Around the turn of the century in 1900
What did we do at the turn of the century in 1900?
1. We didn’t worry about old age pension because the average life expectancy was 45 years.
2. We didn’t clean floors as we do today because the electric floor machines and electric vacuum cleaner weren’t invented yet.
3. Nevertheless, floor polishing was done in an interesting way. The mothers or the maid scrubbed the floor on their knees with a hand brush. After which the floor was rubbed with paste wax. Then the kids were fitted with a “shoe brush” which is a short bristle brush and it was strapped to the shoe. Then the kid was told to dance, which meant to shuffle and shine up the floor. If there were a boy and a girl then they were paired to dance. The one who whistled better supplied the music. This kind of floor polishing could be done in less than an hour if the room was small.
4. Then rugs were put in place and unless you were willing to risk your life, you didn’t step off them.
5. Marble and granite floors were treated similarly accept they weren’t waxed.
6. The gasoline for this car was sold in drug stores over the counter so was marijuana, heroin, and morphine. Sorry, I almost forgot, so was cocaine.
7. Communication in short distance was simple, you howler. For long distance they were using the then existing Internet the Telegraph. While hollering cost nothing, for the Telegraph you paid every word you sent. More often than not you had to walk down to the Telegraph office to place the order. Of course you could use the telephone instead, but did the operator understood clearly what you said? If not, you paid for the wrong message.
8. Cleaning carpet or cleaning rug was simple. You hang it up outside to on the fence and beat the living daylight out of it.
9. Left over tealeaf’s sprinkled on to the carpet helped to gather dust
10. To make it shiny you brush salt in to it.
11. Cleaning marble or polishing granite floor was even simpler. Wash it with water.
12. The cost of a semi-detached house in Toronto cost less than $2,500
13. Most women washed their hair only once a month with Borax. Shampoo wasn’t invented yet.
14. If your marble floor had an ugly spot on it, you would use talcum powder mixed with water or turpentine and create a poultice. Heap it up on top of the stain, cover it well and leave it there for two days. With some luck the stain were transferred to the talcum powder.
15. Marble floor polishing was done by hand unless you were rich and able to afford a steam engine driven polishing machine weighing two tons without the polishing stones.
16. Diamonds were used only to decorate woman’s attire not for polishing stones.
17. Rejuvenate marble or terrazzo floors were not in the dictionary.
18. Restoration courses for marble didn’t become the reality for another 100 years. To polish terrazzo you had to be a stonemason.
19. Our Rabbit-3 floor machine was not even on the drawing board for another 95 years.
20. Ninety percent of Doctors had NO college education! And some doctors still refused to wash their hands before baby delivery or surgery.
If Dr. J.Lister or Dr.Semmelweis would have seen it, they would have turned in their graves.
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis introduced hand disinfection standards in obstetrical clinics,in 1847
Dr. J. Lister became the first person to perform an antiseptic surgery in 1865
In contrast, today we even disinfect marble floors and granite floors if the need arise.