Woman’s Three Dangers
The very title of this article betrays the information contained. For the past 40 years, I have been actively collecting unique and unusual antique “Lifestyle” books. These books were often written by very unqualified “experts” who proposed all cures, solutions, theories, and instructions on how to live, improve, elevate, and change your life. The books were usually bought by uneducated people who bought them because of the cover art and appearance, based on how they would look in the formal sitting room, rather than being selected for their usefulness or the accuracy of their content.
One of the first books in my collection was the one pictured above. “The Farmer’s HOME LIBRARY of Useful Information”-A Guide to Success. I have read this book many times because of the outlandish writing style and the outrageous information included in the book. Published in 1918 by L.G. Stahl. The book contains information on all basics of agriculture and having come from a farming background myself I can attest that most of this information is very basic but fundamentally useful.
Then the author strays into “lifestyle” advice to the farmer. I think this may take two installments to fully address the information that he imparts to the hapless farmer who stumbled upon the book for purchase. The most outrageous portions have to do with advising the poor “farmer” about how to “identify and select” a…
