Thank you !!!! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carole D. Bryant" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 10:52 AM Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] About bedcovers... was inventory > For others interested, Hollow Folk may be read on-line: > > _http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b297150#page/1/mode/1up_ > (http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b297150#page/1/mode/1up) > > Carole > > > > In a message dated 11/19/2012 11:16:24 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, > [log in to unmask] writes: > > Carole, if you have a chance to read the book, hope you will get back to > me. > M. > > On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Carole D. Bryant > <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > >> "Hollow Folk" ! I reckon those folk were anything but "hollow" ! Such >> living most often results in solid personal character -- the kind of >> people >> some of us would like to have for neighbors ! ! ! Kind and generous, >> honest >> and faithful, God-fearing and spiritually strong. >> >> I know my comment is a bit "off subject," but I couldn't resist. The > term >> just jumped out at me. There are exceptions, of course, but generally >> our >> "soft living" today is producing an unkind and greedy, deceitful and >> incompetent, immoral and spiritually dead society ! Give me the old >> "hollow >> folk" ANY day ! >> >> Carole D. Bryant >> >> >> >> >> In a message dated 11/18/2012 3:19:52 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, >> [log in to unmask] writes: >> >> Carolyn, what a nice response. Many of my kin came to the Shenandoah >> Valley in the 1730s. I can't imagine how tough the conditions were > while >> they tried to put up a cabin. I look at how spoiled I am (can't be > too >> warm or too cool) and wonder how, genetically, my line survived. >> >> Your comments reminded me of a book I read ...Hollow Folk by Mandel >> Sherman >> and Thomas R. Henry. It was written in 1933 and tells of life in the >> hollows on the Blue Ridge Mountains. From the tone of your email....I >> think you may enjoy it. >> >> Regards, >> Madaline >> >> >> >> On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:11 AM, Carolyn Bruce <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: >> >> > Quantities of blankets, quilts, and coverlids (a.k.a. counterpanes or >> > "countypins") were necessary in homes in which there was no central >> heat... >> > and if the fire went out, no heat at all. Most homes were of wood >> > and >> had >> > no insulating materials. In addition, kinfolks might come to stay >> awhile, >> > often around the holidays... maybe with numerous children, which >> > would >> > require providing pallets or some form of bedding to be able to sleep >> > everyone comfortably. Straw or corn shucks would be stuffed into > "straw >> > ticks" which made rudimentary mattresses that were laid on the floor > to >> > accommodate visitors, especially young un's. >> > >> > My mother told of growing up in a house with all her brothers and >> sisters >> > (there were ten) at home at one time, sharing beds among them, two or >> three >> > in a bed. There were two upstairs bedrooms, one for the boys and one > for >> > the girls... but come fall of the year, teachers often boarded at > their >> > house, and the boys were pushed out into an attic space. Cold >> > wouldn't >> even >> > come close to describing the conditions. At times it was truly > freezing >> in >> > the bedrooms and they would have to break ice on top of the water in > the >> > wash bowl and ewer to wash their faces when they arose. >> > >> > In the time frame of your "wagoner", it was even colder than in the > 20th >> > century, at least in the U.S. and Europe. Around 1700, it was so cold > in >> > the area known as Alsace-Lorraine, it is said that birds froze in > flight >> > and fell from the sky. Heavy snows fell in most of Europe, and canals >> and >> > streams froze. Remember Hans Brinker, the poor boy (and his sister) > who >> > competed in the traditional speed-skating race from one town to the > next >> on >> > the frozen canal? And all those snowy Currier and Ives prints from > that >> > period? That was during a centuries-long dip in temperatures that >> started >> > in the early 1300s and ended about the mid-1800s... called the > "Little >> Ice >> > Age". So your wagoner would have been most appreciative of having a >> large >> > stockpile of warm blankets and other bedcovers, as would most of his >> > neighbors. >> > >> > Thank goodness for central heat. >> > >> > Carolyn >> > >> > -- >> > Carolyn HALE BRUCE >> > Virginia Beach, VA >> > >> > >> > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the >> instructions >> > at >> > >> http://listlva.lib.va.us/**archives/va-roots.html< >> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html> >> > >> >> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the > instructions >> at >> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html >> >> >> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the >> instructions >> at >> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html >> > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at > http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html > > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at > http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html