I wouldn’t want to give up my modern conveniences, like electricity, indoor plumbing, telephone, internet, ect. But if I had to, I have confidence that I could manage to adapt to it, and maybe even benefit from it by being closer to humanity, and less disconnected by the constant bombardment I and the rest of us are subjected to day in and day out by modern life. There is a lot to be said about simplicity.
The points made by others about the advancement in medicine are probably the most important. Life expectancy at the turn of the century was much lower that today. Epidemics wiped out large segments of the population. My Mom’s family came from rural Kansas, her parents were born at the turn of the 20th century, and when the family left Kansas in 1935 at the height of the Dust Bowl, life in rural Kansas wasn’t much different than it had been in 1900. They didn’t have indoor plumbing, and had to go out to the the outhouse. And toilet paper was an expensive luxury, so the Sears and Roebuck catalog was cut in half and nailed to the wall of the out house. When the catalog ran out, they had a box of dried corn cobs for use after a BM. I never knew about this until I asked my Aunt Imogene one day why Grandpa always used the saying “rougher than a cob”, and she filled me in.
In about 1934 a Scarlet Fever epidemic hit their little town and my Mom, her three sisters and Grandma were quarantined in the house, because the girls all had the fever. Grandpa had to bring them food and leave it at the door, knock and go away before they opened the door. When the epidemic was over 1/3 of the population had died from Scarlet Fever, and Grandpa and the rest of the able bodied men left in town dug the graves for the mass funeral.
And people only bathed once a week, on Saturday, in the kitchen, in a big galvanized steel tub, with Grandma heating the water on the wood cookstove. And they all used the same water, one by one. Grandma hurt her back once trying to empty the tub herself and it bothered her for the rest of her life. During the week, people did sponge bathes using a basin and pitcher of cold water. She did have a gas powered Maytag Wringer, that had to be used outside, either in the yard if the weather was mild, or on the porch if the weather was bad. They didn’t have a refrigerator until the came to California in 1935.
My Dad’s family had similar experiences too. His Dad worked on the Railroad and the family moved all over rural Northern California during the 20’s and 30’s, often times without electricity, refrigeration or indoor plumbing.
Both of my parents had fond memories of their childhoods and wanted I and my siblings to experience some of what it was like for them. So one summer, in 1958 Dad rented a real log cabin in Chester, Calif. It did have a small bathroom with a crude shower stall and a toilet, and there were bare light bulbs hanging from the ceilings. But the kitchen had a great big cast iron wood cookstove and there was an ice box out on the back porch. My Mom took to that wood stove like a duck to water. There was plenty of kindling and split stove wood, so lighting the stove and keeping it going was no problem for her. I remember she baked an Apple Pie in a cast iron frying pan, because there wasn’t a pie pan in the kitchen, and it tasted great. Both my parents were just like kids for those two weeks we were in the log cabin, some of the happiest memories from my childhood. My dad was an attorney, and he especially liked not having a telephone. How different than today when everyone is connected 24/7, never a time to just enjoy the simple pleasures of life. I think my parents were on to something.
Sorry to ramble on so much, but I did want to point out that doing without modern conveniences isn’t necessarily all bad. Also, I too watched the 1900 House series, and enjoyed it at the time.
Eddie
