One of the sheets of newspaper that had been laid as insulation under lino, is from The Maitland Daily Mercury, October 7, 1918.

Others were from May 7 and July 9, 1921.

Yellow and a little torn in places, the 1918 paper makes interesting reading, particularly the advertisements.

One, from Chant & Co. Ltd.,  boasts that women need not read a new book called: A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband.

The skirt and blouse store suggests it is better placed to help women “please the good man” with “eight good suggestions” in the form of clothing on sale.

“We found the paper in what was originally the lounge room,” Mel Hill said.

She had been removing carpet and lino with her husband Simon.

“When we were ripping up the lino we were using a Stanley knife and we thought ‘how lucky are we’, we didn’t cut the paper,” Mrs Hill said.

They read the papers and found some things do change over time.

“We just laughed thinking how much women’s rights have changed,” she said.

“If you put a book out like that now you’d get shot.” 

The couple debated whether to preserve the four-page sheet themselves.

“We we’re thinking of keeping it and framing it but we decided it was best to give it back to the Mercury.”

Fall of Damascus – Damascus has fallen, and the Peal of the East, the oldest continuing city in the world’s history, has been in our hands since this morning.

West Maitland Police Court – James Charles Roarty pleaded guilty to being drunk on Saturday evening and was fined 2/6 or 10 minutes’ imprisonment. Roarty was also charged with having maliciously damaged a plate glass window.

Balkans and Near East – King Ferdinand of Bulgaria abdicated on Thursday in favour of his son, Prince Boris.