Before the Age of Technology
by Harry Hall, retiree

Although we feel at times technically incompetent, most of us who have been recently retired (or soon to retire), can navigate our computers reasonably well.  Our email account fills up daily with literally dozens of 'forwards;' most to do with the aging process, politics, and/or “Beautiful Photographs.”  While we were still working, we often were amused at our colleagues and/or subordinates sending us emails instead of just  coming across the hall to talk to us, (we may have been guilty, too!).  Some of us have joined Facebook and most of us can navigate to E-Bay to look for bargains.  However, when it comes to hooking up our home theater systems, many of us rely on the Geek Squad....and we rely on our children (or grandchildren) to help us program our Harmony Universal.  We marveled at the 3D Technology displayed in the movie, “Avatar,” but have come to expect that a new widget or computer system will be coming out next week...(like Apple's I-Pad).  Indeed, many of us retirees have benefited personally from robotic surgery and/or enhanced medical technology.  Computer chips are now in everything!

 However, we forget that it wasn't really that long ago that none of this present day technology existed.  We need to go down a bit of memory lane (and, not that long ago), to see just how far we have come.  To our children and grandchildren, this will sound a bit far-fetched and foreign, as they have never been without TV, Cell-phones, or computers.  Heck, the younger ones do not even know what a 45 record, or a mimeograph is.  To get a perspective of life just a little before my time, I had a great discussion with my mother-in-law (she is 90 years old) on her growing up in rural Mississippi.  This was in the 1920's and still considered part of the era of the Age of Industrialization. Instead of relying on technology for the exchange of information, people mainly met face to face and shared their knowledge directly with each other.

 Delma Bustin (Mrs. B.), was raised in the country just outside of Laurel, Mississippi.  She was the oldest girl of six children.  Her family had no electricity in the 1920's and in-deed, even after she married in 1936, she and her husband had no electricity in their first home.  There was no electricity in the school either, and she and her siblings 'really' did walk to school and church.

 With no electricity, there was no furnace, light bulbs, or refrigerator.  To keep their milk and some perishable food fresh, they had huge iceboxes in the kitchen.  These were well insulated cabinets that stored ice to keep the interior cool.  Each icebox had a drip pan underneath to catch the water that melted.  An ice delivery man would come by once or twice a week, and for 5 cents, would deliver a large chuck of ice.  For those not fortunate enough to have an icebox, they would dig a hole under the home and line it with straw or sawdust.  They would place their ice there, and it would keep for about a week.  Let me tell you, there is nothing better than a pitcher of cold ice tea when you have been working the fields in the hot Mississippi sun.  Another pleasure was to hand-crank homemade ice cream in the yard, (with ice and salt), and share it with friends, who gathered either on porches or in the yard in the early evenings.

 Usually each room of the home had only one oil lamp or lantern to provide light.  Mrs. B. remembers when her father purchased a large oil lantern (called Aladdin's Lamp) and it provided enough light for all of his children to sit around the large, round dining room table and do their homework at night.  (She still has this lantern)  As you could guess, folks tended to go to bed early and wake up early in the morning, to take advantage of the sunlight.  Since there was no central furnace, it would be “cold” in the mornings in the winter time, and one would get dressed very quickly to get warmer. (Due to fear of fire, there was no gas heater on during the night).  It would be very hot during the summer nights, and many would leave their  (screened) windows open at night in hopes of a cool breeze.

 Hard work was the norm those days.  Everyone had chores to do.  Each family had a garden to tend to and those with property grew crops and raised hogs, beef or chicken.  Tractors were around by then, but few had them.  Most plowed their fields by hand and mules.  (I have two 'decorative' plows in my backyard that my wife's father actually used.)  The children all pitched in; either plowing or milking the cow, picking vegetables, shelling beans, or hauling bales of hay.  (There was not a lot of leisure time to get into trouble).

 Canning vegetables, preserves and fruits, and smoking meat was very common.  When a hog was ready to be eaten; it was killed and hung up on the oak tree in the yard to be dressed.  A portion of the fresh meat was shared with other family members or local neighbors, while some of it was cooked.  The fat was rendered to lard by boiling it in large iron pots over an open fire, and then the cooked meat was stored (preserved) under the lard in crocks until it was ready to be used.  A lot of the meat was smoked in the smoke house and hung there (stored) until used.

 Perhaps folks did not have all of the 'possessions' that are deemed important to have today, but they never went hungry and they never had to worry about not having anything to do.  It really was not all work for the kids either;  they got to swim in the creek or in the stocked ponds.  The younger kids were outside all day in the summer months and only came home for meals.

 Many families during the Depression Years did not have enough spare money to buy 'store-bought clothes.'  They would take the large flour sacks they purchased and made shirts, dresses or aprons from them.  The flour suppliers knew this and would place printed patterns on the cloth sacks to enhance the dress or apron.  Mrs B. learned to sew and cook at school...(starting approximately in the 7th grade).   They used a foot peddle  Singer Sewing Machine (we use the iron frame from one of them as a decorative night stand in one of our bedrooms).  Purchased jelly jars became great tea glasses.  Everything that could be re-used....was!

 Another aspect of life right after the depression was that folks had a fear of investing, and tended to not trust the financial institutions.  You no doubt have heard of “hiding their money under a mattress, or digging a hole in the back yard and burying it.”  Many folks did not trust buying stocks (nor really understood the benefits of long term investments).  Indeed, many of that generation did not wish to borrow money if they could help it, and only did so for the “large” purchases, such as homes and cars.  Mrs. B's husband would always go and “borrow” the money to purchase his latest car or pickup, but he would always come up with the cash to pay off the loan in 90 days.  Mrs. B's father was a county supervisor  when she was a young girl, and he owned  a fair amount of land.  As all of his children grew up, he deeded each of them land when they married so that they would have their own home.  In addition, as Mrs. B grew up and married, her father would  give her the profits of his land (cattle, farming, etc) and told her “To take care of it.”  So, she took it to the bank and invested it for him in savings accounts and CD's.  When both he and his wife passed on, Mrs. B took the money and divided it  equally to her siblings and herself.  Investments tended to be much simpler than what we are exposed to today.

 Well, I could go on and on, but perhaps you get the picture.  Perhaps poor in today's sense of material possessions,  they were Rich in working together to provide for their families.  Everyone was extremely close to one another, especially families.  Love of God and country prevailed.  Hard work they did, but not because they were forced to...they chose this life style.  Instead of emailing or 'texting' each other, they would get together in the early evenings to visit and actually talk to each other and perhaps share some ice cream or help each other shell beans.  Everyone in the community really knew each other. 

 Today, while technically more advanced, folks appear to be more isolated from one another.  They rely more on emails, texting, and phone calls, rather than personally meeting and resolving common problems and setting goals face to face.  Far from using well structured English in their writing, many resort to abbreviations and shortcuts, fracturing the English language.

 So, when you get down in the mouth because your PC, TV, or I-Pod / Blackberry doesn't work right, reflect on the life style folks had just before your generation.  All of our gadgets are amazing and can be helpful, but there can be a wonderful life without them.  Take the time to get to really know your friends, help those in need, and just sit down and “talk” to each other!!!

  About the author:

Harry Hall worked for Chevron for 33+ years.  He has been a client of Valentine Capital Asset Management for ~ 6 years, and has written several articles for their Newsletter.  He retired in 2004 as a Manager in Marketing, and moved from California to Keller, Texas, with his wife, Wanda.  He set up a small consulting company, (HLH Consulting, LLC), where he works on a part time basis, and stays very active exercising, golfing, tending to his yard, singing in his church choir, and is the agent of his Homeowner's Association.  Mrs. B (his mother-in-law) now lives with Harry and Wanda in Keller.