A Different Kind of “Family Bible”

Eaton's Catalogue, 1916

Do you want to buy a piano and some sheet music to play on it? Have you run out of Campbell’s soups, smelling salts, or Lydia Pinkham’s potent patent women’s tonics? Need a new kitchen range? Wallpaper? Canoe? How about an elegant horse-drawn sleigh? Will you choose a $10 or $100 diamond ring for your sweetheart? You could order just about anything anyone would want or need from the Eaton’s catalogue. In 1912, you could even purchase a pre-fab house for $890!

Eaton's Catalogue, 1914

First published in 1884, the Eaton’s catalogue grew in size and popularity to became a Canadian household staple for over 90 years – often referred to as the “Family Bible”. Kids on isolated farms or in city homes leafed through them eagerly to find skates, bicycles, train sets, hockey sticks, or doll carriages to add to their Christmas wish lists. Women discovered the latest fashions for themselves and their homes. Men could deliberate over cameras and rifles, pocket watches and fishing lures.

Cottagers often put in substantial catalogue orders before heading to the lakes for the summer. By the 1930s, there was a special “Eaton’s Camp and Cottage Book”, and goods were delivered right to your dock – including motorboats and pre-fab cottages!

The Eatons themselves were avid cottagers, as mentioned in a previous blog.

Cottages and all their contents have been sold or passed down through generations. I wonder how many still have furnishings provided by Eaton’s?

The Soundtrack of an Era

If you were in Muskoka in the summer of 1914, you might be banging out the latest hits on the piano – including risqué ragtime if Grandmother wasn’t around to disapprove - or singing “By the Beautiful Sea” with your friends as you splashed about in “Moonlight Bay”. You brought new gramophone records to the cottage, and are swooning over Al Jolson’s “You Made Me Love You” as you think about “spooning” “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” with your sweetheart.

We all have a soundtrack for our lives, especially our youth. My characters dance and flirt to popular tunes of their time, some of which become relevant to the plot and themes, even ironically so.

When I was doing my research, I discovered “Perfessor” Bill Edwards, an American ragtime historian and championship piano player. I contacted him with the idea of having a companion CD for The Summer Before the Storm with the music I quoted in the novel, and he obliged. He even added a delightful ragtime twist to WWI tunes like “Keep the Home Fires Burning” and “It’s a LongWay to Tipperary”. Click on the songs to hear his renditions.

The “Music for Muskoka” CD is available from Bill’s website. Visit NovelTunes for information about the music.

Scandalous Bathers

Photo by Frank Micklethwaite

When you were required to wear long dresses with a multitude of layers beneath, including breath-snatching corsets, the summer heat must have been almost unbearable. Little wonder that spending time in the water was one of the pleasures of summer life. And it still is!

Photo by Frank Micklethwaite

The ponderous label “bathing costume” was surely apt when you see what that meant in Edwardian times. Made of wool, it was dark so that even when wet (and surely heavy!), not much was revealed beneath. Stockings, slippers, and caps were all part of the outfit for women, and swimming must have been difficult. Little wonder that “skinny dipping” – swimming in the nude, usually under cover of darkness – became popular.

It may surprise many to discover that there was a “clothing optional” beach for naturists on the Toronto Islands from 1894 until 1930 when scandalized citizens managed to get nudism banned.

Hollywood actress Gloria Swanson, 1918

By the end of the Great War, women’s bathing suits were shrinking, more streamlined without cumbersome skirts, and thus geared towards actually swimming. Jantzen’s famous “Diving Girl” logo wore a sassy, red, one-piece suit. Their tagline was "The Suit That Changed Bathing to Swimming".

Simple Pleasures

You didn’t have to be a millionaire to enjoy the rugged beauty of Muskoka. Adventurers camped, fished, and paddled the many lakes and rivers – even in a jacket and bowtie, like this chap! 

Photo by Frank Micklethwaite

The hundreds of islands could be bought from the Crown for as little as $10, so a cozy cabin might suffice as your summer home. Even some of the wealthy preferred to shed their busy and complex lives for the simpler pleasures of tenting and cookouts. Escaping the heat and pollution of the cities for the refreshing lake breezes, and communing with nature were important for body and soul. The summer of 1914 was particularly hot. 

Photo by Frank Micklethwaite

Spending time with family and friends has long been one of the delights and highlights of cottage life. Wouldn't you like to join them?