Pioneer home libraries in the New Carlisle area, circa 1800s, usually consisted of three books.
The Bible, or as some referred to it, the Good Book, was of paramount importance. It was handed down from generation to generation and not only included scripture but also the family tree. Important papers were often placed within its pages. Diligent parents read from it each week and children were assigned short passages to memorize.
Second to the Bible, as far as the man of the house was concerned, was The Old Farmer’s Almanac. It could be purchased from the local seed supplier or pharmacy. With a hole in the upper left corner for a piece of twine to be threaded through, it hung either in the kitchen or barn.
Besides planting schedules and weather predictions, almanacs held stories, jokes, advice (medical as well as personal), and recipes. Loaded with advertisements for anything from hair to medicinal tonics, corsets, long johns, popular livestock breeds and properties for sale, this all-encompassing publication could be had for a mere four cents in its early years.
Women read the almanac too. However, their delight was the “wish book”, the Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalogue. During long winter evenings, many a happy moment was spent pouring over the pages of “the consumer’s cheapest supply house on earth”.   
It’s true that by 1881, New Carlisle had two dry goods stores, two drug stores, five grocery/provision stores, one hardware/queensware store, one merchant tailor/clothing establishment, one bakery/confectionery shop, two harness shops, two tin/stove stores, two furniture/cabinet shops, one carriage shop, one wagon shop, one cooper, one shoe store with two shoe manufactories, one agricultural implement warehouse, two millinery establishments, one notion store, two meat markets and two nurseries.
Shopping locally had its advantages. However, the intrigue of sending off for finery, the fashions of which were not available locally, was one of the few opportunities for women to perhaps show-off.
Who wouldn’t turn a head when a Ladies’ Extra Fine Quality French Penang Shirt Waist showed up at the church supper-on-the-grounds? Who wouldn’t be gossiping over the fence when one Persian Percale Wrapper with puff top sleeves, Watteau back, full gathered front in steel gray/blue showed up at the monthly sewing circle?
Latest kitchen gadgets were a real treat for the woman of the house. She could spend her own hard-earned egg money on The American Waffle Iron, size #9 at 68 cents. Perhaps she needed a new Iron Gem Pan, weight 5 pounds, cost 17 cents.
Baking for church socials might have been more fun with a Turk’s Head Pan for 15 cents or assorted Patty Pans for 8 cents a dozen or perhaps an extravagant Cream City Flour bin and sifter at $1.10.
Most often only practical, must-have items were ordered. It was fun to wish on the pages though and perhaps every-once-in-a-while, a wish came true.
By 1908 there was one more book which might have showed up in local homes. The Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis’s Cookbook was being sold by door-to-door salesmen with success. Here are a couple of its recipes for using the above pans.

Raised Wheat Waffles
2 cupfuls flour
1½ cupfuls milk
½ yeast cake
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg

Boil milk and after adding the butter,
Let cool. Put the flour, sugar, salt in a bowl.
Add milk, yeast, beat well. Raise the batter
overnight. In the morning add the well-
beaten egg. Have the waffle iron hot and
greased. Cook the cakes quickly.

English Whigs

½ cupful butter
6 cupfuls flour
3 eggs
½ yeast cake
2 cupfuls milk
1 cupful sugar
½ pound currants

Rub butter into flour, beat eggs with
the yeast, the batter and add the milk.
Beat all until smooth. Cover and let stand
for 3 hours.
Then stir in sugar and currants. Allow to
stand one hour, pour into small greased tins
or patty pans. Fill half full, let stand till risen.
A quarter of an hour in a quick oven is
sufficient to bake them.

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