Miss Taylor as Jose Speckhaber Wearing Rainbow Ribbons, Charles Schoettel Attributed c. 1840s Watercolor Portrait happy clown Several utilitarian things this week

Several utilitarian things this week

>>one (the one with animals on the cover) features about 12 full pages of lovely penmanship practice along with a few pages with just one line at the top

but I don't think I've ever found one written (by a Charles Goodrich in 1862) in such a strong and confident hand as this one

I look at a lot of pin cushions--such perfect examples of the human compulsion to make even the smallest and simplest of utilitarian objects special--and while this is not a fancy one

Miss Taylor as Jose Speckhaber Wearing Rainbow Ribbons, Charles Schoettel Attributed c. 1840s Watercolor Portrait happy clown Several utilitarian things this weekIt took me a bit to realize this theatrical watercolor portrait depicts a woman "Miss Taylor" as noted in the caption, portraying a male character, "Jose Speckhaber" it looks to read, though I haven't been able to place the opera, the name of which is a bit hard from me at least to decipher. (Arnotis ???} Certainly women portraying male characters, and vice verse, was not uncommon, but it does make the wonderful rainbow colored ribbons on this costume