Stroll down memory lane....

[hammersley]

Maybe you've seen this, and if you're under say late 40ish - maybe you don't get it... but here goes.





STROLL WITH ME...



Stroll with me... . close your eyes... . and go back... before the Internet... before bombings, aids, herpes before semiautomatics and crack... before SEGA or Super Nintendo... way back!





I'm talking about sitting on the curb, sitting on the stoop... about hide-and-go-seek; Simon says and red-light-green-light. Lunch boxes with a thermos... chocolate milk, going home for lunch, penny candy from the store, hopscotch, butterscotch, skates with keys, jacks and er Jacks, hula hoops and sunflower seeds, wax lips and mustaches, Mary Jane's, saddle shoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom.





Remember when it took five minutes for the TV to warm up. When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids arrived home from school.





When nobody owned a purebred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.





When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces. When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done everyday and wore high heels.





Remember running through the sprinkler, circle pins, bobby pins, Mickey Mouse Club, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Kookla, Fran and Ollie, Spin and Marty... Dick Clark's American Bandstand ... all in black and white and your Mom made you turn it off when a storm came.





When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going somewhere. Climbing trees, making forts, backyard shows, lemonade stands, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, staring at clouds, jumping on the bed, pillow fights, ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree, Jackie Gleason, white gloves, walking to the movie theater, running till you were out of breath, laughing so hard that your stomach hurt... remember that?





Not stepping on a crack or you'd break your mother's back, paper-chains at Christmas, silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington, the smells of school, of paste and plaster of Paris.





What about the girl who dotted her i's with hearts? (that was before that stupid smiley face)!



The Stroll, popcorn balls and sock hops?



Remember when there were just two types of sneakers for girls and boys -Keds and PF Flyers, and the only time you wore them at school was for gym. And the girls had those ugly gym uniforms.



When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking -- all for free -- every time! And, you didn't pay for air either, and you got trading stamps to boot!



When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box.



When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents. When the worst thing you could do at school was flunk a test or chew gum. And the prom was in the gym or the lunchroom and you danced to a real orchestra. When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed -- and did! When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home.



Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!



But we survived because their love was so much greater than the threat.



Remember when a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car -- used to cruise, peel out, lay rubber, scratch off or watch the submarine races?



When people went steady; and girls wore a class ring with an inch of wrapped Band-Aids, dental floss, or yarn coated with pastel-frost nail polish so it would fit their finger.



When no one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the car and house doors were never locked!



Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying things like "That cloud looks like a... " And playing baseball with no adults needed to enforce the rules of the game.



Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals, because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger.



And, with all our progress, don't you just wish, that just once you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace... and share it with the children of today?



So send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy, Howdy Dowdy and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk... As well as the sound of a real mower on Saturday morning, and Summers filled with bike rides, baseball games, bowling, visits to the pool... and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar from the palm of your hand.

 

[Shovelhead]

Oo.

 

[mdlowry]

Originally posted by hammersley

Remember when a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car -- used to cruise, peel out, lay rubber, scratch off or watch the submarine races?

Ok, I spent 6 years in the Navy and 3 years on the USS Montpelier (SSN-765), and I never remember any races. Besides, there wouldn't be much to watch.

 

[Shovelhead]

When you took your date to the shore at night it was to park and "watch the submarine races"

 

[Steve M]

A Hundred Years Ago . . . .





. . The average life expectancy in the United States was



forty-seven.





. . Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a



bathtub.





. . Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute



call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.





. . There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of



paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was ten mph.





. . Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more



heavily populated than California. With a mere 1. 4 million



residents, California was only the twenty-first most populous



state in the Union.





. . The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.





. . The average wage in the US was twenty-two cents an hour.



The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.





. . A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,



a dentist $2500 per year, a veterinarian between $1500 and



$4000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5000 per year.





. . More than 95 percent of all births in the United States



took place at home.





. . Ninety percent of all US physicians had no college education.



Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were



condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard. "





. . Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a



dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.





. . Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax



or egg yolks for shampoo.





. . Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the



country for any reason, either as travelers or immigrants.





. . The five leading causes of death in the US were: 1. Pneumonia



and influenza, 2. Tuberculosis, 3. Diarrhea, 4. Heart disease,



5. Stroke.





. . The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico,



Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.





. . Drive-by shootings -- in which teenage boys galloped down the



street on horses and started randomly shooting at houses,



carriages, or anything else that caught their fancy -- were an



ongoing problem in Denver and other cities in the West.





. . The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. The remote



desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers



and their families.





. . Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn't been discovered



yet. Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea



hadn't been invented.





. . There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.





. . One in ten US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent



of all Americans had graduated from high school.





. . Some medical authorities warned that professional



seamstresses were apt to become sexually aroused by the



steady rhythm, hour after hour, of the sewing machine's foot



pedals. They recommended slipping bromide-which was thought to



diminish sexual desire-into the women's drinking water.





. . Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the



counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist,



"Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,



regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a



perfect guardian of health. "





. . Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine.





. . Punch-card data processing had recently been developed, and



early predecessors of the modern computer were used for the



first time by the government to help compile the 1900 census.





. . Eighteen percent of households in the United States had



at least one full-time servant or domestic.





. . There were about 230 reported murders in the US



annually.

 

[Steve Campbell]

Can I...

... open my eyes yet?



Great reminiscing!!!



". . There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of



paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was ten mph. "





The advent of the car (looking to replace some of the horses) was looked at as a real plus to ending a lot of the pollution in New York City.

 

[catoiler]

OK now you did it! I thought i was getting, old but after reading those two stories that confirms it! man was life simpler then. but what the hey:{

 

[rmrc]

I remember everything!!!!!!!!!



As I was reading, I couldn't help but smile and wish that I could some how, turn the clock back and escape back to those wonderful and simple times!!!!!!!