way as to be identified as a female from a distance. Men will not have to "examine further" with their eyes on private parts to detect the difference. Dress in such a way that there cannot be a doubt in the world which gender you belong to. I remember reading a court case of the 1800's, word for word, in which a man was asked "How did you know the person you saw was a woman?" and he answered, "She was dressed like a woman."

3. Have a cooking class in your home or your church facilities for young women and girls (accompanied by their mothers, if possible). Prepare a menu and get other ladies to help you demonstrate the cooking. Pass around the samples to eat, or serve it up properly on tables prepared with table cloth and table settings, centerpiece, etc. I noticed at a recent cooking class I attended that most of the class was made up of students who were older and already avid cooks, and no teen girls. This is the group that needs these classes the most. You should also demonstrate the principles of table setting, color, etc. Centerpieces, for example should not obliterate your view of the people across the table, so they should be short.

Here is a good principle my husband gave me very early on in our marriage: Don't worry about getting an audience. Send the word around on a flyer or brochure, make a few phone calls, and do some mail outs. You may wish to follow up with calls the day of the cooking class, but do not be discouraged if only one person shows up. Just teach it anyway. Do your best whether 1 or 21 come to the class, for ultimately you are serving Christ. I benefited a lot from this lesson, as my teaching skills increased even when no one showed up. (He also said that if no one showed up, I should stay and pretend to teach so I could get comfortable with it!) Don't get discouraged. Remember that the point is to do what YOU are supposed to do, and don't worry about trying to draw a big crowd or become famous or be successful. I've used this idea in many things I wanted to try, and it has worked. If one young lady comes, she will take the tale to others, and soon you will get calls like, "Mrs. Smith, when are you going to have another cooking class? I missed the last one."

4. Do not limit teaching to cooking. There is so much to be done! If you have an interest or a skill, set up a time when you can do it for the benefit of others. Maybe it is organization, or decorating, crafts, music, sewing, painting---just do it. I once had a class on candles! No, I wasn't selling them, I was merely trying to get girls interested in using them and showing them how to light, extinguish, and care for them. I showed the names of different candles such as: votives, tapers, pillars, etc. and explained the safely of candle holders, and mentioned how to detect leaded wicks. I introduced the candle snuffer and explained about having unscented candles at mealtimes so the scent would not interfere with the food. I also once had a table setting lesson. I put on a side table a stack of assorted placemats, glassware, plates, centerpieces, cutlery and so forth. Each girl went and picked out some things and created a place setting with a centerpiece. Like I said, there is so much to be done, there isn't time in one person's lifetime to do it, and so you will all have to help!!!

5. Spend some time on the phone or email with those you personally know who are homemakers, and tell them it is the greatest contribution to society a woman can make. I think the feminists have intimidated us into thinking that if we talk about homemaking details we are just silly and trivial. I recently spent an hour on the phone with a lady I did not even know, who wanted to know about my routine at home, and wanted to tell me hers! She said, "My husband doesn't like noise when he gets home from work, so I have to get everything done during the day, and cannot wash dishes or do laundry at night. The first thing I do is put in a load of laundry, and then do my dishes." This routine suits her just fine, and she remarked how nice it was to talk to someone about this. Is it any less important than spending an hour on the phone with someone talking about a business venture?

Lillibeth had her baby boy in her room at her home in Florence, Oregon, delivered by two excellent midwives. Since I had never experienced home birth before, I noted many things that might be valuable to you. You will never know when you might be called on to assist a friend or some poor motherless woman in her labour. Firstly, the midwives came at 7 in the morning and stayed until 1:30 pm. I had to scramble to find something to fix for them to eat, as they had not even had breakfast, so if I were to make a suggestion for next time, it would be to bring groceries and plan about 3 days worth of meals. They also needed lunch. The new mother was famished after the delivery so I had to prepare an extra meal just for her. You will need to have a bed tray with folding legs on it, as well as a tray on top of it. You will need a huge jug of apple cider or some other drink, as she will absolutely drink twice that much during your stay. Also, we could have used a video player and some good videos. For a day or so after the birth, she was pretty laid up and it got very monotonous. The other thing I noticed was that we could have used more receiving blankets. They actually use them to receive the baby, and they get very soiled, so you need lots of old ones from the thrift stores, or old flannel night gowns cut up into large squares. These are washed up nicely and placed over and under a heating pad. When baby comes they are put on him immediately, and as they cool, you have to put new ones on. Even 2 dozen is not too many! If you are the lady who is caring for the young mother, you will have to keep up with the laundry. The mom changes several times and the sheets will be changed a couple of times shortly after the birth. If there is already a toddler or two in the family you will have to feed them and wash their clothes too.You need to keep checking the mom to keep her water or juice glass filled. If anyone thinks of anything else for the helper or grandmother to remember when the midwives come, be sure to write in, and we will keep a list going.

I taught her how to play with her dolls, wrap them in a blanket, put them in a carriage, and push the carriage to visit some one. I taught her how to bathe the doll, shop for groceries, pretend to cook, and wash little dishes. Since we went often to the fabric store, we also "played fabric store" by wrapping little pieces of fabric around cardboard to make the bolt. She had a little iron board and iron. I would like to suggest to anyone out there who has the skill, that making little wooden, foldable children's ironing boards is a good idea, and would probably sell very well. I could not find any iron boards in the toy stores. You would also do well to invent the little iron pad for it. You will need to get toy pots and pans and other things. A dress up box is wonderful. Just fill a decorative cardboard storage box with hats and gloves and dresses and purses and watch the girls play. You also will need a little table and chair set.

Let your girls follow you around the house in your routine. I did this because I did not like her to be off in a room away from me too long. If I was making the bed I would say, "Now I am going to make the bed. First, I pull up the sheet, like this. Now I put on the blankets. Now the spread. Okay, now let's do the pillows, like this." Then I would stand back and let her do it a little. You don't have to take out enormous amounts of time to train them. I've seen mothers do this and then nothing gets done and they are late fixing dinner. Just a little teaching here and there, and having them follow you around during the day is sufficient. They can bring in their dolls or strollers while they are with you.

Older women need to get out of that boring uniform of double knit pants and sweatshirts, or jeans and masculine looking shirt or jacket, and those awful tennis shoes. They spend hundreds of dollars on perms and fake nails, Yet neglect their clothing. Have a look at older women of the past and take note of how they aged gracefully. When I lived overseas, I noticed that even the older women who were overweight were very meticulous in their appearance over all, wearing beautiful flowing dresses and lovely flats, and flattering hairstyles. Avoid dressing in colours that make you look like a baked potato.There is no use complaining about the way the youth dress if we don't offer an appealing alternative in our own example of dressing! Send me your suggestions and I will post them in the next email newsletter.