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THE LADIES' BOOK OF USEFUL INFORMATION.
THE LADIES' BOOK OF USEFUL INFORMATION.
COMPILED FROM MANY SOURCES. London, Ont.: London Printing & Lithographing Co. (Ltd.) 1896. Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year 1897, on behalf of the unnamed author, by P. J. Edmunds, at the Department of Agriculture. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED....
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Preface.
Preface.
To the ladies of America is this little work, “ The Ladies' Book of Useful Information ,” dedicated. It is a book written expressly for women. This book is full from cover to cover of useful and necessary information for women. Never before has so much knowledge with which women should be acquainted been printed in one book. It is a perfect storehouse of useful facts. Almost every lady spends many dollars every year for cosmetics, medicines, household articles, etc., which this book would save h
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Chapter I.
Chapter I.
Teaches all about Personal Beauty. Every woman desires to be beautiful, and every woman may enhance her charms and be lovely by following the directions of this book. Few persons know how to improve their natural looks so as to captivate, charm, and win the admiration of those whom they meet. This book tells this wonderful secret—all the ancients ever knew, and all that has been discovered since. It teaches how to wonderfully improve the person in loveliness. The real secret of changing an ordin
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Chapter II.
Chapter II.
Treats of miscellaneous matters: The human temperaments—How many there are—What they are; How to tell to which temperament you belong. The fortunate and unfortunate days of the month; Days of the week, and their importance at the natal hour. Important advice to females. To know whom you will marry. The signs of a good genius. Electrical Psychology, or Psychological Fascination. Mesmerism. How to make persons at a distance think of you. How to win the love of the person whom you love....
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Chapter III.
Chapter III.
A special chapter for young women: On marriage; What young women look forward to; What it is best to do when a prospect of marrying occurs; What a husband looks for; What marriage affords; On making yourself cheap; How to protect yourself; About courtship; Care of your character; How easily men are led astray, and how cautious you should be; What state of life is most honorable; Important points for your consideration; To make a husband happy; Nature of young women; On attracting the attention o
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Chapter IV.
Chapter IV.
Love and marriage; The attraction of the sexes for each other; What love is; What causes love; Individual loves; Fondness for cousins; Different kinds of love; Flirtation; Monogamy; Polygamy; The special object of marriage; Should marriage be for life....
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Chapter V.
Chapter V.
When to marry; How to select a partner on right principles; Very early marriages; The best age to marry; When marriages are most happy; The attributes of a handsome couple....
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Chapter VI.
Chapter VI.
Sexual Intercourse—Its laws and conditions—Its use and abuse: A prevalent error; The law of sexual morality; What men expect; How men and women should live; Age of puberty to marriage; The law of marriage; What a man who truly loves a woman will do; A true union; Seduction; How women are protected; The false and the true sense of duty. What is the most powerful restraint from evil....
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Chapter VII.
Chapter VII.
Marriage: What marriage is; How far back the marriage tie has existed; Polygamy—What it is; Monogamy—What it is; Polyandry—What it is; Marriage customs; The basis of a happy marriage....
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Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII.
Pregnancy—Labor—Parturition: The signs of pregnancy; The changes that take place in the appearance; How soon after conception these changes take place; The period of gestation; Changes in the breasts; What causes labor; How labor may be rendered safe and easy; What the diet should consist of; The period of quickening; How to relieve the toothache, cramping of the legs, palpitation of the heart, morning sickness, etc., with which pregnant women are liable to be troubled; Sure test for the detecti
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Chapter IX.
Chapter IX.
Menstruation: The time of life at which it should appear; Signs of approaching puberty; Duty of mothers; Delayed and obstructed menstruation—What to do for it; Chlorosis, or green sickness—What to do for it—What it is caused by; Too profuse menstruation—How to treat it; Painful menstruation, or menstrual colic—How to treat it; Amenorrhœa, or suppressed menstruation—What causes this, and how to treat it. Cessation of the menses, or change of life: Very important advice is given as to the way in w
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Chapter X.
Chapter X.
Collection of valuable Medical Compounds: Magic kidney and liver restorer; Hop bitters; Alterative or liver powders; Anti-dyspeptic pills; Dyspeptic ley (sure cure for dyspepsia); Ague pills; Certain remedy for ague or intermittent fever; Fever powders; Ague drops; Pills for neuralgia; Sick headache pills; Anodyne headache pills; Rheumatic pills; Pills for dysentery; Epileptic pills; Pills for asthma; Hysteric pills; Pills for neuralgia; Cure for bleeding of the lungs; Cure for consumption; Coug
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Chapter XI.
Chapter XI.
Things for the Sick Room. Tells how to prepare the following articles for the sick and convalescent: Barley water; Sage tea; Refreshing drink for fevers; Arrowroot jelly; Irish moss jelly; Isinglass jelly; Tapioca jelly; Toast; Rice; Bread jelly; Rice gruel; Water gruel; Arrowroot gruel; Beef liquid; Beef tea; Panado; French milk porridge; Coffee milk; Drink for dysentery; Crust coffee; Cranberry water; Wine whey; Mustard whey; Chicken broth; Calves'-foot jelly; Slippery elm jelly; Nutritive flu
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Chapter XII.
Chapter XII.
Things Curious and Useful: To get clear of mosquitoes; To get rid of bedbugs; To obtain fresh-blown flowers in winter; To increase the laying of eggs in hens; The art of transferring on to glass; To prevent horses being teased by flies; To prevent flies lighting on windows, pictures, mirrors, etc.; To make leather wear forever; To prepare waterproof boots; To render paper fireproof; To cure drunkenness; To cure laziness; To take leaf photographs; To make lamp wicks indestructible; To make differ
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Chapter XIII.
Chapter XIII.
Home Decoration: On furnishing a house; How to furnish the Parlor, Library, Dining-room, Hall, Chambers, and Kitchen; Telling the proper way of arranging each room tastefully and economically....
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Chapter XIV.
Chapter XIV.
How to Care for House Plants: How to succeed with plants; A good collection of plants; To kill the spider; To start slips; To keep plants without a fire at night; To kill rose-slugs; On watering plants. To prepare autumn leaves and ferns; To prepare skeleton leaves; Pretty hanging baskets....
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Chapter XV.
Chapter XV.
The Laundry: To make washing fluid; Gall soap; For washing woolens and fine prints; To take out scorch; To make bluing; To make coffee starch; To make flour starch; To make fine starch; Enamel for shirt bosoms; To clean articles made of white zephyr; To clean velvet; To clean ribbons; To take out paint; To remove ink stain; To take out fruit stains; To remove iron rust; To take out mildew; To wash flannels in tepid water....
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Chapter XVI.
Chapter XVI.
How to do your own Stamping and make your own Patterns: The articles needed for stamping; To make perforated patterns; To enlarge designs; To stamp; To make blue powder; To do French indelible stamping; To make paint for stamping; The proper brush to use; To make a distributor; To care for patterns....
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Chapter XVII.
Chapter XVII.
Bronze Work: What bronze work is; The articles required for doing bronze work; The art of making a vase in bronze; A motto; A floral basket; Copper bronze statuary; The art of making exotic leaves; To make leaves and flowers, etc.; Decalcomania—The uses to which it may be put....
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Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XVIII.
A chapter of useful things to know. How to prepare: Healing salve; Magnetic croup cure; Worm elixir; Brilliant self-shining stove polish; Wonderful starch enamel; Royal washing powder; Magic annihilator; I X L baking powder; Electric powder; French polish, or dressing for leather; Artificial honey. Table of poisons and their antidotes....
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PERSONAL BEAUTY.
PERSONAL BEAUTY.
Treating of the Care of the Skin, Hair, Teeth, and Eyes, so as to have each arrive at the highest degree of beauty of which each is capable. A great object of importance, of care to every lady, is the care of her complexion. There is nothing more pleasing to the eye than a delicate, smooth skin; and besides being pleasing to the eye, is an evidence of health, and gives additional grace to the most regular features. The choice of soaps has considerable influence in promoting and maintaining this
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TREATING OF MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
TREATING OF MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
The Human Temperaments. —By these are meant certain types, forms or conformations of the human body, each known and distinguished from the other by certain characteristics, which enable those who are familiar with these peculiarities to readily distinguish one temperament from the others. The existence of the temperaments is believed to depend upon the development of certain parts or systems in the body, and each is accompanied by different degrees of activity of the brain, and corresponding dif
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A SPECIAL CHAPTER FOR YOUNG WOMEN.
A SPECIAL CHAPTER FOR YOUNG WOMEN.
Advice upon this subject is very much needed. I am assured that it is a subject not often talked of in families—at least, as it ought to be—nor is it much alluded to in the pulpit, and the result is that young people commonly get their notions about it from those only a little older than themselves, and who therefore know but little more than they do, or from those who form their opinions from the abuse they see of it and so hold degrading and unworthy ideas respecting it. Sometimes all that is
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LOVE AND MARRIAGE.
LOVE AND MARRIAGE.
The attraction of the sexes for each other, though based upon the dual principle of generation which pervades the living world and which has its analogies in the attractive forces of matter, yet pervades the whole being. the instinctive desire of physical union, which has for its object the continuation of the species—it belongs to the mind as well as to the body. It warms, invigorates, and elevates every sentiment, every feeling; and in its highest, purest, most diffusive form unites us to God
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WHEN TO MARRY—HOW TO SELECT A PARTNER ON RIGHT PRINCIPLES.
WHEN TO MARRY—HOW TO SELECT A PARTNER ON RIGHT PRINCIPLES.
The proper age to marry is a somewhat vexed question, but needlessly so, because that age varies much, according to temperament and other circumstances relating to the individual. Although after puberty the sexual organs are capable of reproduction, yet it by no means follows that they should be used for that purpose. Their early activity is intended for the perfection of the body and mind, and not for the continuation of the species. therefore, should be avoided, because the nervous force expen
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SEXUAL INTERCOURSE—ITS LAWS AND CONDITIONS—ITS USE AND ABUSE.
SEXUAL INTERCOURSE—ITS LAWS AND CONDITIONS—ITS USE AND ABUSE.
There is an increasing and alarming prevalence of nervous ailments and complicated disorders that could be traced to have their sole origin from this source. Hypochondria, in its various phases, results from the premature and unnatural waste of the seminal fluid. Then speedily ensues a lack of natural heat, a deficiency of vital power, and consequently indigestion, melancholy, languor, and dejection ensue; the victim becomes enervated and spiritless, loses the very attributes of man, and prematu
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MARRIAGE.
MARRIAGE.
Marriage is in law the conjugal union of man with woman, and is the only state in which cohabitation is considered proper and irreprehensible. The marriage relation exists in all Christian communities, and is considered the most solemn of contracts, and, excepting in Protestant countries, it is regarded as a sacrament. In some countries its celebration falls under the cognizance of ecclesiastical courts only, but in the United States it is regarded as merely a civil contract, magistrates having,
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PREGNANCY—LABOR—PARTURITION.
PREGNANCY—LABOR—PARTURITION.
Perhaps there is no more eventful period in the history of woman than that in which she first becomes conscious that the existence of another being is dependent upon her own and that she carries about with her the first tiny rudiments of an immortal soul. are various. Many females are troubled with colic pains, creeping of the skin, shuddering, and fainting fits immediately on conception taking place. Where such symptoms occur immediately after connection, they are a certain indication of impreg
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MENSTRUATION.
MENSTRUATION.
Though this is not a disease, but a healthy function, and as, from various causes, derangement of the function occurs, it is proper that it should be perfectly understood. Menstruation is the term applied to the phenomenon that attends the rupture of what is called the Graafian follicles of the ovaries and the discharge of an ova, or egg. It is a bloody discharge from the female genitals; not differing from ordinary blood, excepting that it does not coagulate, and in its peculiar odor. The blood
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COLLECTION OF VALUABLE MEDICAL COMPOUNDS.
COLLECTION OF VALUABLE MEDICAL COMPOUNDS.
Besides many other symptoms too numerous to mention? If you have you are affected in your liver and kidneys, and should do something for it. The following preparation, “Magic Kidney and Liver Restorer,” acts on these organs and, when diseased or out of order, restores them to a healthy state. Everyone should keep a bottle of this preparation in the house, as it is an invaluable medicine. Splendid to take in the spring to tone up the system: Steep the liverwort in a quart of water down to half th
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THINGS FOR THE SICK ROOM.
THINGS FOR THE SICK ROOM.
Many people are ignorant of what constitutes good, nourishing, refreshing food and drink for sick people. The following dishes are all palatable and nourishing, and are very refreshing to an invalid. Every one should have these recipes for “Things for the sick room”: Pearl barley, two ounces; boiling water, two quarts. Boil to one quart, and strain. If desirable, a little lemon juice and sugar may be added. This may be taken freely in all inflammatory and eruptive diseases: measles, scarlet feve
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THINGS CURIOUS AND USEFUL.
THINGS CURIOUS AND USEFUL.
Take of gum camphor a piece about one-third the size of an egg and evaporate it over a lamp or candle, taking care that it does not ignite. The smoke will soon fill the room and expel the mosquitoes. Bedbugs cannot stand hot alum water; indeed, alum seems to be death to them in any form. Take two pounds of alum, reduce it to a powder—the finer the better—and dissolve it in about four quarts of boiling water. Keep the water hot till the alum is all dissolved; then apply it hot to every joint, cre
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HOME DECORATION.
HOME DECORATION.
The chief features to be observed in house furnishing are color, form, and proportion. All stiffness of design in furniture should be avoided. Do not attempt to match articles, but rather carry out the same idea as to color and form in the whole. It is not en règle to have decorations in sets or pairs; the arrangements should all be done with odd pieces. Every room in the house should be arranged for occupancy, having nothing too good for use, and the judicious housewife will follow a medium cou
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FLORAL.
FLORAL.
Plants that require a high or low temperature or a very moist atmosphere and plants that bloom only in summer are undesirable. Procure fresh sandy loam, with an equal mixture of well-rotted turf, leaf mold, and cow-yard manure, with a small quantity of soot. In repotting plants use one size larger than they were grown in. Hard-burned or glazed pots prevent the circulation of air. Secure drainage by broken crockery and pebbles laid in the bottom of the pot. An abundance of light is important, and
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THE LAUNDRY.
THE LAUNDRY.
TELLING OF A GREAT MANY USEFUL AND LABOR-SAVING PRACTICES FOR THE LAUNDRY. Bring to a boil one pound of sal soda, half a pound of unslaked lime, a small lump of borax, and five quarts of water. Let cool, pour off, and bottle. Use one teacupful to a boiler of clothes. This is superior. For washing woolens, silks, or fine prints liable to fade. One pint beefs gall, two pounds common bar soap cut fine, one quart boiling soft water; boil slowly, stirring occasionally until well mixed. Pour into a fl
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HOW TO DO YOUR OWN STAMPING AND MAKE YOUR OWN PATTERNS.
HOW TO DO YOUR OWN STAMPING AND MAKE YOUR OWN PATTERNS.
In the following chapter are given full instructions for dry and wet stamping, explaining how to make stamping powder, how to mix white paint for stamping dark goods and black paint for stamping light goods. The articles necessary are a sheet of writing paper and a piece of transfer paper. The transfer paper can be made by rubbing white paper with a composition consisting of two ounces of tallow, one-half ounce powdered blacklead, one-quarter pint linseed oil, and sufficient lampblack to make it
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BRONZE WORK.
BRONZE WORK.
Bronzing is the latest improvement in waxwork, and if properly made cannot be detected from the most expensive artistic bronze. It answers for table, mantel, and bracket ornaments, and may be exposed to dust and air without sustaining the slightest injury. It can be dusted with a feather duster like any piece of furniture, and is a very desirable and inexpensive ornament. The colors required in bronze are: Silver bronze, gold bronze, copper bronze, fire bronze, and green bronze. For instruction,
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