Chapter 4

When I awoke in the morning I pulled down the blanket and stretched. My first reaction was to shiver from the cold. It was then that I remembered our situation and I was upset to realize that I was still here. And, adding insult to the situation was the fact that it was so very cold. I got out of bed and put on my dressing gown and slippers before going to the fireplace and using the poker to turn over the ashes only to learn that the fire had completely died. I next walked over to feel the radiator against the outside wall. It was warm, but the extremely cold outside temperature must be too much for this primitive heating system so it was doing little to keep the room comfortable.

I opened the draperies to let in the morning sun, in the hope that it would warm the room a little and was astounded to see the snowy spectacle that greeted my eyes. The storm must have dumped three feet of snow. We were indeed going to be stranded here for a month. They didn't have snowplows and snow blowers in 1883. In fact, I didn't know how they removed it from the roads. For all I knew, they waited until it melted in the spring. I had a bad feeling about this. I hurried back to the bed to climb beneath the covers when I heard a knock at the door. I said, "Who is it?"

"Betsy, Miss."

"Come in Betsy."

She came in carrying a bucket of glowing coals, and a bundle of kindling wood. She walked to the fireplace and immediately built a roaring fire. Then she left, but returned in a few minutes with a couple of logs that she placed on the fire. They would sustain the fire, and the warmth, after the kindling had all burned off. After she was gone, I stood in front of the fireplace and warmed my body. It felt wonderful. I estimated that, within half an hour, the temperature in the room had risen to a friendlier 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Betsy had removed my sleeping corset, and turned up the water heater in my bathroom before leaving. I discovered that the water heater was a brand new, although ancient to me, water heating system with the tank that was mounted on the wall, being heated by the same gas lines that supplied the lamps. I thought to myself, 'Thank God that we have indoors plumbing and hot water'. Thirty years earlier and we would probably have been using chamber pots, and tubs filled with water that had been heated on stoves, and carried in by the bucket. At least in 1883, we had indoor plumbing and waste disposal. If it hadn't been so cold, we wouldn't need the fireplace. It was only acting as an additional heat source in support of the, not very old, central heating system. Building insulation is something that would be developed in the future.

Feeling better, I ran a very hot bath. I knew that the cold, cast iron tub would cool the water somewhat, so I only ran hot water until the tub warmed up a bit. When I climbed in, it was as warm as I could stand. I relaxed in the hot water for a short time before beginning to wash myself. As I soaped and washed my body, I began to arouse myself again. I decided that this was not the right time to pleasure myself, so I became more careful in the way that I finished washing. When I stepped out and began to dry myself off, I was surprised at the coarseness of the bath towels. So instead of rubbing the moisture off, as was my custom, I patted my body with the towel until I was dry.

After I had completed my toilet, I pulled the sash cord to ring for assistance. Betsy came in shortly and helped me to dress. I was actually glad when she tightened the corset around me. I needed the stiffness to help me stand erect. Amelia must have been wearing a corset for all of her teenage years to be so dependent on it. I missed the strength of Andy's male body. After putting on my stockings and lacing my boots, Betsy picked up the creme-colored velvet dress that I had selected for today. When Betsy had pulled the dress down over me, and started to button it, she found that it would not close, so I had to undress enough for her to access my corset. She untied the laces and began pulling on them with all her strength. When she had reduced my waist by another inch, she dressed me again. This time the dress closed easily. She apologized for the extra time required, saying that she was not used to my requirements. I told her that there was nothing to apologize for, and thanked her for all that she had done. She said that she was going to Miss Roberta's room to help her dress, after she left here. When she had gone, I sat at the dressing table, and combed and brushed my hair. I did a passable job, I thought. Women didn't wear much makeup in this era so I was spared that difficulty. But I did spray on some perfume before I left the room.

I walked over to Martha's room and knocked. I entered when she responded, and I saw that she was already dressed. She was looking so much better today. I guess that the stress of being undressed by Doris, the maid, had worn off. Martha was actually humming, and smiling, as she brushed her hair. I went over to her and took the brush from her hand, and then I started to brush her hair for her. It's so much easier to groom somebody else's hair, rather than your own. I straightened her part and put in the hair clips. She really did look lovely this morning. When I was done, she told me to sit down and she groomed my hair. It did look much better when she was done. Together we went to Elizabeth's room, and finding it empty, went to Roberta's room. They were both there. Grooming each other as Martha and I had done. When they were done, I felt that I should make a little speech to coordinate things.

"Girls, we will be going down for breakfast shortly. This will be our first time meeting the family, and their guests. I shouldn't have to remind you to be on your best behavior. Remember to think feminine at all times. You've been doing wonderfully. Keep it up. Remember to smile at all times. ALL times. I don't want to see any sour expressions. We are four young ladies on a holiday to attend the engagement party of an old friend, Anne, whom we know from Miss Peterson's Finishing School. As women, we do not rise when another woman comes into the room. And remember, to us these are the dark ages and their 'modern' technology will appear ancient to us, but we must not ridicule it. Absolutely no horsing around. No pushing or shoving, no hitting, no games, no funny faces, no jokes, no laughing. You may giggle, in fact you must giggle if somebody makes a witticism. As long as it is in good taste. And I mean good taste from this time period. Remember my talk from last night. Think ultra feminine, and refined, at all times. Think soft and gentle. Think polite and considerate. When you must talk, talk sweetly. And pay close attention to the other women that we meet. Copy their behavior, but don't mimic them. Any questions, ladies?"

Elizabeth raised her hand. "Amelia, what do you mean by 'good taste from this time period."

"This is the late 19th century, not the late 20th century. Here, everything is considered vulgar. Remember, until the 1960's, a softest of curse words could not be used on TV. Don't say anything, or giggle at anything, that you would be uncomfortable saying to a priest in a confessional."

Roberta raised her hand, "Amelia, have you come up with any ideas on how we can get out of here?"

"Not yet, dear. I was hoping that this was all a dream. Now I see that we're going to have to find a way back ourselves. We'll get together later and work on possible solutions. Right now, we must get going so we're not late for breakfast. Everybody ready?"

We all looked each other over, to see if anything was out of place, then we left to find our way to the dining room. Betsy had given me directions while I was dressing, so I led the way. The girls were walking comfortably in their heels and floor length dresses. The bodies that we occupied were of course conditioned to such clothes, so movement in them was natural, to a degree. The musculature of a very young girl, or even a male, would not have been conditioned to walking in heels. But the calves and ankles of these bodies were disciplined to walking in them. These bodies were also used to the restrictive corsets, and dresses of this period. The muscles and bones had long ago adapted to their confinement.

When we reached the bottom of the stairway, we paired up for our entrance to the dining room. I thought to myself how grateful I was that I did not have to endure this alone. I remembered that old saying about how 'misery loves company'. I turned to the other girls, pointed to my mouth, and I smiled. They got the hint and put pleasant smiles on their faces. I turned back towards the front, and taking Roberta's arm, we walked into the dining room.

We were early and only three people were seated at the enormous dining room table. One was Dr. Rogers, and the others were both young men. They all rose as we entered the room. One boy jumped up so quickly that he dropped his spoon and it clattered to the floor. I suppressed a smirk at the young men's reaction to seeing four pretty young ladies suddenly walk into their presence. Their faces lit up with smiles. They hurried over to us and escorted us to seats near their own. I said escorted, but in reality they practically pulled us to seats where we would surround them when seated. We allowed ourselves to be seated in seats of their choosing. Once we were seated, they introduced themselves. The one closest to me was Tad Stevens, of the Boston Stevens, he said. The other was Charles Parker of the New York Parker family. I had never heard anybody introduce themselves like this before. It was a new experience.

The doctor handled the introductions for us since it would not have been proper to introduce ourselves. He identified me as Miss Amelia Turner of Hartford, Connecticut. Then went on to introduce Miss Martha Fuller, also of Hartford, Miss Elizabeth Reese of New Haven, Connecticut, and Miss Roberta Johnson of Worcester, Massachusetts. We had names at last, I thought. Almost as important, we knew where we lived, and this gave us a point of reference for future research, while permitting us to join in conversations, since people always wanted to know where you come from. We sat and let our young companions tell us all about themselves as we ate breakfast. It took very little to make us feel sated so we ate very slowly. The young men that were our breakfast companions were both seniors at Yale. They were classmates of Anne's brother Jeremy and had been invited to the engagement party next weekend in order to even out the boy-girl ratio.