Test your memory! Reveal your age! Do you remember … ?
By Bill Shepard
Editor’s note: This column first appeared in 2018.
1. You purchased gas, and the attendant would wash your windshield, check your oil, and sweep out the floor of your car free? 2. The iceman delivered ice to your refrigerator, after seeing a sign in the window as to how much — that is, if you were lucky enough to own a refrigerator? 3. When iced tea was served only in the summertime, and Sundays only? 4. You had credit without a card and without interest? 5. Cars came in black only; later you were given a choice of blue, then green? 6. A pair of men’s socks cost a nickel, and a tie was a dime? 7. When the IRS was unheard of? 8. When you wore the same pair of shoes on Sunday that you wore all week? When a hole appeared in the sole, you covered it with a stick-on patch? 9. The milkman delivered milk to your door, left it sitting on the porch, after picking up the empty bottle with the money in it, 5 cents for a pint, 10 cents for a quart? 10. You could buy a good pair of jeans for 49 cents and a matching chambray shirt for 39 cents? 11. When beef steak was 15 cents a pound and a loaf of bread cost a nickel? 12. When gasoline was 15 cents a gallon; a quart of oil was a dime? 13. When if you got in trouble at school, you were in trouble at home, without question? 14. The doctor made house calls and treated your illness without referring you to a specialist, and the bill was affordable? 15. You slept three to the bed and two beds to the room or more? 16. When the wash tub and the bath tub were one and the same? 17. When Dad’s razor strap was used for more than just honing his razor? 18. When loafbread and mayonnaise were luxuries at Sunday’s dinner? 19. You could go to the movies for a dime and stay all day if you wanted to? 20. The silent movies; if you couldn’t read you were in trouble? 21. Playing marbles for keeps was considered a sin, certainly against the rules? 22. Coca-Cola was called dope, habit forming, sinful to drink? 23. T-Model Fords (used) sold for $20, a good milk cow could be bought for $15? 24. Nobody went to town on Sunday, except maybe to window shop? 25. White bacon was 2 cents a pound (called “fatback”)? 26. A new car cost less than $500, and a good used one could be had for $50? 27. A farmer paid 20 cents per 100 pounds to have his cotton picked? 28. You worked in the tobacco field for 5 cents per hour? 29. You pulled fodder for 1 cent a bundle, putting five hand-ties to each bundle? 30. Do you even know what fodder is? 31. When people were turned out of church for not measuring to the teachings? 32. When preachers preached against sin and weren’t afraid to preach about hell, oops! (The H word.) 33. When Indian head pennies were as plentiful in Sunday school as George Washington bills are today? 34. The war years of the 1940s when everything was rationed — shoes, sugar, gas, etc.? 35. When a man’s handshake was as good as a contract? 36. When you slept at night with your doors unlocked? 37. When you could buy five Hershey kisses for a penny, and RC Colas for a nickel? 38. Good hoop cheese was 20 cents a pound, and saltine crackers were a dime a pound box? 39. When you saw oranges only at Christmas, if you didn’t live in Florida? 40. When your power bill was less than a dollar a month? 41. Lights hung from the ceiling in each room? 42. Dr Pepper first came out; slogan –10-2-and-4, find three tops with those numbers and win $1,000. Did anyone ever? 43. Popsicle sticks had FREE printed on some of them? The person lucky enough to get one received a free popsicle at the store where it was purchased. 44. How many of the following cowboys do you remember seeing? Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard, Bob Steele, Tex Ritter, Tim McCoy, Buck Jones, John Wayne, Gene Autrey? 45. When the bathroom was any room in the house with a tin tub sitting in it? The toilet was outside the house. 46. When toilet paper and newspaper were one and the same? 47. When you could purchase a house for $10 a month, furnish it for $1 a month?