Years ago when I was a child, we were taught to respect elderly people. We were taught to call them Aunt, Uncle, Mr or Mrs. We were never allowed to call them by their first names. To this day, I still do this. Till the day he died, I called my best friends father Mr Anderson. He always told me that his name was Bud but I could not bring myself to call him Bud. It is just a matter of respect.
I remember a neighbor who was elderly, they also had the man's elderly Mother live with them. They locked her in her room at night. I never understood why and it seemed so cruel to me as a child. Now I understand. The lady who I was taught to call Aunt Pet had Alzheimers really bad. She would wander outside and get lost. There were woods all around the house. Not many home nearby. We were the closest home and we lived nearly a mile away.
Back in those days, families always took care of each other. There were no homes to send elderly to when they became unable to take care of themselves. Everyone had to work on the farm in the day so it was important to get a nights rest when it became dark.
Locking Aunt Pet in her room was the only way to protect her from harming herself. She used a chamber pot because she was not able to go to the toilet (yes we all had outside toilets back then) One day, the Mistress of the home was out in the garden. As she walked back toward the house, she heard Aunt pet using the chamber pot. Aunt Pet had a habbit of throwing it out the window when she was finished so the lady stood back for a bit so she would not get pee on her.
After a while when Aunt Pet did not throw the pot out the window, the lady proceeded to walk around the house. Just as she got at the window, out came the pot, pee and all. It went all over the Mistress.
Life was never dull on the farm.
What kind of stories do you have from your childhood life?
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Comments: 26
LOL That is funny.
April,
I do too.
J,
LOL We did not have a tractor. We used a work horse. Talk about rough. LOL
It's funny how different things are in different parts of the country. Or maybe it was just the difference between living in town and living out in the country. But my mom didn't have an outhouse from the time she was in first grade, and I'm sure she is several (at least 10-12) years older than you!
I was also always taught to use Mr. & Mrs. for all the adults that I knew. However we didn't use Aunt and Uncle before names in the family. My mother's brothers were always know as my uncles but we just called them by first name. It wasn't until I moved to NJ that I ever heard someone say "Hi Uncle Joe" or similar. To me that would have just be Joe who happened to be my uncle. However, everyone outside the family that was an adult was Mr. So-and-So always. I remember my first "real job" and my boss told me to call him "Ray". I couldn't do it and always called him by Mr. and his last name. Eventually we compromised and I called him "Mr. D" but I couldn't go any more casual than that.
Many of the older folks Mom had as friends we always
called Aunt/Uncle. Mr./Mrs. was always a must. And we
had an outhouse but only one at a time could use it!!!
Grandma had a 3 hole outhouse too. Connie I had an
Aunt J that would wander off too she was mentally.....
challenged but was never locked in her room perhaps
that would have been the best thing to keep her safe
an dout of harms way. I wanted to add more to this
but this is to emotional so I must stop.
Here's a 10 for you!
Happy triple points week :)
But I also grew up at a time when adults were addressed with titles.
Different generations :)
Now, my grandfather was green before green was in - there was a hornet's nest in the outhouse. I was cautioned to be careful not to stir up the hornets.:)
I remember their ash grey nests, like cigarette ash.
I can just imagine today's mother's going ballistic, when their darling gets within ten feet of a bee, never mind a hornet.
That was so funny.