Ask the "Household Guide -or- Domestic Cyclopedia", c1900

[BlackKnight]

It May Inform …

My daughter, remember, your manners speak louder than words."

[EvilTOJ]

I’m sad to say I just caught my young son carousing with a woman of moral inferiority. After driving the strumpet off the property and a surreptitious slapping of palms above the wig (his mother was in the other room), I have a question. How does one fumigate a davenport of vermin properly?

Your Obt. Servant,

EvilTOJ

[BlackKnight]

@nicole1912

This thread is fantastic. I can’t believe I hadn’t opened it before! I’d quite like to know what advice was given about Hair Dyeing in 1900, if you’ve got time to share it…

Good, beautiful hair is vitally important to girls. Along with non-rounded shoulders, clear complexion (including removal of such nasties as blackheads, wrinkles, warts, and freckles), good teeth, appropriate clothes and footwear, cosmetics, and a good figure, beautiful hair is something that every woman should aspire to. Luckily, this isn’t really all that much to worry about, and it’s not like they have jobs or anything. It shouldn’t be too difficult for the dears to keep up their appearances. And the Guide is here to help, with information on all those important subjects.

But right now we’re talking about hair. The table of contents lists, in Book II, the heading “Figure, Form and Beauty”. Subcategories include the following hair-related entries:

Hair Dressing … 275
Styles of Wearing the Hair … 276
Structure of the Hair … 278
Falling Out of the Hair … 279
How to Care for the Hair … 280
Glossiness … 281
Dandruff … 281
Hair Oil … 281
Dyeing, Gray Hairs, Waving the Hair, Hair Brushes … 282
Hair Tonics, Shampoos, etc. … 283
Hints on Shaving … 286

I’m guessing that “Hints on Shaving” is targeted towards men, but I can’t confirm this. Sadly, that page is missing. (It’s possible that it’s just misplaced. There are at least a few pages that have wandered from their proper sequence.)

So let’s start at page 275. If you’ve followed along closely, you’ve already seen pages 275 and 276. I posted links to them above. For the benefit of delicate ladies and lazy foreigners, I’ll resupply them here so you don’t have to scroll up:
Hair Dressings
Styles of Wearing the Hair

Page 278 gives us details as to the micro-scopic structure of the hair, including this image. Then we have details of the horrible problem of hair loss:

FALLING OUT OF THE HAIR.

No Absolute Cure.- There are no absolute remedies that will restore hair after it is diseased and has fallen out. A remedy of that kind would be worth millions to that discoverer. There are some hair tonics, however, that are beneficial and have a restorative effect on the hair, if taken in time. When the roots are dead there is no restoration, as there is nothing left to grow. All those patent remedies claiming to restore lost hair are the deceptions of money schemers.

…

General Health.- The treatment then must depend on the general condition of your health. … In either case tone the system by tonics, good food and plenty of rest and sleep; avoid hair restoratives, hair tonics, etc., and take flowers of sulphur in small doses (say a quarter of a teaspoonful twice a day in a little milk).

Use a Soft Brush.- Stimulate the roots of the hair by frequent and long-continued use of a soft brush; clip off the split ends, and keep the scalp clean. There is nothing better for washing the head than tepid water and Castile soap, to which has been added a tablespoonful of alcohol, cologne or bay rum.

And if that doesn’t work, you can just drink the rum. It won’t stop the hair loss, but it’ll help you not care so much.

Next up on the hair-agenda is how to care for the hair. This is somewhat lengthy, but I’ve kept in what I think is the most useful information. I have omitted one section which I’ve saved for the end of this post, for reasons that will become clear.

HOW TO CARE FOR THE HAIR.

A Housekeeper’s Opinion.

Importance.- There is nothing that adds so much to a woman’s appearance as an abundance of soft, glossy hair, and more thought and time should be spent in taking care of it than is usually given. Keep it free from dust by wearing a dusting-cap while sweeping, taking up carpets, and similar work. Brushing from five to ten minutes every night and morning will make it glossy and stimulate its growth. I know of two sisters who perform this task for each other regularly, and I have never seen more beautiful hair than theirs. It is more convenient than to brush one’s own hair, of course, but those who have no sister within reach, and can not afford a lady’s maid, can usually do the work very nicely themselves. …

Washing.- The hair will need washing once a month. The following method is very simple, and leaves it in excellent condition. Use plenty of warm, soft water and Ivory soap to get it clean, changing the water as often as necessary. Rinse in clear, soft water, and wipe as dry as possible with a towel. Then spread it over the shoulders and sit near the fire to finish drying. A little vaseline applied after it is dry keeps it from flying about by supplying the oil that has been removed by washing. At no other time is any oil or pomade necessary.

…

Glossiness.- It is important to give attention to the general healthfulness of the hair and scalp, if we would preserve its early glossiness, instead of trying to restore it when faded and gray. …

Dandruff is not, as many people think, a result of negligence or of uncleanliness, for it can certainly be produced by a vigorous use of a harsh brush. Any application, or any treatment that excoriates or irritates the scalp will produce dandruff. A laxative diet, or an aperient medicine, and the use of a soft brush, with one of the dressings given above, will cure any case of dandruff. Sore head - red, inflamed scalp, either in spots or covering the entire head - ringworms, etc., are annoying and painful int he extreme, but a cure is surer and simpler than is generally supposed. A cooling diet, free use of seltzer water and the use of an ointment made according to the recipe given below, will cure the most obstinate cases: Take of lard one tablespoonful, and rub in a quarter of a teaspoonful of tar (not coal tar, but pine tar). Rub this salve well into the scalp every night, and by morning the disagreeable odor will be gone.

:smack: Pine tar! Of course! And here I’ve been using coal tar all this time, like some sort of goofus. Shucks.

Alright, enough beating around the bush. You asked about dyeing the hair. The table of contents lists a section on dyeing the hair. I owe you information about turn-of-the-century dyeing the hair.

Except, it’s not there.

It’s not even that the pages are missing, or have wandered out of sequence. I mean the pages are blank! Seriously. Page 281 has the information on glossiness and dandruff that you just read, and on the back of that page is … nothing. Facing that emptiness is another blank page, the other side of which is page 284. Pages 282 and 283 were simply never there.
Proof.

But before you go, I did have something somewhat relevant to hair-dyeing:

Bleaches.- Preparations containing cantharides cause the hair to grow by stimulating the scalp to healthy action. Many bleaches are injurious, and have been known to seriously affect the brain. Why should any woman wish to change the color of her hair, which usually harmonizes with her features and complexion, simply because fashion declares in favor of blond tresses?

Sometimes I think I’m running out of amusing things to find in the Cyclopedia.

Other times, I stumble across a one-hundred-year-old association between brain damage and blond hair.

[BlackKnight]

It May Amuse …

A Family Liniment for Accidents, Bruises, Lameness and Swelling

[Leiko]

Can I thank you again for all of this? It is AMAZING.

(Still wondering how to eat an orange, though…)

[BlackKnight]

@Leiko

Can I thank you again for all of this?

Well, I suppose I can allow that, if you insist. weary sigh

(Still wondering how to eat an orange, though…)

Why does the citrus get all the love? Everyone wants to know about lemons (for felons), and now about oranges, how to eat. Is there no love for facts about eggs?

Or turpentine?

Sorry, I’m just cranky due to dyspepsia, and my pie hasn’t finished baking yet. Turning to page 355, I see that the directions for proper orange-eating are fairly simple. They take up only the very bottom of page 355, under a section about “Household Measures and Weights” which begins on the previous page. (This contains simple conversion factors for cooking. As you can imagine, this is useful for women, since they cook and are bad at math.)

Oh, right. Oranges. The answer you seek is here:

HOW TO EAT ORANGES.
Cut the oranges across the sections as shown in the above illustration. Then take a small spoon, and it will fit into each section, and the meat is easily and daintily removed.

There are special orange spoons, which are very nice for those who can afford them. An ordinary teaspoon will answer the purpose very nicely.

Aren’t citrus fruits amazing? They cure felons, and have their own spoons! But that’s not all. I decided to look for more citrus-related information in the Guide. (You know you’d do the same on a Friday evening, if you had the chance.)

On page 272, I found the following:

Lemon Juice and glycerine will clean and soften the hands. When putting glycerine on chapped hands, first wash them thoroughly in soap and water, and when not quite dry rub in the glycerine. This process will be found much better than the old one. Vaseline is also splendid for chapped hands.

We’ve encountered this vast section before in passing, during a discussion of handedness. “How To Take Care of the Hands” takes up about four-and-a-half pages, give or take. For now I’m only interested in citrus-centricity, so with a little help from the index, I turn to page 118:

LEMON-JUICE.

1. Hot lemonade taken on retiring, will break up a cold in its first stages.

2. Some very serious cases of dropsy can be cured by eating lemons. The patient should commence by eating one lemon a day, and increasing it until ten or fifteen are eaten each day.

3. Very strong lemonade, with but little sugar, will relieve influenza, cold in the head and inflammatory rheumatism if taken often.

4. It will remove ink-stains from white cloth, also iron rust and freckles from the skin.

That makes three methods of freckle-removal in the Guide. I counted.

Oh, and let’s not ignore the Complete Cook Book! There are more citrus-y items to be found there. Here’s a sampling:

Lemon Cake.

Beat to a cream: 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of butter. Then stir in: 4 well beaten eggs, 1 grated lemon, 2 cups of flour. Bake in greased pans, in a quick oven.

HOW TO MAKE ALL KINDS OF PUDDING SAUCES.

LEMON SAUCE.

Beat together, until light: The yolks of two eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of butter, 1 tablespoonful of corn starch, the juice of one lemon. Stir this into one cup and a half of boiling water, until sufficiently thick for the table.

…

LEMON WATER ICE.
Take two lemons and rasp them on sugar, the juice of six lemons, the juice of one orange, one pint of clarified sugar and half a pint of water. Mix all together, strain through a fine sieve and freeze. When nearly frozen add the white of three eggs.

PINEAPPLE SHERBET.
Take one large pineapple, add three quarts water, one ounce of dissolved gelatine, four lemons and the whites of six eggs; make very sweet and freeze. Oranges can be used instead of lemons if preferred.

The cookbook contains a special section on food for the sick. This is where we get pie for dyspeptics. This section also contains:

ORANGE WHEY.

Juice of one orange, one pint sweet milk. Heat slowly until curds form. Strain and cool.

Presumably this is to make you dyspeptic, so you have an excuse to eat more pie.

[BlackKnight]

It May Amuse …

The Young Photographer

[BlackKnight]

You May Impose Subtext Upon An Innocent Old Woodcut …

BOOK II

[BlackKnight]

It May Amuse …

Little Mischief

[BlackKnight]

It May Amuse …

Mother Away From Home

[BlackKnight]

@Crowbar_of_Irony_3

I am curious about “Hints for All Kind of People”. There must be something for me in there!

Are you a type of person? Then the Cyclopedia has hints for you! And if you’re not a type of person, stop taking jobs from American girls, filthy foreigner*!

(*Excludes the Dutch.)

The Guide clearly has a fascination with all areas of the process of eating. At the one end of the process, there is the Complete Cook Book. At the other end, there are the numerous cures for constipation. And in between these extremes there is a wealth of information about eating right. “Hints For All Kinds of People” is included at the end of a section titled “The Evils of Over-Eating”. As you’ll see, they are largely, though not entirely, eating-related.

Let’s get right to these valuable hints:

HINTS FOR ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE

             Hints for the Thin

Eat slowly and masticate thoroughly.
Do not over-eat.
Eat at regular intervals.
Do not eat heartily when fatigued or over-heated.
Rest whenever possible twenty minutes before and twenty minutes after dinner.
Exercise regularly.
Do not bathe after eating, for at least two hours.
Do not exercise physically or mentally for at least a half-hour after eating.
Live outdoors as much as possible, sleep and rest as much as you require.
Avoid worry and cultivate a cheerful disposition.

            Hints for the Stout

Vary your occupations as much as possible.
Sleep in well-ventilated rooms.
Avoid crowds and close atmosphere.
Bathe freely.
Cultivate mental as well as physical activity.
Do not over-eat.
Drink liquids sparingly with meals, freely one hour before or two hours after meals.
Avoid fatigue.
Avoid sugar and starchy foods.

              Hint to All

Eat only what agrees with you.

I guess that’s good advice, although I wonder if the suggestion for the stout to “bathe freely” is for the benefit of the stout, or for everyone else. You may note that “Avoid over-eating” was given as advice for both the thin and the stout. What’s so bad about over-eating, you ask? Well, let’s turn back a couple pages and find out. I know how gluttonous some of you are for the Guide’s guidance, so I’ll trim only a little fat from this feast:

THE EVILS OF OVER-EATING

Excesses.- The excesses in the use of food and drink of some men are almost beyond belief, and yet, in a few instances, the facts are well authenticated. Brillat-Savarin, himself a famous epicure, related the following anecdote: A friend expressed the despair of his life that he could never get his “fill of oysters.” “Come, dine with me and you shall have enough,” said the epicure. The friend did, and ate thirty-one dozen oysters as a prelude to the excellent dinner which was served. Downright gluttony is not given frequent exhibition at the table of gentle people these days. It is considered rather nearer correct to affect a small appetite, such as requires the temptation of dainty dishes. This is, however, very frequently a small bit of deception, but it has merit, even though it leads those who resort to it to supplement meals taken in public, in the privacy of their own pantries.

Duty of Housewife.- In regard to this whole matter of gluttony it is the duty of the good housewife to keep down the appetite of her husband. Particularly is this necessary in the cases of well-to-do professional and business men. In the families of mechanics earning low wages such a warning is almost wholly unnecessary, but it may be said of most men in good circumstances that they eat too freely of rich food. …

Exercise.- Beyond the age of forty - a period when so many are physically lazy - the superior value of exercise is apparent; but ordinarily, this is just the time when the hygiene of athletics is neglected. There is no reason why a punching-bag, rowing-machine, pulley-weights and other apparatus should be relegated to college boys and clerks. …

High Feeding.- High feeding is occasionally neutralized by hard exercise; but in the absence of the latter it is mischievous in the extreme. If your husband will stand the treatment, begin by switching off from the heavy breakfast of steak, hot rolls, potatoes, etc., and set before him eggs-on-toast, oatmeal, or any other of the many excellent breakfast foods now.

Effects.- The effects of over-eating - or what is equally bad, injudicious eating - are clearly perceived in the case of a man who trains for some athletic event. In really fine condition indigestion is great loss of power. A strong member of a college crew, “hard as nails,” was utterly unfit to pull his oarblade through the water on the four-mile journey down the Thames River, at New London, simply because of indiscretion in eating a few nights before. This shows the importance of diet. Napoleon is said to have lost the battle of Leipsic because of a fit of indigestion brought on by unusual indulgence. It is conceivable that a business man may lose a tempting contract, or a professional man an important cause for the same reason. Nor is this all.

Financial Aspect.- … By taking off a little here and a little there; by reducing condiments and sauces, expensive desserts and creamy compounds to a minimum, the grocer’s account will be a complete surprise at the end of the month, while the husband’s health as well as his pocketbook will show gratifying results. …

…

Two Meals a Day.- Many have an erroneous idea that if they eat often and a little at a time their body is better nourished and their strength better kept up by so doing. There never was a greater mistake made than this constant lunching, the advice of many doctors to do so notwithstanding. …

For the Aged.- Especially for people over fifty years old and for those of sedentary habits would we recommend this system of eating, as it gives the digestive organs the needed rest they must have in order to properly and thoroughly digest and assimilate the food which goes to make a healthy body and give us strength to live. Nature intended that we should eat to live, not, as is too often the practice, live to eat.

A Vegetable Diet.- Many noted physicians have in recent years recommended a strictly vegetable diet. It is held that a vegetable diet is far better suited to sustain man in health, and enable him to be fully what he was intended to be, than animal food or a mixed diet. This view may be contradicted, but experience has taught us that many persons would have better health if they were to subsist upon a vegetable diet rather than to partake so largely of flesh.

Life Prolonged.- Dr. Lambe, a noted English physician, says that life is prolonged in incurable diseases about one-tenth by vegetable diet. …

Eating When Tired.- Some very severe attacks of indigestion people bring on themselves by eating heartily when in an exhausted condition. A hearty meal stimulates the tired heart momentarily, and so tempts one to fill the stomach inordinately full. Often the hunger of depleted nerves and brain is confused with hunger for more than a moderate amount of food. Self-control is at its ebb, anyhow, when one is very tired. Hence, we need to establish ourselves in a clear idea on this matter, and have it ready for application on occasion.

Rest Before Eating.- A very short period of rest puts the system into much better condition for grappling with food. Take a glass of hot milk and sit down for five or ten minutes, no matter how tired and hungry. Then begin to eat slowly, masticating thoroughly. In a little while the vigor of the stomach will return, and if one leaves off at a reasonable point, all will be well. If very tired it is better to make a very simple, light meal, and take some sleep, before attempting to digest all the food required for building up the waste.

Will Power.- It requires a good deal of will power to control the appetite at such times, when it seems almost a sort of duty to indulge in anything that relieves the sense of goneness. …

Brain Work.- Where severe brain work has been done to bring one to the “tired-and-hungry” condition more care is required in eating, especially with a person of delicate organization. Prof. Draper used to emphasize the fact that any highly organized animal or man was liable to injury by abuses which an animal or man of coarser organization could suffer with apparent impunity. He instanced the well-known cases in which halfwitted or stupid men are known to indulge in practices that would promptly wreck a man of high nervous organization, and yet without seeming to suffer.

I hope that wasn’t too much to digest, but my handy chart isn’t any help here, so I really can’t tell. I advise you to take it in small bites, and chew it over in your minds slowly.

Alright, I guess we didn’t have to go back 100+ years in order to learn that diet, exercise, and will power are essential to avoid the evils of over-eating. Also, the benefits of eating more vegetables and the increased importance of proper diet when reaching middle-age aren’t really new bits of information to anyone here, I suspect.

Still, some may take comfort in the fact that those who are able to consume an entire pizza without a twinge of belly-ache are coarse, half-witted creatures. Having consumed over half a pizza while writing this post, I confess this may be true. But I have a cunning plan for convincing myself to cut back.

Step 1: First, I convince myself that I’m Napoleon …

[BlackKnight]

I Am Jack’s Amusement …

A Stomach’s Plea.

“Give me only plain food, and not too much, and I will ensure a speedy digestion and excellent health; but how am I to dispose of the mass of costly rubbish that I am daily compelled to receive? Soup, beef, venison, vegetables, puddings, jellies, fruits, wine and many superfluous delicacies. How can any sensible stomach digest such a mass of amalgamated matter? The stomach of a plowman, having only plain food to digest, has little labor compared with mine. He assists his stomach in its digestive operations by taking plenty of good, refreshing exercise, while my owner, after arresting my power of digestion, adds thereto by taking no exercise. Is it strange that my owner is sick? Give me proper treatment and doctors and doctor bills can be dispensed with.”

[Deeg]

Huh, I’m surprised that diet and exercise were considered beneficial that long ago. I would have thought a vegetable diet un-American and fit only for the filthy foreigner (except the Dutch, of course).

[BlackKnight]

@Surly_Chick

Well, there’s my problem. I have seriously deranged my entire nervous system (not to mention my digestive process) by bathing too soon after dinner. I wonder if this derangement is irreparable…

Do you suffer from dyspepsia and fatigue? Do you have weak lungs and a nervous disposition? Do you have even just a few minutes in the mornings that you can devote to your health?

Then you need Dr. Jefferis’ guaranteed technique to cure dyspepsia and weak lungs by morning exercise! I can only assume that this method is used routinely by Gladstone himself. (But don’t quote me on that.)

HOW TO CURE DYSPEPSIA AND WEAK LUNGS BY MORNING EXERCISE.

Make a frame that will fit in the door, that can be easily taken apart and put together, and then go through the following exercise:

Stand in a walking position, one foot in advance of the other, your hands on your hips, and twist the trunk to the side of the rear foot as far as possible; then change feet and twist to the opposite side. Repeat fifteen times to each side. Do the same twisting with your hands clasped behind your neck, your shoulders well held back.

Stride standing. Rise on your toes and bend your knees outward and downward. Repeat ten times slowly.

Stand on one foot, your hips firm, and slowly raise your other leg, extended in front; keep a steady balance. Change feet and repeat.

Stand with your heels together, your hands on your hips. Bend your body forward, to the side, backward and to the opposite side, then forward to complete the circle. Repeat and rotate your body in opposite directions.

Your humble Keeper of the Guide has been performing these actions in between typing them, and can assure you that his dyspepsia is abating, and his lungs are strengthening. Truly, this information is worth a great deal. But wait! There’s more!

Lie on your face, with your hips firm and your feet held under a bureau; try to raise your head and shoulders as far as possible, with deep inspiration. Repeat, turning your body.

Bend your body over a bar in the doorway, or your stair railing, backward, forward and sideways, with your hands clasped behind your neck.

Place your bar low; hang under it with your body extended stiffly and resting on your heels. Slowly draw your chest up to touch the bar by bending your elbows outward. Repeat.

Combine these movements with deep respiration, opening a window for good, pure air; make each exercise as useful to the muscles as possible; they are corrective exercises - not merely amusing. Rub your stomach with cold water after exercise. This treatment persevered in, with self-restraint at the table, is the best for dyspepsia and weak lungs.

How much would you be willing to pay for a volume containing such knowledge as this? 5 cents? 10 cents? Wait, don’t answer - there’s more! Buy a copy of “The Household Guide -or- Domestic Cyclopedia” today and we’ll also include not one, not two, but three methods for removing freckles at no additional charge! Buy yours today at a local estate sale for only 25 cents, or five easy payments of a nickel.

Operators are standing by.

(Or sitting, due to injury, and deciding how to repair the stair railing. Other than that, it was pretty good exercise.)

[BlackKnight]

It May Inform …

How To Write Invitations -
Part I
Part II
Part III

[eleanorigby]

Dammit! I always forget to rub my belly with cold water after doing my exercises. That must be the reason my lungs remain weakened…

Any advice on ridding the house of pests such as bedbugs or flies?

[eleanorigby]

@BlackKnight

It May Inform …

How To Write Invitations -
Part I
Part II
Part III

This isn’t all that different from my mother’s 1950s Emily Post book on invites and “At Home” cards.

[swampbear]

Dearest BlackKnight indeed this thread has been the source of great information and much amusement. You are so very kind to share such a wealth of knowledge. I am sure I speak for many of us when I say we are ever so much more civilized, clean, mannered, exercised and, of course, dining better!

I have an urge to send “At Home” cards to all my friends just to see what would happen.

[BlackKnight]

Short on time tonight. I hope the following couple of posts tide you over.

It May Amuse …

Master Fred, the Young King of the Household

I hope young Master Fred gets all the oat puddings and non-fried potatoes he needs to grow big and strong.

[Surly_Chick]

AAAAHHHHHHH! The Squid has young Master Fred! Run for your lives!!

(What in God’s name are those things on his shoulders???)