Centenarians

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

Henceforth, these book reports will be a time-saving device. You need not read entire books anymore. Read these condensed versions instead. You'll have that much more time for your own blog.

Today I skimmed "Centenarians" by Bernard Edelman, published in 1999.

This book presents an oral history of dozens of people, mostly white (and a few blacks), who, at its writing, were more than 100 years old. All were born in the mid to late 1890's.

Here's what struck me as interesting:

A white Nebraska native says (white) people were afraid of Native Americans, and spread negative publicity about them. She lived near a Sioux reservation. A Native American took care of her and her mother when her father died-- when she was seven years old.

A black woman says corn bread was considered slave food by some people.

Edgecombe County in eastern North Carolina is half black, half white, and has been for decades. There were upper blacks, middle blacks and lower blacks. All lower blacks dug ditches for a living. There were also three classes of whites.

Southerners were taught to show respect for the Confederate flag and Confederate holidays. After the Civil War, there was controversy as to whether former Confederates should celebrate the Fourth of July.

Men attempted to intimidate women at polling stations, when women got the vote. Some women refrained from voting, so as not to piss off their husbands.

People made their own coffee from scratch, from coffee beans that were green. They were first roasted in a bread pan, then ground through a mill.

One man lived near a tribe of Blackfoot Native Americans. Their burial practice was to wrap bones in cloth, and put them up in trees. One of the man's numerous chores was to bury those bones in the ground.

Some teenagers found work as lamplighters in Pennsylvania. They would have ignite a certain number of gaslight lamps every day at dusk, and extinguish them every dawn.

During WWII, Nazi minister Goebbels put out the propaganda that Germany had "successfully" invaded the Soviet Union. One West German man says he viewed that as good news, because he knew the Russians would fight back. Polish prisoners agreed. He came to America in 1942, where he discovered he could actually find a job. And talk to women unintroduced, without getting in trouble. There was even free night school.

When telephones were first installed in residences, seven or eight families shared one line. The ring tone would be different for each household; for example, one long and three short rings.

Some people had a coin-operated gas meter. The gas was pumped into light fixtures, which one could turn on by striking a match. When the electric company was invented, it tried to convert people from gas to electricity by giving away appliances and light bulbs. Some people did not welcome electricity, because they were scared of getting shocked. The early electricity meters were also coin-operated. Before the electric iron, females' work was even harder, because ironing of clothing was done with irons in a fire that had to be constantly stoked.

In Maryland, Christmas, never July 4th, was celebrated by setting off firecrackers. There were gifts of pickles made to the "Negroes". The sound of a Revolutionary War cannon firing might be heard to herald the start of Christmas Day.

After the Civil War, the Confederate paper currency was worthless, so people burned it. However, coins were made of brass, so they were worth something.

About one hundred years ago, schools might have all grades one through eight in the same classroom. The teachers might be eighth grade graduates. There might be reading, spelling, arithmetic, penmanship, grammar, geography, history and physiology. But no gym, no art, no music. Students started each day by hearing a Bible passage, reciting the Lord's Prayer, and singing a patriotic song. The kids were sick a lot with chicken pox, measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough, hepatitis, malaria, and they were infested with black lice. Fortunately there was poisonous mercurial salve to kill the lice, and quinine for the malaria. Fun.

If a kid was bad in school, the teacher would punish him, and then parents would, too.

Cobblestones were used on roads to prevent stick wagons from getting stuck in the mud. People had to shovel snow off the roads themselves.

When cars were first introduced, drivers' licenses were issued, but some people just taught themselves to drive, and never got caught for not having a license. People got flat tires all the time, but also had tire repair kits. Sometimes horses got scared by cars, because cars were very noisy, before getting mufflers. Gasoline was sold in grocery stores, if at all.

Procter & Gamble used to have a huge line of soap kettles, and it still took 7 days to make one bar of Ivory soap. A better process was invented whereby the glycerine was removed before the fatty acids were converted into soap. A bar of soap then took two hours to make. Pringles potato chips never spoil because they are packed on a bed of nitrogen in a cylinder. In the early 1960's, P&G first failed at testing disposable diapers, because they did it one hot summer in Dallas.

In the 1920's, in India, females were not allowed to be medically treated by male doctors.

One way a man was tested to determine his fitness for the air force during WWII, was to spin him around in a dentist's chair. If he qualified, he might be sent to MIT for six weeks' training.

WAGES FOR WORKERS

sd's - single digits

long - sunup to sundown, 6-7 days/week

Year Job Approx. Pay Hours

1910's cotton farmer 5 to ? cents a pound long

19 teens self-employed optometrist $500 a day

19 sd's coyote killing $5 a head

19 teens drugstore clerk $1 a day long

1890's laundress $1 a day long

1890's outdoor manual laborer $1.50 a day long

1910's lamplighter $24 a month short

1910's railroad workshop 23 cents an hour long

1910's motorcycle & bike repair 50 cent an hour

1910's shoeshine stand $4-$80 a week

19 teens security guard $3 a week, free board

19 teens coat-button painter $8 a week

1920's domestic servant for rich $15 a week, free board

1910's restaurant cook $4 a week, free board long

19 sd's factory nail-puller $6 a week

1910's factory assembler $7 a week

19 teens ML baseball player $250-$450 a month long

1920 bicycle factory worker $25 a week

19 teens milkman $42.50 a week

1920's banker $70 a month

19 teens pre-union coal miner 40 cents a ton long

pre-union coal miner $9 a week long

1920's fridge installation mgr $75

19 teens seamstress $7 a week

1918 certified teacher $90 a month 1918 teacher $64.35 a month

19 teens Navy yeomanette $2 a day, free board

1930's WPA manual laborer $30 cents an hour

1930's coalmine paymaster $175 a month

19 teens train car factory worker $15 per unit