The best part of these questions is the response of all of you. Myself, I wouldn’t want to put lard in my eye, with or without the dry calomel.

We walked in the lane together
The sky was covered with stars
We reached the gate in silence
As I lifted down the bars
She neither smiled nor thanked [nor kissed] me
Because she knew not how
For I was only a farmer’s boy
And she was a Jersey Cow.

Guessing, of course, is my strong suit, and so much fun with a post like this. “Once in every two or three weeks” That’s how often Nance’s boyfriend could come calling if they weren’t dating seriously. Rosilla, told to avoid greasy food, obviously has zits, and Elsie needs to keep walking so the standing and talking at the front gate doesn’t turn into kissing. (It’s harder to kiss and walk at the same time, I presume…)

And if you don’t want perspiring hands, don’t ever get excited like a teenaged girl.

Please- what does ‘limber’ mean, as in ribbons become it after washing if not rinsed in sugar water?

I’ll check back after I have whitened my hairy arms and dealt with my calloused elbows. The perspiring hands will have to wait!

However, what really stuck out to me this time are the scores and scores of odd ingredients and remedies that folks must have had to have available in their cupboards back in 1911. The voluminous list of distinctive ingredients is mind-boggling to this 21st-century dude (who must take a lot of stuff for granted):

cucumber cream? elder flower water? tannic acid? dry calomel?

And all this is in addition to the particular (and peculiar) ways that more familiar ingredients are prescribed to be used, like sugar, gasoline, salt, water, etc.

Oh my. Sister Hurst’s motto must have been “Every Member an Apothecary,” I guess.

“To the European, a Yankee is an American. To an American, a Yankee is a New Englander. To a New Englander, a Yankee is a Vermonter. To a Vermonter, a Yankee is someone who eats apple pie for breakfast. And to a Vermonter who eats apple pie for breakfast, a Yankee is someone who eats it with a knife.”