~ The Spinster Book, by Myrtle Reed, 1901
~ The Illustrated Book of Manners: a Manual of Good Behavior and Polite Accomplishments, Robert de Valcourt, 1866
A gentleperson always gets drunk in the correct order
~ Frost’s Laws and By-Laws of American Society: a Condensed but Thorough Treatise on Etiquette and its Usages in America, Containing Plain and Reliable Directions for Deportment in Every Situation in Life, Besides One Hundred Unclassified Laws Applicable to All Occasions, by S. A. Frost, 1869
Hey cat, this place is nadaville. Let’s fall out and hit the hootenanny downtown, they’ve got tuned in muscle cats and a juiceman. Dig?
~ The Handbook of the Man of Fashion, by the author of “Etiquette for Gentlemen”, 1847
~ Miss A. Fleming, Ice Cream & Confectionary Parlors, 1880
Miss A. Fleming: ice cream, confectionary, cigars, stationery, home made candy and…spies?
~ Manners in Business, Elizabeth Gregg MacGibbon, 1936
~ Cabot’s Creosote Shingle and Wood Stains, 1930 (opens a .pdf)
Are you ashamed of your roof? Well, maybe you should be. After all, 100,000 people go up in airplanes every year and you don’t want them looking down at your house and saying things like “…look at the awful roof they have, as common looking as if it were on a prison!”
Questionable Advice isn’t meant to be a political blog, but it doesn’t feel right not acknowledging what is happening all over the world right now. Obviously, posts about indoor plumbing and etiquette aren’t the answer but maybe they can distract you for a few seconds.
Also, if you are scared and feeling helpless please know that you aren’t alone. Feeling alone makes it so much worse.
~ Creolin, August 1936
Nowadays we imagine everyone was thrilled to get an indoor toilet, but did you know a lot of people thought it was a bad idea? It seemed natural that the place where you went to poop would be outside the place where you slept and ate, so the idea of indoor plumbing struck a lot of people as unsanitary. Also, in the beginning poor venting and trap design led to sewer gases or odors entering the house, so people believed indoor plumbing wasn’t healthy. Also also, your neighbors might gossip about your toilet.
At least one company thought the solution would be a fake chair placed over the toilet so no one would have to look at it and know that your family pooped.
~ Zundel Sanitary Toilet Chair, c. 1925 - 1928
Why have I told you so much about toilets? IDK! But it’s interesting (at least to me). Have early toilet facts you want to share? Please do!
Additional picture of the Sanitary Chair in action: