Right Church, Wrong Pew

My theme for A- Z is the year my book takes place: 1881. I"ll be posting about people, places, and random facts about the year as it relates - however distantly - to my book, West of Paradise.

Today's letter is R for 'Right Church, Wrong Pew,' one of the many curious expressions I discovered while researching my book and also the title of one of the chapters. Sort of like 'close but no cigar.'

Here are a few more you might find amusing:

Huckleberry above a persimmon: a cut above.

"She's a great gal that...a huckleberry above most people's persimmons."

Pucker: in a state of irritation or anger.

"My wife will be in a fine pucker when she finds this sum exhausted."

Not one's funeral: not one's business.

"Wanted: a nice, plump, healthy, good-natured, good-looking domestic and affectionate lady to correspond with, object - Matrimony. She must be between 22 and 35 years of age. She must be a believer in God and immortality, but no sectarian. She must be not a gad-about or given to scandal...Such a lady can find correspondent by addressing...Post Office Box 9, Yuma, A. T. Photographs exchanged! If anybody don't like our way of going about this...business, we don't care. It's none of their funeral."*






 *The above referenced material comes from Everyday Life in the 1800s by Mare McCutcheon.