Isolated frontier households preserved small luxuries that elsewhere had lapsed entirely.

Evidence

I breakfasted with the family after the freight train left, and instead of sitting down to gobble up the remains of a meal, they had a fresh table-cloth and hot food. The buckets are all polished oak, with polished brass bands; the kitchen utensils are bright as rubbing can make them; and, more wonderful still, the girls black their boots. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 200

Categorization

• SHARE: The kind of nerdy domestic detail — polished brass buckets, blacked boots — worth sending to someone fascinated by everyday material culture.