Summer Saunterers
The first in a series on posts following Bessie Goldsmith and her friends Myra and Helen Bodwell, on a trip to Europe in 1906.
Summer Saunterers
In the early part of the 20th century the Andover Townsman reported the comings and goings of the town’s folk of Andover on their front page. An entry for June 29th 1906 in this Summer Saunterers section reads
Misses Bessie P Goldsmith, Myra and Helen Bodwell left town on Wednesday for a trip through England and Scotland. They expect to be gone all summer.
Many of you will be familiar with Bessie Goldsmith; a keen gardener, conservationist, historian and Andover’s first police woman. She was quite a character in town and known for driving off trespassers on her land with a shot gun.
In this series of posts we will be spending time with a much younger Bessie, using Bessie’s diaries, letters home and scrapbook to follow the 28 year old and her friends on their travels in Europe.
A trip of this size needs planning and certainly Bessie’s diaries reflect this. The winter is spent reading about Europe, particularly English castles and cathedrals, and dressmaking. Myra, the eldest of the group, seems to be the organizer of the trip, going down to Boston to enquire about their passage at the Leyland line offices.
Some shopping is also needed- Bessie travels to Boston where she buys a grey leather belt with steel trimmings, shoes and a grey petticoat. The grey petticoat gets an addition of a patch pocket by the practical Bessie, one big enough to hold a Baedeker. Baedekers were the must have travel guides for Europe first published in Germany in the 1830’s.
One of the last preparations was a trip to Lawrence with her mother to buy travelers’ cheques. Bessie was reluctant to spend her hard-earned money- she worked as a home economics teacher in the Andover schools and also as a dressmaker- but there was a bright side to the transaction. Mother and I drove to Lawrence to do some errands and exchange those beautiful orange bills which I got at the bank this morning for travelers’ cheques. Fortunately, the express agent was young, good looking and very obliging.
The party left Boston on June 27th on the steamer Winifredian heading for Liverpool. We left Boston at 1.30pm on the 27th of June 1906 straining our eyes to catch a last glimpse of the many good friends who lined the pier waving their handkerchiefs. Our stateroom was a bower of pinks and roses while every available corner was filled with interesting packages and steamer letters provided by their thoughtful care.
The Winifredian, owned by the Leyland Line, was one of 5 steamers working on their Boston to Liverpool route with a reputation for steadiness in all weathers which is the pride of the Leyland Line. Passengers were carried in first class accommodation only, there was no second or third class, and had access to promenade and saloon decks, music and smoking rooms. Cargo was also carried, but the company was quick to point out that passenger accommodations were entirely isolated from the arrangements for cargo.
The diary which Bessie keeps for the crossing is a small green cloth covered book printed just for this purpose and given to Bessie by Mr. & Mrs. Shaw.
It includes useful information on life aboard ship, maps and a guide to forecasting the weather using cloud types. A color plate gives a guide to identifying other steamship lines by their flags and funnels. Blank pages for recording the days events were interspersed with pages of poetry.
In her diary Bessie describes life on board ship; playing cards, reading, playing shuffleboard and taking part in sack and three- legged races.
She also notes in her diary the numbers of passengers and cargo; 120 passengers, 1175 head of cattle, 33 cow punchers. The cow punchers feature a great deal in Bessie’s diary. These were college boys working their passage to Europe as this newspaper clipping from her scrapbook shows.
The presence of the cattle on board was not as invisible as the Leyland Line advertisements lead travelers to believe. On July 1st Bessie notes, For the last two nights we children have been the last ones in. The heavy air made the state rooms proximity to the barn-yard too noticeable and we preferred the open deck as long as possible.
Surprisingly for a cookery teacher there is just one diary entry on the food; It is surprising what an appetite one can cultivate without any useful occupation. A lunch at eleven and a tea at four were most delightful diversions”. “Last night I ordered “Victoria Sandwiches” (out of mere curiosity) and was surprised to find a Washington pie of British nationality. The sugar looks like Epson salts. One of menus from the trip is preserved in Bessie’s scrapbook.
In her July 5th diary entry Bessie notes, The most thrilling event of the day was the “grand dance”. Even dressing for it was wonderfully exciting. One side of the deck was enclosed and decorated with flags in a most festive maner [sic.]. Her dance card from the event is preserved in her scrapbook.
These entertainments however can’t hide that fact that this was long voyage. The poor children on board are nearly at the end of their rope as regards amusement and the elders are not far behind writes Bessie on July 6th. But on July 7th she writes all night long there was running to and fro, and by five o’clock we simply had to wake to look at land, the south east coast of Ireland. This afternoon has been spent in packing and now we feel as if we were really going somewhere, though I do hate to leave the Winifredian.
The morning of July 7th the Winifredian docks in Liverpool after a 10-day crossing. Bessie and her friends are ready to begin their travels through Europe- more on that in my next post.
Thanks so much for reading! We look forward to your likes, shares, comments and conversations. Your comments on the History Buzz website help build the success of the newsletter. Click here to open a free Substack account, so you can like, share, and comment.
Cheers!
Angela, this was great. I'm looking forward to more about Bessie. I shared this with my uncle in Florida who worked for Bessie at her home on Elm St when he was in a student at Andover High School.
Love this! Will re-read!