Tiny treasures

It was Sunday yesterday, the day of rest, and I was confined to barracks for most of it because I’ve been losing a battle with some disgusting virus tickling up my lungs. The result was a pool of boredom that drove me to abandon ‘Bones’ (I’ve bought the whole series now) to root through some boxes left from the move, and I found, not what I was looking for which was a couple of useful hooks to hold my tea-towel and apron in the kitchen (obviously men designed these fittings!) but these tiny treasures kept in a box belonging to my mother. I have no idea how old the tape-measure and the purse are but they are certainly from the days when a lady’s handbag (did they call it that I wonder? Or was that a holdall into which babies could be popped when necessary) had still to grow into a A4 sized affair yet was needed to hold such items ready for any emergency.

The tape measure, 36”, would not go round MY waist now, sad to relate, but would measure a piece of knitting or a yard of material. The farthings that were inside the purse where dated 1921 and 1942 so have Britannia on the latter (the Empire was still intact) and a wren, on the former. Very sweet but why a wren? If anyone can tell me I’d like to know. Too lazy to chase up Wikkipedia.