The Good Old Days, Ruth Waters, Washington County

By Ruth Waters, Washington County Extension Homemaker

The Good Old Days—no electricity—no indoor toilets—no locked doors—putting in tobacco from dawn to dusk.

When I was around five, I remember going out to where my mother was picking cotton. I wanted to help, so my mother told me to use my straw hat. When I finally had it filled, I told her I would never pick any more cotton. So far, I have kept that promise.

During my first five years of school, I walked two miles to a one-room school house. We had one teacher who taught all seven grades.

The dress I got married in was the most expensive dress I had ever owned. It cost a whopping $2.98!

You didn’t buy material then to make quilts out of. We all wore homemade clothes. Scraps of material from these were what we used. We never hung quilts on walls either. They went on the beds! Feed bags were used for lining them. We hung them from the ceiling during the day to work on them. Then they were rolled up at night so the sitting room could be used for its purpose.

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This remembrance was published in The Precious Past, a collection of stories by Extension Homemakers that was published by the Washington County Extension Homemakers in 1992. Copyright, Washington County Extension Homemakers.