For some reason, this piece of good news was buried on about the sixth page of the paper! Taxes were 85 cents less, despite a higher school tax than last year. Come on guys! Be proud of this 🙂

Right above this little article was an advertisement for Ann Arbor’s Brewing Company. They offered a lager that, the ad said, was so amazing that it you gave it a trial, you would use no other. That language tickled me…it sounds like something you would say about shampoo or a carpet cleaner, not a beer!

Other advertisers were not playing around–winter was coming, and you’d best be ready! My friend, Bruno St. James (I feel like B and I bonded during the writing of my book. I really hope to meet him in some other dimension/afterlife/plane of existence one day and say hey in person) was selling ladies’ fleece lined underwear, men’s all wool natural grey underwear, children’s heavy bicycle hose and ladies’ wool hose. Each pair was for sale for $1.00 or less because my man B offered reasonable prices. He was awesome.

Wadhams, Ryan & Reule were another store that I came across during my research. Their ad featured huge letters that said THE COLD WEATHER IS RIGHT AT OUR DOOR. Underneath this, they said “with a full realization of what the word cold means we print it here in big bold type”. They were selling overcoats and winter suits (I think they were a men’s only store) for around $10.00. Later in the ad, they intimated that “other” places were making pieces of crap and then acting like it was a big deal to “mark them down” to $10; however, Wadhams was so sure about their goods that they would “make you a present” of their merchandise if you found it was not as good or better than the other guys’ stuff.

A cure for stomach upset, or “dyspepsia” was announced! Some guy named Dr. Drake invented a cure, and local druggists were selling it.