I may have posted this before (so old, I can’t remember) but I remember all of those, plus between the age of 11 and 13, I was the janitor in our one-room school for two years where I was required to sweep the oiled floors (oiled to keep down the dust) wash blackboards, pound dust from erasers every day after school and in the morning, I arrived two hours before anyone else to build fire, carry enough wood from the combination woodshed, outhouse to keep the fire all day and carry water in a five gallon pail to fill the water cooler from a local neighbor. I arrived in the winter before daylight and left after dark. There was no electricity, so we had kerosene lamps which I was responsible for keeping the globes sparkling. For these chores, I was paid the grand sum of one dollar a week, payable at mid-term and at years end ($13.00 twice a year) and todays children think they have it tough. Never heard of schoolbuses-walked the mile to school and back whatever the weather.
We never had a telephone (had to go to a neighbor to use their party line) and never had a TV until after I married.
DelaWhere,movies were ten cents when I was young and an ice-cream cone was a nickel (you could get the clerk to mix two flavors in one scoop if you asked nicely.)
>>>sweep the oiled floors<<<
Ooooh I can smell that oiled cedar sawdust we used to sweep over the wooden floors... Good memories!
>>>Never heard of schoolbuses-walked the mile to school and back whatever the weather.<<<
I was just shy of two miles, but was very lucky in that I got to ride a horse to school. Huge dapple gray Percheron mare - I would bring her up next to the barn and climb on the half barn door - swing out and climb on her back. At school I would slide off onto the hitching rail then tie her. Every day she would ‘hide’ behind a small sapling thinking you couldn’t see her and every day she acted like ‘aw shucks, he found me again.’
But that was only for the first grade - we moved after that and I went to a big 4 room school with 2 grades in each room.
Here the 10 cent movies were in another town (kind of a dingy railroad town) about 8 miles away - the Schine Theater had much better movies plus all the extra shows and cartoons so the extra was worth it. (at least we thought so)
My first paying job was in Cuba - got a peseta (20¢) for 4 hours weekdays and 8 hours weekends - taking kids for rides on ponies. You were responsible for grooming and saddling the pony and cleaning its stall too. I had to take a trolley to work 7¢ (you got a free return ride). Worked that for almost a year.
You were certainly a busy girl with your job.
I love reading about these memories you have from childhood. Thanks so much for sharing them.
It makes me very sad that 1) I only experienced the tail end of the good ol’ days and 2) that we are so far removed from them.
I don’t think ‘progress’ has benefitted us all that much. Most kids in my neighborhood are home alone much of the time, even those that have both parents at home. For the others, it is even sadder. Organized activities, and the added pressure from coaches and many parents to excel at them, aren’t even close to the playing kids used to do. And all the chores and hard work - what character it developed in your generation! I certainly don’t see much of it in my own generation and even less in my son’s.
I always said I should’ve been born about 20-30 years earlier. I love hanging out with older people and having them share their memories of a better time.