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Thread: would you live like it was the year 1800

  1. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spartana View Post
    Lets see... as a woman I would be the property of someone else with no legal rights to own land in my name, vote, work outside of the home, or divorce from my hubby (although he could easily divorce me and leave me homeless and penniless). I could be raped or beaten daily by my spouse with no legal consequences to him. I could be raped or beaten daily by my father with no legal consequences to him. I must do exactly what my parents wish at all times since childern are also "property" with no legal rights. I couldn't just go off on my own -ever. Couldn't travel unsupervised or unescorted. I would most likely be married off at the ripe old age of 13 only to die in childbirth at the riper old age of 18 or so after numorous births. I'd probably watch half or more of my children die of some horrible disease. I would be expected to work dawn to dusk and then late into each night doing endless mind boggling boring chores - only to awaken the next day and do them all again. i would be illeterate (OK so I am already ;-)!!), have no education what so ever - and no opportunity to ever get one. All sounds sooo romantic and fun!
    And unfortunately, that is a pretty accurate analysis.

  2. #42
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    I've thought up some other things I remember from my childhood during the Great Depression and WW2 -

    Babies: newborns were taken care of in a nursery by RNs. They were brought to their moms every 4 hours to feed them and then taken back to the nursery until the next time. They were bundled up in a blanket like a little mummy--no way to count their fingers and toes until we took them home. We were kept in the hospital for 7 days until the nurses thought we were ready to go home. There were no bassinets, car seats, even safety belts hadn't been invented, we just laid them down on the front seat.

    I sewed all their baby clothes, before they were born, on an 1899 model Singer treadle sewing machine, which my grandma had passed on to my mother and then to me. There were no disposables, no plastic pants to put over the diapers, I knit their sweaters, socks, bonnets, booties, etc. I learned how to darn socks I had knitted, which made them strong enough to wear for another year or so, to be passed down to their younger brothers, and even knit argyle socks for my husband.

    All our food was organic, since Monsanto hadn't yet discovered that spraying with chemicals would make our fruits and veggies last longer. We had several fruit trees in our back yard--cherries, plums, pears, apples, crabapples. All our baking was made from scratch, even bread, which smelled so delicious to come home to after school to eat for a snack with a glass of homongenized milk, brought to us every day in glass bottles by a milkman in a buggy pulled by a horse.

    Our food was kept in a cooler in the pantry before we got a fridge. We also had an ice chest which the iceman brought blocks of ice to put in it to keep our meat and dairy products cold.

    When we wanted to play with our friends, we stood outside on the sidewalk to call their names as loud as we could, and sooner or later their mother would come out and tell her daughter I was outside and wanted to play with her.

    More next time...

  3. #43
    Senior Member Greg44's Avatar
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    and my answer is still NO.

  4. #44
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    Yeah, I don't think I could do it.

  5. #45
    Senior Member ctg492's Avatar
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    Revisiting this post again. Lizii groing up in the 60-70s many of those items were true then in those years, minus the horse,ice chest and cooler. 60-70s still life seemed so much easier then now, but I was a kid/teen. I suppose my folks had the same stresses I have now. I loved the memory of standing outside yelling for my friend to come outside. I wonder what year that stopped? My kids never did it in the 80s.
    I have had stess in my life the last 6 months and running away and living like 1800s sounds good sometimes. Alas I know I would replace the stress with something else.

  6. #46
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    More memories...

    I didn't take math (arithmetic) after I started high school because I switched over to learn typing, shorthand and bookkeeping (disastrous). It turned out to be exactly what I was good at, and I was happy to work in offices to use my skills.

    It was a good thing I did it, since my skills were always welcome at every office I worked in. In fact, I can still use shorthand to write down notes to myself. I was also a whizz at typing. By the time I returned to college in my early 40s both skills came right back. I never had a problem due to my age, in fact I think employers appreciated mature people since we had far more life eperience than younger people.

    My dad was a motorman on the streetcars before he joined the RCAF during WW2. When he returned after the war, he got his job back again until he retired.







    I was never refused a job after all the years I'd spent at home taking care of my children. In fact I think that my maturity helped me get jobs, since I'd had more experiences by living longer than the younger girls had. I was also past the age of getting pregnant, so they knew I wouldn't be taking time off to care for my children. In fact, they fired one young secretary because she'd had two pregnancies in a row, and she was already pregnant with her thirld child.
    Last edited by lizii; 4-12-12 at 4:30am.

  7. #47
    Mrs-M
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    Originally posted by Ctg492.
    I loved the memory of standing outside yelling for my friend to come outside.
    And being called by our parents to come in for lunch, supper, bedtime. I miss those days...

  8. #48
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Instead of retreating, couldn't we find a way to take the best of what we have today and reject the worst of it, and marry the old with the new?

    So we could keep things like:
    -the internet (I really believe that is has the power to transform us to the good)
    -our collective intelligence about art and science
    -washing machines and Keurig coffeemakers
    -service-oriented careers
    -efforts that give us hope that we can regenerate the earth

    And we could reject:
    -bigger meaning better
    -"needs" like Fruit Loops and 20 pairs of shoes
    -fear of tomorrow
    -ego-pumping careers
    -activities that degenerate the self and the earth

    And we could bring back:
    -community (without provincial thinking)
    -simple pleasures (with an appreciation for them this time around)
    -Dobie Gillis and Dr. Kildare

    -
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  9. #49
    Senior Member citrine's Avatar
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    Nope, I refuse to use an outhouse, would miss my dyson, my maytag washing machine and dryer, my internet/computer/nook, central air, comfy bed, and power tools!

  10. #50
    Mrs-M
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    Originally posted by Catherine.
    Instead of retreating, couldn't we find a way to take the best of what we have today and reject the worst of it, and marry the old with the new?
    My way of thinking exactly.

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