The modern child wants a modern toy. Five years ago steam engines, printing presses, singing tops and other juvenile devices flooded the market. Today the cheap phonograph and electric motors, telephones and telegraph outfits are sold by hundreds of thousands.
Toy show, Madison Sq. Garden 1908 (Bain News Service, Library of Congress)
It is remarkable to realize how rapidly electric toys sprang into existence so as to constitute a definite and permanent branch of the toy industry.
Have
you heard excessive brain labor causes baldness or the cure for
wrinkles is a tepid bath in bran?
Do
you want to know Thomas Jefferson’s recipe for Vinegar of the Four
Thieves or how to make Ox Tail Soup?
Have
you ever had ‘blueberry pickles’, ‘batallia pie’ or ‘snow birds’? You
will learn all this and more in “Vinegar of the Four
Thieves.”
Our
ancestors had to be resilient when they faced obstacles in daily
life, from dealing with pests, medical emergencies, caring for
clothing and cleaning shortcuts. Almost everything they used in daily
life was homemade. Some ideas were great but some were very
strange.
This
book is a collection of household tips, medical cures, clothing care
and old recipes from the 1800’s and 1900’s. Many of the tips, such as
the household cleaners, cooking tips and ways to control pests, still
work and are helpful in today’s ‘green’ environment while others such
as ‘how to cure a dog of eating eggs’ will make you laugh. Either
way, this book will help you appreciate the difficult life your
grandparents endured.
