The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

The Olden Days

by: Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor/Publisher

29 August 2001

Back when I was a kid, "I had to walk a mile to school and back, all up hill..."

How many of us ever heard a similar story like that from your parents and grandparents.

I think most of us have, but reality tells us they couldn't have walked uphill to school both ways.

What we do know is, our parents and grandparents lives were a lot different from ours in many ways as our experiences will be from our children's.

This Labor Day weekend, we will get a chance to connect a little bit, first hand with the older generation at Henderson County's Ninth Annual Olde Tyme Farm Show in Stronghurst.

The event held at the county fairgrounds may not produce the same excitement as the Indianapolis 500, the Cardinal­Cub series, the Viking-Rams games or even a trip to Disneyland, but the lessons are much more valuable as we assess the important things in life and the values our parents hold dear.

Those lucky enough to still have their parents with them can reminisce together about the luxury of a hot daily bath, and running water in the house, the process of making soap and washing clothes without electricity, the fun of working together to produce canned food, the knowledge and constant care it took to produce a garden, to raise animals, to care for and harvest the crops.

There was also the value of a dollar, the choices of bartering, working, or going without, and the limit of the credit card.

More and more families shared the fun of visiting each other in their homes over a meal of fried chicken, potatoes, and garden green beans and a relaxing evening of sitting in the yard together on a much too hot day to be inside a home that was not air conditioned.

The olden days had more physical work and less health clubs, more togetherness­ fewer counselors, more game time together­less television, more worshiping God, and less trouble tithing their 10 percent.

And as school kids, they didn't worry about name-brand anything, just reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Oh, none of us want to go back. But for a weekend, we just might find out what makes our elders so content with what they have now.