Froggie Went a Courtin'

 I thought I’d write about some family treasures that I have. My brothers and I have items that came from our great grandparents’ home on Linsley Avenue in my hometown, Meriden, Connecticut.

My great grandfather, Samuel Clinton Lewis, was born a few years before the beginning of the Civil War. His father, George Hallam Lewis, volunteered to join the 15th Connecticut Regiment in the summer of 1862.  After the Battle of Fredericksburg he died in a hospital in Washington D.C. in February, 1863, leaving his wife a widow with four children.

Samuel grew up in Meriden, and worked with the William Rogers Company which made silver plated Britannia ware. He was granted patents for the design of casket handles.  For several years in the early 1880’s he worked for a casket maker in Cincinnati, Ohio, moving his family back to Meriden in the mid 1880’s. He established a mill and began the manufacture of furniture and Victorian trim for houses. His mill was near the former site of the Mills Apartments which were demolished several years ago.

Sam Lewis and his wife Mamie raised a large family of seven children including my grandmother, Alice Lewis, my father’s mother. My father remembered his grandparents as having a keen sense of humor.

So, the artifact that I write about today is evidence of that sense of humor. It’s a majolica humidor in the shape of a frog playing a mandolin. The family story is that the family bought it for Sam, filled with tobacco. Apparently he enjoyed the tobacco but also enjoyed the majolica frog so it stayed with them.

The frog isn't very large, about seven inches high. It isn't worth very much since it was broken into pieces a number of years ago. It's valuable to me and my family as a treasured piece, though.

The later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a proliferation of tobacco jars such as this. Many companies in Great Britain and the Continent made them. This particular one may have been made by a company in Austria, what is now the Czech Republic.  There were other figures such as the frog to the right and the bulldog and frog below.

The image of a singing frog appears a lot in Victorian era popular art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are two examples. To the left is a German postcard with two frogs singing and dancing. To the right is a French postcard with a frog in female dress singing to her beloved.

In the Victorian era it was common to anthropomorphize animals--that is, to portray them wearing human clothing and engaging in human activities. Greeting cards were often the medium for such images which were almost always humorous.

Frogs in particular were often the subject of such images because of their singing. Although this traditional folk song doesn't specifically refer to singing, it's always a favorite:

Froggy went a courtin’ and he did ride, uh-huh
Froggy went a courtin’ and he did ride, uh-huh
Froggy went a courtin’ and he did ride
With a sword and a pistol by his side, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

He rode right up to Miss Mousie’s door, uh-huh
He rode right up to Miss Mousie’s door, uh-huh
He rode right up to Miss Mousie’s door
Gave three loud raps, and a very big roar, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh

He said, “Miss Mouse, will you marry me? uh-huh
He said, “Miss Mouse, will you marry me? uh-huh
He said, “Miss Mouse, will you marry me?
And oh so happy we will be, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

 Singing is what frogs are known for. John Burroughs, the American naturalist and author, wrote:

Have you heard the blinking toad
Sing his solo by the river
When April nights are soft and warm,
And spring is all a-quiver?
If there are jewels in his head,
His wits they often muddle,—
His mate full often lays her eggs
Into a drying puddle.

John Burroughs