A Cook Book

We have written stories about old time news items, albums and other subjects which we felt our readers would enjoy. This is just one more.

I have been handed an old "White House Cook Book copyrighted in 1887. The author dedicated this 590 page volume to "The Wives of our Presidents - those noble women who have graced the White House, and whose names and memories are dear to all Americans".

In this book are thousands of recipes, even menus for 12 covers toa buffetfor 1000 people. The book is complete. It has many chapters on the preparation of foods of all descriptions. One chapter, in the back, concerned diets and care for the sick.

I was amused that part of this chapter was devoted to poultices. Here were directions for the use and preparation of bread and milk poultice, hop poultices, mustard poultices, ginger poultices, etc. Then we found a remedy for boils, a cure for ringworms and draught for feet. The latter recommends using leaves of horseradish, cabbage and burdock leaves as well as garlic and onions. It suggests removing the hard fibers that are in the center of the leaves, then place the leafy parts on a hot shovel for a moment to soften them, then fasten the leafy parts in the hollow part of the foot by a cloth bandage. The same method is recommended for cahbage and burdock Garlics and onions must be pounded soft, then heated on a tin pan and the substance is to be placed to the feet as the horseradish.

Another chapter is on health suggestions. Several pages are devoted to how colds are caught, how to use hot water and curing growing pains, curing earaches, stings of insects and croup.

The method of treating victims with burns and scalds certainly has changed over the years. If a victim with these injuries were to be taken to a hospital today with the treatment suggested, I know the doctors and staff would scream from Hell to High Heaven. Another out-dated method was the use of a horsetail hair for removing cinders from the eye. This method would certainly not be recommended by today's First Aid proceedures.

The author makes the following suggestions on how tokeep well:

Don't sleep in a draught.

Don't go to bed with cold feet.

Don't stand over hot-air registers.

Don't eat what you do not want, just to save it.

Don't try to get cool too quickly after exercising.

Don't sleep in a room without ventilation of some kind.

Don't sit in a damp or chilly room without a fire.

Don't stuff a cold lest you should be next obliged to starve a fever.

Don't try to get along without flannel underclothing in winter. (I wonder if they meant'red flannels').

Under the chapter of miscellaneous recipes, ammonia is recommended very highly for cleaning silk, stuffs, hats, carpets, hairbrushes, etc.

To destroy insects and vermin, it is recommended to dissolve two pounds of alum in four quarts of water, then when boiling hot, the solution is brushed into every joint or crevice in closets and shelves and bedsteads. This will keep roaches, ants and bedbugs away. Mice will never enter into drawers or trunks where gum camphor is placed.

To keep rats away mix potash with powdered meal. Toss this into ratholes in the cellar or places where these rodents are found. The rats will depart. Another method is to use cayenne pepper. Rags saturated with this and stuffed into holes will keep them away. Other suggestions were to mix pounded glass with dry corn meal, or place chloride of lime where they run.

Under the chapter of facts worth knowing, is a formula for preparing a cement for china and glass. When the broken vessel is mended with this cement it resists fire and water.

Housewives probably welcomed the suggestion of preserving their brooms, The tip was to drip the broom for a minute or two, into a kettle of boiling soap suds once a week. The broom would last much longer, making them tough and pliable. In the days before refrigerators, a small amount of grated horseradish was placed in milk. It kept sweet for days.

To fill in cracks in plaster, one should use vinegar instead of water to mix plaster of Paris. The mass will be like putty and will not set for a half-hour. The putty mass can be inserted in cracks with a knife.

A heavy chalk ring around your sugar bag or box will keep ants away. Another method of exterminating ants in your yard is to use one-half pound of flour of brimstone and four ounces of potash. Dissolve the ingredients by heat in an iron or earthen pan, then beat the mixture into a powder. Add a little water and sprinkle over holes where ants enter the ground. To keep mosquitos out of your bedroom, leave a bottle of pennyroyal uncorked at night.

In the days before electricity, and kerosene lamps were used, housewives would soak the lamp wick in vinegar, then let dry. No more black smoked chimneys. (I didn't know this sixty years ago. Did you?)

Did you know that salt should be eaten with nuts to aid digestion? Does your old bedstead creak? Try wrapping the ends of the slats in old newspapers. (then enjoy a good night's sleep.)