Attention Ladies! Indispensable Gin, Coffins And Catarrh, Buy Me!

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
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So you'd have thought this 1863 ad typical, showcasing a product specifically for women. Perhaps a little, er, raw. After all, a ' waist ' constituted ' underwear ' in today's language. Still, fair enough. But wait! Madame, while you're browsing classified ads.....

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Indispensable to Ladies and the safest, bestest ever, most refreshing drink in the whole, entire world.
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That should keep the ol' ball and chain quiet for a considerable period.

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This would not have helped. Using only ads during the war, thought we could take a peek through classifieds. Please note, few papers used illustrations- copious drawings came later. Still, enough to entertain and ok, annoy a little. Gin. Puleeze.
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Before/after was big- who knew just using McLean's could alter an artist so drastically, he drew better cartoon men?

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Anything with moving parts was ' hydraulic '.

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Finding carriages not looking like they could carry much...

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Did it come in almond, white and stainless steel?

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Ah. Those pesky women problems again. 1860's Xanax. May wish to sick with the Ladies gin.

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Or buy a hat

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Local garage

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Do not want to call for a circular describing symptoms because you'll sell me something I do not want.

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Coolest shoe ad ever

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Bone set! We used bone set when we were children- all the old folks had it. Grows around here all summer.

Of course there's more- less and less from Southern papers as the war went on. Read a journal written by a newspaper editor's wife. She said paper was so scarce her husband used old, unused rolls of wall paper just to get issues out.
 
I also suspect the gin would have at least been safer for most of the ailments mentioned than the patent remedies (which probably contained mercury and/or arsenic as well as alcohol). It's a wonder anyone survived to old age back then!

Thanks for the amusing collection!

Oh goodness, remember Mecurachrome? (sp?) Little, brown, square bottle, applicator in the lid? It was for cuts and abrasions- mothers slathered it freely through decades over childhood accidents. It dried the most marvelous pink. My husband the chemist nearly swallowed his teeth when I mentioned it- it's mercury. Duh. " Mecur.." Guessing mothers figured anything so obnoxiously pink must work.

So yes, good point, Gin was at least well, uncomplicated! And sterile. And ' back in the day ', whiskey was rubbed on infant's gums to alleviate teething pain. Anyone did that today, they'd bring back the guillotine.
 
Oh goodness, remember Mecurachrome? (sp?) Little, brown, square bottle, applicator in the lid? It was for cuts and abrasions- mothers slathered it freely through decades over childhood accidents. It dried the most marvelous pink. My husband the chemist nearly swallowed his teeth when I mentioned it- it's mercury. Duh. " Mecur.." Guessing mothers figured anything so obnoxiously pink must work.

So yes, good point, Gin was at least well, uncomplicated! And sterile. And ' back in the day ', whiskey was rubbed on infant's gums to alleviate teething pain. Anyone did that today, they'd bring back the guillotine.

Growing up, we had two staples in our house...Mecurochrome for cuts and scrapes and Camphophenique in the green bottle for mosquito bites and bee stings. Your description of slathering mecurochrome freely is perfect and is exactly what my mother and grandmother would do when they used it on us.
 
I do remember the mercurachrome. It was used all the time for cuts and scrapes. I remember it being used at camp. I guess I got my share of it as always had cuts and scrapes.

And if you got cut or scraped playing at a neighbor's yard and they didn't have mecurochrome, they always had iodine to "slather" all over the wound that ended up hurting worse than the wound itself.
 
I remember iodine too. I always got lots of scrapes when roller skating. My cousin and I would skate down the steep driveway into my Granddad's farm. We had many a spill and Granny would always be putting iodine all of the cuts and scrapes. We actually had contest who had most scrapes so could be painted with iodine. Kids could be so crazy.
 
I'll take one of those waist cinchers... oh, and a pair of those gaiting boots, please. You gullible wives can keep your gin.
 
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