Tips from 1908

Excerpts from a "modern household discoveries" book published in 1908.

The main object of this book is economy. If rightly used, it will save a great deal of money in every household. It will also save time and labor, which are the equivalent of money.


To Dry Clean Women's Garments - The most satisfactory method of cleaning waists or skirts of wool, silk, velvet, or anything except cotton goods, is to soak and wash them in gasoline.  For this purpose two or three large earthen jars will be found very useful.  It pays to buy the best gasoline, five gallons at a time, and use it plentifully, ....  Articles washed in this way will require to be hung out and aired for two or three days, when the odor will entirely leave them.  They should not be pressed until they are thoroughly dry and all the gasoline has evaporated.

Care of the Hair - Professional hairdressers do not advocate shampooing the hair oftener than once a month. A thorough brushing once or twice a week is regarded by them as sufficient for cleanliness and as much more beneficial to the hair and scalp.

To Shampoo the Hair - Perhaps the best of all shampoos is the yolk of an egg beaten up with a pint of soft warm water. Apply at once, and rinse off with warm water and castile or other hard white soap. Or add 6 drops of chloroform to the above.

Beauty Doctors - .... we earnestly advise against the patronage of so-called "beauty doctors," many of whom are unquestionably quacks and charlatans, and we urge the use of homemade preparations. Many of the standard preparations widely advertised for sale contain the most injurious mineral drugs, such, for example, as mercury, arsenic, lead, bismuth, etc.

Don'ts for Bathers - Don't take any kind of a bath within two hours after eating a hearty meal. Don't bathe early in the morning on an empty stomach unless you are vigorous and strong enough to stand it. The best time for you may be two or three hours after breakfast. Don't neglect the weekly hot-water bath, followed by a change of clothing to keep the body clean and healthy.

Rules for House Painting - The best time to paint houses, barns, and other surfaces exposed to the sun is in winter when the ground is frozen. ..... Buy, if possible, the best white lead and other pigments and the best oil, and mix the paint yourself.

White Lead - Specifications for New Work Outside - Priming coat - One hundred pounds of pure white lead; 6 to 7 gallons of pure raw linseed oil; 1 gallon of pure turpentine; 1 1/2 pints of pure turpentine japan.

House Furnishing - The subject of house furnishing is more important than is often realized. It has a moral and social as well as an economic side. The relation is very close between the character, of men and their surroundings. Hence the furniture and the decorations of a house, and the condition of the house and grounds, are properly considered an index to the character of its occupants.

Antique Furniture - The craze for second-hand or antique furniture is, on the whole, rather absurd. Very few persons indeed are able to distinguish a real antique from an imitation. Dealers in these goods may not only willfully deceive, but are often deceived themselves by persons who have so-called antiques, manufactured in America, shipped abroad and reshipped to this country. The wood is not infrequently given the appearance of age by being buried in the ground, eaten with acids, or riddled with fine shot in imitation of worm holes.

Floor Coverings - Ingrain or Kidderminster - carpet is the only kind of which both warp and woof is of wool. Hence it may be turned and worn on either side, although it shows a right and wrong side in point of color. It's name of "Kidderminster" is derived from the city in which it was formerly manufactured on a large scale. The names "Ingrain" and "three ply" arise from the fact that there are two grades, one of which consists of two layers interwoven or "ingrained" to cause the colors of the design to change or mingle, whereas the other has three layers similarly put together.

Graham Bread - 1 quart Graham flour, 1 quart white flour, 1 yeast cake, 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls salt, 1/4 cupful brown sugar, 1 quart milk. Scald the milk and pour it over the sugar and salt; when lukewarm, stir the flour and the yeast, which as been dissolved in warm water. Beat hard and let it rise in the pan till spongy. This is a dough which is not stiff enough to knead; it simply requires a thorough stirring and beating. Put it into greased pans, raise, and bake in an oven which is hot at first, but cool during the later part of the baking process. This dough may be used to drop into greased gem pans and bake as muffins.

Less Common Linear Measures
48 hair's breadths - 1 inch
3 barley corns - 1 inch
3 inches - 1 palm
4 inches - 1 hand
18 inches - 1 English cubit
21.888 inches - 1 Bible cubit
2 1/2 feet - 1 military pace
3 feet - 1 common pace