# Ask the "Household Guide -or- Domestic Cyclopedia", c1900 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 23, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467 "2010-05-23T16:11:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SleepyDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@SleepyDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleepyDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/21 "2010-05-24T23:37:49Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > …Lemon for Felons 105… OK, the curiosity is killing me on this one. If you could indulge, dear **BlackKnight** , by checking page 105? ETA: Heh, this thread is the only result I get from googling “Lemon for Felons” ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/22 "2010-05-24T23:49:34Z")
My son, a young man of 14 years, is consumed by the sin of onanism. I fear that this constant abuse may weaken his brain! Not to mention, his eyesight is degrading. Is there any remedy for this? Yuong people are prone to sexual hysteria, these days-I suspect it is because of the new bathing costumes, favored by young women(of dubious morals)!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Beerman1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@Beerman1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beerman1963)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/23 "2010-05-25T00:33:51Z")
Might you suggest a good port for an evenings repast? My slack about batman has no inclination to be helpful even after a sound thrashing.😉 ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/24 "2010-05-25T00:37:26Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > What is an appropriate menu for when I have my parents over for dinner or supper? That depends upon the tastes of your guests. Just make sure you take your job seriously. A cook is very important, “for with her rests not only the comfort, but the health of those she serves, and we would warn all cooks not to make light of their responsibilities, but to study diligently the tastes and wishes of all those for whom they have to prepare food.” When breaking bread, the first thing you need is, well, bread. So let’s address that daily staple first thing: > [@](#): > > **Prize Bread Recipe.** - At a bread contest held in an eastern city not long ago, a milling company offered prizes ranging from five to one hundred dollars for the best loaves of bread. The recipe used by the winner of the prize of the one hundred dollars was: Three pints of water, one half pint of milk, one tablespoonful of lard, one tablespoonful of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of salt, one yeast cake, and the necessary quantity of flour to make three loaves. The ingredients, which were first thoroughly mixed, and then kneaded ten minutes, were raised over night in a covered bread-pan. In the morning the dough was kneaded ten minutes and made into three loaves. Three other loaves entered for the contest were awarded seventy-five-dollar prizes. One of these loaves seems to have been prepared in a somewhat unusual way. The ingredients for the dough were two-thirds milk to one-third water, compressed yeast and a little salt and sugar, and were mixed with enough flour to make a stiff dough. This dough was mixed, kneaded, and set to rise at night. When light it was chopped thoroughly with a chopping-knife, made into loaves, and set to rise the second time; when this was light it was baked forty minutes. Wow - I don’t know how I’d even spend that kind of windfall. I’d probably travel Europe. But let’s focus on the food. Hopefully a loaf worth $100 is also worth your parents’ appreciation. The Cyclopedia offers an enormous number of scrumptious recipes, as well as general information about how to prepare certain types of foods. For example, it lists directions for frying, for roasting, for broiling, for boiling, baking, and soup-related meat preparation. There are separate rules for pickling beef, hams, and tongues. These in particular set the taste-buds swooning: > [@](#): > > **STUFFED BEEF’S HEART** > If fire is no object, you may boil a beef’s heart, it will take all day. Put into cold water and bring slowly to the simmering point and keep it there. Next day it may be stuffed with well-seasoned bread crumbs and baked three quarters of an hour. > … > **HOW TO PICKLE TONGUES.** > For each tongue take: 6 ounces of salt; 2 ounces of bay salt; 1 ounce of saltpetre; 3 ounces coarse sugar. > Cloves and allspice to taste, keep the tongue in the above pickle two weeks or 20 days. Just make sure you don’t overdo your meat intake. The Household Guide is very clear on this: > [@](#): > > We all eat too much meat, too much for our health, probably, and certainly too much for the well-being of our pocketbooks. Great, brawny Scotchmen live month after month on oatmeal and buttermilk, and a healthier, harder working class of men it would be difficult to find. The general health of the American would be greatly improved if the diet were to consist more of vegetables, grains and fruit and not so much of meat. So maybe it’s a better idea to focus on vegetables and the like. And what better vegetable than the humble potato? > [@](#): > > **Potatoes.** > We in our country need not feel as bitter against the potato as do the scientists of Europe, for we are not obliged to use it to excess, and considering its cheapness and availability, it is for us a good vegetable, and on these accounts, though it makes a poor enough showing as to food value, we must rank it next to the bean in importance. > … > **Potato Soup.** > **Ingredients.** - Six large potatoes peeled, 1 large onion, 1 heaping teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper. For a richer soup add 1/4 pound salt pork cut in bits (in this case put in less salt), or add 1 cup of milk or a beaten egg. Chopped celery leaves give a good flavor. > > Boil potatoes, onions and salt in a little water, and when very soft mash; then add, a little at a time, and stirring to keep it smooth, a quart of hot water and 1 tablespoon beef fat, in which 1 tablespoon flour has been cooked; or use the fat for frying bread dice, which add at the last minute. > > Most cooks fry the sliced onion before putting it in the soup, but the difference in taste is so slight as not to be worth the few minutes’ extra time, if time is an object. Now, I myself know nothing about cooking, not being of the fairer persuasion. But perhaps one of the following would make a decent side dish: > [@](#): > > ROASTED ONIONS > Onions are very good roasted in ashes, without removing the skin. When they are done, take off the skin and flavor with pepper, salt and butter. > … > FRIED TOMATOES > Cut the tomatoes in slices, without skinning, sprinkle pepper, salt and flour over them, and fry in butter until brown. After they are taken up, pour cream into the butter and juice, and while boiling hot pour over the tomatoes. I know, I know, it’s not boiled beef heart and pickled tongue, but your guests should be able to choke it down well enough. And with the money you save by avoiding meats and using the thrifty potato, you can afford to wow them with one of the following desserts: > [@](#): > > WHITE SPONGE CAKE OR “ANGEL FOOD.” > One-and-a-half cupfuls pulverized sugar, one cup flour, twelve whites of eggs, one teaspoonful cream of tartar, one teaspoonful flavoring. > DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING. > Sift the sugar and flour three times separately, then mix and stir in the well-beaten whites of twelve eggs. Stir the cream of tartar in with the sugar and flour before putting in the eggs. Add the flavoring and bake in a medium oven. > … > SOFT GINGER BREAD > 2 well beaten eggs, 1 cupful of molasses, 1/2 teacupful of lard, 1/2 teacupful of butter, 1 tablespoonful of ginger, 1 teaspoonful of cream tartar, 1 teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in 1/2 teacupful of milk, a pinch of salt, 3 cups of flour. Bake slowly for half an hour. Watch that it may not burn. > … > THE QUEEN OF PUDDINGS. > 1½ cup white sugar, 2 cups fine dry bread-crumbs, 5 eggs, 1 tablespoonful of butter, vanilla or lemon seasoning, 1 quart fresh milk and one-half cup jelly. Rub the butter into a cup of sugar; beat the yolks very light, and stir these together to a cream. Add the bread-crumbs soaked in milk and the seasoning. Bake in a large buttered pudding dish, filling it about two-thirds full, until the custard is “set.”. Draw to the mouth of the oven, spread over the jelly or other nice fruit conserve. Cover this with a meringue made of the whipped whites and a half cup of sugar. Shut the oven and bake until the meringue begins to color. Eat cold with cream. You may, in the fruit season, substitute the fresh fruit for preserves. You have a lot to choose from. The list of pies, cakes, tarts, doughnuts, jellies, puddings, and ice creams is rather long compared to the non-dessert recipes. I don’t think I’ve ever typed this before, but these woodcuts are making me salivate. I was just thinking how this focus on sweets tells us something about how human nature doesn’t change very quickly, when I did a double-take at this: > [@](#): > > TUTTI FRUTTI ICE CREAM > Two quarts of cream, one quart of new milk, three cups sugar, flavor with vanilla, one-half cup of nut meat (any kind), one-half cup chopped raisins and citron, one-half cup candied cherries; when cream is partly frozen add fruit and nuts well mixed. Very nice. That’s right - a 110 year old recipe for tutti frutti ice cream. I shouldn’t be surprised, really. I mean, once ice cream has been invented, why _not_ throw a bunch of fruit in it? And what else should you call such a thing than the Italian phrase for “all fruits”? (Thank you Wikipedia.) Still, if I stumble upon a recipe for Cherry Garcia, I’m burning the book and checking into rehab. (Continued when time permits.) ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/25 "2010-05-25T01:08:03Z")
One more quick post for today. > [@SleepyDuck](#): > > OK, the curiosity is killing me on this one. If you could indulge, dear **BlackKnight** , by checking page 105? Like you, I was hoping that “lemons for felons” was a quaint, olde timey waste of taxpayer money. Perhaps the turn-of-the-century equivalent of a “Bridge to Nowhere”. Happily I imagined the citrus fruits being distributed to prisoners by government officials, neither having any real idea as to the point of it all, but none of them willing to rock the boat or admit ignorance by asking. No such luck. (Ok, I also have to admit to a small typo. That should have been “lemon for felon”, singular. My, uh, typewriter jammed.) I hereby give you the relevant portions of page 105: > [@](#): > > **LEMON FOR FELON** > When it is suspected that a felon is coming on the finger … COVER YOUR EYES, CHILDREN! What? Oh. Wait, I guess I overreacted: > [@](#): > > … is coming on the finger, procure a lemon and cut off part of one end. Then with a pair of pointed scissors or small blade of knife cut out the hard core in the center of the lemon, removing any seed that may be in the way, and push the finger into a lemon and let it remain there until all symptoms disappear, which will not be longer perhaps than a day and a night. However, if one lemon does not suffice, use another. Hmm. That’s not quite what I was expecting. After a brief personal story by one of the authors about “stepping on one of those little brass staples used in a piece of cardboard to fasten the prices on goods” (seriously), I turn the page to find more information about felons: > [@](#): > > HOW TO CURE FELONS > **Symptoms.** - Throbbing pain, which is often felt up the arm; tender to the touch; hand of a dusky red color. > **Home Treatment.** - Apply poultices wet with laudanum, or wash in a solution of carbolic acid to soften the parts; wipe dry and apply a coat of collodion and give the patient a good dose of physic. > **General Treatment.** - If the above treatment is not sufficient, go to a physician and have it lanced so as to lay open the flesh to the bone. There are certainly [felons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_offender) I would like to cure by having them lanced open to the bone, but I’m pressed for time so here’s what I can find on Wikipedia about “felon”: > [@](#): > > A whitlow or felon is an infection of the tip of the finger. > **[Whitlow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitlow)** > > A whitlow or felon is an infection of the tip of the finger.\[a\] Herpetic whitlow and melanotic whitlow (subungual melanoma) are subtypes that are not synonymous with the term felon. A felon is an "extremely painful abscess on the palmar aspect of the fingertip". Whitlow usually refers to herpetic whitlow, though it can also refer to melanotic whitlow (subungual melanoma), which somewhat resembles acral lentiginous melanoma. The terms whitlow and felon are also sometimes misapplied to This infect... If you visit the link you’ll see that this short article is part of a very enormous category of articles about skin diseases. I don’t know if Wikipedia has a similarly vast number of articles about hair and laxatives, but it’s nice to see that modern encyclopedias haven’t completely lost touch with their roots. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/26 "2010-05-25T02:47:41Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > WHITE SPONGE CAKE OR “ANGEL FOOD.” > One-and-a-half cupfuls pulverized sugar, one cup flour, twelve whites of eggs, one teaspoonful cream of tartar, one teaspoonful flavoring. _Twelve egg whites???_ The beef hearts, well, I have to do SOMEthing with them after the slaughter, but twelve egg whites??? The day I can use twelve egg whites for a cake is the day I become a Rockefeller bride. My stars. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/27 "2010-05-25T03:19:35Z")
Oh man, I would adore to get my hands on this book! (Can you do any scans?) I started collecting old etiquette books after laying my hands on the 1952 Amy Vanderbilt edition, which has a chapter titled “Gracious Living Without Servants.” ---
**Author:** ![SleepyDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@SleepyDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleepyDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/28 "2010-05-25T04:16:55Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > One more quick post for today. > Like you, I was hoping that “lemons for felons” was a quaint, olde timey waste of taxpayer money. Perhaps the turn-of-the-century equivalent of a “Bridge to Nowhere”. Happily I imagined the citrus fruits being distributed to prisoners by government officials, neither having any real idea as to the point of it all, but none of them willing to rock the boat or admit ignorance by asking. > > No such luck. Yeah, I was hoping for some way to deal with escaped Newcastle convicts accosting my children with talk of great expectations, then sending them off to London with false expectations. But as you say, no such luck. > [@](#): > > A whitlow or felon is an infection of the tip of the finger. Learn something every day around here. Although their finger-in-the-lemon advice does seem to make some sense, citric acid and all. I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually worked. > [@BlackKnight](#): > > (Ok, I also have to admit to a small typo. That should have been “lemon for felon”, singular. My, uh, typewriter jammed.) Well, “lemon for felon” still results in only one google hit, but on the other hand, “Lemons for Felons” makes for a much better band name. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/29 "2010-05-25T17:03:01Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > _Twelve egg whites???_ The beef hearts, well, I have to do SOMEthing with them after the slaughter, but twelve egg whites??? The day I can use twelve egg whites for a cake is the day I become a Rockefeller bride. My stars. That’s pretty standard for angel food cake. I’ve done it lots of times. The egg whites, that is, not the beef heart. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/30 "2010-05-25T17:11:10Z")
I am quite interested in “Happy, how to manage to be” on page 329. Could you please expound? Anxiously awaiting your reply, **Surly Chick** ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/31 "2010-05-25T17:22:47Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > I am quite interested in “Happy, how to manage to be” on page 329. Could you please expound? > > Anxiously awaiting your reply, > **Surly Chick** 😃 I’m disturbed that this item appears to be paired with the “housekeeping” introduction. I’m also disturbed by turpentine and eggs being discussed in the same section, p. 112. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/32 "2010-05-25T17:34:51Z")
I’m struggling with a few vexatious conundra at the moment that with which you may perhaps be able to assist: -In considering my next computer purchase, I must decide whether to focus on hard drive space to accommodate my extensive collection of video files, or instead plan on most media moving to a streaming format, allowing me to invest my nickels elsewhere. Please advise. -In the lab, I’m considering performing a genome-wide association study to find underlying genetic causes of an observed phenotype. Can you recommend good open-source software for such a task? -And finally, I found a dead woodchuck in the yard. To what profitable uses can I put it? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/33 "2010-05-25T17:57:38Z")
I’m betting the answer to “How to bring on the Menses” is hidden in the “Leucorrhoea” article. I would also like to know how to manage to be happy. . . ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/34 "2010-05-25T18:00:51Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > That’s pretty standard for angel food cake. I’ve done it lots of times. The egg whites, that is, not the beef heart. Nice when you can go to the store and buy a dozen eggs for $3.79. Problematic when your laying flock only produces one or two dozen a week and you rely on the egg money for spending cash, or you need the eggs to feed your family of farmers, or it’s winter and the hens aren’t laying, or you’re too poor to afford a full flock of layers. But for wealthy people c.1900, I’m sure it’s great! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/35 "2010-05-25T18:45:13Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > But for wealthy people c.1900, I’m sure it’s great! I don’t think it’s as dear as you make out. The price of a dozen eggs in the US c.1900 was .23, a little over half (62%) the average "building trades'" hourly wage of .37 In comparison, the national minimum wage right now is $7.25. 62% of $7.25 is about $4.50. While that’s high for eggs, you can certainly find cage free organics for that around here. (And, of course, the eggs being sold in 1900 probably were cage free and organic, although they weren’t marketing angels at the time!) Plus people spent a much higher percentage of their income on food back in those days. While it probably wasn’t an everyday indulgence, angel food cake appears to be in the reach of the masses for special occasions. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/36 "2010-05-26T13:36:22Z")
Please consult Page 373 and tell me how to break a string. I have a string. I wish to have two strings. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/37 "2010-05-26T13:46:05Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Please consult Page 373 and tell me how to break a string. I have a string. I wish to have two strings. It seems odd to have a chapter on that subject: then, as now, you’d have a choice of using a pair of scissors or a sharp knife. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/38 "2010-05-26T13:49:46Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > It seems odd to have a chapter on that subject: then, as now, you’d have a choice of using a pair of scissors or a sharp knife. Ahh, but that would be cutting not breaking… **Surly** , who is still waiting to find out how to manage to be happy. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/39 "2010-05-26T15:32:53Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > Woman, Her Power, Qualities … 25 Women, having power? Ye gods, what indolence! > [@BlackKnight](#): > > Turpentine, Facts About Eggs … 112 … and why never to mix them. This is why I’m not allowed to cook anymore. > [@BlackKnight](#): > > **Reading the Paper** … 398 … I’m perplexed that I’ve been reading the paper wrong all these years! Pray tell, what is the correct method? (It seems to be only one page devoted on the subject, so it shouldn’t be much to divulge.) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/40 "2010-05-26T15:53:21Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > My son shows signs of favouring use of his left hand over use of his right hand. What should I do? Stop spying on him in his room? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467.md?page=3)