Dear Madonna,
Going through some old family photo albums recently I came across this amazing picture of my Great-Grandmother Clark, taken in 1906. I'd never seen it before. The accompanying notes, in my Grandmother's distinctive handwriting, talked about how her father was invited to come to Queen's University to head up the Physics department. (He would eventually become the Dean of Engineering and start the tech supplies store and Engineering Pub: Clark Hall).
My Grandmother goes on to say how her mother had two dresses made in honour of the move. She describes the one above, the 'Paper dress', in detail:
"It was sea-green crepe over a green taffeta petticoat. The petticoat rustled as she walked - hence the name 'Paper' dress coined by me."
My my memories of Grandma Clark are of an elderly woman, widowed around the time my parents married, living in a big house near the Queen's campus, serving afternoon tea. I (obviously) never knew her as a young mother with an (enviably!) tiny waist, but I do know that she lived well into her 90's and apparently touched her toes every morning when she got out of bed.
My own mother passed along many of her expressions. For instance, as I was headed out somewhere all dressed up she would say: "If you act as nice as you look you'll do just fine", and another favourite: "Horses sweat, gentlemen perspire, and ladies glow".
