Old West (1860s-1880s)

Public Domain Works

  • The Ladies' Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Florence Hartley (1860)
  • An Overland Journey From San Francisco to New York by Way of the Salt Lake City by Edmund Hope Verney (1865)

    • Relevant Fiction

  • When We Caught Fire by Anna Godbersen

    Sitcom Shenanigans

  • Horse seems lame and then when it's checked on, it spooks and ditches and is probably at home later
  • Disobedient sheepdog
  • Cattle casually wandering out of a broken fence
  • "I saw some cows wandering around so I put them in a pasture" and they're impossible to move to another one
  • Caught sneaking champagne at a party
  • Spying on new wealthy neighbors
  • Trunk delivered to wrong train station
  • Woman wears full black when not in mourning
  • Guys fall over themselves trying to court the new schoolteacher
  • "In today's Christian world, it just doesn't seem relevant"
  • Keeps losing hats
  • "Fuck you, strong letter to follow"
  • Coffee too strong
  • Can't get a hold of required book before monthly Book Club meeting
  • Surprised with guests and has to host
  • Comedy of errors with a puppy busting through a dinner party
  • Woman never wears bonnets
  • Horse actively lunges to eat grass at all times
  • "Are y'all missing a little horse?"
  • "At least we're not in Denver"
  • Specifically needs one thing cleaned by tomorrow and all laundries close at 6
  • Goes to cool off in a river and fails to notice someone's already there, or loses an article of clothing in the current
  • Tries sewing something and accidentally attaches clothes to a curtain or a blanket
  • Saloon girls gossiping in Spanish
  • Circuit judge out of town
  • Steals a guy's cigar to flirt and chokes on it
  • Elegantly dismounts a horse and lands straight in mud
  • "I have to be the hottest person at the church picnic"
  • Does hair perfectly but it's windier than expected on the way to town and on arrival it's a mess
  • Some old dude takes every opportunity to yell about the Confederacy
  • "I've never been sick. I've lived through three epidemics"
  • Caught reading a romance novel while waiting on a train or a stage outdoors
  • Guy somehow knows every saloon girl in town
  • Finds out ex has been working at the telegraph station and interfering with telegrams from new long-distance partner
  • Someone always tells a fake story of having been shanghaied
  • Someone never removes their gloves
  • Woman always wears the same dress
  • Pushed into standing in as a cashier at the general store while a friend steps out
  • Find out shortly before it has to be done that they've been signed up to make a dish for a church dinner
  • Comes into church service late and has to sit with someone random
  • Only knows how to play one or two songs on the piano

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