A better time, in many ways.
He worked most of his life as a carpenter and never had a written contract, a handshake was trust enough.
Sigh .... Some of us have to work with cheeseparing, chiseling bastards. It makes a fellow paranoid, after a while ...
Only one person in all those many years broke that trust with a bad check.
I'll go out on a limb and guess that he didn't really harbor a grudge against that person.
No, grudges just weren’t done. but even with contracts in triplicate people get ripped off and I’ve spent a few dollars in small claims court myself. Even hired a lawyer who took my money and died.
Try to sue someone and your lawyer skips town by dying, the bum!