Dead People Stuff Antiques

Photo:  Source

A quaint antique store in Bloomfield, Ontario tells it like it is as to what they are selling...Dead People's Stuff.

Photo:  Source

From the photos, they have some cool vintage items too such as:

Back in the olden days before there was running water, I recall my Grandma telling me people would do their daily hygiene of washing up using a setup like this with a pitcher and a bowl, along with a washcloth of some sort.  

While this may look inconvenient, it is much better than going to the bathroom around WWII, which involved an outhouse and a page out of Sear Roebuck catalog to wipe with.

This looks to be "Depression" era glass that was common in the 1920's & 1930's made during the "Depression" era after the stock crash of 1929 which lead to rationing of everything from shoes to food.    

My ex-mother in law used to collect it and advised that the way to tell a real piece from a fake one, as there are many reproductions, besides getting to know the patterns, is there are raised seams on the side of the glass as it was pressed, scratched easily and sometimes by the tint in the glass

Below are some vintage kitchen tools, the one in the center being an 1895 apple peeler that reportedly still works.  Also, the theing on the left with a green handle is a manual mixer - my Mom used to have one.

Photo:  Source

Here is a 1950's bedroom set now turned into a computer station,

Photo:  Source

This one makes me feel like an antique too as I got a used typewriter for Christmas when I was 12 almost just like the pic below but I thought it was cool that I was the only kid in my 6th-grade class with a typewriter.  It was fun to play with the having to hit the keys hard just to get it strike the paper that made it (at least what I thought at the time) look like it was oh so professional way to write a letter, just like a business would have.   

Photo:  Source

1895 8th Grade Final Exam

My Uncle Mike sent this to me - it is an actual 1895 8th Grade Final Exam for a school in Salina, KS.  It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications. 
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and 'run.' 
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation. 
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. 

Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For tare? 
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000.. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods? 
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt 

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of   America by Columbus   
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States   
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas   
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion. 
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865. 

Orthography (Time, one hour) 
[Do we even know what this is??]
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals 
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.'
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each. 
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last. 
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks 
and by syllabication. 

Geography (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ? 
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America   
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco   
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each..
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude? 
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

I wonder how many high school students (or adults) today could answer all these questions (I know I couldn't!).