Stained Glass

A footnote from history by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Do you have any stained glass in your home? Have you visited old mansions and wondered at the beauty of those windows? Have you been to Europe and marveled at the stained glass in cathedrals? Do you by any chance make stained glass? 

As a student, I attended school in France, and I remember ascending the narrow winding stairs up from the main floor of La Sainte Chapelle in Paris (built in about 1248 as a place to house precious Christian relics) and staring in open-mouthed wonder at the glorious stained glass windows soaring upward. The panels of stained glass depict over 1,000 scenes from the Old and New Testaments. It was as if I were standing in the middle of a multi-faceted jewel. I'll never forget it. 

How, I wondered, did artisans create such things so long ago?

Written records--among them, the writings of a German monk named Theophilus--describe the process. Sand and potash were heated until they liquified and formed glass. Powdered metals were added to the mixture to create various colors. Once cooled, pieces were cut to fit the outlines of a drawn design. Finally, the pieces of glass were joined with lead and surrounded by an iron frame. But we don't know everything. The "how" of the blue created 800 years ago for the stained glass windows at Chartres Cathedral remains a mystery. 

Why did stained glass become such an important medium during the Middle Ages? Mostly illiterate parishioners might not be able to read the Bible, but they could learn the stories as they were depicted in stained glass illustrations. The Bible teaches that God is light, and the light pouring through those windows called everyone to "look up." 

In America, the subject of stained glass will inevitably circle around to the name Tiffany. The work on display at the Morse Museum in Winter Park, Florida, will take your breath away. (Recent novels Tiffany Girl and Clara and Mr. Tiffany highlight the role women had in the Tiffany success story. 

Not long ago, I discovered a damaged stained glass

window at an antique mall in Fremont, Nebraska. Artisans restored and enlarged it to fit into a window in my dining room. I literally teared up with joy when it was installed last week. Now I have a little reminder of the wonderful cathedrals I've visited ... and a reminder to look up. Toward the Light.

How about you? Have you seen any gorgeous glass lately? Did you realize the process to create stained glass dates back to the Middle Ages?

And here's a more personal question: how should I drape those bottom three casement windows? Colors or white? If colors ... what color? I'm not sure!

In my novel A Garden in Paris, Mary Davis returns to Paris in search of a long lost love. A visit to Notre Dame Cathedral (where visitors revel in the famous rose windows of stained glass) presents a moment of poignant longing and regret. Learn more here: https://www.amazon.com/Garden-Paris-Stephanie-Grace-Whitson-ebook/dp/B06Y1F93VW

Pioneers, Fun, and Games

--A footnote from history by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Mention the word "pioneer," and most of use envision men and sun-bonneted women, covered wagons and log cabins or sod houses. We think of 

hardy souls braving hostile environments and facing untold challenges with near-mythic grit and gumption. 

Our imaginations swirl with visions of horse-drawn plows and kerosene lamps and, if we're really honest, we don't really think we'd want to go back to those "good old days," because we know they were really ... terrible.

Then again ... were they? 
I love this photograph of a homesteading family. I imagine the guy in the center providing music for church socials and barn dances.

Some references to FUN in the pioneers' own words:

"In the winter time, no matter how cold the weather, we would bundle up and climb into the straw-filled lumber wagon, with plenty of quilts and blankets and drive to Uncle Will's. . . He lived in a sod house and his two sisters, Laura and Lydia kept house for him. Lydia played the violin and could dance and jig with the best of them. Will and Steve and Lydia played for dances and I used to 'chord' for them on the organ some times."

Here's a photograph I took at a museum of a portable organ. Who knew such a thing existed! 

"There were only ten women and forty men and we danced all night, and the men nearly danced us women to death."

" ... at a Calico Ball, the lady made a calico dress and a necktie to match it. The men were given a bunch of neckties and asked to choose one without seeing the lady whose dress it matched. In this way, original partners were selected."

Sod house homeowners lucky enough to have a wood floor would sometimes put all the furniture outside to make room for dances. Apparently it wasn't unusual for someone to play the prank wherein babies asleep on a bed were re-bundled and, in the wee hours of the morning when the dance broke up, mothers simply took up the familiar blanket (who would have thought to check to see if the baby was the right one?!) ... and at some point on the way home or the next morning discovered they had the wrong baby! The anecdote I read about this incident closed with the line, "it was two weeks before the neighbors got all the babies traded back." I could almost hear the story-teller laughing.

Friendships were forged during those days that lasted a lifetime. I love the mental image drawn by this account of how a friendship began:

"George and I precipitated an acquaintance with Dr. and Mrs. Purdum ... they lived in a dugout with a sod roof on which grew tall sunflowers and through which they thrust their stovepipe and in driving one Sunday afternoon we drove upon the roof and our pony stepped through before we knew we were on their dugout. A profound apology cemented our friendship."

Maggie Oblinger Sandon remembered, "Winter evening we would play Authors or Dominoes or Checkers. Dominoes were home-made out of an empty soda box, cut them out and do our own marking of the dots. . . Authors were our delight and it taught us so many of the old-time authors and what books they had written. . . . "

Sunday drives and calico balls ... dances no matter the weather ... Authors and Dominoes and Checkers ... and a mention that "twenty miles isn't so far to drive" all remind me that while twenty-first century life may be stressful, there's value in taking time to have a little fun, too.

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Stephanie Whitson's latest book takes readers back to the days of the Pony Express. The book is only $3.99! Learn more here: https://www.amazon.com/Messenger-Moonlight-Stephanie-Grace-Whitson/dp/1455529087