Mama Gets a New Pair of Shoes

On Wednesday, December 6, 1916, Bonnie Elmore wrote: Warm, Windy. Arose at 7:20. Mary made fire. We ate dinner alone today. I indexed and filed filed office mail. Bought Mary a new pair of shoes. I shaved after supper. Pretty moonlight night. Norman fell upon stove and burnt his wrist and little finger. Mary bathed it in soda. Mr. Schick left on #3 for W. Va. on Co. business. Wow. Lots of interesting stuff here. The first thing to appear is just that Bonnie and Mary ate dinner alone on a Wednesday. In past days we have seen so much about the different friends and relatives who stopped by, visited, etc. that it is a little odd not to have that today. He did mention yesterday that Mrs. Raines was away, so maybe that was it. The next item of interest would be the new pair of shoes. I am sure that was a big deal in 1916 and obviously it was as it got mentioned in the diary entry for today. Now, I would never attempt to buy a new pair of shoes for my wife, especially with her not being along which is what it sounds like in this case. Again, this makes me wonder things like what they were like, how much did they cost, and why did Bonnie buy Mary a new pair of shoes? Was it a gift? Was it out of need? I kind of wish I had this diary of Bonnie's long before now and that I had been interested enough in it to either talk to Nanny and Grand-daddy about it themselves or at least my grandmother, or Uncle Norman. This makes me think that maybe some 90 years from now, do you reckon that my great-grandchildren might be sitting around some kind of a computer reading...maybe this...oh my goodness...and wondering about details of my life? My point is that life is short and so we need to talk to the people we love while they are here with us. Tell stories for goodness sake about what things were like "back then". I think the passing on of stories is maybe a lost art form, but something that people are very much interested in. People's craving for stories shows up today in reality TV and celebrity worship and gossip publications. People still love a story. I try and use them in my sermons all the time and people tell me that is one of the things they enjoy. I know I still enjoy stories, hence this blog. I know that just last night, my family stumbled across "old" pictures and videos of when our kids were younger and we all got the biggest kick out of seeing what we looked like, how the house had changed, what we were doing, etc. That's family history, that's stories and I find that rather interesting. Now Bonnie writes something that could not have been better suited to a blog about Family, Faith and Fire Safety (and no I didn't know this was in here when I named the blog). He tells about Norman getting burned on the stove and Mary putting soda on it. Again, Norman is their oldest child and is now somewhere a little over a year old. I bet that hurt and I bet he learned not to do that again. I am also certain that it probably scared Mary to death. Now, as a fire safety educator you know that I have some commentary on this one. Please keep small children away from the stove and oven by at least 3 feet. Remember me telling you about the 3 feet from the heat song? Also, we now know that the best way to treat a burn is with cool water for 3-5 minutes. If the burn seems more severe then call 911 and again please be careful with your home heating this winter. Mr. Schick is I believe a co-worker and apparently got on a train to West Virginia for N & W business. Have a safe trip Mr. Schick.