Jeanette gave me a book she bought at a garage sale years ago.  It was written in 1920 for children’s teachers to explain science to them.  Science about the air, the kitchen, the way to heat your home, how to dig a well, how to take a picture, plant a garden, etc, etc.  

It has been so interesting.  And it brought back memories from my Gran’s farm.  She had an ice box.  There weren’t refrigerators.  In the summer she would tell me over and over not to open the ice box because the ice would melt.  But ice was fascinating, Oklahoma summers were hot, and when you opened the ice box door, cool air surrounded you.

Every page of the book makes me chuckle.  There is a chart giving you points for things you should do for your health.  Fresh air got 19 points.  Taking a bath once a week got 5.

People didn’t bathe every day.  Unless you had been working cattle, and even then, you had your work coveralls and boots you took off and washed your hands at the pump. (Well-water, no in-house running water.  Out houses stocked with Sears Roebuck catalogs for toilet paper and a basket of corn cobs.  I’ll let you figure that one out.)  

Anyway, I have been chuckling my way through this book, just remembering how it used to be.