Our Ancestors were not Wimps

I write about the following things to remind you that our ancestors were not a bunch of wimps. Once they arrived in the “new world” by ship, their means of transportation became walking, riding a horse, wagons, buggies, and sometimes ferries that were little more than large rafts to carry their wagons across the rivers. They managed for many, many years to travel by these means until man began inventing machines that would go faster than horse and wagon. In 1903 Henry Ford finally had a car on the market. Driving an automobile required a high degree of technical dexterity, mechanical skill, special clothing including hat, gloves, duster coat, goggles and boots. Tires were notoriously unreliable and changing one was an excruciating experience. Riding a horse was much simpler and hay was plentiful. If our ancestors had waited for a car and comfort in traveling they would have all remained on the east coast and who would be living in the mid-west and west today? But since they were not wimps, they were not afraid to try new things. In those days of yore most new things were invented by men as they were the only ones who had time for such after rolling their own cigarettes. Woman’s work was never done; women took care of the house; gave birth to children; and as they grew everything they ate, tended the garden; canned foods for the winter; made lye soap; had more children; made quilts; fed the livestock, and chickens; milked the cows, churned the milk to make butter, gathered the eggs, was sure the old catalog was placed in the outside john, and of course had more children and sometimes, sadly, had to bury their children. To keep clean clothing, women would build a fire in the yard under a large black pot and fill the pot with water brought from the spring; lye soap and a scrubbing board were placed nearby. Washday was an all day affair. And of course all cooking was done on a wood stove, with a large box behind the stove where short pieces of wood would always be found. Woe be to the child whose mother had to remind them to bring in wood for the kitchen stove. In the summer the women knew where the best berries could be found, sent the children out to pick berries with warnings to look out for snakes. When the berries were picked and cleaned, wonderful cobblers would be made for dinner, and jams and jellies for the winter months. All baths were taken in a large metal wash tub in the kitchen. Mothers were the ones who supervised the bathing. And, in their spare time, women would wash the empty, colorful feed sacks, iron them smooth and make clothes for the family. And oh, the ironing – black irons were placed on the very hottest part of the cook stove and rotated in use as they cooled by the ironing. And we complain!

I was reminded earlier this year that a lot of us have become wimps. I drove across the nation to visit family and friends in North Carolina. On the way, I visited with folks in many states, never meeting a single murderer, car hi-jacker, or thief. I just used common sense and in doing so, enjoyed my trip. While in North Carolina I was almost always greeted by relatives and friends with the comment: “I can’t believe you drove all this way by yourself!” I met with most of my Surry County Cousins and hopefully converted some of them to planning a trip out west by car. The most scenic way to travel. Wow, what a breeze this trip was! I had no rivers to ford, no spending the night in a wagon alongside the road somewhere, and did not give birth to any children on the banks of Ohio river as one of our collateral ancestors had to do. It really was not a struggle, just stop and spend the night in a warm, cozy room, turn a tap and get water for my bath, eat in the hotel restaurant or call and have a pizza delivered to my room. And if I had experienced any car trouble there was always my trusty cell phone. Today we listen to the news and since all the news we hear is normally bad, as that is what sells the news, some of us become afraid for our very existence. We just know that around the corner is the “fear” waiting to either steal our money, our car or take our life. If we measure our travel or our day to day living by fear we are letting the “fear” win. I have not lived almost 78 years to become a frightened old woman. I tell fear to get out of my face and off my agenda. I plan to live until I die and I plan to honor those ancestors who came before me with my life and the way I live it.