A View from Outside the Box
“In every-day affairs it is so easy to let things drift.  So tiresome sometimes to leave an interesting book or study to find out what is going wrong in kitchen or household…yet it must be done.”  (From ‘Mrs. Beeton’s Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book.”) I really love this quote because I know that if ‘something is going wrong in kitchen or household’ I am directly connected to it, the wrong has me at the other end of it.  In Mrs. Beeton’s world, it is implied that much of the work is in overseing and instructing, perhaps settling an example.  I also feel like she’s speaking to me directly, it is certainly tiresome to leave an interesting book.   Read “Good Women Have Their Reward,” and find out just how different attitudes once were, in some cases nothing has changed.  You will find it on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue.  

“In every-day affairs it is so easy to let things drift.  So tiresome sometimes to leave an interesting book or study to find out what is going wrong in kitchen or household…yet it must be done.”  (From ‘Mrs. Beeton’s Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book.”)

I really love this quote because I know that if ‘something is going wrong in kitchen or household’ I am directly connected to it, the wrong has me at the other end of it.  In Mrs. Beeton’s world, it is implied that much of the work is in overseing and instructing, perhaps settling an example.  I also feel like she’s speaking to me directly, it is certainly tiresome to leave an interesting book.  

Read “Good Women Have Their Reward,” and find out just how different attitudes once were, in some cases nothing has changed.  You will find it on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue.  

Posted 12 months ago
2 notes
Tagged: Mrs. Beeton, cooking, cookery, Victorian women, Victorian attitudes, cleaning, housekeeping, Mother, children, wife, relationships, attitudes, history, writing, reading, literature, commentary, social commentary, opinion, column, humor, humour, .
“Isabella Beeton was no feminist.  She contended that, ‘A good woman should be a good housekeeper, for the latter must possess one of the greatest of all virtues, namely, unselfishness.  An utter abnegation of self is almost a necessity with the mistress of a household, for with her rests the question of the health and comfort, if not the happiness, of all its members.”  (From “Mrs. Beeton’s Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book.” I urge you to do the right thing ladies and gentlemen, abnegate your selfish desires and instead, read “Good Women Have Their Reward,” to be found on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue.  

“Isabella Beeton was no feminist.  She contended that, ‘A good woman should be a good housekeeper, for the latter must possess one of the greatest of all virtues, namely, unselfishness.  An utter abnegation of self is almost a necessity with the mistress of a household, for with her rests the question of the health and comfort, if not the happiness, of all its members.”  (From “Mrs. Beeton’s Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book.”

I urge you to do the right thing ladies and gentlemen, abnegate your selfish desires and instead, read “Good Women Have Their Reward,” to be found on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue.  

Posted 12 months ago
4 notes
Tagged: abnegate youself! (that could catch on as a phrase), Isabella Beeton, Mrs. Beeton, Victorian ladies, Victorian attitudes, history, women, relationships, cooking, housekeeping, being a wife, Mothers, children, attitudes, women's changing role over time, sparkling commentary, opinion, social commentary, writing, reading, literature, .
A little taste of what is to come tomorrow, Tuesday May 29 on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue.  Please read it to find out what Mrs. Beeton had to say and both how much and how little some things have changed.   “Praise is readily accorded to those whose province it seems is to shine in society, whose brilliant talents or accomplishments almost command admiration, while those who simply devote themselves to their home, to the comfort of their husbands and the care and culture of their children are, in comparison, but lightly esteemed; while in reality they should be more so.  They often do a higher, nobler work than mere talents could effect, and seldom without self sacrifice.  These good women have their reward.” (From “Mrs. Beeton’s Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book)

A little taste of what is to come tomorrow, Tuesday May 29 on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue.  Please read it to find out what Mrs. Beeton had to say and both how much and how little some things have changed.  

“Praise is readily accorded to those whose province it seems is to shine in society, whose brilliant talents or accomplishments almost command admiration, while those who simply devote themselves to their home, to the comfort of their husbands and the care and culture of their children are, in comparison, but lightly esteemed; while in reality they should be more so.  They often do a higher, nobler work than mere talents could effect, and seldom without self sacrifice.  These good women have their reward.”

(From “Mrs. Beeton’s Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book)

Posted 12 months ago
1 note
Tagged: cooking, housekeeping, women, women's role, history, raising children, household management, trends, changing roles, Mrs. Beeton, recipes, antiques, bibliophile, .