The Way Things Were

So, this post is going to sound a little random, but I think it will be enjoyable.
I was bored, and decided, for old time's sake, to read one of my favorite series from when I was younger. That's right, The Bobbsey Twins. I jumped in the middle, and was immediately enthralled, not by the story, or the writing, but some of the details of the story, and events that take place. Children going on picnics, just because, small children sleeping in haylofts, citizens calling up the sheriff, who they know by name, and my personal favorite, two boys who are having some conflict of personality being told by an adult to get it out of their system, and to have a good old-fashioned wrestling match.  Crazy, right? Amazingly enough, it sorta worked. There are some great examples of how things were way back when. Way more relaxed, much more communal, and everyone was a lot happier and healthier. The healthier seems a little odd to me, because everyone is eating ALL the time, and the most awesomely rich food. Homemade cake, coleslaw, ham, just outrageous. Perhaps the fact that everyone was outside+the fact that there wasn't a lot of processed foods, lots of things were handmade from scratch could account for that. Huh. Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit of random thought process, prompted by a passage from a children's book from 1950. Isn't it interesting how children's books reflect the times?