Continuing with Oscar Wilde month…
It’s most dangerous nowadays for a husband to pay any attention to his wife in public. It always makes people think that he beats her when they’re alone.
— Lady Windermere’s Fan
Category Archives: Thought of the Day
A Year of Quotes 1.8.1
Another classic from Mr. Wilde…
To love oneself is the beginning
of a lifelong romance.
–An Ideal Husband
A Year of Quotes 1.7.1
Another wonderful quote by Oscar Wilde…
Miss Prism: No married man is ever attractive except to his wife.
Chasuble: And often, I’ve been told, not even to her.
–The Importance of Being Earnest
A Year of Quotes 1.5.16
Continuing with Oscar Wilde month here’s a gem about the state of matrimony from Lady Windermere’s Fan. The play premiered on February 22nd, 1892 at London’s St. James’s Theatre.
Our husbands would really forget our existence if we didn’t nag at them from time to time, just to remind them that we have a perfect legal right to do so.
—Lady Windermere’s Fan
(Yes, I’m going to run out of Oscar Wilde images before the month is out. Indulge me while I can still come up with new ones.)
A Year of Quotes 1.4.16
Mr. Wilde is at it again… This one comes from his play, A Woman of No Importance. The play was originally staged at London’s Haymarket Theatre in the Spring of 1893. Wilde wrote it at the urging of the Haymarket’s actor-manager, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who wanted to duplicate the success of Lady Windermere’s Fan which premiered a the St. James Theatre the previous season.
One should never trust a woman
who tells one her real age.
A woman who would tell one that,
would tell one anything.
–A Woman of No Importance
Here’s a link to the free e-book of the play courtesy the Guttenberg Project.
A Year of Quotes 1.3.16
Continuing with Oscar Wilde month…
My experience is that as soon as
people are old enough to know better,
they don’t know anything at all.
–Lady Windermere’s Fan
A Year of quotes
I’ve already blown one of my New Years Resolutions… to post a quote every day… but I’m giving myself a break and starting today instead.
Since my wonderful friend, Angie, gave me a book of quotes from Oscar Wilde and one of quotes by Charles Dickens I thought I’d start with those fine fellows and continue with a famous author a month. Lets start with Mr. Wilde, shall we…
To get back my youth I would do anything in the world,
except take exercise, get up early,
or be respectable.{The Picture of Dorian Gray}
St. Thomas Day and the ‘Mumpers’
American Holly [Island Creeks ecology ]
December 21st is St. Thomas Day. It was traditionally the day when Regency housewives would begin their Christmas preparations in earnest. With houses cleaned to a spit shine the Holiday baking could begin.
It is also the day when widows and older women would go ‘Thomasing’ at the doors of their more fortunate neighbors and would receive food or money. Wealthier neighbors would often distribute wheat– either in the form of baked goods or uncooked (which the Mumpers would turn into Christmas cakes, breads or frumenty –a dessert made of boiled wheat, milk, sugar and cinnamon). In some parts of England, like Warwickshire the Mumpers would “go a-corning” and would get gifts of corn or cornmeal. Children there would beg for apples.
In turn the benefactors would receive a sprig of holly, a small bunch of mistletoe or a ball of home spun wool in thanks.
A widow (probably of the Napoleonic War) and her baby go “a-Thomasing” or “a-gooding”[Random Bits of Fascination ]
The day is remembered in Christmas carols such as:
Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat,
Please spare a penny for the old’s hat,
if you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do,
if you haven’t got a ha’penny, God bless you.
and…
‘ Wassail, wassail, through the town,
If you’ve got any apples, throw them down ;
Up with the stocking, and down with the shoe,
If you’ve got no apples, money will do ;
The jug is white and the ale is brown,
This is the best house in the town.’
“Mumper” is a slang word for “beggar” — presumably because many beggars were often handicapped (from either disease or from wounds they suffered in the War) and hobbled around on crutches… thumping and mumping through the streets.
A parcel of wretches hopping about by the assistance of their crutches, like so many Lincoln’s Inn Fields mumpers, drawing into a body to attack [infest or beset] the coach of some charitable lord.” — Ned Ward: The London Spy, part v. [Info Please ]
And Mumpers Day was ‘celebrated’ either on St. Thomas day (December 21st) or Boxing Day (December 26th) depending on the region.
Mistletoe. [Weather.com ]
For more information on St. Thomas Day might I suggest the following links…
http://www.christmas-celebrations.org/216-st-thomass-day.html
http://randombitsoffascination.com/2013/12/20/regency-christmas-traditions-christmastide-charity/
A Year of READING Dangerously: #55 Summer of My German Soldier
Summer of My German Soldier (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Summer of My German Soldier, is Bette Green’s 1973 novel about young love in a small southern town during World War II.
The summer that Patty Bergen turns twelve is a summer that will haunt her forever. When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, Patty learns what it means to open her heart. Even though she’s Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi, but as a lonely, frightened young man with feelings not unlike her own.
In Anton, Patty finds someone who softens the pain of her own father’s rejection and who appreciates her in a way her mother never will. While patriotic feelings run high, Patty risks losing family, friends — even her freedom — for this dangerous friendship. It is a risk she has to take and one she will have to pay a price to keep. [Amazon.com]
I remember reading this book in middle school and loving it. As I recall I cried buckets. SoMGS doesn’t hold quite the same appeal for me now, but I still found it a decent read. (This time though I found Ruth the most interesting character, and really would have rather read “Summer of my African American Domestic Worker.” — Guess I’ll be re-reading The Help, huh?)
So why is SoMGS perenially on the Banned Book List?
The most frequent complaints against Summer of My German Soldier concern the conclusion—Anton’s death and Patty’s punishment. Greene considers the conclusion to be socially and psychologically realistic, but the challenges have portrayed it as “pessimistic” or “unsuited to the age group. [businessclarksville.com/]
On our matrix there is certainly Cultural Insensitivity, Racism, Offensive Language (the ‘N’ word is used several times) and Violence (Patty’s father is physically abusive.)
The book was made into a television movie staring Bruce Davidson (who was wonderful) and Kristi McNichol in 1979.
The Video tape cover of the film Summer of My German Soldier. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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