Sewing was the task of my day. I opened my box of fabric
scraps with thoughts of organizing them for making quilt tops. It was a long
overdue task. I had years’ worth. I
scattered the pieces across my grandmother’s oak table, beguiled with memories
of the clothing made, curtains sewn up, costumes designed.
To say that I was startled to hear the familiar voice when
food wasn’t cooking is an understatement.
Oh! I love all these colors. I was never much of a
seamstress. Of course I sewed and helped
Mrs. Stanton with her handwork. With
seven children she and her dressmaker were busy. Like any good homemaker, Mrs. Stanton kept her
own supply of material left from those creations just in case the dress, or
shirt, needed mending or making over to wear for another year.
Did you have to do that much?
Money was always tight for all among us. Clothing was a
topic of our letters and conversations. And one of my favorite letters that
dear Lucretia Mott sent to Mrs. Stanton was in thanks for a special birthday
gift.
What was it? Did she
make her an outfit?
Oh my, no. Mrs. Mott
was a Quaker and wore plain clothing. Yet, she took great joy in color. So when
Mrs. Stanton sent her scraps her pleasure abounded from the page. She wrote: “I
opened the bag & enjoyed looking over each piece, opening each pinned up
bundle, amazed that thou had collected so much--& bore my carpet rag mania
in mind—Part of the glowing colors already I one ball & a little leisure of
each day cutting others in strips. I hope thou has reserved enough to mend thy
daughter’s torn dresses at boarding school – Thy kind remembrance in this way
has my hearty thanks, & I am trying to thing of something when the good bag
is returned to fill it withal.”
Oh that’s marvelous! I am sorry to say that I don’t know
much about her. I really just know that she is the subject of
the Capital rotunda with along with you and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
![]() |
The three women who were the foundation of Woman's Suffrage. The statue was unveiled in the nation's Capitol Rotunda on February 15, 1921, just a year after women were granted the right to vote. |
Lucretia Mott was a joyous, driven, brilliant, hard-working
woman. She was one of the first who advocated for woman’s rights as well as her
continuing devotion to anti-slavery.
How did you meet her?
I had known her sister who lived near me in Rochester. When
I traveled to Philadelphia for the 1854 Woman’s Rights Convention Lucretia Mott
invited me to stay with her. She wrote—“It will give us pleasure to have thy
company at 338 Arch Street, where we hope thou wilt make thy home. We shall of
course be crowded, but we expect thee and shall prepare accordingly. We think
such as thyself, devoted to good causes, should not have to seek a home.”
So how was your visit?
It was wonderful. Twenty-four people could sit at the table
in their thirty-one-foot long dining room. The dinners were amazing full of the
brightest minds and strongest activists of the time. William Lloyd Garrison sat
at Mrs. Mott’s right hand at table and I was honored to sit at her left.
Neither she nor I wanted to miss a bit of the table talk so at the conclusion
of each meal she had brought in a little cedar tub filled with hot water and
washed the silver, glass and fine china. I dried them with the whitest of
towels while the brilliant conversation at the table went on uninterrupted.
What kind of food did she serve?
Mrs. Mott loved the food of her Nantucket Island
childhood—rich codfish stews, corn pudding, pickled tongue and herring. She
enjoyed spicy foods, tasty custards, and mince pie. Strawberries and
gooseberries in cream were a particular favorite.
They all sound wonderful.
But her health was a continuing concern. All she was doing
and the pressures she was under for working for these controversial issues of
anti-slavery and woman’s rights took a toll. She was unstoppable. She had a
playful way of presiding over meetings, encouraging speakers to move along and
using good cheer to set off critics.
Still she often wrote of being so ill that it was impossible for her to
work. She thought it was the stress of work. She wrote on more than one
occasion that she had “stacks of woman’s rights letters to answer and it is so
strange that I am bent over double with dyspepsia.”
I think that the food she enjoyed most added to her misery.
Can you explain more?
![]() |
Lucretia Mott was born on Nantucket Island in 1793, After a long life of social activism she died in Chester County outside Philadelphia in 1880. |
Mrs. Mott was known to enjoy a small bit of wine
occasionally and even mix it in her custard recipes. On the other hand I have
never tasted any alcoholic drink; why I would as soon touch arsenic. I was
trained that way. In the second place, I have abstained in the matter of food.
In campaigns where I have had to make as many speeches as any of the men who
were speaking at the same time I would be the last to give out. That was
because they would all refresh themselves after a hard evening by a supper.
Meanwhile I would be sound asleep. So I have never had any indigestion in my
life, and do not intend to. I suppose a
share of my health is due to my activity, my constant exercise and so on; but I
am firmly convinced that it is due to my abstinence in drink and rich foods.
What led you to this style of eating?
We always ate simply at home and then I spent a month in a
health sanatorium for a water cure. In 1855 I was exhausted and stepped away
from my work –I have been on the road all year beginning with a two-month
petition campaign riding in carriages through most of the New York counties in
the dead of one of the coldest winters in years. I then carried on my usual work through the
summer and into the fall. By October I was exhausted and suffering with a
continual and excruciating pain in my back.
What was the treatment like?
My day was so busy with prescribed activities, I almost felt
as though I did not have time to put two thoughts together. I had to undress for four cold-water baths
and then dress for four periods of exercise. I took a daily drive out in the
grounds. I almost felt as though I did not have time to put two thoughts
together, but I did also have time to read. I did enjoy the special diet of
healthy vegetables and sturdy wheat dishes at the three daily meals.
When you were 35 you purchased a policy from New York Life
Insurance Company. The doctor's comments certainly describe the results of your healthy lifestyle.
Yes, Here’s what Dr. Moore wrote: height 5 ft. 5 in.; figure
full; chest measure 38 in, weight, 156 pounds.; complexion, fair; habits, healthy
and active; nervous affections, none; character of respiration, clear;
resonant, murmur perfect; heart, normal in rhythm and sound; pulse 66 per
minute; disease, none. I was pleased with his summary assessment: “The life is
a very good one.” I could not agree
more.
Dyspepsia Bread
¼ cup warm water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup additional warm water
¼ cup molasses
½ teaspoon salt, optional
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
In a large mixing bowl combine the water and sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and stir
gently. Set aside until this mixture begins to bubble, about 5 minutes. Stir ½
cup flour into this mixture. Pour the ¾ cup warm water into the bowl. Do not
mix in. Set this “sponge” aside until it
is bubbling, about 10 or 15 minutes in a warm room. Do not rush these two
steps. At the end it should look like a
mound of whipped cream floating on water.
Next, stir in molasses, optional salt, and then 2 cups of
the whole wheat flour into this sponge.
You may need an additional half cup flour or so to yield a soft
non-sticky dough. Knead on a lightly
floured surface until smooth and elastic. Lightly butter a clean bowl. Put the
dough into the bowl and turn it over so there the buttered side is
upright. Cover the bowl with a damp
cloth and set in a warm space to rise until double in size. This may take as long as 3 hours.
To make the bread. Punch the dough down, knead quickly, and put in a greased bread pan. It will fill a large 9- x 5- x 4-inch bread
pan. Or for smaller and taller loaves divide between two 8- x 3- x 3-inch
pans, Once again allow the bread to rise
until doubled. This may take a half hour, or an hour. Preheat the oven to 350
degrees F. Bake until the bread is
lightly browned and sounds hollow when tapped on top, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Remove from bread pan and let cool thoroughly on a baking rack.
Adapted from The New
Family Book or Ladies Indispensable Companion and Housekeeper Guide E. Hutchinson, 1854.
Print recipe http://www.cookingwithsusanbanthony.com/2022/11/dyspepsia-bread.html
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I love the way this piece is written. So very informative and love the history. Thank you Rae! Can't wait for the next installment!
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