The Emilie Loring Collection

Have you noticed a change in the tone of public media lately? Several months in, after attending to each report, each analysis, and each prediction of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a collective yearning for something more. We know the challenge, and we are in it for the long haul, but to make the journey, we could use a lift.

In separate publications this week, I read,

After all, there was nothing like an absorbing interest to make one vitally alive from head to feet.

Prudence laughed.  “I discontented!”  Somebody once said, ‘Tragedy is chic but discontent is dowdy.’  Now, I ask you, can you think of me as being dowdy?”

We could all use an absorbing interest these days, and Emilie has some ideas for us.

Read.

Thank heaven for the Emilie Loring books on our shelves that stand reading and re-reading! If yours is an incomplete collection, the list of Emilie Loring e-books is up-to-date (marked **) on our Bookshelf.

Her short stories are quick, fun reads, too. See links here: Short Stories by Emilie Loring

But maybe you’d like to try something new?

“Bret Harte said that the only sure thing about luck is that it will change.  Remember that?  Of course you don’t.  Who reads Bret Harte now?”  We Ride the Gale!

You can read him, right now. Bret Harte’s are the sorts of stories you could read around a campfire–high drama, romance and danger, enough mystery to keep you reading and enough humor to allow you a good night’s sleep. Some of his humorous short stories are provided by Project Gutenberg, here.

Memorize something.

When was the last time you memorized a poem? With my new granddaughter, I’ve amazed myself with the old nursery rhymes and songs that pop out of my memory with nary a snag. There’s something comforting about a poem you know by heart; it seems especially yours.

“Memory stores are wonderful props in time of worry and anxiety.”

The Mother in the Home

Emilie Loring quotes Malone’s “Opportunity” in Hilltops Clear. I like its can-do attitude, and without Emilie, I might never have run across it. Here is the full poem:

OPPORTUNITY

by: Walter Malone (1866-1915)

They do me wrong who say I come no more
When once I knock and fail to find you in;
For every day I stand outside your door
And bid you wake, and rise to fight and win.

Wail not for precious chances passed away!
Weep not for golden ages on the wane!
Each night I burn the records of the day–
At sunrise every soul is born again!

Dost thou behold thy lost youth all aghast?
Dost reel from righteous Retribution’s blow?
Then turn from blotted archives of the past
And find the future’s pages white as snow.

Art thou a mourner? Rouse thee from thy spell;
Art thou a sinner? Sins may be forgiven;
Each morning gives thee wings to flee from hell,
Each night a star to guide thy feet to heaven.

Laugh like a boy at splendors that have sped,
To vanished joys be blind and deaf and dumb;
My judgments seal the dead past with its dead,
But never bind a moment yet to come.

Though deep in mire, wring not your hands and weep;
I lend my arm to all who say “I can!”
No shame-faced outcast ever sank so deep
But yet might rise and be again a man!

Travel – Virtual, for now

Here is an effort where Emilie Loring shines. Her descriptions transport us to settings far from our living rooms–Alaska, Maine, Wyoming, New York City, Boston, Cape Cod…

Far off, sportive whales sent sparkling jets of water high in air.  Great bergs of green ice, surmounted by flocks of lavender and white gulls, floated oceanward.  Quite near were snow-crowned mountains whose sides, striped in vivid and dull green, reminded him of the slashed sleeve of a troubadour. Lighted Windows

Pick a place, pick a book, and you’re off!

Cook something

In times of uncertain food supplies, making use of everything is a smart strategy.

Every week has its day of reckoning; the day when I realize that I must slow up or the week’s appropriation will be spent before its time; ’tis then that I play that absorbingly interesting game, “Use What You Have.”

For the Comfort of the Family

Here are a couple of easy dishes from Emilie Loring’s kitchen:

Cut cold, leftover meat into uniform squares and layer in a baking dish with cooked macaroni and tomato sauce. Top the final layer with buttered bread crumbs and bake until it bubbles at the edges.

Cold fish can be layered with sliced potatoes, sliced boiled eggs, and a cream sauce. Top with buttered bread crumbs and bake until the top is light brown.

See more recipes here: Keep a Little Caviar in the Cupboard and don’t forget the “Recipes” section in the blog’s category index. (If you’re reading on a smart phone or tablet, you’ll have to scroll way down; on a large screen, it will appear in the sidebar.)

Having the courage to dare and try new combinations lifts cooking out of the slough of monotony.  For the Comfort of the Family

Plant new flowers

I’ve taken this one to heart and created an all-new flower bed and a vegetable garden at my daughter’s house. Luckily, I had ordered seeds ahead of time, because my friends have had a tough time finding all of their favorites. One creative solution is to alert gardening friends who have either extra seeds or plants they are ready to divide, and on an appointed day, put the extras out at the front of your homes to share while maintaining social distancing–a gardening version of the mini-library. Maybe you’ll find what you need to Plant an Emilie Loring Garden This Year!

Write a letter

I know. Pretty old-school. But now that we have the time, writing real-life letters that recipients can hold in their hands is a special treat and perhaps a lasting reminder of this strange season of living.

 

Emilie Loring ordered her stationery from Boston’s M T Bird & Co., “social stationers and engravers since 1885.” She even had her own adhesive “stamps” made with which to seal her envelopes, in lieu of wax.

While summering in Maine, she wrote on postcards that bore a sketch of Stone House. The Slavens, who bought the property from the Lorings, continued the practice with custom-printed stationery and envelopes.

“Leg over leg, the dog went to Dover.”

We may be living these altered lives quite a bit longer. Like Emilie, I see it as an opportunity knocking.

“To me the most interesting thing in life is trying to do what I have to do superlatively well. Get a tremendous kick out of it.”  Gay Courage

Take care of yourselves, and do the things that matter most. When stories are written about our generations, we’ll want them to be good ones.

Happy Landings!