This is fabulous! I guess as a self-reliant person you have alternate light sources around the house. I do. I pick up little lamps when I’m antiquing and run them on mineral oil as in my photo.
I get the wicks wherever I can find ones that fit. But I didn’t know this piece of advice about trimming a wick. Apparently you should gently rub away the charred edge and never cut it. You only use scissors if there are a couple of raggedy ends left after you have removed the soot and char.
There are many more handy household tips over on these scans of old cigarette cards at the New York Digital Library Digital Collections website.
Cigarette cards were once issued by tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands. These are from British cigarettes produced around the 1910s.
