Afterword

A Babe Is Born

Dear Readers, I KNOW that some of you Mothers out there have been wondering WHERE are the Parents of these lost children, as you have been reading these Tales of their Adventures! But you have been too polite to ask or to chastise about their carelessness with the safety of their children. So I will tell you how it came about that the youngsters were left so much to themselves that they went astray!
Some of you have guessed that Maybe there would be a new addition to the Family now that Clarence was staying home and no longer absent for months at a time.... but we must remember that the Victorians were very reluctant to talk about these very Natural events.... and they Certainly never allowed the children to be a witness to something as "embarrassing" as the birth of a child! So the minute that Charlotte felt her "Time" had arrived, the children were given an early supper and sent to bed! Mrs. Butterworth, the Cook and sometimes also the Maid and the Nanny too, was too busy helping Charlotte to notice that Tommy had not returned in time for the supper.
And poor Clarence was of NO use at all! Can you believe it, but in all the years that their Family had been growing, he was NEVER home for the birth of the Children! He was always away at Sea for these events..... so he was under some illusion about the easiness of the process. THIS time, he could not help but be aware of the struggle Charlotte was undergoing to deliver the new child into the world! He found himself becoming more and more anxious as the hours wore on. WHAT if he lost the Mother of his Children? What would he do without his Dear Charlotte? Why did it have to be so difficult? Why was there Nothing he could do to help?
At last he decided that he MUST go and fetch the Village Doctor! So he climbed onto their gentle horse and rode off into the dusk to find the Doctor.....

But when he got to the Village, he found that the Doctor was out visiting another patient.....

so he rode on to the next Village......

And on.... until eventually he caught up with the Doctor!

By the time he found the Doctor it was quite late........

And even later still by the time they returned to the House........

Where they found, much to Clarence's relief, that Nature had taken it's course and Charlotte had delivered a beautiful healthy baby boy!

Mrs. Butterworth had done a wonderful job assisting Charlotte,

and the baby was clean and wrapped in a blanket.....

The Doctor stepped in just to make sure all was as it should be........

And Mrs. Butterworth held the new Baby for Clarence to greet.....

Please remember that he has never met any of his other children when they were this little.... he has NO idea what to say or do..... it is NOT the usual thing for Fathers to involve themselves with the Infants! So he can be forgiven if he just looks on in a bit of shock....... They baby is so tiny and red faced! He does not know what to do.....

But then he thinks........ "We'll call him 'John' after my Father...."

Mrs. Butterworth is completely in charge.

She shoos the Men away so Charlotte and the baby can get some rest.........

Charlotte is too tired to even lift her head from the pillow....

she is SO glad Mrs. Butterworth is here....
She knows everything will be alright now......

It has been a long night, but she is happy.....

And as the morning light creeps into the room, she thinks

"We'll call him 'Joseph' after my Father."

And so a new Baby is Born!
And perhaps his Parents can be forgiven for Assuming that their older children are safely tucked in bed the whole night through!

And now I must tell you, Dear Readers, that this baby is the ONLY doll that I still have from my childhood years! I can still remember the Store where I bought it when I was around eight or nine years old. I had saved up my Birthday money and was determined to spend it on one of the expensive little treasures available in this small department store in my home town. It was a very old fashioned place and there was a toy department on a second floor mezzanine with glass fronted cabinets full of toys just at child eye-level! The little doll came with his own little dresser filled with tiny baby accessories........ all of which are still here.....

The rattle and the funny looking bottle......

The baby blanket...... and a fuzzy hooded bath towel........

Still tucked away in the drawers.....

At some point I clothed him in a Victorian era bonnet and skirt.....
At least they are a gender neutral yellow......

Victorians clothed their boy children in dresses until the age of five or six......
(I do think he is a boy.......)

Here he is in his original underclothes.......
Perhaps not as clean as when new.......

But still very, very cute!

I can't believe I still have him!
Welcome, Little Jo Jo!

Just a Little Afterword!

Charlotte's Story

Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-Two

Dear Readers, Some of you may remember meeting Charlotte early on in this blog. But I believe I have not yet told you her Story. Let me begin by saying that I have no idea how old she really is. I found her in a chest of old clothes in the attic of my former In-Laws home when we were cleaning it out prior to selling the house. She could have been there for forty years or one hundred and forty years! She has a china head and lower limbs with a cloth body. She is a little over 6 inches tall. It is very possible that she is a twentieth century reproduction, even though her costume is from the early Victorian era.

I have decided that her gown style dates her at the year 1852..... because she has tiered ruffles on her gown, medium width sleeves, not too bell shaped, and her petticoat is crinoline without any metal hoops. The reason I am suspicious that she is a reproduction is because her costume is entirely MACHINE stitched! This would have been unheard of in 1852 as the sewing machine was only barely invented.... and the early versions used chain stitch.... which this gown is not. But whether or not she is a reproduction does not matter to me..... she IS living in the life of 1852 in my doll world!

Here I have sacrificed her modesty to give you a glimpse of the petticoat and pantaloons she is wearing. The metal wire is a doll stand that she came with that helps her to stand up straight and not crush her petticoat.

When I found her, my FIRST thought was that she would make a lovely dollhouse doll.... even though I was not building any dollhouses at the time. I brought her home and put her in a cupboard along with other items I had been collecting for my "someday" dollhouse. You can read about that in my earliest posts on this blog. She collected some children along the way...... which you can imagine would be a problem for a proper Victorian Lady if there were no HUSBAND in sight! Eventually I decided she could either be a Widow.... or I could FIND her husband! But he would need to be the right sort of fellow.... from the correct time period, and made with a china head and cloth body like Charlotte's. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I spotted Clarence in one of the doll house supply catalogs! He looked just about right! And when he arrived I knew he was as good as I could expect given that antique Male dolls are extremely scarce!

His costume is of EXACTLY the right era, right down to the checked trousers.....

and he has a kindly expression on his face.

So you will forgive me, Dear Readers, if I step back in time a little bit further and tell you the tale of how they met........

Charlotte's family is French.... Accadian French, living in Louisiana, in the deep South of the Very Young United States of America. Clarence is from an Irish family, but he has been a sailor since he was fifteen and went to sea on a whaling ship. Now at the age of twenty six, he has worked up to being the First Mate on those new merchant ships the Clippers. It is 1843 and he is ashore in Louisiana for a brief time and he meets Charlotte out walking in a park. He is Smitten by cupid's arrows and asks for her hand in marriage. Her family accepts his suit, even though he is just an Irish sailor.... because Charlotte is already Twenty years old and has not yet married! She is rather tall.... and just a tiny bit round-cheeked...... but the fashions do change.... and Clarence thinks she is beautiful!

He really does!

And so they go forth into their world.... a young couple, newly married....

Dreaming of a bucolic life together.... just like in those old engravings by "Currier and Ives" who in 1843 were just beginning their historic productions of images depicting life in the New Country!

With images such as this one of a young Family........

And you can imagine that that child is Tommy when he was little.......

But Clarence is a sailor..... and he was more often than not at sea on one of those Magnificent Clipper ships....... the fastest sailing ships ever built.... shipping tea and spices from the Orient.... and passengers on the California Gold Rush........ Eventually owning his ship.....

While Charlotte and the children waited for him to come home.........

Never knowing WHEN that would be................. or IF............

And they had to move to the new house with me......

And I confess that I turned their cupboard house into a storage cabinet........

so they are sort of homeless......

And the children are growing up..... waiting for a HOME.......

So, recently, Clarence has decided to sell his ship and stay ashore! He has made a great deal of money with his ship.... and he has his eye on investing in those new Iron Horse Railroads that seem to be the newest thing.......

But now that he is ashore for longer periods of time..... Clarence is wanting to build his HOME for his family. Time is passing. He has just read that newly published book about whaling.... "Moby Dick"...... and it reminds him of his earliest sailing days.....

This Beautiful copy is made by the talented Caterina......... of Le Minis di Cockerina blog.......

And she even sent this tiny cigar and the impossibly tiny post cards.......

The cover is so beautiful........

But even more so the illustrations inside!

The story was first published in America in 1851......

Tommy says "Papa, will you tell me about the whaling voyages?"

But Clarence has to stop and think..... he doesn't want to remember those voyages.... they were not really the stuff to entertain a young child with....
Besides, he is a Forward thinking man..... he would rather talk about his plans for building their future.....

Dreaming about the Home he has promised them for SO LONG.....

Ever since he first met Charlotte....

Will it be a many gabled farmhouse in the country........

Or a solidly brick porticoed Manse......

Or Perhaps one of those new Italianate stone Mansions....... YES that is what he would like......

And the WINDOWS are already chosen.....

(notice how these kit windows resemble the ones in the "Currier and Ives" print above)

And I have FINALLY started the process of staining them ALL!!!

So, can you forgive me for feeling the need to BEGIN yet ANOTHER dollhouse when I have not even completed any that I am already working on? Well, then YOU try explaining to a seven year old why you have to keep moving from shelf to table to attic to shelf.......!

And I will get this beautiful Door ready for it's new position in the old Cupboard.......

Because THIS is really just the Beginning of

Charlotte's Story!