Things In Old Books

I have old books. I find things in them. 

[inoldbooks]

WATCHES FOR EVERY BOY AND GIRL FREE

          THESE WATCHES, which we offer absolutely free, to every boy and girl, are made in the latest thin model style. Guaranteed Swiss movement silver nickel case, fancy dial and hands, and heavy French crystal.

           FOB is of solid rolled gold plate, fancy mesh pattern, with safety chain, heavily engraved. The entire set is beautifully finished.

           You can secure either of these watches by selling only 36 of these beautiful illustrated motto pictures. These pictures are full size 16 in. by 12 in., and richly colored with a beautiful motto on each. They sell regularly as high as 50 cents in art stores. We allow you to sell them for 10 cents a piece. At this price you can easily sell the whole lot in less than an hour. We have proved this fact.

           Order your pictures now. You send us no money until you have sold them, then remit us our $3.60 by next mail, and you will receive your choice of the watches with fob by return mail.

           In order to help you make sales quickly, we give you coupons to distribute among your customers, which entitles them to a present from us. This will help you considerably. We prepay postage on both mottos and premium. Ask for our Big Catalog of Premiums. Address

COLONIAL ART CO. DESK 52 TORONTO, ONT.

Seems legit.

This company still exists, and apparently has done art prints for over 100 years at this point. 

[inoldbooks]

A SUNDAY SCHOOL WONDER FREE TO THE END OF 1914.

It is not surprising that so many Sunday schools large and small all over Canada distribute the “Northern Messenger” to their teachers and scholars and consider it without doubt the best value in reading matter that they can get anywhere. What is surprising is that many Sunday schools have not yet tried it! Does your school distribute it? If not will you let us send enough copies for free distribution for the remainder of 1914. We will gladly do it without putt you or your school under the slightest obligation to subscribe for 1915. We will gladly take the chance of that, knowing how your scholars will enjoy the “Northern Messenger.” 

Remember, it is made in Canada, and yet gives more and better Sunday reading for the money than any other publication in the world. Patricia Canadian makes whenever you can. Give the “Northern Messenger” the opportunity to “make good” in your school. Tell your superintendent and secretary that he can have all the copies he needs that each family represented may have a copy each Sunday to the end of 1914 free of all expense. 

This is from a larger scrap of paper from the November 27th 1914 edition of the Northern Messenger.

Apparently this scheme worked and my great-great grandmother’s church gave this to them (or perhaps she subscribed herself). Subscriptions must have been dropping off because of the war efforts. (Canada entered World War I in August of 1914, and so had been at war for 4 months by the time of this publication, though the first Canadian forces wouldn’t see action until March 1915.) The Northern Messenger was based out of Montreal, and was published between 1876-1950. It is archived at Early Canadiana Online (at least, until 1908) and it seems to be a broadly religious paper with a dedicated section for children’s stories and games. I’m not sure why this paper was saved - certainly this bit shameless self advertising was not exactly riveting.

[inoldbooks]

NOVEMBER 27, 1914            NORTHERN MESSENGER             11

HOUSEWIVES’ IDEA EXCHANGE

ROSEBEADS.

Before the season for roses has passed plan to continue the pleasure to be derived from them by converting the failing petals into beads. No more charming gift could be made for Christmas or a birthday or other anniversary than a strand of them, the work is fascinating and may also furnish a source of income to one who has many roses and has the time to devote to it.

Not only does this sound like a terrible gift that clearly never caught on, but I can already tell that the author and I have quite different definitions of “fascinating.” And I’m archiving 100 year old newspapers scraps for fun.

An old lady, a snut-in[sic], spent delightful June this year making rose-scented bead-chains for those who had been kind to her. Neighbours brough her the petals from their gardens, and house that would have been long and weary were happily spent in making, at no cost whatever, Christmas gifts, the money value of which it would have been possible to give.

Is giving an impoverished elderly lady busy work so that she can give it back to you really being kind to her? To me this sounds like this (apocryphal) woman’s neighbours shoved their rotten flowers at her and told her to do something with them. At Christmas time they then received these beads from her and thought to themselves “how precious, she thinks she’s people!” Also, you can buy these for 50 cents a bead TODAY. How poor is this lady that she can’t afford 2 cent beads but can invest days into making them? An average low skilled woman working on a farm could make $225.61 a year in Manitoba in 1914, which is 9 cents an hour. This seems like a terrible money making venture.

The roses should be gathered when they are giving off their strongest odor[sic]. Late afternoon is usually the best time. If there is not a considerable quantity at one picking, put them into the refrigerator, where they will not fade until more are gathered.  Prepare the roses by grinding them in the meat grinder, using the finest blades. Have a rusty iron pan, the rustier the better, and put the ground pulp into it. Set in a cool place for twenty-four hours. continue this treatment for nine successive days, when the substance will be very black.

So basically, this sounds like every overly complex and clearly-doomed-to-fail amazing DIY project on Pintrest. “Mom, does this sausage taste like a flower shop?” For the record, the rusty iron is what’s going to turn the beads black because science. When do we get to the “fascinating” part of this process?

Take a small portion, and roll it in the palm of the hand until it is very smooth and of the shape desired, round or elongated. Have long large-headed pins, and pass one through the centre of each head. Stick these pins into a pine board far enough apart so that the beads will not touch, and place the beads in the sun to dry. Turn them on the pins each day, so that the pins will not rust.  If a rough surfaced bead is desired, have a very finely checked individual butter print; and when the bead is shaped roll it gently in the print. The beads shrink from one-third to one-half in drying, and this must be taken into consideration when they are rolled. When thoroughly dry they are very hard and retain their delicate fragrance indefinitely. This delicacy of fragrance is destroy if copperas is used to blacken the pulp. They should be strong on a strong thread or fine silver wire. Gold, silver, or steel beads alternating with rose beads make an effective chain. -Susan M. Kane, in “C. E. World.”

How is that impoverished pensioner supposed to afford gold beads for her Christmas gifts, Susan?? 

Source: Scrap found in my great-great grandmother’s copy of The Home Queen Cook Book (1901), from The Northern Messenger November 27, 1914.

[inoldbooks]

...Your profit is too slim to have a spring scale give part of it away, for the profit part of each pound is THE FOUR-FIFTHS OUNCE. TOLEDO SCALES NO SPRINGS-HONEST WEIGHT will protect both you and your customers. They stop overweight. They stop underweight. They give seller and buyer a square deal. Ask for more Particulars Canadian Toledo Scale  COMPANY, LTD 321 Garry St., Winnipeg. Phone A8297

Easy Chairs and Chesterfields Custom built at moderate cost. Have us give you prices on Upholstering, Repairing, Cabinetmaking and Polishing. Capitol Furniture Co. 563 Sherbrooke St. Phone B6398.

Funeral Designs at reasonable cost. Come in and see our lovely Fresh Cut Flowers. Olympia Flower Shop 314-316 Donald St. Phone A1941. Night phone, A9527.

Phone - A4639 The Multigraphers Letters, Price Lists, Announcements, etc. Envelopes Addressed. Mailing Work. Public Stenographer. Service Unequalled 418 AVE BLK., PORTAGE AVE.  WINNIPEG

Tokio Art Store 292 Fort St.

TELEPHONE A8929 Hawthorne Press The HOME OF CLEVER PRINTING 376 Donald St. Aldous Bldg.

Headquarters for Poultry and Bee Supplies, etc. STEELE BRIGGS SEED CO. LIMITED 139 Market St. (East of Main) Phone A8541

DRY CLEAN WITH ARA SOAP Easily, quickly, perfectly Dry Clean your finest Dresses, Suits, Silks, etc. Ask your dealer for ARA SOAP. ARA SOAP CO. Phone A3030. 59 Harriet St.

No Spot Escapes Our expert spotters remove any stain that is not taken out in the process of Dry Cleaning. Phone us to call. KING DYERS & DRY CLEANERS Phone N9845. 551 McDermot.

CPR Laundry Ltd. A. L. Scott, President. A. Munshaw, Manager. The ideal way is our NEW FAMILY SERVICE, 8c A LB. Household articles are finished ready for use, balance damp. SERVICE PHONE J7051

The Real BUFFALO NEVER SPILLS Garbage Thanks to its PATENT LOCK COVER. Manufactured only by  The Western Tinshop 460 Logan Ave,

This is the back of the scrap of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune from August 2, 1923 that the previous wedding announcements and recipes came from.

Winnipeg was the first large city in Canada to have an automatic dealing service for their telephones, so these odd phone numbers represent how they would have dialled (rather than talking to a switchboard operator!). It was thought at the time that people couldn’t possibly remember more than 4 numbers at a time, so the letter at the front was used instead to represent the number. We might scoff at only being able to remember 4 digits, especially given that we are now all dealing a 3 digit area code in addition to a 7 digit number, but have you ever tried using a rotary phone? It takes AGES. 

[inoldbooks]

COTTON LINGERIE

Very dainty nightgowns come in voile with printed figures of rosebuds, dots or conventional designs. They are bound with ribbon in the same shade of the design.

WHITE FOX

A broad band of white fox fur trims a regal frock of royal blue velvet.

EMBROIDERED SHOES

Embroidered satin shoes have been introduced by some of the most extreme French modistes.

SHORTER SKIRTS

Latest reports from Paris inform us that the long skirt craze is on the wane and that models 12 inches from the ground are more popular.

CAKE PANS

Suet is the best material for greasing cake pans. It does not burn so easily as butter.

This section from the much larger scrap of paper allowed me to initially date this page. I found the wording strange, particularly the “White Fox” section which provides no context and seems to describe a photo of a garment that does not accompany it. This led to some intense googling, and it turns out that these filler snippets were syndicated across North America. The earliest newspapers with online archives used these in late July 1923, and the Winnipeg  Evening Tribune published these on August 2, 1923, the source of this page.

The Tribune was one of the oldest newspapers in Western Canada until it closed in 1980, and its archives are now stored at the University of Manitoba. It was also very conservative - during the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919, they railed against the strikers, stating that “Winnipeg is now under the Soviet system of government.” Spoiler alert: 100 years later, there is still no communist government in Winnipeg.

As for that cotton lingerie, here’s the sort of thing they are talking about, with some hand embroidered embellishments to take it to that extra level.

Source: My great-great grandmother’s copy of The Home Queen Cookbook (1901), a page from the Winnipeg Evening Tribune August 2, 1923

[inoldbooks]

Uses for Sour Cream

During dog days every housekeeper is sure to wake up some morning to find the cream sour. In and of itself this is at best inopportune and at worse a ... ter the immediate need ... is supplied this sour cream will make some sort of a special delicacy. Of all the frostings sour cream is one of the best. It never gets dry and sugary and has a “taste” all its own.

Sour Cream Frosting

One cup sour cream, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup nuts, ⅛ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon vanilla. Cook cream, sugar, nuts and salt in a double boiler till a soft ball is formed when a drop is tried in cold water. It will take a long time to cook. Beat it till cool, add vanilla, and spread over cake.

Salad Dressing

One cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 tablespoons sugar, ½ teaspoon salt.  Have cream very cold and whip until stiff. Add lemon juice, sugar and salt and beat slightly. This dressing is very nice with fruit salads.  This is an old-time cookie rule used by my grandmother, who believed in a full cookie crock.

Cookies

Three-fourths cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 2 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon soda, few gratings nutmeg. Cream butter and slowly add sugar. Beat whites and yolks of eggs separately. Add well-beaten yolks to butter and sugar. Mix thoroughly and add sour cream. Sift soda with flour and add to mixture. Fold in whites of eggs beaten stiff and dry. Roll this dough as soft as possible. Certain kinds of flour will use more than four cups, but add the last amount after adding whites. Roll dough on a well-floured board, about one-fourth inch thick. Bake in a quick oven.

Johnny Cake

One cup sour cream, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1-3[sic] cup sugar, 1 egg, ¾ cup flour, ¾ cup corn meal.  Beat egg well. Ad salt, sugar and flour and mix till perfectly smooth. Add cream and corn meal. Dissolve soda in a little boiling water and stir in the last thing before baking. Bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. This Johnny cake is delicious with a cold luncheon of salad and cold meat, tea, and Johnny cake being the only hot dishes.

Scotch Scones

Four cups flour, 1½ teaspoons soda, 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 ½ to 2 cups sou cream.  Mix and sift dry ingredients. Rub in butter with tips of fingers. Cut in sour cream with a silver knife. The dough should be as soft as possible to roll. Roll about one-half inch thick and cut with a cookie cutter. Bake on top of the stove or on a well-greased griddle. Split and spread with butter to serve.

A few interesting points here - the first being sour cream, which is not, in fact, just cream that’s started to go bad, and also about “Johnny Cake” which was a new term to me. 

I imagine this article led to a lot of unintentional food poisoning as thrifty housewives tried to use their spoiled milk to make some truly horrendous concoctions. Sour cream is cultured, much like yoghurt, by Lactococcus which metabolize the lactose in milk. Depending on what product you want you can vary the lactic acid bacteria, but spoiled milk is always going to be spoiled milk. The origins of sour cream itself apparently come from the Mongolians, who used to culture mare’s milk to increase the longevity of it. They then spread the practice (plus heavy doses of genetic material) to Europe where it was applied to cow’s milk. If you’re interested, that last link has a ton more history about how sour cream as we know it today spread across the globe. 

Johnny Cake is a very old recipe for a Maize based unleavened bread that was taught to early settlers by the Algonquin on the East coast in the 16th century. According to a 1980s New York Times article,  the dish was called Jonakin or Shawnee Cake, which eventually evolved into Johnnycake. In the Southern USA, the same dish is known as hoecake. it’s unclear which First Nation the ground corn dish originated from - Wikipedia lists several American nations which it claims the dish is traditional for, but I can’t find any citations that list those particular groups that don’t reference back to Wikipedia.  Corn-based breads likely spread north from central Mexico where maize was originally cultivated, and recipes for using the grain followed it. 

Source:  Found in my great-great grandmother’s copy of The Home Queen Cookbook (1901), a clipping from the August 2, 1923 Winnipeg Tribune.

[inoldbooks]

DOUGLAS-CLARKE

The marriage took place Wednesday afternoon at the residence of the bride’s parents, 32 Dundurn place, of Ida Marion, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Clarke and Mr. Gordon Braden Douglass [sic], 942 McMillan avenue. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Canon Loucks. The living-room where the service took place was decorated with ferns and flowers. Large baskets of gladioli and asters banking the mantel. 

The groom with the best man, Mr. W. C. McNeil, took their places with the officiating clergyman as the bridal procession entered the room led by the bridesmaid, Miss Vera Douglas, who wore a gown of sand georgette, beaded in gold, her ornaments were a spanish comb and ear rings[sic] of amberasia[sic]. She carried Crusader roses tied with matching ribbons. Next came the bride with her father. Her dress was of oyster-white georgette, beaded in crystal, over a beaded yellow georgette slip. Her veil was arranged in Spanish fashion and caught to her head with orange blossoms. She carried a shower bouquet of Ophelia roses, and valley lilies, tied with tulle ribbon. During the ceremony Miss Nora MacDonald played softly. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas left later on a motor trip to Detroit Lakes, Minneapolis, and Chicago, and upon their return will reside in the Puller apartments, Nassau street. The bride travelling in a knitted sport costume of sand trimmed with brushed wool, with this she wore a jade green blouse and a poke hat of brown, brocaded in sand tones. Mrs. Clarke, the bride’s mother, wore a gown of black canton crepe, and a corsage of orchids. Mrs. Douglas wore nigger-brown[sic] canton crepe, beaded in gold [with] a black hat. Her flowers were ... sweet peas.

According to Manitoba Vital Statistics, this wedding happened August 1, 1923, and the last name is actually Douglass. Either the writer was somewhat sloppy, or the copy editor thought there was an error but missed the groom’s last name in the change. 

This is immediately following the other wedding announcement where they also comment on one of the mothers wearing a similarly coloured outfit in racist terms. It’s so jarring in this context. These descriptions of clothing are so dull because they manage to be simultaneously overlong and yet vague enough that I still cannot actually picture this event, nor does it sound like anybody had a good time. It feels like being on Facebook: “Why are you telling me this, and why would I care?” The social media of yesteryear was surprisingly similar to today, but with (depending on who you follow) more racism. No thanks.

It’s also worth noting that the bridesmaid, Vera Douglass, went on to be a home economics teacher who never married. She ended up being a hero along with her nephew (not the son of this couple) when they noticed smoke in her apartment building in 1948. The two of them went to the doors of every apartment, were able to notify all the tenants to evacuate, and prevented any fatalities. 

Source: Newspaper clipping found in my great great grandmother’s copy of The Home Queen Cook Book (1901)

[inoldbooks]

WEDDINGS

NICHOLLS-MELLORS

The marriage of Elfreda, daughter of Mr. J. P. Mellors, Richland. Man., to Mr. Thomas Harold Nicholls, son of the late Mr. Thomas Nicholls, Birmingham, took place Wednesday in All Saints’ Church. The Rev. Canon Loucks officiated. 

The bride wore a French gown of cream georgette beaded in white combined with a canton crepe, her hat was a large picture model, and she carried a bouquet of Ophelia roses and pale pink sweet peas.

The only attendant was Miss Emma Mellors, who wore a pale pink figured georgette frock, with a large hat. Her bouquet was of mauve and white sweet peas.

During the signing of the register, Mrs. G Pingle sang “O, Perfect Love.” Mr. Artur Egerton presided at the organ and played the wedding marches.

Following the ceremony a wedding dungeon was enjoyed at the Fort Garry hotel. Later Mr. and Mrs. Nicholls left for a short honeymoon at Minaki.  The bride’s mother wore a gown of nigger[sic] brown canton crepe, with hat of the same tone

This is part of a much larger newspaper clipping that was found in my great-great grandmother’s copy of The Home Queen Cookbook (1901).

Although this scrap was not dated, Manitoba Vital Statistics informs me that this wedding occurred on August 1, 1923.

I’d never heard of racial slurs being used casually to describe colours of fabric, but I suppose it shouldn’t shock me. It apparently still happens today. In 1923, this word was apparently just considered descriptive - I can find several Canadian newspaper ads from the early 1920s using this phrase. Contrary to popular belief, there were people of colour living in Winnipeg at the time, the most of whom came from the USA or the West Indies.  I’m sure they were less worried about casual racism than the prolific active discrimination, but I think it’s important to be aware of all the ways racism happened, so we don’t mistakenly think we live in a “post-racism society.” 

I’d also like to say that no one would ever use this terminology today, but given how loud the alt-Right and assorted internet Nazis have gotten lately, I’m not sure that would be be the case. 

[inoldbooks]

Mysterious Spice ?Cake recipe

2 eggs 1 cup br sugar 2 “ buttermilk 1 tea soda

3 cups bran 1 cup flour currants cloves 1 teas. allspice

Found inside The Home Queen Cookbook (1901) , which belonged to my great-great grandmother Bertha, who married James in 1896.

Standard Fashion Company sold sewing patterns, so assumedly this was torn from one of their advertisement catalogs. The company sold patterns from 1887 until 1926, although Butterick owned them from 1900 onwards. I would guess this scrap is likely from 1900-1910 based on the high neck and the size of the hat, but I suspect these patterns were not cutting edge fashion even as they were being published.

[inoldbooks]

Citron Marmalade

8 qts sliced citron 12 oranges + 3 lemons 10 cups white sugar

Leave overnight and in morning boil 6 hours or until thick. I will give you my other recipe some other time as I couldn’t get it today.

Found inside The Home Queen Cookbook (1901), which belonged to my great-great grandmother, Bertha, who married James in 1896. 

It’s worth noting this is probably referring to what Americans and Canadians call citron - a citron melon, which would have been able to grow on a rural Manitoba homestead, rather than the oranges and lemons which would have been imported. The other kind of citron is a fruit that grows on trees and generally wasn’t found in North America at the time.

Also, leaving a bunch of fruit in sugar at room temperature over night sounds like a great way for it to spoil very quickly. But what do I know?