Jane Grey Swisshelm: An Unconventional Life, 1815-1884

CHAPTER SEVEN: Respectable but Not Genteel

c h a p t e r s e v e n qr respectable but not genteel It is a wintery Sabbath morning in the late 1870s; the Reverend Joseph Hunter, holding forth from his Covenanter pulpit to an intent, albeit half-frozen congregation. Suddenly, a small, grey wisp of a woman shiveringly arises from her pew, well up front, marches determinedly down the aisle and out of the church, hurries across the snowy road to a nearby house and soon returns with a rag rug over her arm. Regaining her seat, she wraps the carpet about her feet and resumes her devotions, oblivious to the fact that she has created a disturbance and done something ‘‘queer.’’ All her life she has been creating disturbances and doing ‘‘queer’’ things. Wilkinsburg is both ashamed and proud of her, whose life for all her drab little figure, runs like a thread of gold through the prosaic history of the village. This frail human being with the straightly parted hair, severe and querulous face, penetrating grey-blue eyes and disdain of ‘‘form’’ is Mrs. Jane Grey Swisshelm. By far the most interesting figure in Wilkinsburg, she came and went, threading paths of ephemeral fame, ‘‘dining with those in high places.’’ Yet ever was she drawn back to the village, mingling with the townsfolk. A unique being and lonely by reason of it. Elizabeth Davidson and Ellen McKee, ‘‘Jane Grey Swisshelm: The Queer Woman Crusader of Wilkinsburg,’’ Annals of Old Wilkinsburg, 1940∞ 162 respectable but not genteel That was the problem, of course. When it suited her, she viewed social form with disdain, saying what she thought and doing what she pleased without concern for convention. Her behavior made her interesting but also could be a source of embarrassment for her friends and family. She insisted on defining herself on her own terms, and such nonconformity resulted in a distinctiveness that gave her an ambiguous position in polite society. One of the characteristics of life in the nineteenth century was the ease with which people with the necessary resources could improve their social position. The shift from an economy based primarily on agriculture to one based increasingly on industry and commerce brought with it the rise of a culturally powerful middle class, which by the 1850s was large enough to the set ideal standards for public and private behavior.≤ Those who conformed to those standards could lay claim to what was commonly known as middle-class respectability. Life in America’s growing cities heightened sensitivity to class issues. In small towns and farming communities, where everyone knew everyone else, it was relatively easy to determine where a person belonged in the social structure. But urban life was characterized by a certain degree of anonymity, which made placing someone else and establishing a place for oneself more difficult. That did not mean, of course, that those who lived in the country were immune from concerns about who was respectable and who was not. But the rural or small-town definition of ‘‘respectability ’’ was usually broad enough to include prosperous farmers and artisans who, despite performing manual labor and by necessity associating with less prosperous neighbors, met the other requirements for claiming middle-class status. In both the city and the country, concerns about acquiring the trappings of gentility pervaded the lives of members of the middle class who had social aspirations. Gentility implied means and accomplishment, along with a refinement that superseded that of people who were merely respectable. Building on reputations for integrity, industry, and affluence , members of the middle class who wished to be considered genteel had to work quite self-consciously to acquire elegance and grace as well as the outward and material symbols of whatever was considered good taste at the time. Such a person might be expected to exhibit, at the very least, outward evidence of advanced education, a refined aesthetic sense, a knowledge of the intricacies of an increasingly complicated social etiquette , and an interest in fashion. While claims to respectability were based on reputation, claims to gentility were based on leaving an im- respectable but not genteel 163 pression. The genteel were, in that sense, always on display. Despite its superficiality, gentility bestowed social power on those credited with possessing it. And a great many people, both male and female, considered gentility an important resource in making their way...