That sounds like the way a whole lot of Appalachian families lived when Kennedy was President and we were getting ready to land a man on the Moon.
I guess they were lucky to have lived before the busybody generation came along and seized their kids.
When I moved into this house in 1990, it had no plumbing.
I had an outhouse and a hand pumped well.
I can’t say I was thrilled but for a year, I made do until plumbing was put in.
[useless ex, long story]
Took baths in a tub on the kitchen floor, with water heated on a cook stove.
It was far from the end of the world.
There are people living in the hills who still have no plumbing and raise all of their own food.
My dad was one of 11 kids, most born during the depression, 10 of whom survived and all of whom shifted their own weight on the farm, in whatever capacity they were able, from the time they could walk.
I heard all of the stories and considered it all just the way it was, for a while.
People have grown too soft.
I grew up running loose and alone on the ridges and among the farm animals.
I consider myself blessed, for that.