Hi there – Winnie Griggs here. I was looking through my handy-dandy ‘This Day In History’ calendar a few days ago and discovered that 150 years ago today the Western Union Telegraph Co. linked the eastern and western networks of telegraph systems at Salt Lake City, Utah. For the first time in our nation’s history nearly instantaneous communication between Washington D.C and San Francisco, CA was possible.  I’d heard quite a bit about the Transcontinental Railroad but nothing about the Transcontinental Telegraph so I decided to do a little digging and then share with you something of what I learned.

The first transcontinental telegraph was actually sent by the chief justice of California, Stephen Field, and was sent to President Abraham Lincoln. In the historic missive, Field predicted that the newly established communication venue would help ensure that the western states would remain loyal to the Union during the Civil War.

A little of the history behind this historic event: An efficient telegraph system was first developed in the 1830s and in the ensuing years spread with phenomenal speed. By 1850 lines covered most of the eastern part of the country as well as the fast growing territory of California. When California achieved statehood in 1850 it became the first state not contiguous with the rest of the country. Almost immediately there was a major push to connect this new state with the rest of the country via communication and travel services. In 1860, Congress passed the Pacific Telegraph Act and awarded a contract to Hiram Sibley, president of the Western Union Company. Mr. Sibley took the contract and formed a consortium between his company and telegraph companies in California to undertake the commission.

The task involved building lines to connect the system at the western-most edge of Missouri and the one at Carson City, Nevada. Sibley formed the Pacific Telegraph Co. to construct the eastern leg and the California telegraph companies consolidated into the Overland Telegraph Company to build the western leg. The two lines would eventually meet at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Most of 1860 was spent collecting materials for the project, and construction began in earnest in 1861. Right from the start there were significant problems along the way with provisioning the construction teams. Glass insulators and wire had to be shipped to San Francisco by sea and then transported to the construction sites in the west by wagon – this included a trek over the Sierra Nevada. Finding sources for telegraph poles was also a challenge in the mostly treeless plains areas as well as the deserts of the Great Basin.

The line from Omaha in the east made it to Salt Lake city first, arriving on October 18, 1861. The Transcontinental connection was completed six days later when the line from Carson city joined it on October 24, 1861.

A side result of this momentous accomplishment that happened almost immediately was that it made the Pony Express obsolete.  On October 26th, a scant two days after the lines were joined, this adventurous, dedicated relay mail service which had previously provided the fastest means of communication between the western and eastern United States, officially closed.  Just as often happens today, the new technology made their jobs obsolete.

I’m bubbling over with early holiday cheer. Our fifth anthology A TEXAS CHRISTMAS released on October 1st. And as it is with every book release I never take a deep breath until I read some reviews. I’m happy to say that the reviews for this book have been exceptional. It’s on track to outsell all of our previous ones. So, I’ve begun to relax. Sort of.

Until we found out the anthology hit the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST!!

Oh my dear Lord, this has to be one of the most exciting things that’s ever happened to me!

I, along with fellow Filly sister Phyliss Miranda and DeWanna Pace, can now claim the distinction of being called New York Times bestselling authors. Jodi Thomas has been one since heck was a pup and he’s a grown dog now so it’s old hat for her.

Anyway, I’m still pinching myself at this dream come true.

My story in A TEXAS CHRISTMAS is called “The Christmas Bell.” It’s a story of the powerful magic of Christmas and love that can heal all wounds.

Banker’s daughter Tess Whitgrove has been to Boston to bring back a Christmas bell to Kasota Springs, Texas. But a horrible blizzard has trapped the train in the middle of nowhere. Rancher Sloan Sullivan rides to the rescue, bringing supplies that are desperately needed.

The only problem is that Tess and Sloan haven’t seen eye to eye for quite some time so the meeting is rather awkward. If not for the fact that the passengers consist of four little orphans, a pregnant woman, and a very ill man, Tess would’ve told him what he could do with his supplies.

Forced to accept his help is a bitter pill to swallow. But then the magic of the season kicks in and before long they’re working together to save the passengers and finding that love and forgiveness can come when you least expect it.

My story brought the subject of Christmas bells to mind. Since gift-giving was pretty sparce in the Old West, people embraced bells to give the holiday special meaning. Nearly every town had a bell that was customarily rung on all important occasions as well as Christmas Day.

East Hampton, Connecticut was once known as Bell Town because 30 bell manufacturers called the place home. Today, Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Company is the remaining bell maker in East Hampton and the oldest one in the U.S. They’ve been in business since 1832. For 179 years they’ve consistently made bells of all kinds: bicycle, door bells, dinner bells, Salvation Army bells, wedding and anniversary bells, jingle bells, and you name it. If a bell is needed Bevin Brothers can make it.

The most famous bell of all is the Liberty Bell. It was first rung on July 8, 1776 to summon the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

It was last rung in February 1846 in honor of George Washington’s birthday. A big crack appeared and made the bell unringable. Ever since it’s been kept in a place of reverence.

I’m giving away two copies of A TEXAS CHRISTMAS today. Just leave a comment to get your name in the Stetson.

Last month I had an amazing experience at our local Fossil Discovery Center, and while this topic goes a bit beyond my usual era, I wanted to share.  Especially for those who may live near my area and haven’t made the trek out to the fossil museum–you shouldn’t miss this! The center is fairly new, the one-year anniversary of the center is on the 13th of this month (National Fossil Day), and is located adjacent to the site where the fossils were found,  one of the largest fossil beds in the country–which also happens to be the Madera dump. Anyone remember the headline news from about ten years back when mammoth fossils were discovered in a California landfill? The mammoths were just the tip-of-the-tusk. Because this was a working landfill paleontologists had to cast and excavate fossils as fast as the massive machinery uncovered them. No time for  meticulous sediment removal and identification. They have enough fossil casts (plaster jackets) waiting to be opened and examined to keep paleontologists busy for the next twenty years–and they are nowhere near done excavating. They’ve already uncovered 39 different species, from snails and rodents to the large predators like the saber-tooth cats. I had no idea, and it’s practically in my backyard. I’d heard the Fossil Center was in our county but had no clue it was only ten miles away!

If I hadn’t been looking for a social/learning/volunteer outlet for my boys, I likely would have remained clueless. A huge benefit to homeschooling my teens–which, sadly, is NOT loads of writing time–is how much I learn in the process. One major drawback to their independent study program is a lack of social interaction. Not wanting to encourage the total hermit lifestyle I happen to revel in, getting my kids involved in a public program was important and I thought a fossil museum/discovery center would be perfect. I called and was told, “Sure, bring them out and we’ll put them to work.”  While visions of uninterrupted writing time danced in my head, my teenagers met that news with enthusiastic responses of, “Seriously? Do we have to? This is so stupid. Why are you punishing us?” Enjoying that chipper chorus all the way to the museum, I started to worry this great idea was going to go up in flames.

The paleontologist staff turned their grumbles into wide-eyed interest within ten minutes of stepping through the doors. Their enthusiasm for their work radiates like a palpable energy, and I think we were all a bit mesmerized by that energy and the massive scale of information and exhibits on display. After getting the grand tour, my kids were shooing me out the door, proclaiming four to five hours a few days a week would be great. A few weeks into it, they are just as enthusiastic, if not more so now that they are being trained to give tours and working with groups of elementary school kids who visit for field trips. My sixteen-year-old was telling me last week how he got the best feeling when a little girl running out to the bus stopped at the door and shouted back, “Thank you, Ethan!” Probably close to the happy feeling I got when he shared that with me–a moment that reminds you all your time and energy spent is worthwhile

I definitely recommend a visit to the Fossil Discovery Center or perhaps a similar facility in your area.  I was surprised to learn the fossil bed covers more than 40 acres, one of the largest. The fossils are from the last Ice Age in the San Joaquin Valley, the Middle Pleistocene Epoch, and are as old as 780,000 years. Little has been uncovered about this time period, making the site extremely valuable, and it’s rare to find a location with so many species available, giving a clear picture of life in their natural environment. The most common fossils found on this site are herd animals; ancient horses, camels, mammoths and giant ground sloths. The exhibits are definitely something to see!

Lately, I’ve been doing some hard thinking about the seeming “decline” of history lovers.  Why, I wonder, are western romance and other historical sub-genres of romance being turned down by some of the bigger New York publishers?  As a general rule, it seems that contemporary romance is on the upswing more now than ever before. Yet, I know many people, myself included, who enjoy nothing more than a well-written historical (especially western, in my case) romance novel.

It seems that a lot of the people who have written western romance for years, and in fact, have made their name and career in that sub-genre, are now being told they are going to have to write contemporary in order to sell.  At least, according to  the big New York houses.  I’m seeing this with my own work. I’ve submitted my latest western historical to a couple of agents recently and both of them told me they were interested in seeing something contemporary rather than a historical.  It would seem that historicals are on the way out, to be replaced with contemporary, at least as far as New York is concerned. With all the marketing studies that have been done, there must be some research that supports this theory of declining historical readership. I might be out in left field with this, but here’s my take on it.

The main obstacle to anything historical is that we don’t teach it in our schools any longer.  So kids, growing up, have no sense of what came before. They don’t learn about history in depth at all, it’s just glossed over, and with the watered-down, public educational system’s “no child left behind” program, they don’t have to care or study.  The academic programs are softened so that no child, despite lack of effort or concern, will have to worry about failure. When my son was in high school 4 years ago, his history textbook devoted a two-page spread to World War II; a one page (including a picture) write-up of Viet Nam. How can this be?  Do we care so little about the causes, repercussions, and influences of the wars our countrymen have died for that we reduce it to a one-page retelling? Shameful. There’s an old Sioux proverb that says: “A people without history is like wind on the buffalo grass.” I believe that.  And there is something within us that needs to know where we came from to give us the strength and determination to get to where we are going. Knowing our history and values of the past instills this within us.         

The next dismissal of history is in our entertainment field.  If you look at the television programming, it’s all police drama, detective and forensic work of some kind, sitcoms or reality tv. There are no historical dramas anymore other than what you see on cable, such as series like The Tudors. Growing up in the 1960’s-1970’s, I was fortunate to have been exposed to all those wonderful old historical series—westerns such as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Lancer, High Chaparral, Wagon Train, Rawhide, The Virginian…the list goes on and on. Not only were these shows teaching history, geography, and giving us a glimpse of everyday life in those times, they also taught values. There was clearly a “good guy” and a “bad guy.” We learned about the workings of cattle drives, that lightning could stampede the cattle, that towns were built around railroads, that Matt Dillon always got his man, and he never quit.  These westerns provided entertainment, but they gave us so much more.  History provides us values of the past to carry forward into the future.  There is no other period where this is more evident than the western.

As a society, we are moving away from even concerning ourselves with history in any venue–movies, television…or reading. Sounds bleak, doesn’t it?  But wait! There’s a light up ahead. With the advent of the smaller publishing houses, and e-publishing, there is a great possibility for the writers and readers of historical fiction! New York might not realize it, but there are some of us out here who still yearn for a good old fashioned piece of historical fiction every once in a while! And thanks to the e-publishers and the smaller presses, we are going to be able to have our cake and eat it, too.  There are a lot of wonderful writers who are being passed over by NY, even people who have big names, who are being told “write contemporary or you’re out.”  Well, those people have a following already.  So how could they have that following, writing western historicals, if no one read those? Why are they being told to write contemporary?  Because New York sees it as the way the world is turning now, and they are desperate to make every dollar they can make.  That leaves the smaller presses and e-publishers to make the money on the historicals that NewYork doesn’t want to publish anymore. These smaller presses are going to build their own following, and the writers they publish will do the same.

Historicals rise and fall in popularity, but “westerns will never die.” I think John Wayne said that, and it’s very true. I write a mix, both contemporary and historical.  My heart is with the historicals, and I will continue to write them, because I know that there are people out there who read them.

Not everyone who reads a book lives in New York City, but it seems that that’s what the New York houses cater to. I get really tired of how every show on tv being set in New York or Los Angeles.  There are other places in the world! And the same is true of the books we read–they don’t all have to take place in those two places.  There are tons of other very interesting locations to set a story in, and there are thousands of people who want to read – and relate—to a variety of settings.  Exciting things can happen anywhere, any time period, as long as the writer has the imagination to make it realistic.

Society, as a whole, is responsible for the disregard of our rich heritage and past that should be remembered, written and read about, and learned about.  I love history, and though I read and write contemporaries too, there is sometimes nothing like picking up a good ol’ western and reading it.  And that’s why I will continue to write historical westerns.  There will always be a readership for them, because of the fulfillment they offer our need for a true hero and heroine, and always, a “happily ever after” ending.

I’m curious as to what your favorite historical romance is. I have so many, my list would be endless. And while I write in both genres, I can’t picture myself ever giving up writing historicals to  pen only contemporaries.

FOR ALL CHERYL PIERSON NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES, PLEASE VISIT:  http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Pierson/e/B002JV8GUE/ref=sr_tc_ep?qid=1316144509

I’m a huge tennis fan, and this weekend the finals of the last Grand Slam tournament of 2011 will be going on in New York at the US Open. I’m always amazed at the athleticism and power of the top contenders, but I wonder how they would fare if someone turned back the clock 120 years and gave them the equipment and clothing of their predecessors.

Like most sports, the game of tennis evolved over several centuries, but it wasn’t until the 1870s that the first lawn tennis club was established in England. The first tennis championship took place in 1877 at a lovely little place called Wimbledon. Just a few years later in 1881,  the United States National Lawn Tennis Association was formed, and the US National Men’s Singles Championship (later to become the US Open) was held in Newport, Rhode Island. 

The sport became a fashionable rage in the 1880′s and 90′s, especially among the middle classes, and soon men and women both were taking up racquets and installing private lawn tennis courts at their homes. However, women’s clothing of the time made few concessions to the sport. Men were able to play in loose-fitting trousers, shirt sleeves, and a bare head while women were still expected to wear dresses with high-neck bodices, floor-length skirts, layers of petticoats, hats, and yes. . . corsets. The restrictive clothing made it nearly impossible for a woman to bend over and retrieve a ball, so beautifully embroidered tennis aprons with large pockets became the style.

In the beginning, tennis was simply a recreational activity, much like croquet. The fun came in the gathering of friends. Players stood close to the net and simply patted the ball to each other. Yet competitive natures prevailed, and it soon became a sport for athletes. During this time of change, women began making strides in adapting their clothing to better accommodate the physical aspects of the game. Maud Watson became the first female champion at Wimbledon in 1884 and she shocked many with her agressive style of play and *gasp* her short skirts. They barely reached her ankles!

American MaySutton stunned spectators when she rolled up her sleeves during a match and bared her forearms.

However, it was Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen in the 1920′s who took women’s sportwear to a whole new level. Her calf-length cotton dresses were considered indecent since she wore neither corset nor petticoat. And instead of a hat, she wore a silk bandeau around her head to help keep her hair out of her eyes. But it was her grace and skill on the court that made her a sporting heroine and inspired women everywhere to give up the shakles of fashion to embrace functionality when it came to sport apparel.

Can you imagine trying to play tennis or any serious sport while trussed up in a corset? I don’t know how they did it. But if it weren’t for those early competive females like Maude Watson who started taking small revolutionary steps, the women’s movement might not have gained the momentum it did at the turn of the century.

Are any of you tennis fans? Want to strap on a corset and long skirt and join me for a reenactment match?

No?

I’m shocked. Truly shocked.

  Things you probably didn’t know about the Little Red Schoolhouse

• They weren’t always red.  Many early schools were built from logs.  Out west classes were often conducted in canvas tents, sod house and abandoned mines. Clapboard schools were painted white or left unpainted.  Some schools were painted red after the Civil War, but people objected to painting schools the same color as barns.

•  The school year was planned around farming.   Families needed children to help with planting and harvesting. School terms were generally twelve weeks long and ran from Thanksgiving to early spring. A single school term of six to nine months began after the Civil War

•  Almost every president up to and including Lyndon Baines Johnson attended a one room school. 

• A one room schoolhouse would average somewhere between six to forty students.

• Most teachers were female and were not allowed to marry.  Female teachers got five to six dollars a month in salary and generally boarded with a local family.  Male teachers earned fifteen dollars a month and were held in higher esteem.

•  In the early 1800s the youngest scholars were called A-B-C-darians or abecedarians because they were learning their A-B-Cs.  These youngsters sat up front.

•  A teacher’s duties included cutting wood, starting a fire in the potbelly stove and preparing a hot noon-day lunch.

• McGuffey’s Readers were first in published in 1836.  Not all schools could afford textbooks and parents sent whatever books could be found around the house—usually Bibles and Sears, Roebucks Catalogs.   McGuffey’s opened the door for the printing of other textbooks including the History of the United States.  A popular geography book featured a Chinese peddler selling rats and puppies for the purpose of making pies.

•  Unruly students are nothing new.  Those early scholars passed notes, dipped braids into inkwells; tied bell clappers so they wouldn’t ring; stuffed chimneys with branches and tossed buckshot into the fire to create loud explosions.  They also marked desks with “Images which would make heathens blush.”  Punishment included standing in a corner, staying after school or a wallop with a ruler or hickory stick. 

•  Reform was slow. At the turn of the century state educators sent out rural standardization ranking schools on desks, blackboards and outhouses.

•  Speaking of outhouses, did you know that during Colonial and Frontier times the crescent moon  on the door was used to symbolize womanhood?  (The moon or Luna was an ancient symbol for women). Outhouses for men and boys were marked with a star or sunburst.  These symbols were originally used to direct non-readers.  Male outhouses soon fell in disrepair and were not maintained (which explains why so few of them remain today). It soon became common practice for both sexes to use the “cleaner” crescent moon outhouses.

•  In 1919 there were 190,000 one room, one teacher schoolhouses in the U.S.  By 1968 that had dwindled down to 4000.  Today there are only a couple hundred left.  Hawaii closed its last one room schoolhouse in 2005

The reason my mind is on schools has nothing to do with the new school year.  Maddie Parker in my story “Snow Angel” in A Log Cabin Christmas Collection is a teacher in a log cabin school in Texas.  Since her students have no desks she “borrows” the church pews for them to write on. This doesn’t sit well with the elders and leads one man to complain that he had to  “…stand two solid hours on Sunday morn to hear the preacher tell us we ain’t nothin’ but sinners.  That’s hard enough to take sittin’ down let alone standin’.”  

 Not only does Maddie rile up the town with her unorthodox ways, she causes one big headache for her nemesis Sheriff Brad Donovan.  Forced to traipse through an unprecedented snowstorm to rescue the schoolmarm and three of her most challenging students, he’s ready to wring her pretty neck.  Will a snowbound Christmas be just the thing to bring forgiveness to an entire town and hope to a grieving man’s heart?

I’m giving away a copy of my new book to one of you today so let’s hear it.  What do you most remember about your early school days? Anyone out there attend a one room schoolhouse?   

www.margaretbrownley.com

 For more contests and giveaways visit me on my Facebook page:  

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A Log Cabin Christmas: 9 Historical Romances during American Pioneer Christmases

A Vision of Lucy (A Rocky Creek Romance) 

I’ve listened to debates in the romance community over the use of condoms by characters of historical fiction, whether it’s over the historical accuracy of the availability and use of condoms for the era or the opinion that the use of contraception dims the romance.  I’ve read a few westerns where the hero takes such extra precautions and I always found the descriptions interesting, but I honestly didn’t know any history about the material or availability. I’m currently at work on a new series (honest, I’m writing!) and the heroine of the third book in this series is a doctor whose father was a physician who treated many unfortunate women put to work in the “cribs” of New York. Her exposure to her father’s practice has left her with strong views on self-preservation for these women now that she’s starting her own practice in the wilds of Montana. But I needed to know if her views would have been supported by other physicians of the time, and while these days it seems you can’t turn a corner without running into a condom ad, would they have been available to cowboys on the western front? For anyone else who’s curious, here’s the bare bones of my discovery:

The use of condoms has actually been traced back several thousand years. It is believed that around 1000 BC the ancient Egyptians used a linen sheath for protection against disease. The earliest evidence of condom use in Europe comes from scenes in cave paintings at Combarelles in France. There is also some evidence that some form of condom was used in imperial Rome.

The syphilis epidemic that spread across Europe gave rise to the first published account of the condom. Gabrielle Fallopius described a sheath of linen he claimed to have invented to protect men against syphilis. Having been found useful for prevention of infection, it was only later that the usefulness of the condom for the prevention of pregnancy was recognized. Later in the 1500s, one of the first improvements to the condom was made, when the linen cloth sheaths were sometimes soaked in a chemical solution and then allowed to dry prior to use. These were the first spermicides on condoms.

The first published use of the world ‘condum’ was in a 1706 poem. It has also been suggested that Condom

Casanova entertained his women by blowing up his "English overcoats" like balloons (Library of Congress).

was a doctor in the time of Charles II. It is believed that he invented the device to help the king to prevent the birth of more illegitimate children. 18th century condoms were available in a variety of qualities and sizes, made from either linen treated with chemicals, or “skin” (bladder or intestine softened by treatment with sulphur and lye). They were sold at pubs, barbershops, chemist shops, open-air markets, and at the theater throughout Europe and Russia. The first recorded inspection of condom quality is found in the memoirs of Giacomo Casanova (which cover his life until 1774): to test for holes, he would often blow them up before use.

I found this picture and the next tidbit of info on the website of James Marsh–(History of the Condom
” Introduction” by James H. Marsh for the book Hardware: The Art of Prevention, edited by Hugh Rigby and Susan Leibtag)

The promise that the condom could, as Casanova himself wrote, put “one’s mind at rest” about unwanted pregnancy (and heirs) was the second great appeal. A 17th century poem by the son of a prominent English bishop even rejoiced in the liberating effect that the condom would have on young women, now freed from the “big Belly, and the squawking brat.”

Early condoms were made from sheep’s caeca, the large blind pouch forming the beginning of the large intestine. It was steeped in water, scraped and washed. “Superfine” condoms were scented, stretched on a mould and polished with glass. The first known advertisements for condoms, in 17th century London, were handbills carrying the following sales pitch:

“To guard yourself from shame or fear,
Votaries to Venus, fasten here;
None in our wares e’er found a flaw,
Self-preservation’s nature’s law.”

This now familiar claim of reliability resulted in orders from France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and elsewhere. However, they were quite expensive and the unfortunate result was that they were often reused. This type of condom was described at the time as “an armour against pleasure, and a cobweb against infection”. In the second half of the 1700′s, a trade in handmade condoms thrived in London and some shops where producing handbills and advertisements of condoms. In the 1840s, advertisements for condoms began to appear in British newspapers.

It was not until Goodyear invented the process of vulcanizing rubber in 1843-44 that there was a real means of producing cheaper and truly reliable condoms. The use of condoms was affected by technological, economic and social development in Europe and the US in the 1800s.

Condom manufacturing was revolutionized by the discovery of rubber vulcanisation by Goodyear (founder of the tyre company) and Hancock. This meant that is was possible to mass produce rubber goods including condoms quickly and cheaply. Vulcanisation is a process, which turns the rubber into a strong elastic material.

Since sex outside marriage or even within it, when it is not for the purpose of procreation, regarded as a sin in Western Christian society, the little apparatus was immediately reviled by the Church as a “filthy” and “nasty” incitement to lust. The attitude was that disease, even death, is just punishment for sexual transgression. Not everyone shared this view, and from the 1820s through the 1870s, popular women and men lecturers traveled around America teaching about physiology and sexual matters. Many of them sold birth control devices, including condoms, after their lectures. They were condemned by many moralists and medical professionals, including America’s first woman doctor Elizabeth Blackwell. Blackwell accused the lecturers of spreading doctrines of “abortion and prostitution”.

In 1861,the first advertisement for condoms was published in an American newspaper when The New York Times printed an ad. for ‘Dr. Power’s French Preventatives.’ “Rubbers” became widely available, but they still needed a means of advertisement. This was provided by 19th century sociology as the Malthusian league persuasively linked overpopulation and poverty and made dire predictions for the future if population was not controlled. The League promoted the use of condoms but made little headway until two of its members were tried and jailed for their activities. Press reports of the trial carried information on contraception further than the League had dared. The spread of this information has been convincingly linked to the decline in the English birth rate in the late 19th century.

In 1873, the Comstock Law was passed in the United States. Named after Anthony Comstock, the Comstock Law made illegal the advertising of any sort of birth control, and it also allowed the postal service to confiscate condoms sold through the mail. State laws banned the manufacture and sale of condoms in thirty states.Incidentally, in the second half of the 19th century, American rates of sexually transmitted diseases skyrocketed. Causes cited by historians include effects of the American Civil War, and the ignorance of prevention methods promoted by the Comstock laws. To fight the growing epidemic, sexual education classes were introduced to public schools for the first time, teaching about venereal diseases and how they were transmitted. They generally taught that abstinence was the only way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. Condoms were not promoted for disease prevention; the moral watchdogs of the medical community considered STDs to be punishment for sexual misbehavior. The stigma on victims of these diseases was so great that many hospitals refused to treat people who had syphilis.

So, there you have it–like today’s media, more info than you ever wanted, huh? I also had to wonder if “Comstock” was a common name back then (Comstock Load) or one very prominent family–perhaps the source of another topic…  As for relevance to my work, my post-Civil-War series is set during the highpoint of contraceptive distribution and awareness, though my heroine’s views wouldn’t have been supported by popular opinion in the medical community. But then, my heroines tend to go against the grain

Just north of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, atop a rocky bluff with a view of a tree-filled valley, sits an architectural marvel of unique rooms, streets, gardens and shops called “House on the Rock.” Envisioned, designed and mostly built by architect Alex Jordan Jr., this house is an amazing combination of talent and whimsy. Built, literally, into the rock, with trees in many places growing through the floor and ceiling the rooms wind around the natural landscape, creating wonderful vistas and cozy, cushioned nooks just begging for someone to build a fire and snuggle in with a good book.

The house isn’t one structure. It’s a complex of buildings surrounded by gardens and forest, including the Gate House, the Organ Room, the Doll House Room, and the world’s largest indoor carousel, which boasts 269 handcrafted animals, 20,000 lights and 182 chandeliers. The most incredible (and mildly unsettling) space is the Infinity Room, a steel and glass “needle” that extends 218 feet out over the scenic valley and 156 feet above the forest floor, with 3,264 windows overlooking the valley. More than 140 of those 156 feet are unsupported, hanging in mid-air.

My husband and I concluded our recent vacation to beautiful Door County, Wisconsin, with a side trip to House on the Rock. My dh had been many years ago, but this was a new destination for me. Based on half-remembered reminiscences about the place, and a short piece on the History Channel or Discovery Channel, I expected a grand house with sweeping rooms and awe-inspiring views. Instead I was completely charmed by low ceilings with natural rock walls, the glow of dozens of tiffany-style lamps, and tiny spaces crammed full of art and books and thousands of whimsical creatures either made by Mr. Jordan or commissioned by him to fill a particular spot in the house. All the while we were walking through the structure, I kept repeating ‘I’d love to curl up right there with a book’ or ‘don’t you just want to settle in and talk or debate with friends?’

By all accounts, Mr. Jordan loved to do just that. He enjoyed company and hosted many parties.

I think my favorite spot was the room where a small organ, a harp and a piano were crowded together and overshadowed by a great winged dragon.

If you haven’t seen this delightful architectural marvel, add it to your bucket list. I will definitely be going back.

Ever wonder why people never smiled in those 19th century family portraits? Some will tell you that since photography was such a rare occurrence, people wanted to treat the special occasion with appropriate dignity. Others propose that sitting for a photograph took so long back then, no one could manage to hold a decent looking smile without it slipping. But there’s another possibility. What if the serious miens of our ancestors were due to the fact that they wanted to hide their teeth?

Yesterday, my 13 year-old daughter got braces. These days, teens are more likely to wear them than not. It’s almost a rite of passage. After all, no one wants to endure the unsightliness of crooked teeth if there is a way to improve upon what nature wrought. But what of those poor Victorian souls who were stuck with misshapen smiles? Did they have any recourse?

By the mid- 1800s, dentists had begun exploring the realm of orthodontia and developing treatments for their patients. But in these early days, the deformity (or the patient’s vanity) would have to have been of significant proportion to motivate someone to submit to such creative dental inventions.

The instrument on the right was reportedly used to correct a crossbite in a 15-year-old girl in 1859. The telescopic bar across the bottom could be gradually lengthened to widen the palate while adjustable spur screws were used to reposition the incisors. The poor girl had to wear this contraption for several months. Can you imagine? I hope she had gorgeous teeth when she finished the process.

If the dear girl had waited a few years, she might have been able to try out one of the lovely specimens below. The one on the left is a head cap designed in 1866 for extra-oral traction. A gold frame covered the incisors, and elastic straps connected it to the beautiful head cap. Plop a bird and few feathers on that, and she could have started a new millinery fashion. But if she really wanted a cap to stop traffic, she could wait a few years more, and in 1875 become the proud owner of the tooth regulating machine on the right. Just think of the five wagon pile-up that would ensue on main street when she stepped out in such a gripping piece. The steel rod was attached to the crooked tooth by an elastic ring. Then they would tighten the elastic strap between the head cap and the steel rod in order to produce the necessary traction.

By the turn of the century, braces had become more humane. Dentists figured out how to wrap bands and wires around teeth. In order to do this, though, they needed malleable metal. So what did they choose? Gold, of course. Fourteen- to 18-karat gold was commonly used for wires, bands, clasps, etc. And you thought braces were expensive now! Just think what it would be like if your teenager had a mouth full of gold. Thank heaven for stainless steel and modern advancements!

All in all, I must say I’m thankful to be a 21st century parent. And my daughter is much happier with the results this way, too.

Today I want to share with you a little tidbit of history I stumbled across in my research, one I was previously unfamiliar with.

During the early days of the westward movement, when travelers and adventurers were still exploring the Colorado Rockies, there was a legend about a great wonder to be found hidden in a rugged and nearly inaccessible area of the great mountain range.  Rumors floated around for decades about an immense cross of snow that appeared only occasionally on the face of a high mountain peak.  Word of its existence inspired many of the curious and/or devout to seek it out.  But most who claimed to have seen the natural wonder stumbled on the sight accidentally, while others who searched diligently never caught so much as a glimpse.  And even those who saw it, found that it would subsequently disappear from view.

One of the earliest recorded sighting comes from author Samuel Bowles in his 1869 book, The Switzerland of America.  In it he wrote   “Over one of the largest and finest, the snow fields lay in the form of an immense cross, and by this it is known in all the mountain views of the territory. It is as if God has set His sign, His seal, His promise there–a beacon upon the very center and height of the Continent to all its people and all its generations…as if here was a great supply store and workshop of Creation, the fountain of Earth.”

After the Civil War, the Department of the Interior turned its attention to continuing the exploration of the West, including mapping and charting the landscape.  As part of that endeavor they hired photographers and engravers to accompany the expeditions in order to capture images of the environment and the people who populated it.  Photographer William Henry Jackson was picked to accompany the US Geological and Geographic Survey of the Territories from 1870 to 1878.  During that period, Jackson heard the rumors and legends about the extraordinary cross and became determined to be the first to photograph it.  He set out to do so in the summer of 1873.  An experienced wilderness photographer, he led a small party to what was rumored to be the best vantage spot.  But this was no easy trek up the mountain.  This arduous climb involved carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment without the aid of pack animals.  When they finally reached their destination, Jackson and his team spent a night in the high altitude air so that he could be in just the right spot to take the perfect picture when the sun rose.  But all these efforts proved to be worth it.   That photograph won Jackson numerous awards and, among other things, inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to pen his poem The Cross of Snow.

The next year, western artist Thomas Moran accompanied the expedition and made several rough sketches.  When he returned to his studio he did not attempt to create a faithful reproduction of what he’d seen, but rather a “true impression.  As one website stated “In an attempt to capture the “true impression” of the scene rather than a topographical view, Moran freely invented the foreground waterfall in his painting. Forthright about his approach, Moran declared, “I place no value upon literal transcripts from Nature. My general scope is not realistic; all my tendencies are toward idealization….Topography in art is valueless.”  The result was the 7’ x 5’ painting Mountain of the Holy Cross, finished in 1875.

Both Jackson’s photograph and Moran’s painting were exhibited in the 1876 Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia.  The public was immediately looked for religious implications of this natural wonder.  Many saw the presence of the cross in this particular location as a blessing on the idea of the nation’s Manifest Destiny to continue the westward expansion.  Others went so far as to assign it curative powers.   It became the destination of many pilgrimages and was credited with many cures.

Now for the scientific explanation.  Centuries of erosion carved two very deep ravines in the rugged rock face, and these intersected at a ninety degree angle.  These ravines fill with snow during the winter months, and their steep walls keep that snow sheltered in the spring and part of the summer, well after the rest of the mountain’s snowfall has melted away.  It does eventually melt as well, but for 2-3 months every year, a dramatically perfect white cross could be viewed from great distances.  The vertical portion of the cross is about 1200 feet long and 50 feet wide.  The horizontal arms have a combined length of about 700 feet (though this varies with the season).  The altitude of that particular mountain peak is just over 17,600 feet.

In 1929 President Herbert Hoover designated the Mountain of the Holy Cross a National Monument.  The monument was then transferred from the USDA Forest Service to the National Park Service in 1933.  Then in 1950 it lost its National Monument designation and was returned to the oversight of the Forest Service.  In 1951, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Colorado’s statehood, a commenorative stamp was issued and a picture of the Cross was featured in the collage image.

Eventually, visitation to the site fell off, and nature took its toll on the mountain itself as well.  Erosion has caused the right arm of the cross to virtually disappear, making it difficult to visualize the cross as it once was.

The AmericanDigest.org site describes the landmark’s history this way:  “The Mountain of the Holy Cross began as a myth and became a rumor. Then it became a report, a photograph, and a painting. In time it became a destination for pilgrims and tourists. Shortly after that it ceased to exist.”

So what do you think?  Do you believe this was just some natural phenomenon, some accident of nature with no deeper significance?  Or do you believe it was put there at that specific time and place for a deeper purpose?

And do you have any first hand experience with this or any other natural phenomena you’d like to share with us?