Here we have an intriguing little ad in which a baking powder manufacturer claims to know exactly what would be an "appropriate gift" for you - as long as you're either a maiden, wife, mother or cook (wait, I have a cook? I didn't know! In that case, I'd like tofu teriyaki for dinner).

But you have to send in the red circle from the label. Oh, and you also have to write a letter stating your "honest opinion" of Breadmaker's Baking Powder. Like hell they want my honest opinion! As long as I flatter them and tell them Breadmaker's solved all my problems, as well as making the best bread ever seen in the Dominion of Canada. Or anywhere.

I like how the maiden in the picture is ready for the golden almost-freebies to start dropping into her apron. She thinks she is getting all 10,000 of those appropriate presents, I reckon.

Advertisement is from the Canadian publication Dominion Illustrated, from July 1888.

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