It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude.
To make enemies by unnecessary and willful incivility,
is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire.
For politeness is like a counter ― an avowedly false coin,
with which it is foolish to be stingy.
― Arthur Schopenhauer, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims
Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy.
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Antique illustration originally published in 1857 showing two Victorian ladies in (one-sided?) conversation in a conservatory.
Free to download for use in cardmaking, journaling and scrapbooking projects or simply print and frame as wall art. You can find the high-res 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.
In the Orchard, 1891
by Edmund C. Tarbell (1862–1938)
About the artist: Edmund C. Tarbell represented the so-called Boston school of impressionism and was a member of the group known as the Ten American Painters. When he showed In the Orchard at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Tarbell became the acknowledged leader of a national impressionist movement.
While Tarbell claimed that he was unaffected by the impressionist paintings he had seen while in Europe, In the Orchard is clearly indebted to a major work by the French impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), Luncheon of the Boating Party of 1880–81.
About the painting:In the Orchard is Edmund C. Tarbell’s image of his wife, Emeline Souther Tarbell, her siblings, and a family friend conversing in a bucolic setting on a summer’s afternoon. The figures have been identified as the artist’s sister-in-law, Lydia, standing at left and shown again, seated and with her back to the viewer, on the right; Lemira Eastman, a family friend, in dark blue; Richmond Souther, leaning over the back of the red bench; and Emeline, wearing a black hat and looking directly at the viewer. Poses and glances tie the five together in an intimate, convivial circle in the beneficent dappled sunlight of the orchard, which stretches away to a white fence in the distance.
Tarbell painted the orchard landscape while in France in 1886, near the end of a two-year stay interrupted by a brief return to his native Boston to become engaged to Emeline. Following his final return from France, he painted the figures, posed in the backyard of the Souther family’s home in Dorchester, then a near suburb of Boston.
How then does light return to the world
after the eclipse of the sun? Miraculously.
Frailly. In thin stripes. It hangs like a glass cage.
It is a hoop to be fractured by a tiny jar.
There is a spark there. Next moment a flush of dun.
Then a vapour as if earth were breathing in and out,
once, twice, for the first time.
Then under the dullness someone walks with a green light.
Then off twists a white wraith. The woods throb blue and green,
and gradually the fields drink in red, gold, brown.
Suddenly a river snatches a blue light.
The earth absorbs colour like a sponge slowly drinking water.
It puts on weight; rounds itself; hangs pendent;
settles and swings beneath our feet.
― Virginia Woolf, The Waves
19th century sheet music, originally published in 1866. The arrangement is called "Sunshine Schottisch" by Septimus Winner, an American songwriter of the 19th century. He used his own name, and also the pseudonyms Alice Hawthorne, Percy Guyer, Mark Mason, Apsley Street, and Paul Stenton.
In 1855, Winner published the song "Listen to the Mockingbird" under the Alice Hawthorne name. He had arranged and added words to a tune by local singer/guitarist Richard Milburn, an employee, whom he credited. Later he sold the rights, reputedly for five dollars, and subsequent publications omitted Milburn's name from the credits. The song was indeed a winner, selling about 15 million copies in the United States alone.
Another of his successes, and still familiar, is "Der Deitcher's Dog", or "Oh Where, oh Where Ish Mine Little Dog Gone", a text that Winner set to the German folk tune "In Lauterbach hab' ich mein' Strumpf verlor'n" in 1864, which recorded massive sales during Winner's lifetime. Here's a happier, modified version by the Frazee Sisters:
You can download the sheet music for "Sunshine Schottisch" as an 11" x 8.5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.
To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.
To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.
― Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them
An Edwardian lady in the park with a border of valerian flowers on the left side of the image, 1904; from my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée.
The genus name of valerian comes from the Latin “valere,” which means “to be strong” or “to be healthy,” in reference to the plant’s medicinal properties. It is an ancient herb; the Greeks used valerian to ward off evil, hanging valerian bunches in windows. The Celts hung it in their homes to ward off lightning. The herb was included in both love and sleep potions. Other magical uses include purification, such as consecrating ritual tools, promoting peace, breaking hexes, and providing stability and happiness. Valerian is used for grounding during emotional turbulence and for aiding in creativity.
Free high-res 7" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for altered art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.
