Leafing through a women's magazine
I saw an article about The Good Old Days
The author longing to return to 'way back then
When life seemed to be fun and gay 

 

Housewives didn't have to work back then
Since their husbands brought home the bacon
Describing children as always well behaved
That writer's more than slightly mistaken



Born at the start of the twentieth century
I was the youngest in a family of ten
So I'm here to burst a few big bubbles
And tell how it really was back then



As the saying goes, Momma's work was never done
No modern conveniences made her life easier
Housework done by hand and food made from scratch
Most women didn't enjoy lives of leisure



A washerwoman came each Monday of the week
To help with piles and piles of dirty clothes
The older kids grated homemade lye soap
And carried water from a pump, not a hose



It took the two women all day to do the wash
Hands rubbed raw from the old scrub board
Wrinkled and sore from boiling water and lye
Getting to iron them all was their reward



One day, Poppa bought a new-fangled machine
Back in the year of nineteen-o-seven
Said it was a contraption for washing clothes
To Momma, it seemed to be a gift from Heaven



It was a big wooden tub with a crank on top
And a wringer that would take out the water
They all had to take turns cranking that thing
I got to sit and watch, being the baby daughter



In a house with no electricity or gas
And hardly straying from the hot cook stove
Momma did the same old chores day after day
Life back then was no treasure trove



Her body must have ached from the work she did
But Momma never was a woman to complain
We took our Saturday baths in an old wash tub
And washed our hair with water caught in the rain



Nostalgia is fine in its proper perspective
But stories often lead to blatant deception
Spending just one day doing the work Momma did
Would soon debunk this common misconception



I admit I'm a sucker for nostalgic movies
Women dressed in beautiful frocks and petticoats
Swooning over their men so dashing and debonair
But today's technology always gets my votes



Kathleen McCoy Eldridge©
July 16, 2007
All Rights Reserved
























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