I love a good rummage in charity shops and luckily the little town near us has 3 very good ones. It's quite satisfying sifting through everything and maybe once in a while unearthing a few treasures which can be picked up for pennies, leaving enough change for a sticky bun!
I found these the other day and they're still making me smile. A lovely little earthenware jug decorated with roses and some wonderful books from the 1930's. I find old household manuals like this fascinating, stuffed as they are with a peculiar and amusing concoction of advice on cookery, etiquette, family health, gardening and household cleaning. Here are a few excerpts:
Breath tainted by onions - Leaves of parsley, eaten with vinegar, will prevent the disagreeable consequences of eating onions.
Deafness - Take 3 drops of sheep's gall, warm, and drop it into the ear on going to bed. The ear must be thoroughly syringed with warm soap and water in the morning. The gall must be applied for three successive nights. It is only efficacious when the deafness is produced by a cold. The most convenient way of warming the gall is by holding it in a silver spoon over the flame of a candle. The above remedy has been frequently tried with perfect success.
Sewing machine oil has an objectionable way on occasion of falling on white material, Rub the spot with a cloth dipped in ammonia and wash. Clogged oil is a fruitful source of trouble in a sewing machine. It may be dissolved with the application of paraffin oil.
The white of an egg, well beaten with quicklime and a small quantity of very old cheese, forms an excellent substitute for cement, when wanted in a hurry either for broken china or old ornamental glassware.
Uninvited guest. It goes without saying that it is a breech of good breeding for a lady to take an uninvited guest when accepting an invitation at another friend's expense. An offer to pay for the interloper would not right the error of taste.
The writing style makes me smile and conjures up visions of ladies in felt hats, taking afternoon tea and discussing the impropriety of Mrs Fitz-Smythe's youngest daughter. All very Evelyn Waugh-ish, and a lovely snapshot of social history.
