# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/61 "2010-05-28T02:09:07Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > I am quite interested in “Happy, how to manage to be” on page 329. Could you please expound? > [@Ferret Herder](#): > > I’m disturbed that this item appears to be paired with the “housekeeping” introduction. I agree that it’s disturbing. How could a woman, given every opportunity to fulfill her natural and fitting role as housekeeper and homemaker, possibly be unhappy? It would be like a fish not liking to swim! Unheard of. Book III begins with a section on “The Housekeeper”, then a brief four paragraphs on the “Model Housewife”, and then gets around to explaining the secret of happiness. Again, to conserve space and to remove the less interesting bits, I give this information to the world in abbreviated form: > [@](#): > > **The Housekeeper.** > A woman who is at the head of a household has vast power and responsibility placed in her hands. It rests with her to make the home a place where there shall be gained rest and strength for the battle of life; a place inexpressibly dear to each member of the family, where all shall feel that there is perfect freedom, yet where there is also perfect order. Some are born housekeepers, while others must work hard to train themselves for their many duties. > … > **Reward.** - Her reward will be the consciousness that her duty has been well done, and the possession of the love and respect of her family and friends. To my mind there is no position in the world of higher importance, or in which a woman can do more good. > … > **Method.** - One of the secrets of the ample leisure many housekeepers have is the system of methods adopted. A day for everything and everything on its day. Monday - Wash day will leave time to clean the bath room, stairs and laundry. Tuesday - After ironing is finished the linen closet can be cleaned and the clothes folded and replaced. Wednesday - For cleaning silverware and putting the china closet in order, repapering pantry shelves and with the midweek change of table linen, the dining room might receive special attention. Thursday - Sweeping bed-rooms, and while this is being done it is a good plan to air all the bedding thoroughly; this adds greatly to the freshness of the nicely swept and well dusted sleeping apartments. Friday - Sweep the parlors, reception and sitting rooms, have the rugs well cleaned and windows and mirrors polished. Saturday - Bed linen and table linen changed, towels and soiled clothing gathered, baking done and special preparation made for the day of rest. This will afford the satisfaction of having conducted a well ordered system and will leave some time each day for reading, sewing, visiting and resting. Visiting and _resting_? One wishes the fairer sex were more industrious. Perhaps they should all read the following: > [@](#): > > **A Model Housewife.** > In the first place she is the most thoroughly cheerful and happy-looking woman you will meet in a day’s travel; and although she is thirty-five years old she does not look thirty. This is because she never allows the petty cares of housekeeping to worry and plow lines across her face. She does one thing at a time, never making the error of undertaking a dozen duties at once. > > **Good Judgment.** - The model housewife keeps a scrupulously neat home, but in no room is comfort sacrificed for the sake of appearance. She has neither too much furniture nor bric-a-brac. She dresses her children neatly but plainly. > > **Agreeable and Systematic.** - This very sensible woman is a loving wife and agreeable companion to her husband. She knows how to save time and thus finds opportunity to read, and is able to discuss topics of interest with her husband in the evening by the fireside. She is a gentle mother to her little ones, and when she says “no” she keeps her word. She is never impatient with the baby when he is sleepy and clings to her skirts. Instead of spanking him, she takes the tired little form ito her arms and rocks it to sleep. > > **Taste and Sympathy.** - Her husband is not very wealthy and she does not strain the last nerve to dress as well as her more wealthy neighbors, but her taste is so correct that these same neighbors envy her stylish appearance. She is also a neighbor and does not gossip. If there is sickness she is willing to aid the suffering, and she does not forget the old and poor in the neighborhood. But as strange as it may seem, not every woman is happy repapering the pantry shelves every Wednesday, and this unhappiness may lead her to slip from her proper role as detailed above. And therefore, at long last, I present to you all the secret of happiness. (To anyone who has previously searched for the secret of happiness, and failed to find it, I have but two words: “estate sales”.) The secret of happiness is not something one should be stingy with. Nevertheless, this post is already getting long and I need to check my beef heart to see if it’s boiling yet, so you’re getting an abbreviated version. > [@](#): > > **How to Mange to be Happy.** > During the early years of married life many are often very unhappy, and the cares of housekeeping seem a burden greater than they can bear. > > **Simplification** is the first step toward happiness. In furnishing a house try not to have anything too good to use. If you can afford to keep but one servant, dispense with elaborate draperies, brass and bric-a-brac, the care of which means too much work for one pair of hands. Do not crowd your rooms with useless little tables and delicately-covered furniture, but rely upon sunshine, easy chairs, an open fire and a few good pictures to make home charming. > > **Individuality.** - One mistake is common to young homemakers. Through imitation they make all manner of domestic misfits. When calling on a friend they mentally compare her household plenishings with their own, and wonder how they can create, from limited resources, the things of beauty by which they are surrounded. > > They do not like to invite to their plain house the friend who has married a merchant prince, because they fear she would miss the luxuries of her costly environment. They have no Persian rugs, no Satsuma teacups, no Oriental hangings to show her, and the fact both distresses and mortifies them. > > … > > They give up the happiness and comfort of their families for door-openers and electric bells. The fretfulness of the children, who suffered from the substitution of modern conveniences for fresh air and sunshine, the complaints of the maid who could hardly turn around in the tiny kitchen, and the effort to live beyond means, make them irritable and unhappy. At last they agree with the clever woman who declared that there was such a thing as sacrificing good living to bad frescoes. > > … > > An experienced house-keeper says: > [Note: It’s unclear from the unruly punctuation how much of the rest of the quoted text is being attributed to this house-keeper, and how much is from the authors of the book itself. -BK] > … > **Training Children.** - I train my children to helpfulness, and teach the boys, as well as the girls, to sweep, dust, mend and care for their clothing. Their is nothing unmanly in a boy learning to do those things which will make him comfortable and independent when away from home. > > … > > **Slave of Circumstances.** - It used to trouble me very much if anything interfered with the routine of the household. I worshiped days and seasons, and was determined that no meal in my house should be a movable feast. As a consequence, I became the unhappy slave of my own laws. > > **Method a Servant.** - Now, method is my servant, not my master. > … > > **Books and Music.** - In all my economy of time and money, I leave a margin for the higher life. I buy and read the best books, and hear good music. > … > > **Persistent Cheerfulness.** - The crowning grace of the home, in my opinion, is persistent cheerfulness, and I try to see the funny side of every annoyance. My children are often ill, but I discourage anxious inquiries after the health of the members of the family, believing that it is possible to talk yourself and others into any number of diseases. And to everyone’s shock and amazement (well, mine at least), these are actually pretty damned good guidelines. The bit about simplification seems like it could have been pulled from Thoreau. (Although if everyone got rid of their useless little tables, they wouldn’t have much to sell at their estate sales.) I think most would agree that trying to keep up with the Joneses just leads to unhappiness (unless you’re one of the Joneses and like the attention). The egalitarian take on childhood training threw my cynical self for a loop, and I think it’s very true that we often slavishly obey our own arbitrary rules. Good books and good music? Hard to go wrong. And avoiding hypochondria is even more relevant in today’s world, where you can convince yourself that you’re deathly ill just by reading too many Wikipedia entries on skin diseases. Wait, it seems I missed the last secret to happiness: > [@](#): > > **Forgetting the Disagreeable.** - I make a habit of forgetting disagreeable thing as quickly as possible. One great factor in this result is never talking about them. I keep the genie in the bottle, for the grievances that are aired grow with every airing. In dealing with Bridget’s faults it does not yield me any moral support to dwell on the atrocious acts of her predecessor. > > Leaving the past to bury its dead I live simply in the present, trying to take no anxious thoughts for the morrow, thereby exhausting in advance my nervous force. So, > “I build a fence of loving trust, > About today; > I fill it full of happy work, > And therein stay.” I cannot ascertain who Bridget is, or what she did wrong. But it’s not something you should worry your pretty little heads about, and keep your complaints to yourself. There’s a fence-full of happy work to keep your mind off of it. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/62 "2010-05-28T02:22:44Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > Health - Evils of Window Ventilation page 34 > Can you please elaborate? With the warm weather upon us, I’m in a tither over opening my windows or not. I, too, am burning for the answer to this question… ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/63 "2010-05-28T02:31:50Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Please consult Page 373 and tell me how to break a string. I have a string. I wish to have two strings. From the book that brought you the top-grossing, “Lemon for felon … 105”, the recently released, “Happy, how to manage to be … 329”, and the just announced “Oranges, how to eat … 355”, comes the long-awaited, “String, how to break … 373”. > [@](#): > > **How to Break a String.** > It is easy to break a string, if you know how. Woman need not hunt for a knife or a pair of scissors after tying a bundle, nor saw the string over the edge of the counter. The grocer’s loop does the business. Hook the first finger on the left hand over he string, giving the finger a twist, or rather, bring the palm upward. Then roll the finger over backward until it is tight against the bundle, drawing tight the cord, which is held in the right hand all the time. Press the thumb against the loop; then jerk the cord suddenly with the right hand, and the string cuts itself. Scan: [How to Break a String](http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/stabbymcshiv/Household%20Guide%20-or-%20Domestic%20Cyclopedia/?action=view¤t=how_to_break_a_string.jpg) … … _That’s it?_ I haven’t felt this let down since the “LOST” finale. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/64 "2010-05-28T02:41:59Z")
Quick note: You may have noticed two apparent “typos” in the above posts. I refer specifically to: “Their is nothing unmanly” and “left hand over he string”. I _do_ know the proper use of “their” and “there”; apparently, if the Cyclopedia had an editor, he did not. Also, I was not making any subtle Freudian or feminist commentary by giving the string a gender. (Although if you read it that way, it’s twice as amusing.) That’s simply how it is in the book, as you can confirm by viewing the linked image. Any other errors are probably mine, though. ---
**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 28, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/65 "2010-05-28T03:10:22Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > I cannot ascertain who Bridget is, or what she did wrong. But it’s not something you should worry your pretty little heads about, and keep your complaints to yourself. There’s a fence-full of happy work to keep your mind off of it. “Bridget” is short-hand for “Irish servant woman.” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/66 "2010-05-28T07:14:20Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Oh man, I would adore to get my hands on this book! (Can you do any scans?) I’d suggest scanning the whole book, and sending them to [Distributed Proofreading](http://www.pgdp.net/c/default.php) to get this book added to Project Gutenberg. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/67 "2010-05-28T07:54:54Z")
I have a question for the all-knowing Cyclopedia! What is the best way to get rid of those damnable bedbugs? ---
**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 28, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/68 "2010-05-28T13:17:44Z")
Thank you so much for the instruction on how to manage to be happy and just in time for the long weekend. I’m off now to build my fence of trust before I exhaust my nervous force. Best Regards, Soon to be not quite so **Surly Chick** (I’m still confused about the string breaking. I don’t understand where the loop came from…) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/69 "2010-05-28T14:08:54Z")
I would have expected the section on “How to Be Happy” to be cross-indexed to the section “Opiates, How to Obtain and Use”. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/70 "2010-05-28T14:56:04Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > From the book that brought you the top-grossing, “Lemon for felon … 105”, the recently released, “Happy, how to manage to be … 329”, and the just announced “Oranges, how to eat … 355”, comes the long-awaited, “String, how to break … 373”. > > Scan: [How to Break a String](http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/stabbymcshiv/Household%20Guide%20-or-%20Domestic%20Cyclopedia/?action=view¤t=how_to_break_a_string.jpg) > > … > > … > > _That’s it?_ > > I haven’t felt this let down since the “LOST” finale. Thank you. Now I have two strings and a broken finger. Will you please check the index for “Splint, How to Fashion?” ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/71 "2010-05-29T00:47:51Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Will you please check the index for “Splint, How to Fashion?” No need to go all the way to the index. The table of contents is closer: > [@](#): > > Poisoning, etc. … 92 > Foreign Bodies in Ear, Nose and Throat … 93 > Choking, Sunstroke, Coal Gas Suffocation … 94 > Burns … 95 > Broken Bones … 96 > Drowning, Snake Bites … 97 > … Broken bones are pretty serious. That’s probably why this section takes up almost an entire page - just slightly less than the sections for “Foreign Bodies in Ear, Nose and Throat” and “Other Remedies for Poisoning.” > [@](#): > > **Broken Bones.** > **A Broken Bone** need not be set immediately. This knowledge saves much unnecessary anxiety when the doctor cannot be procured at once. > … > Improvise splints of some kind - two strips of wood, a couple of stout book covers, or pieces of pasteboard. Place on one side when it is a limb that is injured, and bind them in place with handkerchiefs. A long pillow firmly tied will answer the purpose, or in case of injury to the leg it may be fastened to its fellow if nothing better can be done, remembering to tie it above and below the injury. > … Of course, if you don’t have a handkerchief handy you can just use one of your strings. > [@Shodan](#): > > I would have expected the section on “How to Be Happy” to be cross-indexed to the section “Opiates, How to Obtain and Use”. Oh no. Oh no no no. Opiates are _bad_! Apparently not as bad as smoking or drinking, judging by the lack of woodcuts depicting diseased organs, but bad nonetheless. The index lists “Opiates and Nervousness … 156” (coincidentally, just above “Oranges, how to eat … 355”). > [@](#): > > **Opiates Increase Nervousness.** > The longer you take opiates the less you will sleep, as they will tend to make you nervous and restless. Bravely give them up and depend upon alkalies which are mild sedatives and upon tincture of hyoscyamus, which is soothing to the nerves. > … > In the evening, fifteen or thirty drops of tincture of hyoscyamus in a little water. > If your spine is hot apply a towel wrung out in hot water to the small of the back or nape of the next for ten or twenty minutes, taking care not to wet your night clothes or to take a cold. > > All these measures will quiet your nerves and when time is given to overcome the force of the opium habit, if it has been formed, you will get sweeter rest than you ever got from opium. As soon as you begin to sleep enough drop the hyoscyamus. Let me add here that “[hyoscyamus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henbane)” (also known as henbane), is, to the best of my Google-age, a poison that was once used as a treatment. From Wikipedia: “Common effects of henbane ingestion in humans include hallucinations, dilated pupils, restlessness, and flushed skin.” Sounds like something an opium user could appreciate. Just above “Opiates Increase Nervousness” are a few paragraphs about simply “Nervousness”. The Cyclopedia gives this advice: > [@](#): > > **Fat for the Nervous.** - Nervous people should eat fat food. Every irritable and exhaustive nerve should, if possible, be coated with fat. Fat is to a tender nerve what an air cushion is to a tired invalid - it eases jolts wonderfully. So if you do intend to indulge in opiates, make sure to bring Doritos. (A good friend informs me that this is doubly true of cannibinoids, but of this I cannot personally speak.) ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/72 "2010-05-29T01:04:11Z")
Can you tell me if there are indications of a cure for Mange, for in attempting to find happiness, I seem to have caught it. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/73 "2010-05-29T01:10:17Z")
For decades I’ve been wondering if I’m reading the newpaper properly. What does page 398 have to say about it? Need answer fast! I’m expecting another one in the morning! ---
**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 29, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/74 "2010-05-29T02:45:22Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > Can you tell me if there are indications of a cure for Mange, for in attempting to find happiness, I seem to have caught it. Did you catch it whilst building your fence of trust? ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/75 "2010-05-29T19:51:48Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > For decades I’ve been wondering if I’m reading the newpaper properly. What does page 398 have to say about it? It’s a good thing I got that scanner, because the entirety of page 398 is an adorable woodcut: [Reading the Paper](http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/stabbymcshiv/Household%20Guide%20-or-%20Domestic%20Cyclopedia/?action=view¤t=womans_friend.jpg) What’s happening here is that the little girl is mimicking an adult activity known as “reading the paper”. The “paper” (or “newspaper”) used to be a large sheet of wood-pulp with ink printed on it. People would have the “paper” delivered to them regularly, often every day. It would contain information and opinions about local, national, and world events, much like a blog, only the information would be at _least_ a day or two old. Surprisingly, this curious practice survived well into 2008. OK, I’ll stop being cute and just let you enjoy the bonus sexism on page 399. “Woman’s Friend” indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/76 "2010-05-30T11:45:28Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > It’s a good thing I got that scanner, because the entirety of page 398 is an adorable woodcut: > [Reading the Paper](http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/stabbymcshiv/Household%20Guide%20-or-%20Domestic%20Cyclopedia/?action=view¤t=womans_friend.jpg) 🙂 Thanks. I don’t see any coffee or cigarettes. Either I’m doing it wrong or she is. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/77 "2010-05-30T18:36:40Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > 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: I have searched (and searched and searched) but cannot find any references to onanism, direct or oblique, in the Cyclopedia. It’s possible that I missed a very veiled reference. (Given the vast knowledge of euphemisms I cultivated as a teenager, I find this unlikely.) It’s also possible that I simply didn’t stumble across a mention in my skimming, or that Doctors Nichols and Jefferis saved this information for their other [book](http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23609). (Thanks for those links, **Colophon** and **Mr. Moto**!) If you’re going to write a book specifically about sexual matters, there’s no need to cannibalize sales of that book by putting similar information into a guide more devoted to skin diseases and desserts (and string-breaking). But the Guide does have something to say about preserving eyesight: > [@](#): > > **Saving the Eyes.** > When the eyes are sore or inflamed, what shall be done for their relief? Rest is the first essential, and in a sever case let this mean darkness obtained by a bandage of black cloth, for a day or two. > … > **Diet.** - The diet should be limited and readily digestible. Very little should be taken at supper. The food should be masticated very thoroughly. > > **Dr. Agnew.** - The late Dr. Agnew used to relate to his classes a case where an elderly man came many miles to New York to be operated on for an ulcerous malady of the eyeball. The surgeons in the hospital declined to operate, considering the process to be too far advanced. Dr. Agnew chanced to see him at table, and stepped in. He sat down beside him and showed him how to eat. Two weeks later he went home well, without operation or other treatment. > > **First Offense.** - The first offense against the eyes is reading or writing in a poor light. Clerks who work by gaslight n poorly lighted buildings in cities, especially during the short, clouded days of winter, furnish many cases of sore and tired eyes. If gaslight must be used to any extent for close work, the eyes should be shaded, and care must be taken not to have more light in one eye than in the other. > > **Second Offense.** - The second offense is reading with the head bent over. This favors congestion of the eyeball. > > **Third Offense.** - The third is reading on trains. Here the stream of objects flying past at the window strains an eye that is also engaged with the printed page. > … > > **How to Doctor Sore Eyes.** > **Cause.** - Exposure to cold, dust, injuries, catarrh, scarlet fever, measles, etc. When the eye feels as if there were fire sand in it, a competent physician should be at once consulted, because it is a symptom of inflammation which demands special attention. > > **Home Treatment.** - Bathe the eyes every two or three hours in warm water. Place a few grains of alum in the water before using. Cleanliness is very necessary. The application of a cloth moistened with a solution of aconite in the proportion of one part of aconite to twenty of water will prove soothing and beneficial. Never apply hot fomentations to the eye without consulting a physician. A rubber bag or bladder filled with pounded ice and held to the eye is a good and safe remedy. > > CAMPHORATED EYE WATER > 15 grains sulphate of copper, > 15 grains French bole, > 4 grains camphor > 4 ounces boiling water. > > Infuse, strain, and dilute with two quarts of cold water and apply three times a day. It’s possible your son has just spent too much time reading on trains. Perhaps you should play Dr. Agnew and take a close look at his diet, but that might be a waste of time. I mean, teenage boys are generally pretty discriminating about what and how much they’ll eat. OK, stop laughing at that and chuckle at this instead, from page 224, in a section titled “Developing Healthy Children”: > [@](#): > > **Appetite.** - Do I not know how absolutely insatiable a boy’s appetite can be? He will devour a hearty dinner of roast beef, mutton or veal, vegetables and pudding at twelve o’clock, and be far gone in the pangs of starvation before five. I definitely need to scan that and email it to my brother, a father of four boys. They’re nowhere near teen-age yet, but they’re already a horde of locusts with bruises and grass stains. Perhaps a chuckle will give him momentary respite from weeping over his grocery bill. The Cyclopedia doesn’t seem to say anything specifically about bathing suits. There is a section on how ladies should dress. It’s short enough to include in its entirety: > [@](#): > > **How Ladies Should Dress.** > > 1. In the dress of ladies, great latitude is allowed; but the aim of the gentle sex should be simplicity and taste. > > 2. A lady must always consider what colors will suit her complexion. If she be dark, blue will not look well upon her; or if she be fair, pink will not become her. The most trying color is yellow. Only very pronounced brunettes can wear it. A lady must also take her size into consideration in selecting her dress. Stripes running the length of the dress have the effect of making a short person look taller, and should not be worn by a tall person. > > 3. The street dress of a lady should be simple and without display. To dress conspicuously or in brilliant colors for the street is a sign of bad breeding. In bad weather, a light India-rubber waterproof with a hood is more convenient and a better protection than an umbrella. To wear much jewelry on the street is vulgar. In large cities it subjects a lady to the danger of robbery or to conspicuous notice. > > 4. For church the dress should be simple and plain. Very little jewelry should be worn, and the costume should be of quiet colors. It is a mark of bad taste for ladies to attend church elaborately or conspicuously dressed. > > 5. Modesty in dress and behavior add more charm to woman than the rustle of silk or the glitter of gold. See also: A [scan](http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/stabbymcshiv/Household%20Guide%20-or-%20Domestic%20Cyclopedia/?action=view¤t=how_ladies_should_dress.jpg) of this page, showing woodcuts of Queens Elizabeth, Mary, and Anne, as well as a [scan](http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/stabbymcshiv/Household%20Guide%20-or-%20Domestic%20Cyclopedia/?action=view¤t=styles_of_hair.jpg) of the following pages showing various hairstyles. The book does say quite a lot about bathing in general. So much, in fact, that it’s too much to add to this post. If anyone is interested in bathing (and let’s hope at least _some_ of you are), let me know and I’ll respond in a future post. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/78 "2010-05-30T19:32:31Z")
Wait a tick! The Guide _does_ contain at least one reference to masturbation. The Household Guide contains “A Complete Medical Dictionary”, one entry of which is: > [@](#): > > **Masturbation** - Excitement, by the hand, of the genital organs Short, but effective. (No, too obvious.) I certainly wouldn’t say the “Complete Medical Dictionary” is complete, but it does contain the following entries for potentially naughty subjects: > [@](#): > > **Antisyphilitic** - Remedy for venereal diseases. > > **Anus** - Circular opening or outlet of the bowels. > > **Excrement** - The feces, that which passes by stool. > > **Flatulence** - Gas in the stomach or bowels. > > **Fundament** - The anus. > > **Genitals** - Belonging to generation; the sexual organs. > > **Gleet** - Chronic gonorrhea. > > **Gonorrhea** - An infectious discharge from the genital organs. > > **Impotence** - Sterility; inability to reproduce. > > **Menstruation** - Monthly flow. > > **Orgasm** - The closing excitement of sexual connection. > > **Sperm** - Seminal fluid, now more often called the semen, seed. > > **Vagina** - The passage from the womb to the vulva. > > **Vulva** - External opening of the female genitals. That’s not exactly explicit material, it does show a certain lack of excessive prudery that one might have expected to find. This non-naughty entry caught my attention as well: “ **Felon** - A deep abscess of the finger.” _AHA!_ I’m amazed I didn’t think to check the dictionary until now. I was always one of those children who’d look up naughty words in the family dictionary and giggle over them. Why did I not notice these before? _How_ could I have been so _blind_? Wait. Don’t answer that. ---
**Author:** ![alicorn2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@alicorn2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alicorn2)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/79 "2010-06-08T18:04:47Z")
Let’s not let this thread die! What other gems do you have to share with us? ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467/80 "2010-06-09T21:01:21Z")
“Oranges, how to eat” sounds fascinating! Have I been eating my citrus incorrectly all this time? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-household-guide-or-domestic-cyclopedia-c1900/540467.md?page=5)