Celebrating 155 years of the Artknits fashion idol: The Good Wife.

Godey’s Lady’s Book

Godey’s Lady’s Book was first published in Philadelphia by Louis Antoine Godey (1804-1878) in 1830. The magazine, which reached a wide female audience across America (over 150,000 subscribers), was a guide to the means and approaches to appropriate self-presentation and proper domestic living.¹ Its aim was to “entertain, inform and educate” women on leisure interests and domestic duties: mineralogy, handcrafts, costume, dance, cooking, health and hygiene, home remedies and much more.² Included amongst the pages of the magazine were also short stories and poetry by some of America’s finest nineteenth-century literary minds – Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, to name a few. Women, besides being the prevailing editors and readers of the magazine, also contributed essays and stories with underlying messages regarding the expected manners, behaviour and morality of the nineteenth-century “Lady.”³

The publication ran from 1830 to 1898.

Image of Godey’s Lady’s Book (1865) Vol. 70. Courtesy Royal Ontario Museum and Archives, photo: Daniel Bernard.

 Marion Harland 

Marion Harland (1830-1922) was an American novelist, columnist and editor. Born Mary Virginia Hawes in Dennisville, Virginia, she wrote under the pseudonym “Marion Harland.”⁴ Writing for over 65 years, Harland was well known for her short stories and intriguing novels on home cooking, housekeeping and etiquette. Her first novel, Alone (1854), published at the age of twenty-four, led to her immediate popularity and success across the nation.⁵ She had a rewarding career writing and editing top magazines – including Godey’s Lady’s Book – and publishing some of America’s finest nineteenth-century novels.⁶ While her work revolved around the well-being and domestic duties of confined Victorian women, what made her work most compelling was her underlying contempt for female “limitations.”⁷

“It must be a fine thing to be a man on some accounts;—to be emancipated forever-and-a-day from the thralldom of skirts for instance, and to push through a crowd to read the interjectional headlines upon a bulletin board, instead of going meekly and unenlightened home.”⁸                                                                           – Marion Harland

In her short story, “A Hasty Speech, And What Came Of It,” featured in Godey’s Lady’s Book Vol. 70 (1865), Harland talks about the perilous marriage between Jessie Harrison and Roger Harrison. Chapters III and IV, which are found in the February section of the magazine, describe the unfortunate events that took place following Mr. Harrison’s return home from a stormy night of excessive drinking. Mrs. Harrison, who had spent the evening with her childhood sweetheart, Willie Dunbar, scorning her unloving husband, faces an intolerable amount of shame and guilt when she finds herself caring for her dying husband the morning after. Will her duty as a loving, faithful wife be enough to cure Mr. Harrison of his pneumonia? Or will Mrs. Harrison forever bear the scar of “disloyalty” to her wedded husband, following his untimely death?⁹ (No spoiler alert. Read the story here to find out!)

Image of “A Hasty Speech, And What Came Of It” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) Vol. 70, pg. 129. Courtesy Royal Ontario Museum and Archives, photo: Daniel Bernard.

Based on Harland’s story of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, the following is a fictitious diary entry that Mrs. Harrison may have written prior to her marital misfortune. The entry outlines Mrs. Harrison’s duty as a wife, recollecting the way she dresses (in reference to the corresponding February 1865 fashion plates) and caters to her husband, based on the instruction she receives in Godey’s Lady’s Book. The entry also brings up issues of vanity and morality faced by nineteenth-century women and draws on Harland’s disdain for the “limitations” on Victorian women.

While the characters (by Harland) and events are made up, the fashions and troubles alluded to by Jessie Harrison in the entry are found in Godey’s Lady’s Book and other nineteenth-century sources/theories on Victorian women.

___________________________________

February 10, 1965

I awoke this morning before dawn to summon for Roger’s breakfast – but, to my own astonishment, my husband had already made his departure. He regularly leaves the house by the hour of seven – he did not wake me this morning to see him off. I am fearful I am not keeping my duty as a wife; in all my effort to keep him in good spirits, my affection is not well-received. Quite the contrary – I seem to be nothing but a matter of trouble and disdain to his Majesty.

What’s a mere wife to do?

The thought of a life without dear Roger perplexes me. But a prolonged life as a lonely wife – why he keeps me in want of his love, I’ll never know!¹⁰ But I shall keep up appearances for Roger’s sake. If he will not have me, I dare not let the world observe us. I shall continue to wear the mask, as any loyal wife would willingly do.¹¹

I’ve heard of those modern girls – the ones of the period – posturing the town square in their “‘fast’ dress,” with their false complexions, rejecting their maternal paths.¹² How shall they keep a husband and family? Roger would not have me in public neglecting my moral character with hasty cosmetics. Godey’s strictly instructs against vanity, advocating for “moral cosmetics” achieved through a woman’s virtue and moral character.¹³ I should not risk losing Roger’s trust by flattering him with false appearances.

Image of “The Lady” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) Vol. 70, pg. 137.

St. Valentine’s Day approaches, however, and I intend to prepare the house to delight Roger. I will have to call for the children’s care – Katy shall keep them in the parlour. Although he does not approve of frivolous spending, I have enough pin money tucked away to update our cushion covers in the new German style. I am quite fond of the French merino pattern – the combination of net and black silk embroidery produces a lasting impression.¹⁴  I hope it will please my husband.

Image of “German Cushion Cover ” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) Vol. 70, pg. 125.

As for myself, I have commissioned few accoutrements from the Editress of the Fashion Department – some black lace and hair work in keeping with February fashions.¹⁵ Once my husband has knowledge of this expenditure, he might well disapprove; but how shall I represent my family if I do not invest in some ornament?¹⁶ Mrs. Dunbar would surely have words if she caught me in January fashions. Blue, pink or white silk with black trim is of the season. Roger favours the blue silk – he recalls the Virgin in a blue mantle and says it lends to my virtue, gentleness and womanhood.¹⁷ I much like the colour against my complexion. To complete the dress, I will need to gather:

– white ribbon for the quilling
– white silk for the overskirt, which will be cut to represent festoons
– black lace for edging and trimming¹⁸

Image of Fashion-Plate by Kimmel & Co. “Godey’s Fashions For February 1865 ” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) Vol. 70, pg. 114-115. Courtesy Royal Ontario Museum and Archives, photo: Daniel Bernard.

I shall keep the white silk bodice cut low for my husband’s pleasure come the evening – yet, I shan’t wear the dress outside our home without some proper covering for fear a man mistake me for an unmarried seductress.¹⁹ Those in Germany who leave their “arms and shoulders naked or lightly covered” have been accused of “mortal sin.”²⁰ The fashion calls for a blue silk coat waist, also cut low, and extending to the back in a sash-like manner. Godey’s orders the coiffure to be composed of blue velvet and white flowers; some of which I will have to reuse from last season’s bonnet.²¹ The hair is rolled at the front and parted into bunches of curls that extend to the back with arranged bows – I do hope my commissions arrive before the day.²²

The time is half past the hour of five and I pray that Roger returns in good spirits. I have ordered Katy to prepare his tea in the parlour so that he may rest in the comfort of his home. I dare not mention his unprecedented departure this early morning, lest he become bothered with me.

I beg the dear Lord rid me of any bitter thoughts and maintain my duty to my husband.

Jessie Harrison