I have been compiling a collection of housewives’ handy hints drawn from the 1940s and 50s and published under the name of Aunt Daisy, a popular radio personality of the time, whose famous week-day morning programme on 1ZB went nationwide in 1937 and dominated the airwaves until 1963.
Aunt Daisy didn’t write these hints, they were written by her listeners in the post-war period of shortages and austerity, and later published in small volumes by Whitcombe & Tombs.
Today, many of the hints appear to be of dubious value, if not wrong, downright dangerous or simply naive. In some cases, we don’t even recognise the problem, let alone the solution.
But who are we to judge? These hints evoke tough times following the Great Depression and World War II. It was a time when few married women worked outside the home. But they did work hard – they had to. And, at a time when money was short and there were few home appliances or cleaning products, they had to be thrifty, experimental and resourceful, working with whatever materials were available to save money and make life more agreeable.
Here are a few of the “health”-related tips:
Cut finger – If you have a slight cut on your finger that won’t stop bleeding, just rub it with a piece of raw potato.
Fruit medicine – ½ lb each of figs, dates, and prunes put through the mincer. Mix well with 1 oz glycerine and 1 oz senna powder. Add a little brandy for keeping purposes.
Hair stimulant – Boil some marrow out of bones and combine with it in equal quantities, almond oil, white vaseline, olive oil, coconut oil, and half the quantity of castor oil. Rub well into scalp the day before washing hair.
Chapped hands – Mix equal quantities of mutton fat and icing sugar, and rub in night and morning and after washing. Better than ordinary sugar.
Choking – Get on hands and knees and cough.
Headache and “out of sorts” – Squeeze juice of half a lemon into half a glass of water, either hot or cold, and add ¼ teaspoon salt. Very effective.
Health salts – 4 oz Epsom Salts, 4 oz tartaric acid, 4 oz cream of tartar, 4 oz bicarbonate soda, 1 oz citrate magnesia, 1¼ lb icing sugar. Mix together well, sieve three times. Place in perfectly dry bottles and cork tightly. One or two teaspoons to a glass of water. Add a drop or two of essence of lemon to the glassful if desired.
Rheumatism – The undiluted juice of half a lemon taken the last thing at night and the first thing in the morning has been found very useful in relieving rheumatism. One teaspoonful of molasses, mixed with a little hot water, taken night and morning as above, has also been found very beneficial.
Bath salts for rheumatism and neuritis – 1 lb borax, 1 lb bicarbonate of soda, 1 lb washing soda, 6 packets Epsom Salts, a little oil of lavender to perfume. Mix by shaking together in jars. About half this quantity fills a quart jar. Put about a handful in the bath, and take bath before going to bed, as it induces perspiration.
Onions, after eating – To remove the smell of onions from the breath after eating them: chew dry tea, or a little dry coffee; or a little green mint; or a little parsley dipped in vinegar, or drink a glass of milk. Onions leave hardly any odour if they are covered with boiling water for 2 or 3 minutes after cutting up. Then drain and use as raw.
Shoes hurt heel – Soak some newspaper in cold water, squeeze, and lay up the backs of the shoes every time you take them off. Also wear a little sticking plaster where they rub the heel, to prevent a blister, and sponge heel with methylated spirits to harden the skin.
Robert Philip Bolton is a fiction writer who lives in Auckland.
