A Thanksgiving Legend: Sarah Josepha Hale By Polly Guerin

As we celebrate Thanksgiving 2017 there are so many more reasons to be thankful. However, none is more interesting than the reminder, "Let us not forget," it was Sarah Josepha Hale, a petite crusader in crinoline, the pioneering Victorian who inspired President Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. 
HALE’S LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN
      Sarah Josepha Hale’s relentless handwritten letter campaign spanned a period of almost three decades in which she urged that Thanksgiving be declared a holiday. With tireless zeal she penned thousands of editorials and wrote handwritten letters to prominent, citizens, governors and went right to the White House, addressing the issue to United States President. She never gave up letter writing her campaign, which had its inspiration at that time for the unification of the country
CIVIL WAR UNIFICATION
       As the dark days of the Civil War divided the country into two armed camps Mrs. Hale’s editorials became more vigilant. Who would listen to a lone woman with her persistent plea for "just one day of peace amidst the blood and strife"? Eventually she came to see the nationalization of Thanksgiving not only as a day for counting our blessings, but as a logical bond of union, one more means of drawing the sympathies of the country together. 
WITHOUT TYPEWRITER OR COMPUTER

Year after year without typewriter or the convenience of a computer Sarah Josepha Hale continued to pour out hundreds handwritten letters, which were sent to influential people urging them to join in establishing the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
LINCOLN DECLARES THE HOLIDAY
     With the country gripped in the North and South divide, Mrs. Hale’s concept of unity finally caught the attention of one man in the White House. Prompted by a letter she had written to Secretary of State William Seward in 1863 President Lincoln recognized the urgency for unification and promptly issued a proclamation appointing the last Thursday in November as a day of national Thanksgiving in America.
                                                                                     HALE, THE LADY EDITOR 

      Sarah Josepha Hale succeeded at a time when there were few opportunities for women to escape the drudgery of domesticity. In addition, like other women of her era, she had been denied a formal education but found refuge in her father’s library, self-educating herself. 
      After her husband died, leaving her penniless, she wrote and published a novel, Northwood, which captured the attention of a Boston publishing firm. She was offered editorship of one of their periodicals in 1836 and at the age of 40, with five children to support, she left her home town of Newport, New Hampshire and moved to Boston to assume the post of Lady Editor. Running one of the most powerful magazines in the country did not escape critics, but she always explained that she was forced to hold down a job to feed her children.
ARBITER OF WOMEN’S ISSUES
       Sarah Josepha Hale, as Lady Editor, was the arbiter of parlor etiquette, fashion, manners and intellect. As a journalist, lobbyist, career woman and crusader in crinoline she spoke her mind and succeeded where others had failed. A petite woman, she dressed in the crinoline style of the Victorian era. However, even in this cumbersome attire and the pressing restrains of society, she championed numerous women’s issues bringing about a number of important improvements in the lives of women in the Victorian era. She was the first to advocate women as teachers in public schools. She demanded for housekeeping the dignity of a profession and put the term “domestic science” into the language. Sarah Josepha Hale was to prove to be unique exception of her times.

HALE'S MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB 
        In addition, she helped to establish Vassar College, the first college for women. Hale was highly civic minded and among her credits she promoted the movement to preserve Mount Vernon as a National memorial and raised the money that finished the Bunker Hill Monument. How she found the time, I will never know, but this prolific lady was also the author of some two dozen books and hundreds of poems, including the best known children’s rhyme in the English language, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
       Sarah Josepha Hale stepped from the shelter of an early nineteenth century marriage untrained, unschooled and stepped forward to become the nation’s most celebrated Lady Editor. For her patriotic part in nationalizing Thanksgiving Day, we give thanks.
      Ta Ta Darlings!!! Wishing you all a very peaceful and Happy Thanksgiving. Fan mail welcome at pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's Blogs on www.pollytalk.com on fashion, visionary men, women determined to succeed and poetry.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo, self portrait, ca 1670

The Frick Museum's significant role as the custodian of ancient art is also one of New York's most quiet and revered places to discover the Old Masters and retreat for quiet contemplation in its inner fountain courtyard.  With its rare paintings by the Old Masters The Frick reminds us to remember the great painters who set the ancient course of art history. 
      Paying tribute one of Italy's renowned artist's  achievements, this year marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of the most celebrated painters of the Spanish Golden Age, Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1617-1682). The exhibition runs through February 4, 2018 after which it moves to London's
National Gallery from February 28 through May 21, 2018.
     Murillo, the self portrait, pictured at the left, ca. 1670, attests to the artist's profession. The elegantly rendered Latin inscription below the portrait translates, "Bartolome Murillo painted himself to fulfill the wishes and prayers of his children." This is a second self-portrait, similar to an earlier one, but the trompe l'oeil stone frame around Murillo's image is more elaborate, decorated with scrolls and idealized foliage.  Flanking the frame, the artist's had engagingly holds the frame and there on the ledgeare the signature attributes of an artist including painter's brushes and palette.  
     

Murillo's Two Women in a Window ca. 1655-60 

Murillo's career was a successful one, and he painted canvases for the most important patrons and churches in Seville, and also created allegorical and genre scenes.  Image Right: Murillo's Two Women remains one of the best known and most mysterious of Murillo's paintings. The affect of these two figures emerging from the window is exceptionally realistic. The women have been identified as servants or prostitutes. A Spanish proverb from the period warns that "a woman at the window a grape of the street." It is interesting to note that the nature of the painting's commission and its message remains, unknown. However, his portraits of urchins in the street of Seville are particularly well known, and together with Immaculates and other religious images, they remain his signature works. The Museum Shop offers a richly illustrated publication.
     Concurrently on exhibit are two Venetian Renaissance Masterpieces by the celebrated artist
Pablo Veronese (1528-1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness and St. Agatha Visited by St. Peter. 
The two rarely seen canvases left Italy for the first time since their creation, over 450 years ago. And thanks to Venetian Heritage and the sponsorship of BVLGARI, they have been fully restored and returned to their original glory. On view through March 28, 2018, this provides a unique opportunity to discover two masterpieces in the Frick's unique setting. 
       

Veronese St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter (1566-57)

St. Agatha was a third-century martyr from Sicily who lived in Catania at the time of the Christian persecution under Roman emperor Decius. Of noble origin she had pledged her chastity to God and therefore would not yield to the advances of Quintianus, a Roman consul, who was enticed by her beauty. When she refused to worship pagan idols, he sent her to prison where she was tortured and Quintianus ordered her breasts be cut off. In St. Agatha, Veronese sets the scene in Agatha's agony, her wounded breasts a testament to her devotion. In the dark prison cell. she steadies herself against the bench, surprised by two visitors that burst into her cell. A glorious blond angel dressed in light blue holds a long taper, he precedes St. Peter, who stands by the open door. In his left hand he holds the keys to heaven and with his right hand he gestures upward, referring at once to his celestial mission and to Agatha's imminent healing, and possibly death and heavenly reward. The two paintings, Agatha and St. Jerome in the Wilderness (1566-67) are Murano photo credited to: Ufficio Beni Culurali del Patriarcato di Venezia, Accompanying the exhibition is a richly illustrated publication, available in the Museum shop.
      Ta ta Darlings!!!  The dual exhibition is a breathtaking experience, worth your while to spend an hour or two reveling in their remarkable restoration. Then too, before heading out to the cacophony of New York City, take a some time to sit for awhile in the quiet fountain courtyard. Fan mail is always welcome www.pollytalknyc@gmail.com.  Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and click in the left-hand column to the Blog that resonates with your interest on visionary men, women determined to succeed, the fashion historian and poetry.