Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1920-12-30

- N piled j m @ s.
worthy, land for that reason l think
the old times were better than the
present. I only wish the old condi-
lions could be restored. A hundred
years ago the married man had no
reason to dread the poorhouse. 1t
was practically impossible for women
to be eXtravagant then. Ie they want
| ed to blow themselves they had to go
to town, and in order to get to town
they had to ride in old coaches which
weren't as comfortable as a modern
hayrack.
"The woman of a hundred years ago
couldn't lean back. in an easy chair
and order a hundred dollars worth of
junk by phone. If she ordered by
| letter, it took the letter three weeks
| to get anywhere, and by the time the
| goods arrived they were out of date,
and she had to send them back. 1t
would be a great blessing if things
were that way now.
'But the modern married woman
| has the sOftest snap ever invented,
Mrs. Jamesworthy. If she happens to
be too lazy to put on her brass-mount-
ed harness and go downtown to do her
shopping, she has that great modern
convenience at ner elbow. 1t isn't
necessary to make herself presentable
to do her shopping. She sits down
with an old wrapper on, and her top
knot askew, and her mouth full of
hairpins, and calls up the butcher and
baker and cand;estick maker, and Or
tiers everything they have in their
Joints, and has It charged to her hus-
band.
GAS your sway-backed professor
said, a short journey was a serious
business in the old days, and as a re-
salt people stayed home and attended
70 their Knitting. If a woman jour
neyed nine miles in one of the old
=, sine coaches she had a backache for
| three weeks, and so the idea of going
away from home didn't fill her with
'enshusiaSin. But nowadays travelling
IS luxury. All a woman has to do
is to hold up her husband for the fare,
End then the urbane railway people
80 the rest, and make everything so
comfortable for her that she hates the
i1ea Of ever returning home. ii. And be-
! 1Gausea of this luxury, women are for
ever hunting up excuses for a trip
somewhere. kersmith told me the
other day that his wife travelled three
kundred miles and back to match a
ribbon, the local stores not having the
/ exact shade she wanted. Kersmith is
! Just about three cubits ahead of the
i sheriff, and his wife knows it, but she
wouldn't LET small matter like that
Interfere with her trip.
! 'Tn the halcyon days people used to
! tslfew candies and were all the better
for it. There was no satisfaction in
reading by a candle, so men didn't
blow in their substance for fool books
and magazines. Tie candles kicked
up such a smell that they were extin-
guished as early as possible, and so
no money was visited. Now we have
the electric light, which is a great con-
tenience. 1t is s.lch laundering con-
venience, Mrs. JameswOrthy, that it is
ereasing the road to She poorhouse for
innumerable heartsES husbands. The
average citizen Ends 1t impossible to
convince his wife and daughters and
other female relatives that the electric
Juice costs money, and so his home is
\ - 10 az
every night. Few women remember to
turn off the light after having it turn
ed on. If l drop dead of heart failure
one of these days, it will be when look
ing over the electric light bill. In the
old days"
ooh, bother the old days, and the
young days, and the middle-aged
daysW cried Mrs. JAmesworthy.