hints

Bachelor Buttons for emergency repairs

The "Hint's to Tourists on The Lincoln Highway" guide mentions the various items to bring along for the Transcontinental trip. Most of the things are recognizable, like scissor (small), or a camera. Some items are less recognizable for their uses. A Rubber Sheet 6x7, yellow goggles, or "bachelor buttons?"

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Bachelor Buttons, in this case, are buttons that use a stud pressed through the fabric and into a top button. They were sold extensively in the late 1800s and early 1900s as emergency buttons. There is a poem, "A Bachelor's Button," which is a lament by a man whose lover never sewed his button on his coat and had to use a bachelor's button to repair it. Haven't been able to find a copy of that poem.