This was sent to us the other day and we found it quite interesting. I hope you will too.
Today's
selection -- from What Hath God Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe. In
1815, Americans were young, went barefoot, and didn't take baths:
"Life
in America in 1815 was dirty, smelly, laborious, and uncomfortable. People
spent most of their waking hours working, with scant opportunity for the
development of individual talents and interests unrelated to farming.
Cobbler-made shoes being expensive and uncomfortable, country people of
ordinary means went barefoot much of the time. White people of both sexes wore
heavy fabrics covering their bodies, even in the humid heat of summer, for they
believed (correctly) sunshine bad for their skin. People usually owned few
changes of clothes and stank of sweat.
"Only
the most fastidious bathed as often as once a week. Since water had to be
carried from a spring or well and heated in a kettle, people gave themselves
sponge baths, using the washtub. Some bathed once a year, in the spring, but as
late as 1832, a New England country doctor complained that four out of five of
his patients did not bathe from one year to the next. When washing themselves,
people usually only rinsed off, saving their harsh, homemade soap for cleaning
clothes. Inns did not provide soap to travelers.
"Having
an outdoor privy signified a level of decency above those who simply relieved
themselves in the woods or fields. Indoor light was scarce and precious;
families made their own candles, smelly and smoky, from animal tallow. A single
fireplace provided all the cooking and heating for a common household. During
winter, everybody slept in the room with the fire, several in each bed. Privacy
for married couples was a luxury. ...
"It
was a young society: The census listed the median age as sixteen, and only one
person in eight as over forty-three years old. Women bore children in agony and
danger, making their life expectancy, unlike today, slightly shorter than that
of men. Once born, infants often succumbed to diseases like diphtheria, scarlet
fever, and whooping cough. One-third of white children and over half of black
children died before reaching adulthood. The women had enough babies to beat
these grim odds. To help them through labor, neighbors and trained midwives
attended them. Doctors were in short supply, hospitals almost unknown. This
proved a blessing in disguise, for physicians then did as much harm as good,
and hospitals incubated infection. The upside of rural isolation was that
epidemics did not spread easily."
What Hath God Wrought: The
Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States)
Author: Daniel Walker Howe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Copyright 2007 by Oxford
University Press, Inc.
Pages 32, 37
Posts
