On the question of modernization, a kind of parable:
I had a friend who ran a tobacco shop near St. John's, originally from Alsace. (He had relatives fighting on both sides in World War II). His family had moved to Normandy when he was a boy, and he would sometimes describe the routine of a farm wife in the '40's. His mother would be up early to knead bread, so that she could set it on the hearth to rise. She would behead the chicken and pluck it, or butcher the hog herself, unless one of the men were free to help. Of course, she would have to cook early to send the men off with a hearty breakfast, after collecting the eggs. (Usually, she made her own sausage). There was no electrical refrigeration, and she would get fresh milk each day, and cool it with ice chips off of blocks obtained from a vendor. There was no electricity at all, and no gas, so she was at a wood-burning hearth much of the day, guessing how long to cook things. Of course, what was not available from the farm required her to go to market in the nearest town. It was fairly close, and so she would usually walk with her basket, and spend much of the mid- day haggling, then trudge back (assuming good weather). She would usually take a lunch out to the fields, just after getting back from town, and would spend the rest of the day peeling, chopping, dressing, and so forth, for dinner. Of course,there was also a lot of cleanup in the kitchen, and with a pump and the need to boil water, it could take some time to clean the pots. Whenever she could break away from kitchen duty, she would have the rest of the house to dust and straighten.....Now, there were nostalgic elements in his story: the freshness of the food, the attention paid to its preparation, the smells of fresh bread and cookies rising from the hearth. But mostly, he was amazed to recall the drudgery and consumption of time involved, and felt sorry for his mother to have lived under such conditions. He had emigrated to America in the '60s, and was somewhat bemused about some of the antics of the students during that time. They had no idea what it was really like for most people, and how fortunate they were to have been liberated from rural isolation and endless chores..... |
