[backhoe]

Probably working as a lineman in the open air saved him. So many things in those days were touch and go -- most of us would be dead a couple of times over if we'd lived back then.

Dad liked to say "it weeded out the weaklings," and I guess he was right- he was one of twelve children, and roughly half of his siblings died before they reached adulthood, of diseases many people today have never even heard about.

Of course, "death by misadventure" was really common then, too-- when Miss Emily worked at the church, the old records there listed an astounding number of members who died from falls.

Down stairs, off ladders, roofs, and the masts of ships.

The "old days" weren't quite as nice as some would have you believe.

[AnAmericanMother]

Since I was a history major with a specialty in military history, I never had ANY illusions about the "good old days". Of my great-great grandfather's nine children, only one lived into middle age (fortunately my great-grandfather had the good sense to beget my grandmother before he died at age 26).

Give me modern surgery, antiobiotics, and obstetrical practice EVERY time. I'd probably be dead if it weren't for modern medicine!