Disappointment. And Family Portrait

Laura has written. She is not able to come until June . Althea, her twin , couldn't hold back tears, and now loud banging is heard from the workroom, where she is working on some secret for Laura.

The others , Julia, Persis and and Aunt Augusta felt disappointed, but didn't approximate the acute sorrow felt by Althea. She had been looking forward to celebrating their birthday, on April 15th, with the sisters reunited. Laura had not shared the reason for the delay, or given them any idea of when she might arrive. A great deal of Althea's upset was grief that it seemed that Laura didn't feel pulled to come home.

Augusta insisted that they write a letter , and enclose a new family portrait in front of the fireplace. The twins had spent so many hours in front of the fire; first playing with toys, then writing in journals and just keeping warm in the cold Providence winters. Althea came upstairs for the portrait in her old flowered shirt, with a pair of Father's pants underneath! She had recently become drawn to the Dress Reform movement, and had been wearing the most outlandish costumes in the fashion of Amelia Bloomer.

Julia would have nothing to do with Althea until Aunt August suggested that she and Persis stand in front of Althea , concealing the pants. The discontent the sisters felt is very evident in the picture!

The Sisters Get a Carriage!

They've not had their personal conveyance before, relying instead on public hacks. Persis is just dying to have a horse ,and has picked out a small palomino. Tough to find a palomino in Providence, but she has had her heart set on the spotted pony since she visited Laura in Iowa. It wan't Laura's horse , because she was living in a boarding house right beside the Gilbert School, where she taught grades K- 8th. Iowa was one of the first states to add kindergarten, and has long been considered the most literate state in the country.


I couldn't figure out how I was going to make a buggy until I was collecting random stuff for my Trash to Treasure bin. See my other blog, , for an explanation and background on that! I found a banged up doll carriage( of the pram variety ) and quickly saw that the base could be made into the Studebaker buggy I had picked out after a Google search. So now to paint and build the body !

Workbench for Althea

Working on my workspace, I've only been working a little on Gammage house. I decided that I would make a possession for each of the sisters, and since Althea is building several of the other possessions, I started with her workbench . You know I like researching, and I came up with some pictures of workbenches that people have turned into kitchen islands and tables. My simple project just got more difficult, but more interesting. I need to find a round piece for the vice, which I plan to make similar to my dad's . I've got a book I got at the New Bedford Whaling museum that I can use as a reference for the tools. Somewhere. Time to get the books together, I think!