Enough —Part IV

My thoughts went back to the decade of the 1950's for two reasons. The Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and World War II had set the stage for 1950. Just as the Crusades had opened a new world to the men who went off to fight in the Crusades, the G.I.'s who came home from World War II were changed as well. And the world they came back to was different than the one they had left.

During the war years many men were drafted into the effort. The 'War Plants, or ordnance plants' were in many cases manned by the women left behind. Imagine going from an unprepared state to within a year's time ramping up war readiness? War was declared by FDR on December 7, 1941. V-E day was May 8, 1945, and V-J Day can be any or all of these dates: August 14th (Japan surrenders), 15th (news is announced to the world of the surrender), and September 2nd formal signing of surrender aboard the US Battleship Missouri. Four long hard years were past, and now what?

Just as running as hard as you can and stopping immediately is difficult, so too changing direction after the war would be like slamming into a brick wall. Some ordnance plants were a city within themselves and employed as many as 4,500 workers. These were complex systems, however in 1945 when the war ended they were shut down, and the land put up for sale. Poof! Over and done.

The end of the war in 1945 was the beginning of new territory both for those at home, and those coming home. America had it easy compared to overseas countries that had seen ravages of war. Yes, there were adjustments, but in England for example rationing was slow to disappear. Rationing started January 8, 1940, and lasted in some form until 1954—9 years after the war ended.

The train called prosperity picked up steam in America. In the 1950's things were settling down at least on the surface into a sort of normalcy. The returning men found jobs, or went back to college. Adults weren't as shy about credit as previous generations had been. Bank loans were easier to come by, and with the G.I. loans available more families felt like they could afford their own homes. Women went back to being homemakers for the  most part. The chaos caused by the war eroded the family through an increase in divorce and remarriage.

During this time the phrase could be heard 'we just can't make ends meet on one paycheck'. People looked sorry for the families in which the wives were forced into the work place. Husbands were ashamed because their salary wasn't enough to care for their family's needs, but of course most people understood. It was so sad.

Meanwhile back at the farm.

To Be Continued...

Enough Part Three

I began this writing wrestling with the idea 'How did we get where we are'? Many misunderstandings come from assumptions, erroneous or not. I'd like to continue with some of the 'ideas' made about 'life in the '50's.

But here’s a surprise. The 1950 house may well have been heated by coal! It was the most common heating fuel in 1950. Only .7% of homes were heated by electric and 26.6% by utility gas. That would all change over the course of the decade though. By 1960 coal was down to 12.2% and utility gas up to 53.1%. Today 51% of homes are heated by utility gas.

There is a surprise here. I can't grasp much from my reading and research except that during and by the end  of the 1950's decade coal usage for home heating decreased to the point that in the early 1960's it had gone to almost nothing. When my mother was young they heated with coal. When I was a child my grandparents heated with wood. At that time my grandfather resisted my mother's wise advice. Instead of renting one of the newfangled chainsaws from the lumber yard, he chopped all of our wood by hand (with an ax) and hauled it back from the 'timber' with a team and wagon. By the 1960's however, grandparents had two oil burners. I'm sure age would dictate exercise. He would have been in his sixties by that time. My cousins's family used wood into the 1960's, and my husband's family used coal. That seems to have covered the whole gamut.  

Bathrooms? Complete plumbing (hot and cold piped water, a bath-tub or shower, and a flush toilet) was available in 64.5% of homes in 1950. That would change too and by 1960 only 16.6% of homes were without complete plumbing. Personally, I think it probably was a rural and urban question. I lived at times with my mom in the city, and she always had inside plumbing, but not everyone in the country saw inside plumbing as a necessity. As I stated previously, my grandparents (both born in 1898) chose not to have inside plumbing. 

Unlike most households today, the majority of families sat down to eat together. Yes, the whole family ate at least one meal together, if not all three. Mom cooked because that was her job. In 1950 most mothers were employed at home. Mother's full-time job was her home and family, and most mothers took that job seriously. My mother-in-law would have exemplified the scriptural 'worthy woman' with the amount of tasks she did in a day. She worked hard from before dawn till dark with her household duties. Marie and Marvin were married in December of 1941, so they covered a few decades. Her years while Marvin was in the military were training for when they began their life in earnest after the war years—December 1945/spring1946 and beyond. Marie's mother before her had been a good example, teaching her daughters cooking, cleaning, and gardening. What Marie hadn't learned from her own mother, 'Mom Westphal' filled in. Back in those days not only did mothers take homemaking and wifely skills serious, the majority also took their religion serious. These scriptures would have been near and dear to their hearts as they raised their children:

"that aged women likewise be reverent in demeanor, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good; that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed:" (Titus 2:3-5 ASV)

  

Enough part Two

 In the past my husband and I  have enjoyed taking a 'Sunday drive'. It doesn't even need to be a 'Sunday' per se. We used to live somewhat close to Amish and Mennonite communities and enjoyed driving by their farms. I'm using this as a comparison because both of these groups are known as people that don't always use (all or in some cases any) modern conveniences. In driving by the houses of these families the outside normally is kept neat and clean. They are not rundown or in any way substandard. 

An article I read put forth the idea that 'about one third of the homes during the 1950's were "dilapidated", or were without running water or a private toilet and bath'. 
As I mentioned in Part One, my grandparents lived on a small farm. The time period of my remembrance was from mid to late '50's till the mid 1990's. They chose not to have running water or an inside toilet. We had a small inside pump hooked up to a 'cistern'.  The rain water ran into the system of gutters on the eaves of the house and into the cistern. We used that for bathing, laundry, dishes, and the like. For drinking water we had a separate pump at the bottom of the hill (the house sat at the top on the flat). That well had been hand dug, so it wasn't deep, but it was ample for all but drought years. We would pump a bucket of water and carry it to the house for drinking. It had a dipper that we used (yes, everyone used the same dipper) to drink out of. We also pumped water into a metal barrel that had been sawed in half length wise. It was set up to water the livestock and we pumped water for them twice a day at least, besides what we carried up to the barn. 

I take a bit of issue with the idea that 'one third of the homes were  dilapidated (I would add here the word, 'and') without running water or a private toilet and bath'. 

 Put up beside someone's brand new home of today it would look old, but I we would be comparing apples to turnips. As far as running water, our system worked for the time we were in. When we wanted hot water we pumped it into a large 'tea kettle' or even a large kettle, set it on the stove and waited. To take a bath it was poured into a tub in the kitchen or pantry and that was our 'bath room'. It was dumped out when we were finished. Yes, the outhouse was—outside and about forty feet from the back door, but it was a private toilet. When living with my mother 'in town' we had all of the amenities. We had inside toilet, bathroom, running water, a water heater, and a furnace.  Rural versus urban might be the key.

As I was researching the 1920-1940 time period I learned several things, many relating to my actual research, and also related to human nature and assumptions. 

In my naivety years I had assumed people of past generations were more moral. I have read of others who assumed that during the 'great depression' everyone was poor, ragged, starving and standing in soup lines. Another assumption I have encountered is there were no cars. 

The 'roaring twenties' were so labeled for a reason. There was much crime and corruption in many places. Spurred on by Prohibition (1920-1933) the 'Speakeasies' and gangsters were rampant. During times of wealth the nation's morals often fall into decay, and the 1920's was no exception. In the 1930's the parachute came out and slowed the decline. People in general turned back to religion; as it were turned back to God. 

During the '20's there had been a mass exodus from the rural areas to the cities. People were looking for more prosperous employment. During depressions (there have been many throughout our history) people tend to move back to a more 'self-sustaining' rural lifestyle. Consequently, even though the wealth and excess of the 1920's disappeared in the 1930's and didn't reappear until WWII, many people learned to adjust. They learned to hustle so to speak. There were some jobs, and there were still entrepreneurs. There were automobiles, telephones, and conveniences. Yes, there were fewer of them.

Of course WWII brought the economy back into booming production. By the 1950's the economy once again began to kick in to a consumer economy. I write that to highlight my taking issue with statements such as this:'Only a small minority of families enjoyed such basics as a mixer or had a hot-water heater.' Once we had electricity (1954) at my grandparents farm, we also had an electrical handheld mixer (for cakes and whatnot). We never did have an electrical hot water heater— by choice. 

To be continued~

When is Enough, Enough?

What was the life style of Americans in the early 1950s? I was born in the 1950's, but I remember only smidgens of it. My first remembrance was living with my grandparents (on a small mid-western farm). I remember darkness, as in no electricity, and rooms lit by kerosene lamps. It wasn't until after that first year that a neighbor helped grandpa and grandma to wire the house for electricity. In putting in electricity, I've been told, they paid 'by the outlet', hence there weren't many outlets in a room. Our dining room had two outlets that I remember. One for a clock, and a television, and on the other side of the room one for the radio and coffee pot. We also used the dining room counter for mixing cakes and what not which required a plug in. Sometimes there was a 'plug in' that you could plug into the outlet that had more than one place to plug into.  In the kitchen I remember two outlets as well for the refrigerators. But to have electricity was an extravagance—in the 1950's.

An article I read said 'fully two fifths of American households had no automobile'. That, of course means, that fully three fifths of the households had an automobile. I do remember one instance, I was told to take my nap because we would have a surprise. My Grandfather went somewhere during that nap time and when he came home he brought a 'new' automobile. I don't think it was brand spanking new, but new to us. We took a little drive and felt like we were rich indeed. I'm sure that wasn't their first automobile, but I don't remember what we had before that. Automobiles were a blessing, especially for those of us who lived in the country, and I don't ever remember being without transportation. Many people living in town, especially the large towns, used public transportation and still do. My mother and her two siblings rode the public transportation (bus) when they lived in the 'big city' to get to school. The story is told of the oldest sibling, my aunt, being given the 'bus money' for the week's fares. She took the money and spent it all on candy. Other than getting sick I don't know what her punishment was. 

 Telephones are interesting gadgets. My husband and I were newly married in 1973, and our first telephone was a 'party line'. I don't remember how many 'parties' were on our line, but a person wasn't guaranteed that when they wanted to make a call they could. Often two of the old women would be talking on the line, and a person would have to wait their turn. Only in an emergency could you interrupt the other call. Back when I was young my grandparents didn't have a phone at all. To get a message to them you had to call the neighbors, Bill and Ann. One summer vacation my sister and I had traveled all day by Greyhound bus to the bus depot in  small town near where my grandparent's farm was located. We called Bill and Ann, but they weren't home. It might not have been hours before we were rescued by a local preacher heading in our Grandparents' direction. However, after numerous calls the time spent seemed like hours to a six year old and her twelve year old sister. When my sister was a senior in high school (this was in the '60's) my grandfather spent the night at the state fair. My mother happened to be home  for a short visit, and while he was away she had the phone company come out and put in a phone. She was determined that my sister would have a phone during her senior year. And Grandfather never spent another night away from home again. Of course that phone was a party line phone, but we now had a phone. My Grandmother loved it. 

Television? We most always had a television. It didn't always work though. One television we had the 'tubes' started to go bad, and as they got worse the picture began to fade. It became so faint we would put a blanket over the set and sit under the blanket to watch the shows on Saturday morning. Eventually that didn't even work and we had to become creative on our own. Televisions were not a necessity then. They aren't now either. When our children were young (30-35 years ago) we decided to turn the television off, and went for several years pretending we didn't have one in the house. One time we even squirreled our set away in a closet. Since the change in television service we only use our outdated set to watch movies that we purchase and want to watch. 

To Be Continued 

I Will Pray or Moaning and Complaining?

There is a song in the hymnal with the lines, "I will pray, I will pray, Unto thee I pray, Morning, Noon and Evening, Unto thee I pray". It has its basis in Psalms 55:17:

"Evening, and morning, and at noonday, will I complain, and moan; And he will hear my voice."
(Psalms 55:17 ASV)

In reading the American Standard Version (ASV) I have a moment of pause, not to mention a bit of a laugh. Complaining to the Lord is probably more futile than fruitful, and although it is a faithful translation of the text, it is better rendered as it is in the King James Version (KJV):

"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice."
(Psalms 55:17 KJV)

The best thing to keep in mind is that a faithful servant (or in this instance servant and child of God) wants to communicate with the Father. The Father wants the child/servant to talk to Him as well. 

God is not our fairy God-mother (or father) who will grant our every whim, but He is a merciful God that listens, that hears our petitions, and answers according to what is best for us. 

And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 

(Romans 8:26-27 ASV)

The challenge is to change 'complaining' into a petition and not just a griping session. His children need to be respectful and loving in their petitions. 

"Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee: He will never suffer the righteous to be moved. But thou, O God, wilt bring them down into the pit of destruction: Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; But I will trust in thee." (Psalms 55:22-23 ASV)

Hallelujah! What a Savior! 

SMELLING SWEET

We identify many things by their odor. Walking in Grandma's backdoor as an apple pie is baking can be a pleasant experience. At least if Grandma is a good cook, and all things go well, it can be. My Grandma was the best cinnamon roll maker (in the whole world we always said). I took up making cinnamon rolls for my children and now grandchildren. And as long as I don't have overflow dripping in the bottom of the oven things smell pretty good. 

This morning while I was outside I couldn't help but smell the blossoms on our lovely crab apple tree. Such a sweet smell, and this time of year those smells are everywhere. The petals from the apple, pear, peach, plum, and all of the blossoming trees blow from the trees like a flower girl at a grand wedding scattering petals on the vivid green grass.

There is a popular meme that reminds us, "In a world where you can be anything--be kind." 

It isn't always easy to be kind. When others are mean and nasty—that can be difficult. When we are tired and cranky—that can be hard. Some ideas that may help us remember to be kind would be:

• We all have off days. This might have been their's
• Life is too short to let others dump garbage in your life
• There are some people that are jerks, that doesn't mean we have to repay in kind
• Prayer is a good avenue; use it often
• A forgiving spirit permeates like perfumed air, or salt brine

Even when it is difficult. We are to be the salt and the light, and an odor of a sweet smell. 

"and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell." (Ephesians 5:2 ASV)

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

The World Loves Its Own

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." (John 15:18)

In this world of social messaging it is easy to let people know how you feel about--well, about anything and everything. Just a simple comment on some simple (or not so simple) post on Facebook can send the vitriol flying like rabid foam from a sick animal. Especially if you give a "Godly or Christian" answer. Do we on occasion long for the days gone by when people/society respected the teachings of Jesus?    

 "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." (John 15:19)

I am reminded of the children's book by C. S. Lewis, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.Of course it is a children's allegory of Jesus, who is represented in the Lion. At one point Aslan (the lion) allows himself to be slain by the evil/darkness of the witch. She and her minions believe they have overcome good. They slay the lion, and celebrate their victory. They are free to rule the world, to have their way and have nothing, and no one in their way. 

They dance, they party, free, free, they rejoice. And the good people of Narnia weep. 

"Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." 
(John 15:20)

So many thoughts press in my mind here. Sunday the world of Christendom celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus. {Easter is a miss-translation of the original word "Passover"  in the King James version. Easter comes from a pagan holiday.}  

"And when he had apprehended him (Peter), he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people."(Acts 12:4 KJV)

Resurrection: in the classic C.S. Lewis story, the rulers of darkness didn't understand that the lion (Aslan) that was slain for the redemption of the people of Narnia could not be kept in the grave. And in this life neither can Jesus be kept prisoner by the powers of darkness in the grave.

The powers of darkness celebrated that miserable Friday as Jesus hung on the cross, thinking they had won the victory, but they were wrong. Christians need to stop celebrating Easter, and celebrate the Resurrection. We need to realize it isn't about the bunny, it's about the lamb...and the lion. The Lion of Judah, that overcame the powers of darkness. That crushed the head of Satan.

"And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:14-15 KJV)

Compromise. The world wants us to live as if Jesus Lost the battle. But wait, life during the Roman Empire was very wicked, yet believers persevered. Many times in the last 2,000 years wickedness has prevailed, but still believers persevered. They fought through the wickedness with truth and righteousness, and with all prayer and supplication. So what can we do? Here are some thoughts, and scriptures that will hopefully encourage each of us:

• Thought—return to holiness and righteousness with fasting and prayer; turn from self-righteousness, to Christ's righteousness "For ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth)," (Ephesians 5:8-9 ASV)
• Start living as though we won the battle; "Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;" (Romans 12:12 KJV)
• "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;" (Luke 18:1-5 KJV)
• Pray that our eyes, hearts, and minds will be open and discerning to the will of God. Try the spirits, for not all preach/teach the true Word, and second like to that, pray for our friends, neighbors, and the lost that their hearts and minds will be open to the Truth as well.
• "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:" (Colossians 4:2-3 KJV)

Hallelujah! What a Savior!