I strive to live by this advice from Richard Wells each day ~ even though it seems harder and harder sometimes to do so! We must all try, as much as we can.
Tag: 1890s
Affirming a Fact (1891)
Some advice from Richard A. Wells, Manners, Culture and Dress, 1891, on affirming facts.
A Helpmeet (1890)
“A compendium of valuable information for women” so describes the title page of the 1890 book The Mother’s Guide and Daughter’s Friend. It’s true, this book covers just about anything a woman of the late 1800s might need to know. The anonymous author (who suggests that if you really must find out who [she or […]
Invitation for a Drive (1891)
I’ve got this pretty beat up book from 1891 called The Business Manual; A Complete Guide in all Mercantile and Legal Transactions and Reference Book for Every Day Use (well used during it’s time, I presume). It covers a wide variety of topics, from how to measure coal, to how to make an ice chest. […]
Country vs. City Kids (1891)
“It cannot be claimed that children brought up in the country are better morally than those brought up in the cities. Evil exists in both places, and much of it cannot be kept from the knowledge of the young. It is seen in the city stripped of its glamour, and with its degrading effects more […]
Shopping for Books the Old Fashioned Way
“Sixth Thousand Now Ready!” “An Important Book for the Family and School!” “An Attractive and Useful Gift” read the ad, found in the back of the 1894 printing of The Physician’s Wife, which I recently I picked up in Baltimore. How could I not be intrigued? Ads often appear in the back of some of my […]
Trying Your Hand in Writing
While written with journalists in mind, this one seemed quite appropriate for this column as well. It’s from a book called Mother’s Guide and Daughter’s Friend, written by an “old practitioner” ~ otherwise unidentified ~ in 1890. 1890: Trying Your Hand in Writing There will be no harm . . . in trying your hand at […]
He’s a Bust With Dust!
Q Dear Miss Abigail: How do you train your husband to help around the house? I’ve asked him, pleaded with him, threatened him, but he still can’t “see” the mess around him and will not take the initiative to clean it up. We both work out of the home with competitive salaries, and I feel […]
A Bath-Room
Mom and I spent some time perusing some of my books while she was here over Thanksgiving, including a one appropriately titled Mother’s Guide and Daughter’s Friend, which was written by “an old practitioner” in 1890. This bit about building a tub was one that mom insists you read. She is a mother, after all. She […]
Housewives 101
Q Dear Miss Abigail: Why did they have housewives in the olden days? Signed, Mime A Dear Mime: I’ve often wondered the very same thing. Here’s a bit of guilt ~ oops, I mean advice ~ that should give you some insight into those wacky olden days. Richard A. Wells wrote it in 1891 for […]