Advice from Ladies’ Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper

Advice from Ladies’ Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper

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Throughout my travels through old newspapers, I’ve come across several columns of advice printed from the first issues of the Ladies’ Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper. These are two of the columns I found. The first is was printed in the The Union County Journal on November 13, 1884 and the second was printed in The Frankfort Bee on March 27, 1885.

November 13, 1884
Household Echoes
•As they grow older, win the children’s confidence; if you do not, somebody else will.
•Allow children, as they grow older, to have opinions of their own; make them individuals and not mere echoes.
•As long as it is possible, kiss the children good night after they are in bed; they do like it so, and it keeps
them very close.
•Mothers, whatever else you may teach your daughters, do not neglect to instruct them in all the mysteries of
housekeeping. So shall you put them in the way of good husbands and happy homes.
•Don’t marry a lazy man. There are some young men who are so lazy that it almost requires an artist to draw their
breath. They seemingly have not ambition enough to labor under an impression. They live off the earnings of
their pa until they find a girl who is foolish enough to marry them, and they will live off her pa. Look where
you are going.
•Don’t gossip. When God made man, it is said he gave him ten measures of speech, and woman ran away with nine. A
gossiping woman is the devil’s bellows to blow up the fires of strife. It must be a blessing to the public when
such a woman is hoarse, and it is a pity that she has not as many blisters on her tongue as she has tooth in her
jaws.
•It was the fashion at one time to marbleize wood and deceive the country visitors into the thought that the
paneled hall was in reality lined with the genuine material. Now, to the contrary, fashion suggest that marble
should take up the appearance of wood, and those who are sufficiently unfortunate as to have marble mantels in
their house, are having them painted and grained, and otherwise made to imitate the frames of the furniture about
them.
•When you are visiting, girls, keep your own room in order, and do not scatter your belongings all over the house.
If your friends plan anything for your entertainment, make up your mind, not only to enjoy it, but to show that
you do so, not by loud protestations of what a “splendid” time you have had, but by heartily entering into and
furthering their plans. Be contented; amuse yourself quietly in the house, if it is not convenient for your
friends to arrange excursions for you. If games are proposed, do not say that “you will not play,” or “would
rather look on.” This is disheartening to a hostess who is endeavoring to make her guests enjoy themselves. Do
not let a fear that you may not make as good an appearance as others, prevent your doing the best you can. So
shall you make yourself an agreeable guest, and your friends will want you to visit them again.

March 27, 1885
Some Remarks Evolved From a Woman’s Consciousness About Women
•Squash is responsible for a good deal of alleged pumpkin pie.
•Woman and her servants, act in accord, would outwit a thousand devils.
•Do not enter any one’s private sitting-room or chamber – even your own daughter’s boudoir or your husband’s study
– without knocking at the door.
•Little is to be gained in this world unless it is paid for. Gold demands a fair equivalent, and the woman who
would be well treated must show herself worthy of such treatment.
•Women of the world never use harsh words in condemning their rivals. Like the savage they hurl elegant arrows
ornamented with purple and azure, but with poisoned points.
•Young ladies, who contemplate becoming wives, remember that husbands can’t live on love alone – they must have
something more substantial and, as a rule, they want it well cooked.
•If you want to lighten your wife’s labor see that the inside of the house is frequently painted. A fresh coat of
paint in a room will do more towards making it clean and tidy than all the scrubbing and cleaning that a woman’s
hands can give.

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