The lady of the house wears a fashionable gown and holds her head at a haughty angle. Behind her, another woman washes clothing in a large tub. The woman at the washtub is probably the employee of the lady of the house. The valentine mocks the woman's social pretensions as unjustifiable given her role as someone who minds a stand (i.e., works in a small commercial enterprise)., Text: The lady of the house, so grand, / With head stuck up, and airs refin'd, / She quite forgets that little stand, / Which all day long she had to mind., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The laundry woman has a runny nose, holds a basket of clothing, and stands in front of a clothes line. "Stone blue" refers to the blue dye laundry women used on clothing., Text: With aspect STARCH and nose STONE BLUE, / My Laundry Maid who would love you. / Or dare to meddle with your clothes, / Or come too near that dripping nose, / So PERSERVERING it ne'er stops / But keeps on RUNNING 'till it DROPS, / You're one of those sort of women / I would not have get up my linen., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man wears a bonnet and crinoline over his clothing while he does laundry. The valentine satirizes men who did not fight in the Civil War and characterizes them as cowardly and effeminate., Text: You enlist! not to fight at your dear country's call. / You keep from the field where the brave fight & fall; / A sneak and a coward, and no force or persuasion, / Could make you leave home, but the fact of invasion., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
