Last week Dawn http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/ posted about an artist that she had found & fallen in love with... Well girls that is enough for me! I scurried over & YES, Diana http://dianafrey.blogspot.com/ & her work are more than Divine! Her style spoke to my soul. I don't believe I have shared the fact that I took soldering classes this summer from Heather Ales http://heatherales.blogspot.com/and really love it (YES, I NEED a lot more practice)so my first goal of the New Year is to take a class in March from Diana. I hope to arrange to fly from Texas out to California & take the class. Does that tell you how much I want this!!!!! Anyway, Diana has a piece she shows on her lovely Blog that is called Frozen Charlotte in a Cage. In visiting with her I asked "why do they call the doll Frozen Charlotte" & her reply was "I don't know". Also, in visiting Beth Quinn's lovely site I saw another Charlotte. I asked both artist's if I could share their work & do a post explaining Frozen Charlotte. Both agreed so I did some research & want to share this with you:
Frozen Charlottes are a type of unjointed china doll popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The name came from Fair Charlotte, a well-known American folk ballad attributed to William Lorenzo Carter. It is believed to have been composed some time between 1833 and 1860. The ballad tells the tale of a beautiful young woman who set out in a sleigh with her lover, Charles, on a bitterly cold night to attend a ball fifteen miles away. Her mother warned her to wrap herself in a blanket to keep warm, but:
"No, no, no," fair Charlotte said And she laughed like a gypsy queen "To ride in blankets muffled up, I never can be seen."
The couple rode off into the cold and, after traveling a mere five miles, Charles remarked:
"Such a night as this I never knew, The reins I scarce can hold." Fair Charlotte said in a feeble voice "I am exceeding cold." Away they ride through frozen air In the glittering starry night Until at length the village inn and the ballroom were in sight. They reached the door, Young Charles stepped out And held his hand to her "Why sit you there like a monument that hath no power to stir?" He called her once, he called her twice She uttered not a word He held his hand to her again And still she never stirred Then swiftly through the lighted room Her lifeless form he bore Fair Charlotte was a stiffened corpse And word spoke nevermore.
"No, no, no," fair Charlotte said And she laughed like a gypsy queen "To ride in blankets muffled up, I never can be seen."
The couple rode off into the cold and, after traveling a mere five miles, Charles remarked:
"Such a night as this I never knew, The reins I scarce can hold." Fair Charlotte said in a feeble voice "I am exceeding cold." Away they ride through frozen air In the glittering starry night Until at length the village inn and the ballroom were in sight. They reached the door, Young Charles stepped out And held his hand to her "Why sit you there like a monument that hath no power to stir?" He called her once, he called her twice She uttered not a word He held his hand to her again And still she never stirred Then swiftly through the lighted room Her lifeless form he bore Fair Charlotte was a stiffened corpse And word spoke nevermore.
Of course there was a lesson to be learned from this tragic tale, and many young girls who later played with Frozen Charlottes probably were warned:
Now, ladies, when you hear of this Think of that dreadful sight, And never venture so thinly clad, On such a winter's night.
Most Frozen Charlottes ranged in height from one to four inches. The one-inch-sized dolls, displayed here, were commonly known as "penny dolls" because they generally sold for one cent. The popularity of Frozen Charlottes can be attributed, in part, to the fact that their relatively low price allowed children to accumulate a collection of dolls with which to play.
I hope you enjoyed this little snippet. Isn't Bloglandia full of different wonderful mind stretching things. Have a beautiful Friday my friends. xoxoxoxo
