Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1886 — My Laly’s Back-Scratch. [ARTICLE]

My Laly’s Back-Scratch.

Happening one day in my lady’s boudoir,*l picked from the cabinet what I took for a pretty bit of bric-a-brac. It was an ebony stem about.fourteen inches long, not thicker than one’s finger, and quite daintily turned. At one end was attached a pretty little hand, deftly wrought in ivory. It could not be called a fist, for I noticed that the fingers were only half closed. The nails were well developed, and their ends or edges were set in a line. This artistic trifle was called a “backscratch.” My lady’s “back-scratch” was for use in that very much out-of-the way place between the shoulder blades. This handy implement, though an article of virtu, was in the line of luxury, although the amenities would hardly approve the indulgence before eyes polite.— Popular Science.