Clad in a skirt with yellow furbelows and a bonnet, the woman carries a parasol., Text: On the back of your head a neat little bonnet, / A great wide spreading skirt, with furb'ows on it, / Your pride is in dress, but, really, you somehow, / Just put me in mind of a doll, on a hay-mow., Cf. 1.8., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Clad in a skirt with yellow furbelows and a bonnet, the woman carries a parasol., Text: On the back your head a neat little bonnet, / A great wide speading skirt, with furblows on it; / Your pride is in dress, but, really, you somehow, / Just put me in mind of a doll, on a hay-mow., Cf. 1.9., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The valentine shows the back of a large woman in a cloak. "Museum Hippopotamus / Every Night / Day" is written above her., Text: Mussy on us! what a muss / Here's a Hippopotamus / In a fur cloak right upon us, / Hippopota, mussy on us!, Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman hunches forward and wears a dress with a low neckline and furbelows. The valentine satirizes women who are too bold in their affections., Text: O! quite too willing; pray excuse me; / I had rather not, my dear: / Your love, too ardent, might confuse me; / Wait, perhaps I may next year., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A dancing woman wears a veil and a brightly colored gown. The first line of the verse alludes to Milton's L'Allegro (1645) and refers to dancing. She wears a necklace and bracelet., Text: To trip it on the light fantastic toe-- / To every ball and rout you wish to go; / Your only loves, my charmer, now confess, / Are but the loves of balls and loves of dress., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a tiered skirt of ruffles of decreasing size that tapers at the ankles. The style of skirt caused women to lean forward in a Grecian Bend; the Grecian Bend style of bustle became popular after 1869., Text: Dear, simpering, fascinating Miss, / It struck me that you looked like this / When last I met you on the street, / In skirt with Grecian Bend replete; / The sight which you present / Would throw the warmest lover off the scent., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The valentine shows a man falling over a woman's hoop skirt. The skirt billows up, revealing her legs. The valentine mocks the crinoline fashion for causing accidents. "Pegs" refers to men's legs., Text: The ladies' hoops do dreadful slaughter. / They often cause the chaps to lose their pegs; / And as often quite the girls to show their legs, / And make a world of sport and laughter., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a gown with a tiered, tapered skirt over a Grecian Bend style of bustle. The Grecian Bend became popular after 1869., Text: "Pray, what's the matter," said a friend to me, / "With that young woman that I see?" / I stopped and looked and calmly said, / "The wits have surely left her head, / But where they're gone there's no telling / Unless you judge by large swelling.", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a dress with a narrow skirt and train and neither a crinoline nor a bustle. "Rag and tag" refers to the damage done to the trains of the skirts from walking in the streets. Crinolines were out of fashion in the late 1860s, and then bustles were in vogue. Bustles went out of fashion between 1876 and 1883., Text: Devoid of useless crinoline. / She moves majestic as a queen, / In sweeping robe and drooping bonnet / With many a rag and tag upon it., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man wears a plaid jacket with large sleeves, vest, and pants., Text: What more would have, all plaided and stuffed / Sleeves full dimensioned and puckered and cuffed; / A spectacle spectacled -- good morrow to you, / A sample I pass, for the best Boggs can do., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman's walking dress reveals her legs and her crinoline. The verse mocks the structure of crinoline, which resembled a cage. She wears black boots, a blue coat, and red cap., Text: Behold her pompous, lofty stride, / With her boots, and hoops ten feet wide; / We'll step aside and let her pass, / A bladder filled with wind or gas, / A petticoat made like a cage: / The monster is so huge in size, / And her dress sticks so far out! / The whirling winds now fill her sail., Cf. 2.32., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a low-cut gown and pulls up her skirt so that it reveals her petticoats and ankles. Her face is shaded to suggest rouge and lip coloring. Her holds her thumb to her nose in a disrespectful gesture., Text: Your conduct in loud accents speaks, / That nought can bring shame's blush to cheeks / So hard as your's, -- what shame, alas! / That in your face you've so much brass., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The woman's walking dress reveals her legs and her crinoline. "Sonsie" is slang for "comely.", Text: Clear the track and let me pass, / Boots and hoops, / Am I not a sonsie lass, / One who troops? Ho! my coat of lion skin / Never droops-- / Nor my buttons, nor my chin. / With ribbon loops., Cf.1.39., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The valentine shows a woman standing on a city street. She wears a walking dress with short skirt that reveals her crinoline structure, legs, and petticoats. The valentine mocks the recipient's immodest deportment., Text: Oh! Gentle Lady, you know full well, / You care not for mud, but you'd cut a swell-- / A swell you make, if you could see, / You'd be ashamed, as well as we., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman stands while reading a book. Her crinoline has turned up so that it reveals her legs, and a dog stands underneath it. She says, "What are the people staring at, I wonder?", Text: The winds of march will be here soon / Then you who look like a Balloon, / Perchance may the Balloon fate, / And into the air be carried straight. / Like Cesar -- all gentle fair / Should the Ides of March beware, / For were you carried into the sky, / What THINGS ABOVE might meet each eye., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The conceited woman wears a large skirt with furbelows and a crinoline. Her face is obscured by a purple wide-brimmed hat, and her nose is upturned. She extends her left hand., Text: There we see an old ewe, yet more like a ram, / Though a fifty-year old, she's dressed like a lamb / Both toothless and ugly, and snuffy and base, / Yet she tries to look sheepish, and soft in the face. / Dress on, mother Hecate your Stiff Crinoline / Floats flauntingly freely, abroad in the wind, / But the looks you give, and the fashions you wear, / Bids all of good sense and of manners beware., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman in gown with a bustle holds an umbrella and bouquet of flowers. "Three-balls" is slang for a pawnbroker. Bustles became popular after 1869., Text: A Mantilla from your shoulder falls / Just redeemed from the three-balls; / In the street you make a dash, / 'Tis strange how you obtain the cash. / You're too lazy, and fear to work / You dirty, nasty little flirt; / Stay at home-- not gad the street, / And speak to every loafer you meet., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a coat and a large-skirted gown that make her triangle-shaped. The valentine mocks the hoop skirt trend for the cage-like appearance of crinolines and the dirt the large skirts attracted in the streets., Text: Waddling pyramid you go, / Flounce flouncing in the snow; / Pretty lady do not rage, / When I say you're in a cage, / By a lot of hoops secured -- / Of it, I am well assured. / Head, of course, is left outside, / Bonnet on your back doth ride; / Sweep away the side-walks clean, / Of street sweepers, you're the queen., Cf. Valentine 1.41 and Valentine 8.37., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
On public transportation, two fashionable young men (a "pair of bloods") crowd a woman so much that her crinoline billows up, revealing her legs. The men's high opinion of themselves (as "big bugs," or men of importance) is not shared by the woman. A third man is visible in outline; each man wears a different style of hat., Text: Aint you a pretty pair of bloods, as in the cars you ride, / To croud and squeze a lady so, with room upon each side, / You are two big bugs indeed, the ladies think you are two swine, / To squeze a lady in the cars, and smash a crinoline., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a triangular gown and coat. The valentine mocks the crinoline fashion trend, particularly the dirt the skirts attracted in the streets., Pretty lady do not rage / When I say you're in a cage, / By a lot of hoops secured -- / Of it, I am well assured, / Sweep away the side-walks clean, / Of street sweepers, you're the queen., Cf. Valentine 1.41 and Valentine 12.34., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The valentine shows a woman entering a carriage and a man standing behind. Her crinoline pulls up her skirt, hitting the man in the head and revealing her legs to him., Text: Go in, my dear-- go it with a rush, / And never mind the hat; / It is not often that I see / So big a leg as that., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a hoop skirt and floats above the ground. Two men look up at her through a grate, and another man looks at her from a window. A street lamp with a face smiles at her. The sender mocks the recipient's exhibitionism., Text: Oft when seated in the Park, / You wonder what attracts each spark. / To turn and look with such surprise; / "I wonder what attracts all eyes?"/ Alas, alas you little know, / What a show you make below., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a crinoline structure, bonnet, and fur cap and muff. "Bombazine" was a fabric used for mourning clothing. The border shows cupids and hearts; one cupid shoots a heart out of a thimble cannon labeled "Love"; another cupid travels with a heart in a hot-air balloon; and another cupid hammers at a cracked heart below a heart on a fishhook labeled "Caught.", Text: Oh! it's well they become you, ma'am, / And it's well they become, ma'am; / You know what I mean, / (It isn't the crinoline, ) / Are they made of bombazine? -- / It's well they become you, ma'am!, Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman holds out her arms in alarm after a man steps on the back of her crinolined skirt, causing her skirt to billow up to reveal enough of her legs to show her drawers., Text: Clear the track, Hackley -- your occupation's gone! / Here comes the new machine, a lady and her throng; / Her skirts sweep the street-- my feeling rankles-- / That men forget the dirt while gazing at her ankles. / She glides along in silence, with grace I confess, / Till some unlucky wight puts his foot upon her dress. / She quickly turns, while he bows with sorrow down. / And vents her spite, with "Oh! you awkward clown.", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
"Bridget" looks at herself in the mirror glass. She wears a bonnet and large skirt with the crinoline visible. A broom stands rests on the dresser in front of her. Honiton refers to an expensive English lace company. Brass here means brazenness or impudence, and the valentine condemns her pretensions., Text: Bridget, sometimes, at the glass, / Tries Miss Julia's bonnet on;/ Making, thus, a face of brass, / Edged with lace of Honiton., Cf. 5.7., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man has very long mutton chops and a moustache., Text: You think your style is just the thing / To raise a great commotion; / Get the ladies on a string, / And use them to your notion; / But ladies cannot stomach now, / Such senseless-headed noodles, / They all with one accord avow, / They find more sense in poodles., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
