Turn of Twentieth Century: Personal Care

In Catherine Anderson’s 2010 romance novel Early Dawn, protagonist Eden Paxton comments,
“According to The Little Giant Cyclopedia of Ready Reference, modern-day trains travel at an average speed of just a little over forty-eight miles an hour, but this one definitely isn’t.”

The following personal care tidbits from my 1901 copy of The New Little Giant Cyclopedia of Ready Reference make me glad I did not live at the turn of the twentieth century.

Charcoal Toothpaste. Chlorate of potash, ½ dram; mint water, 1 ounce. Dissolve and add powdered charcoal, 2 ounces; honey, 1 ounce.

Excellent Mouth Wash. Powdered white Castile soap, 2 drams; alcohol, 3 ounces; honey, 1 ounce; essence or extract of jasmine, a dram. Dissolve the soap in alcohol and add honey and extracts.

Superior cologne water. Oil of lavender, two drams; oil of rosemary, one dram and a half; orange, lemon and bergamot, one dram each of the oil; also two drams of the essence of musk; attar of rose ten drops and a pint of proof spirit. Shake all together thoroughly three times a day for a week.

To make shoes or boots water-proof. Melt together in a pipkin, equal quantities of beeswax and mutton suet. While liquid rub it over the leather, including the soles.

To soften boots and shoes. Kerosene will soften boots and shoes which have been hardened by water, and render them as pliable as new.

Turn of the Twentieth Century: Gloves

Fine leather gloves were once a staple of a lady’s wardrobe. In Victorian times, watching a lady carefully unbutton and remove a glove might set a man’s heart racing.
          When writing about a woman wearing such gloves, it is helpful to know how she would properly put on or remove them. Below is an instruction for putting on, and removing, a brand new pair of gloves, from The New Little Giant Cyclopedia of Ready Reference, 1903:
          A great deal depends on the first putting on of gloves. Have the hands perfectly clean, dry and cool, and never put on new gloves while the hands are warm or damp. When a person is troubled with moist hands, it is well to powder them before trying on the gloves; but in most cases, if the hands are cool and dry, this is not needed.
          First, work on the fingers, keeping the thumb outside of the glove, and the wrist of the glove turned back. When the fingers are in smoothly, put in the thumb, and work the glove on very carefully; then, placing the elbow on the knee, work on the hand. When this is done, smooth down the wrist, and button the second button first, then the third, and so on to the end. Then smooth down the whole glove and fasten the first button.
          Fastening the first button last, when putting on a glove for the first time, makes a great deal of difference in the fit, although it may seem but a very little thing. It does not strain the part of the glove that is easiest to strain at first, and prevents the enlarging of the button hole, either of which is sure to take place if you begin at the first button to fasten the glove.
          When removing your gloves, never begin at the tips of the fingers to pull them off, but turn back the wrist and pull off carefully, which will, of course, necessitate their being wrong side out. Turn them right side out, turn the thumbs in, smooth them lengthwise in as near as possible the shape they would be if on the hands, and place them away with a strip of white Canton flannel between if the gloves are light, but if dark colored the flannel may be omitted. Never roll gloves into each other in a wad, for they will never look so well after.

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Turn of the Twentieth Century: Housekeeping

Home interior Salida, Colorado ca 1900

This 1900-era home interior offers lots of descriptive opportunity for the writer setting a scene in these rooms.
          If the woman of the house is a character in the story, her lifestyle might be illustrated with a few examples of her household chores. Below are a few household tips from The New Little Giant Cyclopedia of Ready Reference published during this time period. (See previous post for more examples.)

To toughen lamp chimneys and glassware. Immerse the article in a pot filled with cold water, to which some common salt has been added. Boil the water well, then cool slowly. Glass treated in this way will resist any sudden change in temperature.

Iron stains may be removed by the salt of lemons. Many stains may be removed by dipping the linen in sour buttermilk, and then drying it in a hot sun; wash in cold water, repeat this three or four times.

To remove tea stains, mix thoroughly soft soap and salt — say a teaspoonful of salt to a teacupful of soap – rub on the spots, and spread the cloth on the grass where the sun will shine on it. Let it lie two or three days, then wash. If the spots are wet occasionally while lying on the grass, it will hasten the bleaching.

Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

Turn of Twentieth Century: Housekeeping

Home interior Salida, Colorado ca 1900

The New Little Giant Cyclopedia of Ready Reference offers an entertaining peek into life in times past and a great research source for writers. First published in 1889, the pocketsize volume sold for one dollar, prepaid, by mail from Columbia Publishing House, Chicago. 
          Here are a few tidbits that tell us about the challenges of keeping a house over 100 years ago.

To brighten carpets:  after the dust has been beaten out [carpets] may be brightened by scattering upon them cornmeal mixed with salt and then sweeping it off. Mix salt and meal in equal proportions. Carpets should be thoroughly beaten on the wrong side first and then on the right side, after which spots may be removed by the use of ox-gall or ammonia and water.

Kerosene stains in carpets may be removed by sprinkling buckwheat flour over the spot. If one sprinkling is not enough, repeat.

To preserve brooms: dip them for a minute or two in a kettle of boiling suds once a week and they will last much longer, making them tough and pliable. A carpet wears much longer swept with a broom cared for in this manner.

Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

Office Shot

My Office Assistant and Accomplished Paperweight

Reading Rinaldi

Ann Rinaldi is one of my favorite authors. Her historical works for middle grade readers are the type I loved to read as a child and strive to write as an adult. History classes in school were boring but authors like Ann Rinaldi offered me intriguing history as experienced by real or imagined people as part of life in their time and place. 
          Recently, after reading The Ever-After Bird, I visited Ms. Rinaldi’s website for the first time and was surprised to see how long is the list of her published books – 45 (last time I checked). Two things caught my attention. Her first book was published after she passed age 45 and, her productivity increased as she aged. In the decade between ages 45-55, Ms. Rinaldi completed 6 books. She turned out 18 works between ages 55-65 and, in the decade ending in 2010, at ages 65-75, her list of new titles totals 21.
Guess I’d better get crackin’.

The Historic Natchez Trace

During a stay in Tennessee this summer, I enjoyed reading news from the city’s past in the monthly publication The Nashville Retrospect. In 1801 the Tennessee Gazette reported that the 4th United States military regiment would spend the summer “employed in opening a road from Nashville to the Natchez.”
          That 500-mile road, known as the Natchez Trace, became an important route for commerce on what was then the Western frontier. Today, the historic route is a paved, limited-access roadway. In a few places, remnants of the original narrow trail can be seen. Available stops along the way offer scenic views, hiking trails, and historic locations from former Chickasaw Indian homelands to Civil War battle sites.
          On a hot summer afternoon we drove a thirty mile section of this road in our air conditioned car. Deer ambled across our path along this heavily wooded route and black and yellow butterflies danced in the breeze. It was idyllic.
          I had to remind myself that the original Trace was little more than a rugged path. It was frought with danger from accidents, wild animals and hostile Indians. My ancestors travelled this same route seeking trade in small communities farther south. For them, it was a matter of survival. I was glad for the opportunity to travel a few miles where they once walked, but without the same hardships.

When Women Got The Vote

“The name of Tennessee is upon the lips of millions today,” the Nashville Tennessean reported on August 19, 1920. The previous day, the state’s House of Representatives voted to ratify the woman suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Five days earlier the Tennessee Senate had voted in favor of ratification.
          Two roll call votes in the House ended in 48 to 48 ties. In the third round of voice votes, a Representative from McMinn County changed his “no” to “yea.” He said he did so because he had received a letter from his mother asking him to vote for the resolution. Another courageous man joined him. With that 50 to 46 vote, Tennessee became the 36th state to support the amendment.
          Tennessee’s ratification meant the required two-thirds of the forty-eight states had voted to make woman suffrage the law of the land. It happened ninety years ago this week. At long last, women in the United States gained the right to vote.

From The Nashville Retrospect, August 2010

Summer Travel #2

With my newly acquired driver’s license, I was anxious to get my turn behind the wheel as we made our annual summer trip from Southern Indiana to Wisconsin. Dad finally agreed to let me drive and even traded places with me to take the back seat. We had a 1960 Chevrolet Impala, the model with a rear window that sloped too far up above the back seat. After leaning forward several times to check the speedometer, Dad settled back with a newspaper, leaving me to drive without instructions.
          About an hour later, Mother and I were singing along with the radio as we cruised northward on Highway 41. We began to notice people in cars that passed us turning around to stare at our car. They did more than stare, they slowed down and craned their necks. They waved and a few laughed.
          Mother finally turned around to look at Dad in the backseat. The sun coming through the rear window had been too hot so he donned my wide brimmed straw hat. It had a bright red scarf attached, which he tied under his chin. To passersby we looked like three women in the car, with grandma in the back seat wearing her hat. On passing however, they saw that grandma had a mustache and was smoking a cigar–and waving.

Summer Travel

Every summer of my childhood we went to Wisconsin to visit my father’s family. While we were away one summer, my pet rabbit died.
          I got a new rabbit but the next year I was not about to leave him at home. So, Spot became a traveller. A well-behaved and house-broken rabbit, he adapted to the car and seemed to enjoy the adventure.
          When we stopped for lunch, of course Spot stayed in the car. Dad parked in front of the restaurant and we took a booth beside the front window. We had almost finished our meal when mother noticed the man in the next booth staring at our car. We all looked out to see Spot’s ears and the tip of his nose poking up behind the front seat. He liked to stand on his hind feet balanced by paws on the back of the front seat and watch the road ahead.
          The man took off his glasses, wiped them on his striped tie, and carefully positioned them on his nose. He peered intently out the window again. He nudged his wife. “Honey, do you see a rabbit in that car?’ 
          His wife eyed him suspiciously, looked at our car and said, “Of course not!”  
          We could hardly contain our laughter as Spot played a game of hide and seek with  the man. When we finished our meal, Dad stopped by the couple’s table. “There really is a rabbit in that car,” he said.
          The man looked relieved, his wife skeptical.