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A-Z of Blogging: O is for...Old Chairs

Ok so firstly I need to give you the answer to yesterday's riddle.

Old Mother Granya was...a needle!

A huge well done to Iris and Susan who both got it right. You are much cleverer than I am. Before I knew the answer I went through so many things that she could have been and finally decided that she was a one eyed fox!

So, on to today's nursery rhyme:

'Old chairs to mend
Old chairs to mend;
If I'd as much money
As I could spend,
I never would cry
"Old chairs to mend"

This rhyme is based on the street cry of the chair bottomers who were seen around town and city streets of England during the 17th and 18th centuries. Chair bottomers hawked their services through the streets carrying all the materials that were needed to mend the backs and bottoms of chairs. These included cord, rope, rushes and chair canes amongst other things. People would bring out any chairs which needed fixing and the bottomers would mend the chairs in the middle of the street.

This is a great example of a nursery rhyme giving us a glimpse of life as is was in times gone by.

Click here to read a lovely story Chairs to Mend about the humble chair mender by Alexander Wainwright published in 1878 by the 'St Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls'.

Comments

Wendy said…
I could use a good chair bottomer! Visiting from AtoZ.
Denise said…
I could too Wendy!

Hope you're enjoying the challenge.

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