Roads laid with 'chert', instead of pavement. At least that is how we pronounced them in Tennessee. Most were one lane, and if you met someone one of you had to get over in the grass, close to the fenceline most of the time. I could sit beside of some of those roads for a long time, and no traffic would come by. Along the way if you came to a creek, there would be a wooden bridge, and also a detour through the creek, just in case the bridge could not be trusted. You would have to depress the brakes for a long ways after coming out of the water though, to get the brakes working good again.

Party phone lines. Meaning nobody was having one, but the neighborhood shared one phoneline. If someone was using it, you would just have to wait your turn, or eavesdrop . Bathrooms, out back, or somewhere (preferably away from the house ), made of wood, and a wooden seat, with a hole cut in it, and the sewer was the ground a few feet below. Where it was shoveled to, I don't know, but I am glad that was not one of my chores.

Six children, one bedroom, and two beds. Three females in one, and three males in the other. And it was not king or queen sized either. Everyone ate at the table, of all places, and all at the same time . No, the television was not in the place we ate either. Entertainment and discussions were entirely up to the people in the room. Buying gasoline for 18 cents a gallon. And earning 1$ per hour at all the local farms, helping them. Attending school at a church, in the 2-4th grades, cause the local school had been destroyed by a fire. School lock-downs were not heard of then.

Using the paper fan furnished by the local funeral home, at church, and the 'revivals'. 'Tent meetings', and the local churches would all participate. The Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Baptist. The others never seemed willing to. The preachers preached Jesus Christ, repentance, judgement coming, and the return of Christ, followed by eternity. And that eternal heaven, and eternal hell. Most filled with the Holy Spirit then, were at the altar crying and remorseful over sin. And over the lost relatives and friends. The shouting started when someone got victory over a bondage, or one of those relatives and friends came down and confessed Jesus Christ, and actually wanted to, looked forward to, being baptized and joining the fellowship there.

People actually worked together, and helped one another get everything done. The industries were here, in the U.S, and one could work at lots of them. There was no 'superstore', just the local one in each community, where you could buy just about anything, though you may have to wait a while for it. "Lard', in five gallon buckets. Flour in 25 pound sacks, and a dishtowel on them. And people had the same illnesses then, that they do now. Except the STD's, for the most part. And the drugs that have came along since. All the families, most of them, out on the front porch in the evening, and they knew almost everyone who passed by, and they knew them.

We got a lot more 'conveniences' now, and get them much faster. But they seemed to have come at a price, and not always a good one, I don't think. People have less time now, to gather together, than they did then, I think. I would like to hear about some of yours, if you will share. Hope this was interesting to the young, and brought back some memories for some of the elder ones.

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