MRS. P. writes:

When you mentioned the trousseau, I was reminded of the hope chest I received as a young girl around 1952 when I was twelve. The hope chest, or glory box as they were called in the UK and Australia, contained a young woman’s trousseau (special clothing and household items such as linens and quilts) that she was accumulating in preparation for marriage in the future and her own home. Although hope chests are still popular today, the concept of acquiring a trousseau made up of these items began to lose its appeal after 1950. Perhaps the need for a young woman to come to a marriage prepared to start a new home has been satisfied with bridal shower gifts and wedding gifts. 

My hope chest sat at the foot of my bed. In it I stored pillowcases, dish towels, hot pads, and small household items I was collecting for the time when I would marry and set up housekeeping with my groom. I looked forward to getting married, having my own home, and having children. No one told me I had to look forward to it, I just did. In fact I wrote a love letter to unborn my children years before they were conceived and before I even knew who I would marry and who their father would be. I still have that letter. 

The first item that went into my hope chest must have been the white cotton dish towel I had embroidered as a youngster using the cross stitch that my grandmother had taught me. Grandma, who was of French descent, was born in 1898 in Illinois. She was talented at hand work. She knew how to crochet, embroider, knit, quilt, and I am sure there are other crafts she had mastered. I will always remember her sitting in the bay window of her living room in the afternoon leisurely crocheting and embroidering. It was relaxing to her. She made sure my hope chest contained an an ample supply of beautifully embroidered pillowcases with delicate crocheted edgings she had made for me. She tried to teach me some of these crafts, but I was a reluctant student who was prone to pricking my finger with the embroidery needle too often. Due to my painful experiences as a novice embroiderer and the fact that I found them both tedious and boring, I never embraced these crafts like she did. 

Fortunately for me, Grandma was a good cook too. I attribute my enthusiasm for cooking to her. She was not a fancy cook. Yet every dish that came out of her kitchen was delicious I believe because she loved to cook. She especially loved cooking for family. Her dining room table seemed to be able stretch on forever in order to accommodate our many extended family members and on these occasions she always cooked as if she was expecting to feed an army. She was my culinary inspiration. As a teenager I would comb through Mother’s cookbooks looking for another pastry recipe to try. So, although I entered marriage having flunked embroidering, crocheting etc. despite Grandma’s expert instruction, I brought with me cooking skills I had acquired thanks to her inspiration that enabled me to “wow” my new husband with such delicacies as chocolate eclairs. He did not seem to mind at all that I could not crochet.

Laura writes:

Thank you for the wonderful memories.

I have to take exception to something you say. You write:

No one told me I had to look forward to it, I just did.

I’m sure no one told you that you “had to” look forward to marriage and homemaking. But you were told through custom and tradition that these things are good, so good that that they are worthy of anticipation and preparation. The very fact that hope chests and trousseaus existed told you to look forward to marriage many years in advance. Your grandmother’s instructions indirectly did too. The linens that went into your hope chest were not the only thing you gained. You also gained a state of mind. Your inner life was prepared too. 

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Mrs. P. writes:

I’m sure no one told you that you “had to” look forward to marriage and homemaking. But you were told through custom and tradition that these things are good, so good that that they are worthy of anticipation and preparation. 

Yes, of course, there was custom and tradition telling me that these things were good and that my longings for these things were good. While I was developing into a young woman and my body was changing these longings for marriage and a home and children began to spring to life in me naturally. During this time my older cousins were getting married and starting families. I knew my turn would come to do the same and I looked forward to it. 

I remember making those little woven hot pads perhaps in Girl Scouts and putting them in my hope chest. I did not have that much stored in my hope chest for the future in the end. Mostly the chest was full of my hopes and dreams for the future. 

Thanks for printing my letter. I have many good memories of my mother, my grandmother, and my aunts who were all wonderful women.

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