1890s: Illness and birthdays

 

One more week as passed in game, and we are now well into Spring. Abigail cannot say she liked the start of this week. Spring arrived, but she started the week by falling ill.

The next day that illness has spread to almost everyone else in the family, save for Ida who seemed to be doing just fine. (As an interesting side note, there was actually an epidemic of influensa in March 1891. Granted it was in Chicago, but still. This game continues to surprise me, it's almost too well matched with history.

Now one of the rules of this challenge, one I am actually keeping, is the no medicine rule for this decade. Mostly because medicine was unreliable at the time due to poor regulation of the research and publication of findings. One part of this was that almost anyone could - and would - publish in journals with potential cures for diseases, and another that many pharmacies came up with their own concoctions, some of which were more reliable than others. Some where even dangerous. Medicine, was therefore not to be trusted. Abigail prefers the natural remedies. Hot chamomile tea, rest, good hygiene and cleaning the house. 

 

In 1891 the knowledge of bacteria has been scientifically established for a while. The connection between illness and sanitation was proven as early as 1837. Therefore, Abigails natural solution to the influensa in her house, is to go on a cleaning frenzy That this coincides with the common practise of spring cleaning is only an added bonus. During spring cleaning, you needed to be more than one person, so in households like this one, with only one maid, a woman like Abigail would do her part (even if Dolly would do the dirtiest and heaviest jobs). While the two women clean, Joseph hides in his office and Ida is sent to her room to entertain herself.

By the end of the day, they are no less sick (possibly more so due to the added strain of cleaning) but the house is at least immaculately clean. As Frank is sent home from school with a fever, and Joseph comes down with it too, tea is ordered for everyone and the boys are sent promptly to bed.

Ida, the only one not affected so far, still needs tending, so rest for Abigail means knitting while watching Ida play.

When it\'s finally time for Ida\'s nap for the day, Abigail too can lay down for a while.

For poor Dolly there is of course no rest to be had. As the only housemaid, and with working conditions what they were (just look at how fast Lizbeth was fired when a better maid came along) she can at most take a moment\'s breather on the stool in the kitchen. But at least the house is clean and germ free. 

On Wednesday, everyone in the family seemed to have recovered, though poor Dolly is still feeling the effects of the influensa. As Frank leaves for school and Joseph goes to work, Abigail gives her some free time to rest up as she takes Ida out of the house for the day. She had made a decision to widen their group of friends, and so she set out to call on a Christine Bradshaw, a new acquaintance from the congregation whose company she quite enjoy.

Turns out that Christine has two lovely daughters, Madelynn and Martha (and a son, but Ida doesn't care much for boys). After a moment of initial shyness, Ida and Martha gets along well. 

But eventually it's time to go home. Ida is so tired she falls asleep on the couch. Abigail decides to let her be while she helps Frank with his homework. 

On Friday, the weather is beautiful and Abigail and Joseph decide to take Ida to the park. Now in 1890s parks were not places with large playgrounds. In fact there usually were no playgrounds at all (the first US playground opened in 1887 in San Fransisco). Instead parks were places to walk, to experience nature, and to meet people. Ida will have to make due with what nature provides. She befriends a wild rabbit:

And play in a spot of sand by the fishing pond.

On the day before Easter Sunday, it's Ida's birthday. It's time for her to become a child. A birthday party is planned. All the Bradshaw children are invited, as well as the Duncan and Sullivan children. Dinner, lamb for easter, is prepared by Dolly and Abigail sets the table:

Ida's room gets new furniture. Abigail chooses white and airy furniture, along the new modern style art nouveau that is starting to become more popular.

As the children arrive for the party, entertainers are hired. A violinist. The flower bunny is also there, and the children all hunt for eggs according to Victorian easter celebrations. 

They eat food and Ida blows out the candles on her birthday cake.

Meet Ida Whittaker, a 1890s girl. As stated before, I did not intend to give her a trait that was predetermined (creative) by the rules, but let it be decided randomly. At first it rolled out as geek, which doesn't really play well with the era, so I did a reroll. She ended up being an art lover. Well fitted for the time. Her aspiration (also after a random generator) is to become an artistic prodigy. She's probably going to find the creative focus of a girl's education easy to live with. 

Next week it's finally time for Abigail's wedding! Now that both children are aged up and summer is at the door, it's about time to make the final transition to husband and wife, and to start working on children of their own.