And when I was a kid we had a coal bin...with coal in it that was delivered as needed. We had a ‘stoker’ which fed the furnace with coal...I shovelled many shovels full of coal into that stoker...on a daily basis...one of my wintertime jobs...and I did not get any ‘allowance’ for doing that...considered it a special treat that my Dad thought I could handle it in a responsible way.
I stoked the furnace too, and carried buckets upstairs for the cast iron, pot belly kitchen and living room stoves, and fired them up, too. I had to keep checking the coals and stoke when needed. Both Grandparents places were always toasty warm. Then came steam heat radiators and a few years later, huge forced air vents in the floors. AC was a few years away in the early-mid-60s, and Dad and I installed multiple window units - the first in the towns they lived in - to the amazement of the villagers.