How to Cook Sparrows, Make Peanut Butter, Travel by Train, 1910s and 1920s

Recipes and advice from Times Down Home: 75 Years With Progressive Farmer. This book, containing a collection of articles and photos from Progressive Farmer was published in 1978.

Here are three recipes culled from magazines published between 1912 and 1916 (from pages 84 & 85):

Dandelions Boiled --Gather them before they bloom and become bitter. Cut off the roots, wash well and boil in as little salted water as possible. Drain; season with butter, salt and pepper. Serve with a little vinegar and hard-boiled egg.

To Cook Sparrows—Cut off the legs and wings at the “knee and elbow.” Skin beginning at the neck, slit down the spine with a sharp knife. Open out the bird, remove the viscera, wash quickly. Never salt and soak as poor cooks sometimes treat fowl. Brown in butter or dripping from breakfast strip, add water or milk and let simmer with cover on. Season with salt and pepper.

These may be broiled and served on toast, seasoned with salt, pepper and butter, or the breasts can be wrapped in a piece of bacon, put in a quick oven and served hot.

Peanut Butter—Roast the nuts, shell and rub in a towel to loosen the brown skin, which must be blown off. Dust lightly with salt. Grind at once. Pack into glasses, cover and keep in a cool place. Some people like to add a little mustard, paprika, red pepper, or cottonseed oil.

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The following advice for train travel is from an article published in 1917 or 1918 (page 92):

Every year we urge the girl who is going away to school to consider her conduct on the train. No one asks her to be a prude, to sit up in a corner in prim rigidity when she is young, alive and interested in everything and everybody; but this we do ask, that she be sweet, friendly and courteous, but never soft, silly or looking for admiration. There is a certain impersonal air about the right girl which all recognize and respect.

There is scarcely a train on which one can get nowadays but there are many soldiers on it. They are happy, care-free and eager for entertainment. Should a girl not talk just a very little to some clean, manly-looking chap when he is kind enough to carry her suitcase in and out of the train for her? Sad as it seems to say, she should not unless her mother or some responsible older person is her companion. It is a case of the ninety and nine being denied for the sake of one who would betray the trust.

Dress quietly but neatly. A dark dress with a couple changes of neat collars and cuffs enables one to keep clean.  A suit, shirtwaist and quiet hat are always in good taste. Very low necks and thin stockings are abominations.

Talk quietly. Untravelled young persons sometimes think they appear merry and attractive when they giggle and chatter. A thoughtful observance of the most attractive persons on the train will reveal the fact that a real lady reserves her gaiety for less public places.

Reading on the train is bad for eyes but good for morals. A girl provided with some light reading becomes absorbed in it and is not likely to seek entertainment of a more dangerous kind.