Gossip of the Sewing Circle

December 2, 2007 3:32 AM

Gossip of the Sewing Circle Profound cattiness from 1903. Learn to use such snarkily coded terms as embonpoint in everyday conversation. Need to shame a beautiful rival who hasn't produced an heir for her much older husband? Describe her in The Newsaper of Record as owning "an extremely clever parrot." PDF, link from the NYT Archives.
posted by maryh (38 comments total)

It wouldn't truly be mine without a typo in the FPP. I like to think of it as my 'style.'
posted by maryh at 3:45 AM on December 2, 2007

Great stuff, maryh! 1903 Gossip Girl. I'm surprised at how much of it is focussed on London.
posted by goo at 3:51 AM on December 2, 2007

Fantastic! (Hopefully their reporting was better on that sub-culture than it was with "grunge speak".)
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 4:33 AM on December 2, 2007

Fantastic! (Hopefully their reporting was better on that sub-culture than it was with "grunge speak".)

(Off the ostensible topic, but I have to say: Megan Jasper most assuredly did not invent the terms "score!," "dish," or "rock on," though I don't think anyone outside of a movie from the 1950s has ever said of anyone, "whatta dish.")
posted by kittens for breakfast at 5:51 AM on December 2, 2007

Hilarious and yet sad, in a way. What a limited scope these women had. Voluntarily, sure, but still.

Also, since no MeFi discussion would be complete without a digression into typography, I love that old-skool headline font. Check it out here too: ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR'S ORIGIN; A Year Ago Tomorrow the Austrian Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, Was Assassinated at Serajevo.
posted by GrammarMoses at 5:57 AM on December 2, 2007

Voluntarily, sure, but still.

If by "voluntarily" you mean "choosing to go on living in a world which provided almost no outlet for women's talents and ambitions other than homemaking and frivolity," then sure, voluntarily.

I'd love to know more about this column: who wrote it, how did she get the job, how sought-after was she, how evilly did she use her position to reward and punish? There must be answers to these questions in some musty memoir that will never be digitized...
posted by languagehat at 6:50 AM on December 2, 2007

Context acknowledged and appreciated, lh, my feminist friend. I was thinking of intellectual scope.

Note this bit, from that very page: "London is also responsible for a new club for women--the Athenaeum. This will have three objects--literature, music and politics... Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish has some idea of trying to get up a club in New York where women will study political questions in other times than campaign months. More interest in politics has been shown by New York women this year than ever before." In other words, New York women had *on occasion* devoted their attention to politics. And in the revered city of London, the ladies were even setting up clubs to discuss such things! So some women were in fact seeking out intellectual pursuits slightly more challenging than needlework and pets.*

*Not to say anything unfriendly about either of those things, as those who know me will attest that I am loopy about both.
posted by GrammarMoses at 7:08 AM on December 2, 2007

What the hell, intellectual scope, GrammarMoses? In 1903, Mary McDowell organized the Chicago Stockyards Strike, the year before, Mother Jones organized the anthracite coal strike, and by 1903, suffragettes had already secured the vote for women in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah.

We were already worrying our pretty little heads over politics (among other things), not to mention nearly 60% of us being part of the workforce as meatcutters, blacksmiths, printsetters, nailers, and more. Just because the Gilded Age conspired to pretend that women weren't working, and weren't active in politics, doesn't make it true.

Looking at Sewing Circle gossip and assuming it's any kind of real picture of women of that era is like looking at Oh No They Didn't and assuming it offers a complete view of the feminine mind in 2007.
posted by headspace at 7:23 AM on December 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

Any kind of *full* picture. It's obviously a real picture, just like the absurd obsession with Paris Hilton's dog is real now. It's real, just not complete.
posted by headspace at 7:26 AM on December 2, 2007

It's obviously a real picture, just like the absurd obsession with Paris Hilton's dog is real now. It's real, just not complete.

headspace, that's what I meant by "these women." The women for whom this column was presumably written, and who appear in it. I don't mean all women of the era. I could certainly have been clearer about that.

Similarly, I think that women (and men) who spend a significant amount of time thinking about Paris Hilton's dog and whether Jen and Brad are still secretly in love and who will win of Survivor XXVIII are not manifesting much intellectual scope.

Is this really a controversial position?
posted by GrammarMoses at 7:46 AM on December 2, 2007

Link doesn't work for me. Sigh.
posted by intermod at 7:58 AM on December 2, 2007

It is when your follow-up to languagehat encompasses New York ladies and London ladies, two cities which, dear reader, I think we can agree encompassed rather more than the ladies on the day's equivalent of the Society pages.

Two people didn't get ruffled on a lazy Sunday morning because you were perfectly clear. Either you misspoke, or you overassumed, and there's nothing wrong with admitting either.
posted by headspace at 8:02 AM on December 2, 2007

Either you misspoke, or you overassumed, and there's nothing wrong with admitting either.

Oh, ffs, headspace.

I will spell it out for you very explicitly so that you can get over yourself:

In other words, New York SOCIETY women had *on occasion* devoted their attention to politics. And in the revered city of London, the SOCIETY ladies were even setting up clubs to discuss such things! So some SOCIETY women were in fact seeking out intellectual pursuits slightly more challenging than needlework and pets.

Jee. Bus.
posted by GrammarMoses at 8:07 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Has anyone seen my molehill? I left it right here, but now there seems to be a mountain in its stead.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:47 AM on December 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

Wait - I was actually impressed by their accomplishments.

The Duchess of Marlborough, who is known all over England as "the pretty American Duchess"...The press of England also call her "the political Duchess," as they say she has a wonderful knowledge of international politics and makes a special study of English affairs. She has been of the greatest assistance to her husband in his career. He is very ambitious but he has not the savoir faire which she posesses or the way of winning over voters and constituents.

Miss Clermont Best...It is at her cottage at Newport that many of the recitals and lectures of the summer are given, and she is always the first to lend a helping hand to the struggling musician or lecturer who comes to the City by the Sea in order to obtain recognition from Society for a Winter's campaign

Miss Hazel Martyn...has studied art, and held an exhibition of her pictures last year in Chicago. She went to Paris last year and did some excellent work...

Let's see Paris Hilton top that.
posted by maggiemaggie at 8:58 AM on December 2, 2007

Avoiding the larger issues expressed, I center on the issue of lard. Embonpoint. My new word. Those I dub adipose are starting to catch on.

And here's pronunciation help: Embonpoint
(Click on the speaker icon)


And Intermod, may I suggest the excellent Foxit Reader for you. Unless you have a Mac. Then I can only commend you for your extremely clever parrot.
posted by bigskyguy at 9:08 AM on December 2, 2007

I lurve the NYT archives. The other day I went back and read the entire paper for that day, 100 years ago. Although the writing style was different, it was amazing how much was the same as a newspaper today -- story about financial scandal; story about the harms of alcohol and tobacco; story about whether prayer should be in public school; story about cost overruns at the current public works project; "human interest" story re colorful character (my day it was a guy who was walking across the US).
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:42 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

maryh, never noticed your typos before, thought I claimed that 'style' for myself. :>

Tartly fun article, thanks for posting it. Polishing their claws and talons with finesse,

What I got from GrammarMoses saying "What a limited scope these women had. Voluntarily, sure, but still." was that these women had a choice whether or not to be catty, sniping at others or to gossip. I think well articulated, witty contempt for and nit-picking ridicule of others was considered to be an intrinsic part of the entitlement of the upper classes, maybe even a defining mark of that class. What came to my mind was the excellent movie, Ridicule.

Loved knowing the new vocab, embonpoint. A pretty word. There's a NYC sandwich,soup/salad place named au bon pain, which I'm going to deliberately misread as embonpoint from now on.

Tried finding out the author of the article with no luck. All's I could come up with were other 1903 New York Times Magazine Supplement articles written similarly. Here's another fun one along the same lines -also pdf: Heard In Club Corners.

Interesting grammar in the original article, such as "Miss Ivy Gordon Lennox, the only daughter of Lady Algernon Lennox, has been put at a finishing school in Dresden."

" put at a finishing school". Put at? Trying to think of any other English phrase similar, put to sleep, put out to pasture, put on the stove, put in the box, just never heard put at anything before. When did they start and stop calling anyone Algernon? Interesting name.
posted by nickyskye at 10:05 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Surprised no one's picked up on (Dame) Ethyl Smyth, who "composed an opera Der Wald which was brought out at the Metropolitan Opera house."

As to raccoons- ancestress of a friend of mine had one about that time. Most notable story there was when the family returned from church one morning and found the critter in the sink, washing the diamonds it had found in an upstairs jewelry box.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:45 AM on December 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

This is wonderful, thanks.

Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish. That is a name. I will name my next cat that.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:54 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oh, and for another contemporary usage of embonpoint (also society related, as it happens), see Art Is Calling For Me, from The Enchantress (1911)by Victor Herbert. Fun stuff.

I long to be a prima donna, donna, donna
I long to shine upon the stage
I have the embonpoint
To become a queen of song
And my figure would look pretty as a page
I want to be a screechy peachy cantatrice
Like other plump girls that I see
I hate society
I hate propriety
Art is calling for me!
posted by IndigoJones at 11:07 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

In other words, New York women had *on occasion* devoted their attention to politics. And in the revered city of London, the ladies were even setting up clubs to discuss such things! So some women were in fact seeking out intellectual pursuits slightly more challenging than needlework and pets

Oh, absolutely. I added the "almost" to account for exceptions, but I guess I could have toned it down further. Still, to be a bluestocking back then took a lot more self-confidence and willingness to head-butt the consensus of society, as I'm sure you agree.

What came to my mind was the excellent movie, Ridicule.

I enthusiastically second this recommendation.
posted by languagehat at 11:09 AM on December 2, 2007

LobsterMitten, Mr. Stuyvesant Fish was quite an important person in his time.

And maggiemaggie, I doubt indeed that Paris Hilton will ever match the biography of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough.
posted by Skeptic at 11:09 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

LH, roger that. BTW, Head-butting the Consensus is so the name of my next album.

Where the Stuyvesant Fish family lived.

Latter-day scions of the Stuyvesant Fish family discussed here.

(Also part of the illustrious NYC family back in the day was a well-known merchant in mercantile and shipping ventures named Preserved Fish. Honest.)
posted by GrammarMoses at 11:36 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

washing the diamonds it had found in an upstairs jewelry box

What a charming anecdote and image! And seconding Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, definitely a good cat's name.
posted by nickyskye at 11:39 AM on December 2, 2007

I'd love to know more about this column: who wrote it, how did she get the job, how sought-after was she, how evilly did she use her position to reward and punish? There must be answers to these questions in some musty memoir that will never be digitized...

Or, one could read Edith Wharton, particularly The Custom of the Country, which opens with the book's main character, Undine (not subtle, but oh well) reading the society page and feverishly working out all the relations between the families and who had slightly higher, or lower, status. And plotting her ascent.

Some of the diaries of the time are also excellent windows into this world-- I love Cynthia Asquith's Diaries of 1915-1918, which are obviously written in a very differrent period than this society page, but which include a great deal of reflection on the social world before the war. (She was the sister-in-law of the Mrs. Asquith mentioned in the NYT piece.)
posted by jokeefe at 11:43 AM on December 2, 2007

^^^

I mean daughter in law, not sister. Also, I do know how to spell different, on my good days.
posted by jokeefe at 11:44 AM on December 2, 2007

Preserved Fish. Honest.

One of my favorite names (and one of my favorite cemeteries). I'm pretty sure, by the way, that "Preserved" as a name has three syllables.
posted by languagehat at 11:45 AM on December 2, 2007

Need to shame a beautiful rival who hasn't produced an heir for her much older husband? Describe her in The Newsaper of Record as owning "an extremely clever parrot."

Until us girlies can settle such matters by farting matches we cannot claim to have progressed.

That Stuyvesant Fish woman though, ugh. There's a lengthy description of her in the book War Paint by Lindy Woodshead. What a complete cow.
posted by gatchaman at 12:09 PM on December 2, 2007

Skeptic, Just spent the last hour reading about Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough. wow, What a story.

The Stuyvesant Fish townhouse has just been bought by the Mayor of NYC. The Stuyvesant Fish house on Gramercy Park is now part of the Cooper Union School. The Stuyvesant part of the name came from Peter Stuyvesant, one of the founders of NYC and the Fish part came from a Revolutionary war hero.

Enjoying savoring this little piece of layer cake of history.
posted by nickyskye at 1:12 PM on December 2, 2007

Thank you everyone for research about Stuyvesant and Preserved Fish - I didn't know that; way cool. I can get two cats.

(My neighbors used to name their cats after old-money New England society sounding names. Obadiah Hakewell was one I remember.)

My sister just had a baby -- last name Hall. Much speculation about whether he should be named "Kidsinna", "Tajma", etc.
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:55 PM on December 2, 2007

Kidsinna Hall, Tajma Hall. OW!

I named my baby pet goat Billy The Kid.
posted by nickyskye at 3:42 PM on December 2, 2007

Obadiah Hakewell was one I remember.

Sure that wasn't Hakeswill?

Getting back the Fishes, there's a whole school of them. They're making fertilizer in various cemetaries.

They also have a connection to the Keans of New Jersey, which should come as no great surprise.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:19 PM on December 2, 2007

I ran across a regular column about biking that was in the NYT around the same time called "Gossip of the Cyclers."
posted by katinka-katinka at 5:31 PM on December 2, 2007

Obadiah Hakeswill!! I never knew! Thank you IndigoJ!
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:43 PM on December 2, 2007

Could be that I was the only one with the problem, but I can view it now. Turns out that I was blocking cookies from query.nytimes.com -- I'm ultraparanoid about cookies, blocking them unless needed. In this case, accepting them for the session did the trick. This is probably the case for an NYT archive articles ... this is the first time I've delved in there since they killed the Times Select boondoggle. Anyway, FYI, and thanks maryh for the link.
posted by intermod at 6:58 PM on December 2, 2007

Fishes: thanks for that, IndigoJones. I notice there's even a George W. Fish -- just two characters away from the presidency...

Also, what could be a better name for a (presumably) fish-eating cat than Hakeswill? Fantastic.
posted by GrammarMoses at 5:23 AM on December 3, 2007

Oh, snap! GM, I didn't even notice that.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:06 PM on December 4, 2007