Day 20 Genealogy Challenge - Don't Leave Home Without It!

 Write a paragraph describing three items your ancestor would never leave home without.

Alice Eleanor Swinton, my husband's grandmother, was born August 8, 1892 in Toronto, York County, Ontario, Canada.  My husband always referred to her as his Victorian grandmother because she was so well bred and well versed in etiquette.  When my mother-in-law passed away we became the proud owners of some of her things and among them were these three items. Her glasses, Bible, and her calling cards. 

These may seem small and silly to keep to some people, but it is a small testimony of who she w as. She was a teacher in a one room schoolhouse in Mindemoya on Manitoulin Island, so of course her glasses were a must. Back then, the Bible was allowed and taught in school, so she needed to bring it with her as she also read it at home. Her calling cards are a sign of a bygone era. Whenever she visited someone, especially when she lived in Wiarton on the Bruce Peninsula, she would leave her card if they weren't home. They really are the forerunners of today's business cards! I love these cards; sometimes life is so frantic today with cell phones and everything at the ready, we miss some of the subtleties and grace of earlier times.

                                                     a case for calling cards.