Generation gap

By Beverly Rand
    There are so many things different in this generation than in mine that started some 95 years ago. I am not thinking of material goods and things, but of the simple things of style, living habits, etc.
    In my early days on the farm as we entered a house, there was a broom at the entrance and it was custom to brush off your boots or heavy shoes from the snow or dirt. Today many people take off their shoes and some people carry an extra pair with them to wear inside the house.
    Another distinct difference in generations is a big difference in time of eating. On the farm, meal times were very much on time, breakfast at 7 a.m., dinner at 11:30 a.m. and supper at 5 p.m. Any of the workers on the farm were expected to respect these times. Today, breakfast can be anywhere from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Noon meal can be anywhere from noon to two or three.
    I think of the school children who are in the athletic programs. Most of the games are played so that they are playing at the regular meal times or they are on the bus going or coming from games. Maybe it is not too different in the last two generations but it seems that way. At least we have more participating in sports.
    Also think of the preschoolers that in these modern times have actually, in many homes, boxes full of toys. In the past, the girls would have a doll or two – some of them homemade. The boys would have a toy or two including a sled for wintertime sliding.
    Clothes. Ladies had two or three best dresses and work dresses with aprons while men often bought a wedding suit and that would be his only good suit for a lifetime. His work clothes were durable and each one lasted for some time.
    Shoes. The ladies in the past might have two or three pair but today the ladies shoes would number in the dozen or more. Men had rather heavy work shoes or gum rubbers for winter and a pair of dress shoes. Many dairy men today wear a pair of high rubber boots in the barn and change when entering the house. No more than they were worn, they would last a lifetime.
    In the older generation, shorts for men or women were not worn. Very few of the women had bathing suits. If they did, they were one piece and were not very revealing. The modern bathing suit would not have as much material as the straps that held up the first generation’s bathing suit. I heard some of the first generation describe them as “indiscreet,” where as the modern bathing suit is acceptable for the modern generation. A few of the older men had swimming trunks but not generally, as swimming wasn’t a general recreation.
    The early generations did not have junior or senior proms. They did have in the one-room schools, on occasions, “box socials.” The pupils and teacher would make a box lunch that would be auctioned off and the winner of the auction would have the privilege of eating with the one who prepared the lunch. The question was always guesswork as to whose lunch box you were betting on.
    Another custom that was quite customary on the first day of May was hanging a May basket. The May basket might have a few goodies in it, but the main purpose was for the recipient to catch the basket hanger. There may be a few May baskets hung now-a-days but very little chasing.
    In sportswear, one of the biggest contrasts in the generation gap is in golf. The first golfers wore knickers. It would be rare occasion if you saw a golfer wearing knickers today.
    The first generation of cars were makes that this generation has not heard of, such as Liberty, Oakland, and Maxwell. Henry Ford made his Model T and Model A famous back in the early automobile days. His saying “you can have any color as long as it is black” indicated his desire to keep the costs down so the average wage earner could afford to buy his product.
    There is a story that Mellie Sides had a couple hundred barrels left over in the spring. He decided he would sell 100 barrels of the seed and buy a car that the amount of money would buy. He got $700 for that 100 barrels and it bought him a Model A Ford. A few days later, he took the other 100 barrels and bought his son, Alan, who was working with him on the farm, a new Model A. Contrast that today with how far 100 barrels of potatoes would go in regard to buying a new car. Not very far. It would hardly made a down payment.
    Editor’s note: Beverly “Bev” Rand of Island Falls is a freelance writer and retired dairy farmer. A collection of his commentaries is currently available at the Katahdin Public Library in Island Falls.