Friday, April 10, 2015

NOT HORSES, BUT HARNESS!

Writing historical fiction presents its problems, for sure. Details of everyday life can be sticklers – clothes, dishes, cookware, toys, books, lamps, furniture, tools, farm equipment – and it’s hard to put yourself back there, hard to change your perspective from 2015 to 1915 or earlier.
          I’ve got some tricks, though: I have a large collection of photographs, old magazines and newspapers, scrap books and letters.
          And I’ve got several  old mail order catalogues (Sears, Charles Williams Stores, Montgomery Ward and others) that I’ve picked up at flea markets and used book stores.
          All of that stuff makes it easier; not easy, mind you – but easier.


 Consider horse harness.
          It’s far more complicated than you might think: one- or two-horse buggy and driving harness (general “about town” use – the family car, so to speak); truck and farm (working) harness.
          And that’s just for starters: there’s gentleman’s driving harness, folded buggy harness, runabout harness; surrey or single-strap, double breast collar, and express harness.


And team harness – oh, goodness, the team harness! The Victor, the Springfield, the Empire and Richmond, Oakdale and Baltimore Team Harnesses; there are cup-shaped blinds with round winker stays, double nose bands, plain and stage pattern heel chains and double-stitched spreader straps; clipped cockeyes, folded back bands, single-strap martingales, center bar buckles and snaps; three-ring hip straps, lock-stitched lines, red hames with brass ball tops...
          ...it’s poetry to me.

I get lost in it all, get caught up in the rhythm and rhyme of it. I am pulled back to a way of life that soothes me, calms me – a world that measures time in sunrises and sets, in family breakfasts, dinners and suppers, in changes of seasons...a slower, quieter pace, a simpler state of mind.

To see what others have found, harness up and trot on over to www.sepiasaturday.blogspot.com





17 comments:

  1. That's why my stories always have stablemen, etc. to take care of those problem areas off-page! My characters simply walk out of their homes & step into their carriages without a thought or worry as to how they got there. Lazy, I confess. :) The biggest problem I face in writing in the past is the use of modern phrases and words. I'm constantly looking in the dictionary to see what the root and origin of a word or phrase is so I don't make the mistake of using it before its time. It's challenging, but I've learned a lot about where the English language comes from - apparently from everywhere!

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    1. We are, indeed, a melting pot of cultures -- and our language reflects that quite well. And don't you love some of the words from long ago? But yes, the language is tricky...

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  2. Funny you should mention catalogs, etc to help ensure authenticity to historical fiction. I was visiting a blog today written by a writer whose stories are set in medieval times. She keeps a book on herbal medicine handy for her stories.

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    1. I've got one, too, Wendy! All about tinctures and infusions, willow bark tea, etc. Some of them are amazingly good!

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    2. I have one too - re: plants & old old remedies. It's really a must if you're writing in the past - especially hundreds of years in the past!

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  3. While cataloguing and photographing the contents of a museum last year, I dealt with all manner of horse and cattle harness. I didn't even try and find out names for them all, there were just too many different pieces. And when they're that old, they're none too supple either - very difficult to photograph properly.

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    1. I've got a strip of sleigh bells that belonged to my great-grandparents, Brett. My father used to oil the strapping to preserve it, and I still do the same--about once a year. It works!

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  4. Those two harnesses look like they have the same basic parts and design. Maybe the farm harness is more expensive because it is more durable.It looks like the harnesses would be hard to keep from getting tangled up when they were not on the horses.

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    1. Sometimes the leather was thicker; sometimes the buckles were brass...maybe that changed the price! A farmer I knew had a way of removing harness and hanging it on TWO pegs -- it maintained basic form, so wasn't confusing. Amazing.

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  5. I remember reading that Elmore Leonard who wrote some stories set in the southwest, depended on Arizona Highways for his geographical descriptive material. You writers and your tricks!! I agree that all those terms rolling off the page sound like poetry.

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    1. It is poetry -- and I even know what some of those things are! But we do the same linguistic magic in today's car ads: "full leather seats, angled dash, adjustable mirrors, padded shift handle..."

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  6. The harnesses in those two advertisements look quite similar to a city slicker like me, but clearly they have a lot of different parts to them, depending on specialist uses. My sister-in-law, niece and nephew are into horses and no doubt know all about the intricacies of that kind of thing.

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    1. I think the basics are the same -- just differences in quality of materials, etc. My hat's off to whoever it was who figured it all out to begin with!

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  8. A few harness makers must still be around...and worth their weight in authentic information...for the occasional parades as well as racing. But there was definitely poetry in the naming of those harnesses. I haven't a clue, but really enjoyed your post.

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    1. It's like any other occupation, I think -- a special language that only those "in the know" speak! I understand some of them, but not all...makes for lovely prose! Thanks, Barbara!

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  9. Those are great sources for your writing, and it's something I use a lot too! Especially the old newspapers, many you can get on line. One I really enjoy is this http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
    Those are some amazing prices even for back in the day too!

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