I’ll take ladyfingers86’s comment a step further, and say that Cashmere was likely arrested for baring her arms in public, as well as for wearing pants.
I’m think a few people here are taking the romanticized, sanitized Hollywood version of 18th Century life a bit too literally. When women on the frontier were helping their husbands plow the fields (or doing it themselves while the men were off at war) - I highly doubt they were doing it in a dress.
(A lady smithee seems a bit of a stretch, but I would put my money on ‘it happened somewhere in the colonies’ over ‘never happened, not even once’.)
FYI, the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths in London listed sixty-five “brethren” and two “sistren” in its 1434 charter. A farrier is a specialized blacksmith who deals only with horseshoes and the hoof care of horses.
“Traveling through the English countryside in 1741, William Hutton happened upon a blacksmith’s shop, where he saw “one or more females, stripped of their upper garments, and not overcharged with the lower, wielding the hammer with all the grace of the sex.” If Hutton was taken aback, it might not have been so much by the costuming as by finding women working a trade usually practiced by men.” (“With All the Grace of the Sex” by Donna Dene Woodward, Colonial Williamsburg, http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/spring04/women.cfm)
If it was happening in England, I’m sure it was happening as much, if not more, in their American colonies.
@ladyfingers : well, unless you’re twice Walt’s age plus change how can you say with certainty that no woman blacksmith wore pants?
Besides, this is a comic strip. Scancarelli’s draftsmanship is way better than what most cartoonists offer these days, so I myself am not going to quibble over such details.
Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty gal is she,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of her brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
By the way, tomorrow is IWD: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Edcole1961 over 13 years ago
The British Army would have brought their own blacksmiths. Sounds shoddy to me.
pbarnrob over 13 years ago
^AND farriers, rather than trust those sneaky colonists not to slip in a long nail or other sabotage (suspect I made a pun).
MadameOctaveOpoix over 13 years ago
Cashmere looks kind of cute with her hair down, but a little bit William Bendix too.
oldbooger over 13 years ago
That outfit makes Cashmere look fat …
BuzzDog over 13 years ago
I’ll take ladyfingers86’s comment a step further, and say that Cashmere was likely arrested for baring her arms in public, as well as for wearing pants.
Dirty Dragon over 13 years ago
I’m think a few people here are taking the romanticized, sanitized Hollywood version of 18th Century life a bit too literally. When women on the frontier were helping their husbands plow the fields (or doing it themselves while the men were off at war) - I highly doubt they were doing it in a dress.
(A lady smithee seems a bit of a stretch, but I would put my money on ‘it happened somewhere in the colonies’ over ‘never happened, not even once’.)
OldManMountain over 13 years ago
FYI, the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths in London listed sixty-five “brethren” and two “sistren” in its 1434 charter. A farrier is a specialized blacksmith who deals only with horseshoes and the hoof care of horses.
“Traveling through the English countryside in 1741, William Hutton happened upon a blacksmith’s shop, where he saw “one or more females, stripped of their upper garments, and not overcharged with the lower, wielding the hammer with all the grace of the sex.” If Hutton was taken aback, it might not have been so much by the costuming as by finding women working a trade usually practiced by men.” (“With All the Grace of the Sex” by Donna Dene Woodward, Colonial Williamsburg, http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/spring04/women.cfm)
If it was happening in England, I’m sure it was happening as much, if not more, in their American colonies.
jumbobrain over 13 years ago
@ladyfingers : well, unless you’re twice Walt’s age plus change how can you say with certainty that no woman blacksmith wore pants?
Besides, this is a comic strip. Scancarelli’s draftsmanship is way better than what most cartoonists offer these days, so I myself am not going to quibble over such details.
TPPM over 13 years ago
If there’s never been a traitor in the Wallet family, how is it the people being discussed weren’t supporting the Crown?
axe-grinder over 13 years ago
Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty gal is she, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of her brawny arms Are strong as iron bands.
By the way, tomorrow is IWD: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
countoftowergrove over 13 years ago
Edcole1961 said, about 18 hours ago
The British Army would have brought their own blacksmiths. Sounds shoddy to me.
nice pun, but on both sides impressment of services and goods were the rule of the Revolution.
pbarnrob over 13 years ago
Like any army anywhere, any time, living off the land as much as possible.
When your supply lines include an ocean, you pretty much have to.