NOSTALGIA: Were The "Old" Days Good?

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YOUR PERSONAL GPS

You might find your life's destination better if  you remember

NOTHING IS MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS

THAN A BAD MEMORY - Franklin P. Adams

EVERY DAY ABOVE THE EARTH IS A GOOD DAY - Ernest Hemmingway

Oh, for the good old days when you could buy a beautiful sweater for $0.94 or a little girl's dress for $0.49.

WARD'S AND SEARS CATALOGS

In 1871 Aaron Montgomery Ward used all his savings to start a mail order business for farmers.  His initial product list had 163 items.  An immediate success, by 1875 he mailed a thick catalog with 3,899 items.

Richard Sears elaborated on Ward's idea and, with his flare for sales promotion, built an even more successful catalog business.

In 1893, Alvah Curtis Roebuck, a watch maker, became Sears' partner and the catalog's name was changed to Sears, Roebuck and Company.

NOSTALGIA IS LIKE A GRAMMAR LESSON:  YOU FIND THE PRESENT. TENSE,

AND THE PAST TENSE PERFECT - Owens Lee Pomeroy

Talk about today's buyer's market with home prices so low, how about a brand, spanking new home for just over a thousand dollars?  Sounds pretty good, huh?

Think this is cheap?  Short on the folding stuff?  Not to sweat!  You can buy a home, just a bit smaller for well under a thousand.   No, it didn't have a bath room, not even a single bath like this beauty, but indoor plumbing wasn't every thing when you got right down to it in 1934.

Whatever you wanted in life you could find in those wonderful precursor to today's malls at greatly reduced prices.  Anything from plow shares to the very latest in butter churns.

Baby chicks?  Yep!  How about $1.24 a hundred?

OH FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN PEOPLE STOPPED SHOPPING

WHEN THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY 

They do seem better, don't they?  Let's look a bit further, however.

We are alarmed, and rightly so, at today's 8% unemployment rate.  In 1934 the national unemployment rate was 21.7%, and that was a greatly fudged number.  People who worked one day a week or one week a month were employed.  The average annual income was $1,509.  Bread was $0.11 a loaf, gasoline was $0.19 and first class postage was 3 cents.

YOU CAN'T RETURN TO A PLACE THAT NO LONGER EXISTS, LUV

Samatha Sotto

In 1934, Hitler became der Fuhrer, and appointed Heinrich Himiller

the head of the Concentration camps.

Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed by police in Louisiana

Henry Ford, produced 563,921 cars and paid $5.00 a day wages

If a catalog order was a $100 or more 

both husband and wife had to sign the order

If you're yearning for the good old days, turn off the air conditioner in the summer time and chop wood every day in the winter time.  Enjoy a diet consisting of frequent servings of beans and potatoes.  

It's not like I'm into nostalgia or history, it's just that at times I can't stand today with all the much-to-do about such unimportant things.

Things were not better in 1934!

Our home, built in 1904, was built without central heat and with an outhouse.  We have totally rebuilt it and had it professionally decorated but it is still like the houses built in 1934 - small and crowded.

MAY GOD BLESS

YOU AND YOUR'S

GOD BLESS THE USA   

(Thanks, Dottie, for a great blog idea)