Tea For Who and Who For Tea?

I did not relish having to go out into the cold and rainy afternoon but I had made the commitment a couple of months prior and was looking forward to the event.

One of my DAR sisters (Buffy) asked if I wanted to join her and another DAR sister (Debi) at a fundraiser tea on January 27th. The funds were being raised for the 'Friends of the Library' group at one of the local libraries. The cost of the tea was only $10. I will always part with my money when books are involved. I always have a book I am currently reading.

This tea was a fun one. Those who attended could come dressed as a literary figure...Buffy told me I had to dress up when she invited me and I did not know I had a choice...please, of course I was going to dress up!

As soon as Buffy asked me to join her at the tea, I began working on my costume. I already had some costume parts in my closet and just needed to buy or make additional pieces. The first thing I worked on was a scarlet letter A (now you know which literary character I portrayed...I hope). I attached a white doily to a thin sheet of black foam. I then placed my scarlet A on the doily. Next I placed small pearls around the edge of the A. Finally, I glued two frog style pins to the back of my creation so that I could attach it to the front of my dress.

The next items I needed were a bonnet, apron, collar and baby doll. I shopped on Amazon.com and found pilgrim costume accessories at a reasonable price. I looked for a baby doll on line but did not see any I liked nor did I like the prices. I decided to give Wal-Mart a try. I found the perfect baby doll for $10. I "shopped" in the back of my closet and found a shawl that would do very nicely as a blanket in which to wrap the doll.

My Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter costume was complete (I know what my Halloween costume will be this year).

I dodged raindrops as I ran to my car and made my way to the library. The tea was held inside the library proper. There were seven tables set up and each table had six chairs around it.

We were served hot tea of course, as well as dainty sandwiches, scones and cakes. There were also little chocolate mint patties for the taking.

Once everyone was done eating, it was time for those of us in costume to go from table to table, where people could ask questions of us and try to guess who we were.

Correct me if I am wrong, but hasn't most everyone (at least a certain age...I was the youngest female in attendance) heard of or had to read Nathaniel Hawthorne's book, The Scarlet Letter, in school? I was surprised and somewhat appalled by the some of the questions asked of me. I mean, this was a literary tea attended by people who supposedly read books.

One table full of ladies asked me if I was a nurse or a midwife. One asked if I was a character from Margaret Atwood's, A Handmaid's Tale. I had to goad them along by asking them what color my letter A was and when they said red, I asked what is another name for red and what was Miss O'Hara's name from Gone with the Wind? Finally they got it but did not know my character's name. Fair enough but at least the scarlet letter A and me carrying a baby should have been clue enough to at least guess the book title. Other tables had trouble guessing who my character was too. In the above photograph you see a young gentleman in a leather, military jacket, he was the only person there who knew I was portraying Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter. Most everyone liked my baby doll and thought it looked real.

All of us who dressed up then had to parade around the tables as a group so that we could be viewed one more time. Everyone (including those of us who dressed up) got to vote for the person who they thought had the best costume.

My costume did not win. Some lady who was portraying Mable Ringling (the wife of one of the Ringling Brothers) won. I guess there is a new book about her but please, she is not a literary figure, she was a real person. I think my costume was the best and I am not just saying that because it was mine. Oh well, I had fun anyway. It was a nice time with Buffy and Debi my DAR sisters.

Mad Hatter (Debi), Daisy Buchanan (Buffy) and Hester Prynne (Bird)

As I said earlier, I am going as Hester Prynne for Halloween this year (unless I think of something else between now and then) and I am sure there will be just a handful of people who know who I am supposed to be. It will be interesting to see how many do know and what their age groups will be.