(Editor’s note: Contemporary commentary in italics, otherwise copy is reprinted just as it was in 1896, although some paragraphs or lines are omitted for space reason’s).
Conception of Genius
Does “Rangeley Lakes” really want to know the origin of “Pisgah” as the name of a hill in the lake region? Well, then, it was evolved from the inner consciousness of an original genius, who, curiously enough, seems to have been duplicated in about every other town in the state of Maine, which literally bristles all over with “Pisgahs” How it happened that Old Blue (an older name of Mt. Blue), Saddleback, Bigelow, Spotted, Bald, etc., etc., escaped the compliment of a name so charmingly original and racy of the soil, excites the special wonder of an Old L a k e r .
I have noticed over the years that a few mountains are called “Mt. Pisgah” and had always assumed it was an indigenous name taken from the Wabanaki. Some translators of the biblical book of Deuteronomy translate Pisgah from the Hebrew as a name of a mountain, usually referring to Mount Nebo. The name literally means “summit”.
Cycling Don’ts
Don’t ride on any car tracks. Don’t scorch. Leave that to the cook. Don’ t ride until completely exhausted. Don’t wear long skirts. Men can skip this. Don’t coast hills in public places. Think of others. Don’ t go away from home without your tool kit. Don’ t go to the right when passing anybody on the road. Don’t turn to the left—ever—when meeting men or vehicles. Don’t wear anything tight—not even in your hip pocket. Don’t cross street intersections faster than four miles an hour. Don’t ride all over the road. Half of it belongs to the other fellow. Don’ t ride with a punctured tire and take chances unless you’re rich. Don’t oil the wheel all the time. It doesn’t make the “bike” a bit happier. Don’ t go in front of anything when it is as easy to go behind or dismount. Don’t drink too much. This applies to water as well to other nectars. Don’ t forget that your neck is not made of rubber, even though your tires are.—New York Evening Telegram.
Below we share from the part of the paper especially edited for the “fairer sex” known as “A Cozy Corner for the Ladies” compiled weekly by the editor’s wife. It begins with a deeply flawed male chauvinist opinion, and included in obvious protest by Mrs. Dill. The idiot shares how ‘easy’ housewives had it in hot weather, while hard working males slaved away in the heat…
A Man’s View of it
This is the kind of weather when we long to be a woman. After stirring a few things up and putting them in the oven and washing two or three cups and plates, she spends the rest of the day in making one petal of a violet in a lunch cloth.
And below, an old-fashioned desert recipe for you to try. Then followed by some parenting advice from Mrs. Dill that shares some concern over the 19th century practice of not allowing girls to enjoy physically active playtime and thankfully, that not doing so was also a bad idea. You GO Girl!!!
PINEAPPLE CAKE
Make a delicate white cake or a white sponge cake and bake it in three layers spread chopped pineapple, heavily sugared between the layers, and ice the cake with an icing made with a cup of granulated sugar and a quarter of a cup of pineapple juice, carefully strained; boil the juice and sugar together for six minutes, after adding a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Beat the white of au egg to a stiff froth and add it gradually to the boiled syrup. Beat for five or six minutes longer and ice the cake.
Children should have several hours of play every day in the open air, if possible. Vigorous and spontaneous action of this sort is better than gymnastics; and if girls were allowed by social custom to play as the boys do, they would cease to be subject to spinal deformities.
Early dishwashing machine
Back in the day garments were less frequently laundered and were often just “brushed”. Think of the dust from all the unpaved dirt roads, dealing with all the farm animals and hard work and frankly, people must have really smelled bad given bath night was usually one a week! What follows shares some advice on the practice of brushing to avoid the far more labor-intensive work performed by 19th century homemakers with lye soap, a washboard and tub.
Very dusty clothes should be well shaken before being brushed, and much of the dust should be rubbed off with a dry cloth. For the brushing the dress should be spread upon a board and should be brushed the way of the “nap” of the cloth. The brushing should be done quickly and lightly, or the brush does more harm than good. Cloth and woolen dresses should be taken out of wardrobes frequently, while the wardrobes are being cleared from dust, and exposed to the fresh air. If woolens are never put way damp, nor warm from perspiration, there is little chance that moths will ever get into them. A little lavender upon the shelves and floor of the wardrobe, or bits of camphor gum or cedar wood or laurel are said to be excellent in keeping away the moths.
The first clothes washing machine made its debut around 1760s, but manual washing was the predominant practice until the earliest model of washing machine got a patent in 1846. This model was performed manually by the human hands and still featured a washboard. To clean the clothes, they rubbed into two surfaces inside the machine. This initial model lasted until 1927, when the drum washer began to enjoy wider use.
It is also probably not surprising that a woman would go on to solve another domestic dilemma…washing the dishes! Thank Heavens for Josephine Garis Cochran (March 8, 1839 – August 3, 1913) who became the inventor of the first commercially successful automatic dishwasher. She designed this modern miracle in the shed behind her home, and then constructed it with the help a mechanic named George Butters, who became one of her first employees. Josephine was quoted as follows, “If nobody else is going to invent a dish washing machine, I’ll do it myself!” Once her patent was issued in December 1886, she then founded Garis-Cochrane Manufacturing Company to manufacture her machines and as they say …THE REST IS HISTORY. Now I need to go load the dishwasher.
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