History Lesson 1850's

In history class, we talked about traveling salesmen. The most notable in the United States is Aaron Montgomery Ward. He would travel from town to town and hand out catalogs. People would then scan through the catalog and place an order through the mail. Thus,the first mail-order company was born. But Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuk would perfect this new niche market and make a huge impact on how people shop. The catalogs were quite thick ( for the time ) and people would grab their Sears and Roebuk catalog and head to the outhouse. While taking care of their business, they would read the catalog and see what they might like to order. When business was concluded, a page was ripped from the catalog ( presumably from something they didn't want ). This got me to thinking that a phone book catalog could easily be substituted for toilet paper in a pinch. I'll have to set aside my recyclable phone book next time and store it for hard times. Better than leaves!