Those Were the Days~

My high school years were in the laid-back times of the 1950s. The “Happy Days” years…

Boys with sideburns, duck tail haircuts, leather jackets, and blue jeans… Girls all decked out in their bobby socks and saddle oxfords shoes. Poodle skirts, pullover sweaters, and a ponytail. Now, how cool is that?

Elvis Presley, Rick Nelson, Pat Boone, Chubby Checker, and Jerry Lee Lewis came upon the scene and changed the sound of music forever. Fats Domino’s famous song “Blueberry Hill,” was a “must play” for every school Sock-hop. Let’s not forget American Bandstand with Dick Clark. Did you ever dance to the beat of Rock n’ Roll, or do the Twist. Could you do the hula with the (still popular) Hula Hoop? Those were the days!

Every small town had their “Fonz.” He was the high school dropout, yet considered a hero to his friends. You can remember the type; they had a good heart but wanted others to think they were bad to the bone. Had that "I'm cool" attitude.  Often, they were the ones to give good advice to the younger kids and the youth always listened to them...Go figure!   

It was a time when outhouses were still plentiful and washtub baths were the common. Country roads were still dirt with big potholes in the rainy weather and eat-dust during the hot, dry summer. The only time cars were driven was to work, to the store if it was more than a mile away, and to church. The price of gas was around twenty-five cents a gallon. Families never went into town during the week other than to see the doctor.  Any other time was limited to once a month on Saturdays when they would make it a family outing and spend the day. I can still remember how the old gents gathered up in the town courthouse yard and swapped tall tales. If the kids had a dime they spent their entire day at the theater watching the movies once and staying for a repeat...

Not a whole lot of shopping for food was done in town in those days, most every woman that lived in the country bought her household staples from the country store. That was where their bill was carried by the store merchant until the crops were harvested in the fall and winter.  There was no such thing as prepackaged and already cooked items. Their shopping consisted of twenty-five pound sacks of flour.   

Other necessary items they would buy was cornmeal; a can of coffee beans, sugar, salt, pepper, and other spices for adding more flavor to the food. Every mother would buy a bag of penny candy to take to her children. Most everything else the family ate they raised on the farm. There was enough food raised in the garden to feed the family through the summer, share some with those less fortunate, and a bountiful supply preserved for the winter. My goodness the food was good then! And by-the-way, those flour and feed sacks served for many uses in the household. From dishtowels to material for sewing children’s clothes. I had a few sack dresses myself and was proud of them…

Every family who lived in the country had their own source of milk and butter. City folk had a milkman who delivered milk and butter to their home in the early morning hours while the family was still sleeping. Country folk milked a herd of cows before breakfast in the early hours before dawn. Leftover milk from the day before was poured into a crock churn and left to "clabber." The clabbered milk became buttermilk, butter, and cottage cheese. Absolutely nothing was wasted.

There was most usually homemade cottage cheese, creamy butter, and cold glasses of buttermilk/sweet milk at the table for every meal. Have you ever tasted anything as delicious as a hot biscuit dripping with country butter and homemade jam? Nothing is better than that!

The one tradition I wish we could call back is the ringing of the church bells on Sunday.  

I grew up living on the top of a high hill called, Parksville Knob.” Down the backside of the hill is a valley. This valley is called the “Fork, or Forkland.” On the Fork there was a small white church sitting in the very heart of the valley. For many years the building claimed three congregations, morning was the Baptist services, evenings belonged to the Methodist, and the Church of God, laid claim to the building for the Wednesday services. Some folks went to all three denominational services. It was not that they were trying to decide what doctrine they wanted to follow; rather they did not have anywhere else to go. It was a time to communicate with their neighbors and catch up on happenings.

There was never a service that you did not hear the toll of the church bell. It was just as much a part of the service as the singing and preaching. I can still hear the beautiful toll of the bell on Sunday morning as it echoed throughout the community, across the hills and down in the valley below.   

It is good to go back and relive the past in our minds as long as we only visit for a little while and

return to the present. We often say, “I wish I could go back to how it used to be.” However, God did not mean for things to stay the same. Things change, people change, and the world changes. We cannot call back time. We can only move forward.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 –He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

  The most intelligent among us cannot bring back one second of time; and the most brilliant doctors among us cannot hold a life here on this earth when God says it is time for us to leave…

The Way I See it; is a good thing God didn't turn a timekeeping job over to mortal man because man would definitely have made a mess of things...

Walk with God,
Mary Frances King.