Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Bad Day/Good Day

Bad day: My best friend, my kitty Salem, is in the animal hospital :(
I woke up this morning to spots all over my bed and house of bloody urine and took him in first thing. He's there in isolation so they can get a urine sample from him. So far (7 hours later) he hasn't gone and his bladder isn't full enough to manually pull a sample so he may have to stay overnight.
He's also FIV+ so every 'minor' illness is major for him.
He will be 5 this summer and this is only his second time away from me! I hate it!

When I finally got to work today my coworker, who is aware of my affinity for old and obscure books, brought in two new ones for my collection. They were her grandfathers who was an Army Chaplin in WW1 and it meant so much to me that she gave them to me! They are "Self and Sex Series: What a Young Man Ought to Know" and "Personal Help Series: For Girls".





"What a Young Man Ought to Know" was published in 1904. It was used as a guide to educated men on the dangers of improper sexual behavior and 'self polution.



It's chapters include 'Personal Purity', 'Evils to be shunned and consequences to be dreaded', 'The reproductive organs - their purpose and prostitution' and 'the selection of a wife'. What a gem! I'm placing serious odds that I will rofl at least a dozen times per chapter.

The second book, "Personal Help for Girls" is even better. This work, published in 1918, includes this great advice: "It is also called 'self-pollution' because of its filthy nature and the injury it does to every organ of the body, faculty of the mind and power of the soul; or termed 'masterbation', which comes from two words meaning abuse of the body with the hand. If there is any uneasy feaaling in these parts that inclines you to rube them, you should mention it to your mama."

LOL. I died.

10 comments:

  1. Those are hilarious. I also am a collector of old books. My favorite is a Guide to running the household from the 1940's and it included such gems as " Your husband is going to be tired after a hard day at work. Bring him a cocktail and return to the kitchen to finish dinner. He will thank you for the peace and quiet and be more jovial."

    Fun.

    Following you from the EBT.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So sorry to hear about your kitty, hope the road to recovery is a short one.

    Those books sounds amazing, what gems.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, hysterical! I wonder how many of those girls "mentioned it to their mama" ; )

    Hope Salem feels better soon...

    (found you on the Etsy Blog Team!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hope your kitty has a better day today and all is fine!

    Your new books are sooooo cool and you are very lucky to have them in your collection.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 6 ROFL' just reading your post. Those must have been super Tabu back then!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lulu - I love it!! Definitely sounds like one I should add to my collection :)

    Thanks everyone for the well wishes to Salem. I'm sitting here at work trying to stay distracted and not check my phone every 30 seconds. I'll update as soon as I hear something!

    ReplyDelete
  7. HA! You need to post updates as you read. These are amazing.

    I'm your newest follower.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paige - maybe I should do a 'Personal Help for Girls' Tip of the Day feature on all of my blogs this month!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh these old sex books are so funny. I have one in my shop called "The Rational Sex Life for Men". It's a hoot! I guess we always thought the women were repressed but it wasn't much better for the men!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Divine - I checked out that book and it definitely seems like one that would be perfect for my collection!

    ReplyDelete