Lizzie Borden Society Forum

And today, of course, is a Thursday...wonder what the weather is like in Fall River. Maybe somebody who's in the vicinity will give us a weather report. (Yeah, I know I could get one from the 'Net, but it would be more fun to have a first-person one.)

August 4, 2005

She climbed the stairs to make the bed
And ne'er came down again.
He went downstreet to get the mail,
Returned -- and he was slain.

Who did the deeds we cannot know.
Did someone lie in wait?
-Or did the younger daughter prey
On those she'd come to hate?

Long years have passed, and here they lie,
Beneath each graven stone;
Their legacy a mystery.
The answer? There is none...

Copyright 2005 by Annette Weeks Baker
All rights reserved.

The weather here is comparable to 1892-hot and sticky.
Kath

Oh, my. Look at the time. What was Lizzie doing at this time??

It's hot and the muggy but not all that bad. Not that close type of feeling.

Once you start working you perspire tho. Supposed to be worse tomorrow.


Bridgewater Massachusetts @ 11:17am.

Great poem, Edisto! Thanks for sharing it with us on this day of days. Its 9:07 AM my time, Abby would be in the guest room. Who did she see coming at her that fateful day?

Good poem, Edisto! I woke up knowing it was August 4 and was delighted to see your creative musing about the events of that fateful morning 113 years ago.

I wonder what Lizzie would think if she knew that a community of people still speculate daily about her and her family?

I think she'd be mildly amused.

I awoke this morning at 9:05...I too wondered about what had been happening 113 years ago. Then, at 11 a.m...I shuddered a bit...thinking about the final moments of the 'event' of that morning in 1892.

Tracy...

I woke at the exact time the alarm was sounded.

Good to be in the company of others who took note of the day and pondered those horrible last moments. I posted a short history at a Victorian Group I am in and I think they believe me to be a little strange!
However, one of the ladies did reply and said she was hosting a Lizzie Borden Tea. A lady comes and does a first person of Lizzie. Her question to me, how should she set the the table and what should she serve?
My one word of advice to her was nothing sharp on the table! I told her I would consult the experts. What would you suggest?

She could take her cue from the B&B and serve "hatchet" cookies. It's easy to find old hatchet-shaped cookie cutters, because they used to be a fixture at Thanksgiving. If such a cutter can't be found, it's easy to make a simple cardboard shape and cut around ilt with a sharp knife! (Then hide the knife, of course.) Any thin sugar-cookie recipe will do, and it's a nice touch to dip the blade edge into red sugar sparkles. It's also possible to make cookies in the shape of pigeons and pears, but that may be too subtle for any but the more accomplished Bordenophiles.
A tray of cheese and pear wedges could also be good. (Pears like apples need to be dipped into something lemony to keep them from darkening.) I wouldn't recommend the mutton broth! Since New England is known for its fishing, and since Lizzie was a very enthusiastic angler, small fish-salad sandwiches (tuna, salmon) would be appropriate. Lizzie apparently had a meatloaf recipe, so a cold meatloaf or pate' sliced and served with thin, crusty bread might be suitable. (I'm assuming this wouldn't be a sit-down dinner.) Sounds fun!

Thanks for those Massachusetts weather reports. Sounds as if somebody who had just hacked her pappy to death might have been both sweaty and bloody.

Edisto,
Thank you for the ideas. I have passed them on to my friend.
Now, I have a question for you! I joined to learn, so as a novice here, I am swallowing my pride and going to ask! What is the signifcance of the pigeon and pear? The mutton I understood, so I must be starting to learn a little! LOL I am counting on the experts here to enlighten me!

I believe the pigeon reference is from some pigeons Lizzie kept as 'pets'...and of which Andrew supposedly (?) chopped the heads off. The pears are in reference to the pears Lizzie claimed to be eating while she was out in the barn the morning of the murders.


Tracy...

it was hot as hell.

Despite the "Legend" movie, there's no evidence that the pigeons living in the barn belonged to Lizzie. Also, Lizzie testified at the inquest that at least some of the pigeons might have had their heads "twisted" off, rather than chopped off. The pears are something of a running joke in the Borden story. Not only did Lizzie claim she ate pears while upstairs in the barn, but John Morse supposedly fortified himself with a few pears before he entered the Borden house after his return from visiting relatives on Weybosset Street on the day of the murders. Bridget, however, said she herself was "no great lover" of pears.

Thank you for the great poetry, Edisto!
Just wonderful!

That heat in Fall River, Stef and I think, is different from summer heat in Florida.
We can't quite figure out what the difference is tho.
We were talking about it today.
I laid out in the sun - it was hot as heck- on Sunday for almost 90 minutes, in my backyard. It felt good. I sweat and drank water and it was replenishing me.
In Fall River I sweat occasionally and drank water constantly, but was never refreshed nor was my thirst ever quenched. I still feel a bit dehydrated. Stef thinks maybe the sea air has something to do with it? It's a different kind of humidity- tho I always thot humidity was humidity.
Here it can be humid and no A/C and the sheets are not damp. There it can be humid with a low dose of A/C and yet the bed sheets are damp.
Can anyone explain this?

the difference i noticed is that it cools down more after dark. it seemed so to me when i left the church, and i remembered getting chilly during the presentation.

Elizabeth Ann - is that the actress and playwright Margery Conn who's coming to do her one-acter for you? I just missed her the first year I went to the Cape, and she hasn't done it there since.

Kat-that's strange. When you were visiting it was during a heat and humidity wave-and maybe the nearness of the ocean and the river in FR just increases the effects.
Remember how the farm at Swansea was alwyas so much of a relief compared to the unbearable heat of Town during summer? Maybe you were experiencing it just like the Bordens did back then!

Yes you are right! Swansea was very nice!
And I think it is the sea air- it must be- which causes that dampness- in the "pocket" of Fall River.
The dampness sucks. Well- it does!

Bob I am not sure who is portraying Lizzie. My friend lives near Akron OH, I will find out.