1932: Good Manners in Public Places

I ride the Red Line on Washington's Metrorail system every day to work. Usually it's not so bad, but lately I seem to be seated right near folks who are just plain breaking the rules: drinking drinks, eating sandwiches, all that---not to mention the typical rude behaviors like cell phone gabbing, loud, tinny, earbuds. But the absolute worst, I tell you, was the other morning when a man nearby started clipping his fingernails right there on the train. ARGH. Man, I'm cranky! I guess I need a vacation.

Since my extended days off aren't scheduled for a month or so from now, I must take a bit of comfort in sharing some "Good Manners in Public Places" from Good Manners for Young Americans.. This section begins with "A courteous person will not make himself conspicuous or troublesome in any place," and does bring up a relevant piece of advice for my recent car-mate: "Care for your finger nails, your face, your hair in your room at home, not in any public place. After making your toilet as well as you can, forget it."

Here are some other tips for manners while on public transport:

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There is no other place in which the spirit of courtesy seems so lacking as in our trolley cars, elevated trains and subways.

In getting a car, stand aside, and let those who are infirm or older precede you.

Always rise to give your seat to a much older person, to a cripple or to a mother with a child.

Never chew gum in cars [uh, oh, I do this one] or in other public places. If you must chew gum, let it be within the privacy of your own room.

If you do not wish to be thought ill-bred, do not eat in street cars.

When on a train do not occupy more seat room than is yours by right.
~~

That reminds me about the seat hoggers. Lift up your bags and let others sit down, would you, please?

1934: Life Begins at Forty

Well, here I am, on the eve of my 40th birthday, contemplating things such as oh, the last 39.999 years of my life. I can't believe my thirties are over. Seems like only yesterday that I was starting out young and fresh at the Library of Congress, 10 years ago last month. Time flies!

To help celebrate my 40th, I of course had to turn to my books. I've been saving this book for this day. It's called Life Begins at 40, written by Walter B. Pitkin. The only downside is that the subject headers in the catalog for this include "middle age" (I don't know if I'm ready to think of myself in those terms) -- but then again the subjects also include "success" -- so I guess I shouldn't nitpick too much. In any case, here's a taste of Pitkin's view of 40.

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High excitements lie ahead of you now turning forty. The race has nibbled the fruits of wisdom and found them both sweet and sustaining. Thus far it has turned to account almost nothing of its inventions and discoveries. The world is still to be civilized; and, in your day, this supreme process will begin. Were you to be no more than idle spectators, all other ages, past and future, would envy you. But you will be more than that; you will eat the meat of giants and overtop all of your ancestors. You will soon look through a 200-inch telescope and scan the back yards of the moon as if they were at the bottom of a little hill. You will remodel your frames and your temperaments with cunningly concocted foods and pills. You will have little cause to worry over the price of clothes and rent. Or, if you do not live to see such wonders, you will at least behold them drawing near -- which, of itself, will be a wonder. . . . Yes, you are the luckiest of all. Life begins at forty -- now more richly than ever before, and perhaps as richly as ever again.
~~

Gosh, forty sounds a bit kooky based on this description. Wish me luck!

1936: Are You as Polite at Home as Outside?

As we get closer to Thanksgiving, and the holiday season in general, I thought it might be time for a reminder about courtesy in the home. Many of us will be in close quarters with our extended family for hours and perhaps days on end, and more than ever it will be important to be polite while sharing house, home, and holiday dinner table. The following is from the home economics book Everyday Living from Girls: a Textbook in Personal Regimen, written in 1936 by Adelaide Laura Van Duzer and a handful of other home ec experts.

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Real politeness is being kind and considerate. It may be shown in many different ways: by the tone of your voice, the facial expression, or the behavior. We are also expected to know the vocabulary of politeness and when to use it. The terms "Thank you," "Please," "Pardon me," "I am sorry," never seem to become worn out or over-used, especially when accompanied by sincerity of manner and behavior. These terms are somewhat superfluous if they are not a genuine expression of one's feelings. However, even though we do not always experience to the fullest extent the feelings the vocabulary is supposed to express, we had better use it anyway. Be assured that the more it represents your true feelings, the greater the pleasure you will have in the association with the members of your family and with other people.
~~

And you all know to NEVER talk about politics and religion, right?

1938: Iron and Spinach

I've always had low iron. I know because every time I go to the American Red Cross Blood Drive at work, I have to stock up on my multivitamins, spinach, and raisins in the week before, so I can donate successfully. And with this recent spinach scare, I'm going nuts! I am craving spinach. Must have spinach. Willing to risk life to eat dear, sweet, spinach.

Since I can't eat it, I figured I'd read about the benefits of spinach (when not spreading E. coli). I turned to something in my collection called Health, Hygiene and Hooey. I love this book. It's from 1938 and was written by W. W. Bauer, who debunks health and hygiene information that was coming out at that time. The flap copy tells us "the purpose of this book is not only to expose hooey, but to throw light on what is not hooey." Some of the quakery from back then rings familiar today: he covers fad diets, insomnia cures, claims about various vitamins, harmful cosmetics, and "a fake for every ache" - all about pain relievers and whether or not to trust those dispensing them to desperate patients.

To get us back to the original topic, here's an excerpt from Bauer's chapter on "Mineral Madness."

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Have you warmth and magnetism? Do you bubble with creative ability, with vitality? Are you successful? How is your ambition? Is your life force in harmony? If all is not all well, in these important respects, perhaps you need more of the master chemical, iron. Well, you do need iron, of course, but not for these romantic reasons, which I admit are more intriguing than the prosaic but accurate ones I am about to set forth. You need iron primarily to supply the necessary chemical for the formation of hemoglobin, the red blood coloring matter which transports the oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, and most of the carbon dioxide back to the lungs to be exhaled. You need iron for important functions in cell life and cell division which determines the inherited qualities of succeeding generations. . . .

Iron is popularly believed to be contained only in spinach, and as a result innumberable innocent infants and children have been manhandled and womanhandled into eating this good but overrated and underappreciated vegetable. Many infants have a sense enough to stage a sit-down strike, threatening to starve in the midst of plenty, thus bringing their parents appropriately out of the spinach hallucination.
~~

The author goes on to describe what other foods have iron (other green vegetables, liver, egg-yolks, etc.). But I don't care what those infants think -- I still want to buy, cook, and eat my spinach!!

Please? The restrictions have been eased, haven't they? Sigh.

1936: Wise Use of Leisure

Some of you may not be aware that I play the french horn. I have since fourth grade, and since graduating from college a bazillion years ago it's been off and on whenever I can find a group to play with. (I don't do so well solo.) I'm currently playing with my local Takoma Park Community Band, and I just put together a Web site for our group. (Disclaimer: I'm hoping that posting here will get Google to find the link and index the page for us.)

Not to completely make this about Google's index, I thought I would share an excerpt from a chapter titled "Wise Use of Leisure." It is from the 1936 book titled Everyday Living for Girls, by Adelaide Laura Van Duzer ("Formerly supervisor of home economics, Cleveland Public Schools") and a handful of other Cleveland authors.

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Leisure means your right to choose.Leisure time is generally considered free time, when you do the things you enjoy, when you choose what you want to do. Nobody or no outside force causes you to do or act. It is the time when you are not doing dishes, making beds, doing homework, dressing, or washing out silk stockings. Practicing a musical instrument might or might not be a leisure activity, according to whether you chose to do it for recreation, or were studying it vocationally. Leisure time might be spent in arranging flowers, or even in getting the living-room ready for a party. When you really enjoy doing something and choose to do it yourself, it is a leisure activity. . . .
~~

Later in the chapter, the authors discuss the importance of community facilities when seeking out leisure activities:

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Some girls do not take advantage of community facilities because they do not know about them. Find out what yours are. For instance, if you are musical and wish to join an amateur orchestra or string quartet, or would like to do ensemble singing, look around; find out if there is a group you may join or help form. In own town the young people established their own little theater. Opportunity for different types of self-expression was given. One group became responsible for the costumes, and splendid artistic effects were achieved at little cost.
~~

All this talk about leisure seems fitting after the nice, long holiday weekend, that's for sure.