You can find plenty of work if you look for it; only don’t look too far, because it is the little bits of things, which come right in your way, that Jesus wants you to do.
—from Tip Lewis and His Lamp
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Blog
The Edison Connection
In the summer of 1885 inventor Thomas Alva Edison was a rock star in American culture.
Americans admired his intelligence and strong work ethic. They revered him for inventing products that made the average American’s life easier and more enjoyable.
He was affectionately called “The Wizard;” reporters and photographers followed him wherever he went; and authors wrote imaginative stories endowing Edison with cartoon-like super-hero powers (at the bottom of this post you can read an example).
In the summer of 1885 Edison was 38 years old. He was touring Mount Washington, New Hampshire with a party of friends, when a reporter asked him for a quote for his newspaper.
This was not an unusual occurrence; reporters were used to Edison spontaneously offering up heady scientific thoughts or pithy quotes for them to print.
But on this particular day, Edison took the newspaper reporter’s pencil and pad and wrote on it:
Miss Mina Miller of Akron, the most beautiful woman in Ohio, is today a guest of Mount Washington.
It was a stunning revelation: The Wizard of Menlo Park—known for being so focused on his work that he usually slept in his laboratory rather than going home to his family—had a romantic streak! But who was Mina Miller?
Mina Miller was the 19 year old daughter of Lewis Miller, co-founder of the Chautauqua Institution and an inventor himself. He had made a fortune designing and manufacturing farm equipment.
That summer Mina was one of Edison’s party touring Mount Washington. She had just graduated from a ladies’ boarding school in Boston and was pursuing her music studies when she met Edison through an introduction in a mutual friend’s drawing room. Edison fell instantly in love.
A widower, Edison had been married before to Mary Stillwell, a young woman who worked in his laboratory. An 1896 article in a Louisiana newspaper described his courtship of Mary:
While Edison’s first marriage may have had a very practical beginning, his second marriage was undoubtedly a love match.
Edison himself joked that he was so distracted by thoughts of Mina, he was almost run over by a street car. When Mina and the rest of the Miller family removed to Chautauqua Institution for the summer, Edison followed, determined to win Mina’s heart and the good opinion of her parents.
He taught her Morse Code so they could converse privately when other people were around. It was while they were riding in a motor car with friends that Edison tapped out his marriage proposal on the palm of Mina’s hand. She tapped out her acceptance.
Six months later they were married in Mina’s home in Akron, Ohio. Newspapers of the time described every detail, from the cost of the floral decorations, to a description of the extravagant wedding gifts they received.
America embraced the new Mrs. Edison with the same spirit in which they admired Thomas Edison. Newspapers described her as “young and fine looking,” “vivacious,” “brilliant,” and “sweet.”
Edison proved to be a thoughtful and attentive husband, even though he still worked long hours on his inventions and many business endeavors. He built Mina a new home, which they named Glenmont. Mina decorated the home with exquisite taste and filled the rooms with music and friends.
Because her father was a noted inventor, Mina knew the peculiarities of living with someone who worked when inspiration struck. When her husband spent whole days and nights at a time in his laboratory, Mina didn’t complain; instead, she slept on a cot near his workbench so she could be with him.
She was active in the Temperance Movement, and served on committees, councils, and boards for charities and civic causes.
Mina also succeeded in one area where many others failed: She got Thomas Edison to take time off from his work and relax. They were frequent visitors to Chautauqua, and often stayed at the Miller cottage. They invited friends to stay with them, and entertained Henry Ford and his wife on a number of occasions.
Edison, who never went to college, joined the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and was a member of the “Edison Class” of 1930. No mention was made in the press about whether Mr. Edison walked with his class on Recognition Day.
The Edison’s happy marriage lasted 45 years until Thomas Edison’s death in 1931. Mina died in 1947.
They are buried side-by-side at Glenmont (now a property of the National Park Service), where thousands of people visit to pay their respects to the Wizard of Menlo Park and his brilliant wife.
Would you like to read more about Mina Miller Edison? Click here to visit EdisonMuckers.org. Be sure to scroll to the end of the post where you can see some of the Edison family recipes. You can also download a very nice biography of Mina Miller Edison by John D. Venable that contains several seldom-seen photographs.
You can also learn more about Glenmont, the Edison’s home in New Jersey by following these links:
EdisonMuckers.org
ThomasEdison.org
Here’s an example of some of the popular fiction written around the turn of the century featuring Thomas Edison in the story. Follow these links to read the 1898 serial, “Edison’s Conquest of Mars.”
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Happy Easter
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Quotable
Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
—Isabella Alden
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New Free Read: The Chautauquans
John Heyl Vincent co-founded Chautauqua Institution based on one over-riding theory:
Life is one. Religion belongs everywhere. Our people, young and old, should consider educational advantages as religious opportunities.
With this in mind, he set out to prove that education was the right—and the responsibility—of all people, not just the privileged few. To Bishop Vincent, no man had the right to neglect his personal education “whether he be prince or ploughboy, broker or hod-carrier.”
He created the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (“C. L. S. C.”) as a means of bringing education to people, thereby eliminating geography or personal circumstance as barriers to learning. And he made it easy and inexpensive for people to form C. L. S. C. “circles” in their own towns. Circles popped up across the country in every possible venue: house, shop, farm and market; anyplace people could gather to exchange curriculum books and discuss what they’d read.
One of those C. L. S. C. members was author John Habberton. He was a popular writer in the late 1800s, most famous for his children’s book, Helen’s Babies. He was a frequent visitor to Chautauqua Institution and served as president of the C. L. S. C. class of 1894.
Like Isabella Alden, he was inspired by the Chautauqua ideal; he knew from experience the good that resulted from the C. L. S. C. curriculum. And like Isabella, he wrote a book about his experiences.
His novel The Chautauquans tells the story of the residents in a small town who come together to form their own C. L. S. C. chapter. It’s a charming story you can read for free. Just click on the book cover to start reading.
You can also find out more about Bishop John Vincent’s ideas that inspired the creation of Chautauqua Institution and the C. L. S. C. His book The Chautauqua Movement is available for free on Google Books. Click on this link to read it.
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Quotable
The reason why we so little understand God, and are so little able to appreciate his love, is that we plan out our lives by our ignorance, and doubt God if he does not help us carry out the plan. The best thing for us may not be what we want.
—Isabella Alden
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Good-bye to the Chautauqua Amphitheater
For over 130 years the Amphitheater has been the centerpiece of Chautauqua Institution.
From its humble beginnings as a simple speaker platform, the Amphitheater has evolved and expanded as Chautauqua Institution grew.
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When Chautauqua’s leaders built the current Amphitheater in 1893, they designed it to last 100 years. It certainly has done just that, but not without some trouble along the way.
In just the last twenty years alone, the Amphitheater has undergone major renovations to update the electrical capacity for lighting and sound, repairs to the foundation and roof, and the addition of accessible ramps for the disabled, all requirement which could not be envisioned when the original structure was built.
You can click on the illustration below to see a timeline of the Amphitheater’s history and changes over time:
Every repair and update was a challenge. Chautauqua Institution’s leadership has long tried to balance the needs of a modern age with a desire to preserve the much-loved character of the structure. But, section by section, the Amphitheater has been torn down and rebuilt again and again over the years.
Last year, Chautauqua Institution’s governing board at last cried “uncle” and determined that no amount of updates and renovations could prepare the existing Amphitheater for the needs of current and future generations of Chautauquans.
So in last December Chautauqua Institution announced a major remodel of the Amphitheater.
Construction has already begun on the grounds surrounding the Amphitheater. This fall, after the 2016 season has closed, the existing Amphitheater will be thoroughly remodeled and updated. Essentially, a brand new structure will be built. If all goes according to plans, the new Amphitheater will be completed in time for the 2017 summer season.
You can see all the artist’s renderings of the new Amphitheater design by clicking here.
If you’ve ever thought about visiting Chautauqua Institution to see the Amphitheater and the incredible Massey Memorial Organ as Isabella Alden once saw them, 2016 will be the last year you will be able to do so.
Some people are saddened by the change. It’s the end of an era, but the beginning of a beautiful future for Chautauqua Institution’s Amphitheater.
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Quotable
The world proposes rest by the removal of a burden. The Redeemer gives us rest by giving us the will and strength to bear the burden.
—Isabella Alden
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Playing with Paper Dolls
If you’re a female born before 1970, there’s a good chance you played with paper dolls when you were young.
Paper dolls were a popular toy because they were inexpensive to produce and they were often free to consumers. To play paper dolls, a little girl only needed a pair of scissors and a modicum of adult supervision during the cutting phase.
In the early 1900s newspapers printed paper dolls with educational themes. In 1909, for example, major newspapers printed the syndicated Dorothy Dot paper dolls that featured Dorothy traveling the world, meeting new friends and learning about foreign lands.
Companies used paper dolls in advertisements for many different products, from ladies’ corsets to sewing threads.
Sunshine Biscuits (still in business today as the makers of Hydrox cookies and Cheez-It crackers) often included free paper dolls in their product packaging.
Other times, they used paper dolls to increase sales. For example, they included this paper doll kimono in one of their magazine advertisements, but the doll could only be found in packages of Sunshine cookies.
But it was American magazines that really popularized girls’ paper dolls. The Ladies’ Home Journal and Good Housekeeping magazines led the way, publishing high-quality paper dolls with wardrobes in color. This two-page spread from a 1919 edition of Good Housekeeping was typical for the magazine:
By the time paper dolls really hit their zenith of popularity in the 1950s, they were even on cereal boxes, like this Kellogg’s cereal:
Isabella Alden didn’t mention specific paper dolls in her books, but given their popularity, there were probably many girls of Isabella’s acquaintance who played with paper dolls.
And there are many adults who love them, too! Visit Etsy and you’ll find many vendors who create new paper dolls or reproduce vintage paper dolls from different eras.
And we found a great site that explains the history of paper dolls and features an interesting blog with many examples of dolls from different decades. Just click here to visit.
How about you? Did you ever play with paper dolls? Which was your favorite?
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Quotable
Never retort a sharp or angry word. It is the second word that makes the quarrel.
—Isabella Alden
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