Antique Image of the Day: A Christmas Card “Of Candy and of Cake,” 1885

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The front of this Christmas card has a gilt border and shows three little girls in aprons doing the laundry : one, in a yellow dress and hat washing at a large tub; another, in a blue dress, hanging an item up to dry; and a third, in a pink dress, sitting on the grass.

Though not particularly Christmas-y, the scene shows children being “good.” Beneath the illustration are the words: "A Joyful Christmas."

On the reverse of the card, a verse in brown, beneath an illustration of a cherub's head, reads:

"I love the little boys and girls, 
They back my mem'ry take 
To happy days of bibs and curls 
Of candy and of cake. 
I sang my Christmas carols then 
As only children may, 
And this is why I'll kiss them, when 
The children sing to-day. 
And wish them all the simple joy 
That filled my bosom when a boy!" 


--F. Ernest Power

The card is signed "For Amy from Grandma Xmas 1885"