This Century As Seen Through the Eyes of An Octogenerian

As I look back, I am grateful that I was born in the very early half of this century. I have seen so many changes in our life style. I LIVED history.
 

Way back then, clothing was very different. Women wore long skirts down to their ankles. The shoes, at least in winter, were high button. or laced halfway up the calf. Men wore three-piece suits and tie. Babies wore only white with ribbons and lace. They hung below their feet. Later baby boys wore rompers. If company came for a visit, men put on their suit coat--they must not be caught in their shirtsleeves. Country women had 2 housedresses but in the afternoon for "going out", they had dark skirts and fancy white blouses. Closets were small because no one had many clothes. I can remember having to wear a pinafore apron over my Sunday dress when I came home from Sunday School. It, too, was fancy with lace and ribbons and made of dotted Swiss. Sunday was for church, reading, visiting, or company visits.
 

I remember the old kerosene lamp. There was one in every room. Every morning they were carried to the kitchen and set on a newspaper-covered table. Each chimney had to be cleaned, the wicks trimmed and refilled with oil. Then, each returned to its room. When my dad bought our first home, he had it wired for electric lights. Our neighbors were all elderly and were very upset. They told our family that if our house burned down, theirs would also--electric lights were dangerous. After a few years when they saw our house still standing, they bravely had their homes wired also. What a blessing it was to have electricity. Now, everything runs on some type of energy--we take it for granted.
 

We had our groceries delivered. Also coal, and wood often delivered by horse and team. A fishman came once a week with fresh fish from the fish pier in Boston. The butcher came with his cart on Thursdays. The iceman three times a week. We bought extra ice on Saturday quite often for ice cream on Sundays, made in a hand-cranked ice cream maker. Most people paid for their groceries once a week. The rest of the week, it was put 'on the bill'. Foods were put in paper bags and weighed. Cheese was cut from a big wheel under a glass dome. You didn't say you wanted a pound, you said, 'cut me a slab'. Very few things were pre-packed. Even cookies and crackers were loose.
 

Nothing was wasted. We saved string, foil, and rags. Tea came in a tin-foil package. We, kids, kept newspaper bales and sold them to the rag man--this was our spending money. Mothers sold their rags and foil to him. I think the ladies had a contest to see who had the largest ball of string.
 

Autos were very different then. They were open cars with windows you put on in winter. They were made of rubberized material. The windows were imitation glass. Tires had removable tubes. When you had a puncture, you removed the tire from the rim, and dipped it in a tub of water--when you saw bubbles, you knew where the puncture was and you patched it with a repair kit. Then it was put back on the car. Top speed at that time was about 35 mph. Once we drove to New York in our old touring car--we left at 6:00 AM and arrived about 6:00 PM. Not one of us said "How much farther?"
 

There were good time and bad. We won WW1, then came the Bank Holiday and the Stock Market Crash. This brought on the Great Depression. Businesses failed, things were inexpensive, but people had no money to spend. With Franklin Roosevelt came the era of using initials--WPA, CCC, etc. Today you have IRA, CIA, FBI, to name a few. WWII came along and mothers entered the work force. Now it takes 2 working parents to run a home. New inventions kept happening. They were only dreams at the beginning of the century.
 

Modes of transportation changed. Streetcars and trains were our transportation. Then came buses, planes and everyone had to have a car. People stopped using buses, so they disappeared. I can remember when the train depot in Bellingham was a busy place. Most people worked out of town, and took the train to Boston, Woonsocket, Franklin and places in between. For entertainment we had movies--Saturday was a continuous performance. There was a newsreel, a western, a feature film and sometimes cartoons. The drawing card was a serial that ran one episode a week to keep us coming back. All this cost us 10 cents for matinees and 25 cents for evenings....We played games, had popcorn and listened to nice stories and big bands on the radio. The Ladies Aid served suppers every so often as did the Grange. Everyone went to them.
 

Now, everyone has 2 cars, radios, televisions (his, hers, and the teens). Even little tots have battery-powered toys. All of these new gadgets are why both Mom and Dad have to work: As for Daycare, in our day Grandmas lived with the family and were the daycare providers.
 

Drugs were bought in the drug store legally. We never heard of the other kind. Prohibition was still a law in the 1920's. "Bootleg liquors" were around and caused much trouble for the police, etc.
 

Christmas brought 'free buses' to Milford and Woonsocket, paid for by the merchants. As a kid, my favorite store was Woolworth. What interesting things you could but for a nickel or a dime. In our house, stockings were filled by Santa. I found a harmonica in my stocking when I was 6 and taught myself how to play some songs.
 

Credit cards didn't exist, but most customers bought groceries, coal and wood from Thayer's Store. These were delivered free of charge. We had a weekly tab at the store. This was handy as kids could run errands for the family, or neighbors, and say, "put it on the bill".
 

I have lived through the "Great Depression, WWI, WWII, The Korean War, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. I have been very proud of our country and their dedication to win. We have been generous with our Allies and our Enemies. People are still risking their lives to get into America. Living in Florida, I hear a lot of it.
 

Now, we have computers everywhere. "On-Line, E Mail, Chat Lines" to name a few. Even at my age, I would like to have a computer, but finances say NO.

 

What more wonders are ahead of us?????

 

Dorothy Spencer