Bygone memories

By Elaine Haala of New Ulm

Can you remember, as little girls we wore undershirts and slips? We had rubber overshoes with a zipper and fake fur cuffs. We got home perms – with really curly hair. The only people with a tattoo was a sailor – not everybody and their grandmother. We had the Watkins, Fuller Brush, Jewel T, and Stanley Brush salesmen calling door-to-door to sell their wares to our mothers. Grandpa hung his arm out the car window to signal a turn or stop. Then came blinkers. We called “Central” to get plugged into a connection for the person we were calling. We also had those listening in on the party line.

Ladies wore a Sunday hat to church, sometimes with matching gloves and bag. Dresses and high heels too. Men wore suits, ties, dress hat, and polished shoes. Nobody came in jeans or shorts. A man’s handshake or his word actually meant something. We all helped each other as friends and neighbors. We had a skeleton key for our house and nobody locked their doors. We had a screen door, no air conditioning. We chopped wood and picked up pieces of coal along the train tracks that fell off the train.

We pumped water and heated it in a copper boiler to wash clothes. We had a Maytag Wringer wash machine and double tubs. Clothes hung out to dry. We also had a short pump by the kitchen sink and a bucket with a dipper to drink from. Can you imagine the horror of today’s people if you told them everyone was going to drink from the same bucket using the same dipper?! Some of us had a galvanized tub for baths – youngest to oldest in the same bath water. Remember you had to pump it, heat it, and bucket it in and out. We had an outhouse at the far end of the yard. I was 12 when we got indoor plumbing. That was a big deal.

If you had a TV, it was black and white. The movie theater showed a newsreel of the world before the movie. There were spittoons for snuff chewers. More men smoked cigars or pipes. My dad had a tin of Prince Albert tobacco for his pipe. Cigarettes had no filters. My grandma wore a house dress and apron, thick stockings and a corset. She had black shoes with laces and big square heels. She had braids wrapped around her head with big wavy hairpins to keep them in place.

As children, we were taught to address people as Mr. or Mrs. – no first names, as that was disrespectful. We had table manners, said please and thank you, and knew how to use silverware properly. We can remember growing up in a time where people had pride of place. You kept up your house, and your yard clean. People were decent, kind, caring, and respectful.

Ah yes, bygone memories.