Wish Book

I browsed thro' an old Sears-Roebuck Catalogue the other day. The necessaries shown in its pages would be antiquities today. It illustrated harness, horse shoes, things to tend horse's withers, And displayed everything from anvils to fifty-one string zithers! Ma could mail-order the latest in stylish apparel to wear: Bloomers, corsets and petticoats with dainty, fashionable flair! Things were more prudently displayed in those delicate Victorian days, So ladies ankles were discreetly covered to spare the ogler's gaze! Pa had available to him the latest and greatest in carpentry tools, Cultivators that could be drawn by his two cantankerous mules, Blacksmithing gadgets, manure spreaders, fishing rods and reels, Cream separators, horse collars, axe handles and buggy wheels! For just a little over three dollars and seventy-five cents, Junior could be clad with jacket and matching knee-length pants. Kids could drool over teddy bears which then were all the rage, And marvel at the magic land of toys on each titillating page! 'Twas enlightening to view things as they were in those good old days. I suppose back than all those things were the current craze. Items costing pennies then, now repose on shelves in the antique store. But, my oh my, over the decades, how the cost of them did soar! Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired (© All Rights Reserved)