This hand-painted tile by the Mueller Mosaic Tile Company of Trenton adorns the wall of former sunroom in the Wicoff House Museum. The bold red, blue and green glazes on the red clay tile are still vibrant after almost 100 years. There are often interesting clues to the stories being told by the tiles. Notice the style of the building in the background. Look at the clothing being worn by the person with the broom – a cap, apron, blouse, skirt and wooden clogs (shoes). What clue to the person’s age might we conclude by the way they are “stooped” over? Perhaps this tile depicts the character in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme ” There Was An Old Woman Tossed Up In A Basket.” Can you think of another nursery rhyme that this tile might represent?
There was an old woman tossed up in a basket,
Seventeen times as high as the moon,
Where she was going, I could not but ask it,
For in her hands she carried a broom.
‘Old woman, old woman, old woman’ quath I,
O wither, O wither, O wither so high?
To sweep the cobwebs from the sky,
But I’ll be with thee by-and-by.