The Way it Was

(NewsShare is starting a new Feature: The Way it Was. This column will contain short items about advice to travelers in the past, humorous or ironic by our standards. If you have such items, please send them to Karl Neumann, Editor, NewsShare, at travhealth@AOL.com)

Foot care for travel in mid-nineteenth century England

To prevent the feet from blistering, it is a good plan to soak the inside of the stockings before setting out, making a thick lather all over them. Also, a raw egg broken into the boot, before putting it on, generally softens the leather. And, of course, the boots should be well greased when hard walking is anticipated.

After some hours on the road, after the feet are beginning to be chafed, take off the shoes, and change the stockings; putting what was the right stocking on the left foot and the left stocking on the right foot. Or, if one foot only hurts, take off the boot and turn the stocking inside out.

… The Art of Travel by Francis Galton, London, 1872

Stage coach transportation etiquette, circa 1850

Should a person, in Travelling for any considerable distance, and sitting backwards, meet with Companions who close the windows, and pertinaciously persist in prohibiting the importation of Oxygen; - if all arguments on the necessity of ventilation are unavailing, and your Lungs fell oppressed from the lack of fresh air - you may let your stick or Umbrella fall (accidentally) against one of the Windows; i.e. if you are of opinion it is more advisable to give a Glazier 3 shillings to replace a pane of Glass, than it is to pay double that sum for Physic to remove a Pain in your Head, which you will otherwise get by breathing Foul Air.

… From Take a Spare Truss, Tips for Travellers. Compile by Simon Brett. London, 1860.