The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1936-05-21
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Rv FRANK P. LITsCERT

DN L MANN L LII OOG4SA n
In this day of ltra-modernism, one
of the favorite indoor sports consists
or poking fun at the habits and equip
ment of the so-called Victorian Age.
We hear it on the radio, see it in the
comic supplements and read it in the
wisecracks that embellish the editorial
page.
Everything from fathers mustache
cup to the horehair sofa, the wax flow
ers and the embroidered notices come
in for satirical panning. The photo
graph album with the stiff and unnatu-
raj poses gets its share of ridicule and
the conch-shells which ha dthe roar of
the ocean in them when you listened
sympathetically, are not forgotten by
the humorists.
Perhaps it was an unsophisticated
age when compared with our own.
The cup with the whisker guard from
which father drank coffee has been
rendered archaic by the more sanitary
safety razor, the slippery sofa has
given way to the luxurious davenport,
and instead of wax flowers and mot
toes we have ash trays and pictures
la September Morn. In the family
photographs the choker collar is no
longer in evidence, because the one
piece bathing suit, often disclosing
rotund paunch or pair of hips as
wide as Pennsylvania Avenue, is now
in vogue. The funny looking furniture
was all paid for, and while mothers
picture looked like it had been taken
under great duress, one mother lasted
in usual cases lifetime and it wasn't
necessary to change all the photo
graphs every few months when a new
mamma came to take temporary
charge of the household.
49,
There was no car in the garage and
no radio in the home or in the house
next door. But the cellar was filled
with smoked meats, canned goods and
vegetables, and there was enough wood
stacked in the back yard to keep a
roaring fire all winter. 1t was neces-
sary to feed the old gray mare on cold
mornings when it would have been
nicer to stay in bed, but there was no
danger of a man coming from the
finance company around the corner to
take Dobbin away from the family.
Father worked all week for a pri-
vate concern which paid him every
Saturday night for services performed.
Every four years he voted for his
favorite presidential candidate and
then forgot about the government for
another 40 months, when the local poll
tician came around to remind him of it
again. He didn't have to depend on
Uncle Sam for a job or place in the
bread line. He preferred to be crude
rather than regimented. He knew that
the only kind of social security which
counted was the kind he earned for
himself.
It's a lot of fun to recall those old
horse and buggy days and make light
of the celluloid collars and the wide
suspenders. And some of those old tin
types do look funny to us now.
But if we could move the calendar
forward for so years and have the
privilege of gazing in on some wise
crackers of 1886 who were looking
back at our generation, wouldn't the
I eollies of 1886 look funny, too? Might
we not find them laughing at the naive
innocence of those silly Americans
back in Roosevelt's days who thought
/ they could make themselves rich by
spending more and producing less.
who believed that they would be hap
pier and more comfortable, even safer,