Great-Grandad Had a Lump of Coal, I've the Pentium Chip by John Cook

To understand the plight of man, woman or child, you must be among the ones who have suffered. For really, who would know what hunger is if they always had a full stomach? Who would realize the great jubilation of getting old shoes re-soled for the winter? People today may not realize how the modern day comforts of home, school, work came around by the efforts of past generations. If Einstein, Franklin, or whomever had made a time machine for us to live momentarily in the past, we would realize how fortunate we really are.

The children of the lower working class are the ones who suffered so much during the Industrial Revolution. Forced to labor at early ages, this labor became their trade in life...choices were few. This dismal outlook on life and way of life continued for many years. One such example of this is during the depression era of the 1930's. A man by the name of Frank McCourt was being raised by his Irish parents during this period in history. Speaking of his childhood experience in a recent bestseller entitled "Angela's Ashes," he relishes that all was not easy and sums it up in this statement.

When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. (McCourt. Tape one introduction)

While relying on his humor to make not all seem that bad, McCourt goes on to tell of nights without dinner; stealing bananas from the local grocer to feed his younger brothers. His brothers and sister die because of disease, lack of food, lack of warmth and clothes. On more than one night he sat in his home hungry, with his father drinking their money away. He took responsibility for his brothers one night at the age of four. Sick of the incessant hunger pangs and cries of his brothers, he mixed sour milk and bread together for their supper. He added sugar to the mix to kill the awful taste of spoiled milk. It was all the food they had.

This type of suffrage was common place in the early 1800's. In her book "Mary Barton", Elizabeth Gaskell tells of John Bartons trials of toiling with ones back for a living, barely able to bring enough home for food and clothes. "We are their slaves as long as we can work; we pile up their fortunes with the sweat of our brows; and yet we are to live as separate as if we were in two worlds; ay, as separate as Dives and Lazarus." (Gaskell. Pg 45)

When I was growing up and the pantry was empty of food, it was still mainly full. Empty meant that we were out of Cheerios and Quaker Granola Bars. I don't remember missing any meals, except when punished. Once when I was five, my mother wouldn't feed us a snack before dinner. The pain in my stomach from lack of food was immense. I pleaded with her for food, but she knew best and wouldn't feed me just an hour before dinner. I decided that my hunger was too much, and ate dry cat food. It was tasty and after all, the cat ate it. So, despite my one hour of hunger, being later stuffed by cat food, I know not how it feels to starve. My father didn't drink his money away. We didn't have to steal food to survive. I had a warm house to sleep in and plenty of clothes and shoes. My suffering came from the thought that I had to

D:\Docs\2018-04-06\036da51cbb9830ada006d1b53b46a4f1.doc wear hand-me-downs.

Children going hungry may have been common then, but not so much today. There are many social systems in place to care for children. This wasn't the case in the day's of Ms. Gaskell's John Barton. He laments, "Twin's is a great trial to a poor man, bless' em..." ( Gaskell Pg. 47)

We all have struggles in life. The struggles endured by many before us may seem bizarre compared to our problems of today. The days spent toiling for ones' family, supporting not only themselves, yet the entire family could be harnessed on the shoulders of someone as young as seven or nine. Child labor laws that we abide by now were then non-existent. Forcing children to work at such a young age stunted their growth, kept them from learning in school and placed great loads of responsibility on them. For the children of previous years, their plight and struggle for life made them what they were to become...people of character. Responsibility came about early in life for most of the working class poor. One seldom thinks of play or of future when there is no food to be had.

Many of the problems faced by the lower-middle class then, are masked in a different disguise today. In parts of our world, children suffer from forced labor, starvation, neglect. Unwanted children are left on the doorsteps of adoption agencies, and they suffer from a variety of diseases and disregard. In America, we aspire to do the right thing. We have child labor laws to protect children. We have public assistance for the poor to help them in times of need. This assistance helps children so they don't have to support their family. We have Medicaid to help the sick and weak. We have Nintendo and television for baby-sitters. Electricity surrounds us. Modern conveniences makes chores that used to consume hours, now takes minutes. We have the Salvation Army food bank, the Union Gospel and Meals on Wheels for the hungry. It makes life easier for us to share the responsibility of caring for family with so may agencies extending their hands. With this help, the working class poor of America now has the time to think of play and future.

The differences between people in different classes a hundred and fifty years ago were very apparent. For one thing, their clothes were different. The rich, middle class sported pressed linens, clean white woolen fabrics, glossy polished shoes. The working poor went so far as to have classes of clothes. The good Sunday clothes that one would wear and admire once a week on the way to Catholic Mass, or whatever religious denomination. Then the work clothes, being more prevalent, yet bore no less importance in the way of keeping one warm or neat. For clothes were classes in and of themselves.

Speaking of class suited clothes, Ms. Gaskell makes it a point to comment on the dress of her characters. "They were most of them factory girls, and wore the usual our-of-doors dress of that particular class of maidens..." (Gaskell. Pg 40)

Clothes for us today resemble a fraction of their importance of what they did during the revolution. For a man to be seen going out to a fancy restaurant in his work clothes then would be unthinkable, intolerable, almost immoral. Today, we take this sort of practice to be normal. People work, eat, play, think, drive, learn, drink, sleep, dance and read in the same clothes. Apart from the practice of wearing "proper formal" clothes to official type functions like weddings, funerals, church, speeches and the like, people have the freedom to wear just about anything they please. The personal choice of deciding whatever clothing one may wear has come about by a dismemberment of tradition and social tiers and classes. In this aspect, modern D:\Docs\2018-04-06\036da51cbb9830ada006d1b53b46a4f1.doc people do not closely resemble the people who worked and founded modern inventions and conveniences. Our individuality has overridden social pressure on wearing what is proper for any given situation. Now, one may walk into a social neutral place such as Wal-Mart and look at any five people. They may look similar, sporting Levi's, Kathie Lee's and Nike's, but those five people may be as diverse as a ENT surgeon with multiple degrees and a large bank account to a clerk with a few pennies in her pocket, working on her GED.

The daily drudgery and labor one spent providing for a family differs from the past years to now. Measuring how one social class fared from another is done by looking at money generated by work. Like separating the surgeon from the clerk, money is the constant tool for economists and the like to determine social class as well as buying power. In a thought provoking on-line essay, Ralf Dahrendorf speaks of social class interaction in the Industrial Revolution. He reflects on the identifying differences separating the classes.

The intensity of conflict in capitalist society was increased by the superimposition of authority and other factors of social status, especially income. Domination meant, for the capitalists, a high income, while subjection involved for labor extreme material hardship. There was a clear correlation between the distribution of authority and social stratification. (Dahrendorf)

Whether it be Shillings, Pence, Farthings, Dollars or Cents, they all are a measure of buying power then and now. For the wealthy, using their status and their money was done in a different way than the working millions. The wealthy didn't think of how they would have enough to pay the rent, for food, clothes. Their thoughts surrounded ideas on forming new plants for production, making money with money. Thoughts of future security and social approval would dominate the mind of those with plenty.

In this aspect, history will repeat itself. While the lower middle class of today enjoys an easier lifestyle, the "well off" still maintain an air of superiority, almost a monopoly over the working class. Authority and power still reside in the mass sums of Dollars held by the upper class bank accounts. This wealth for someone in upper classes of society equals power and affects the material aspects of their lives greatly. They may purchase any item of their wish or want.

With skilled workers being paid more than unskilled, professionals being of a higher class than impoverished laborers, the social structures evolving today mirror those of the past. Ever changing like shifting sand, class identity and social conditions will continually be affected by money, education, cultural background and traditions, inequalities and power. It is comforting to know that some things will never change. Works Cited:

Dahrendorf, Ralf. Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society . (Summary of Classes in Post-Capitalist Society, pg. 241-8 from Ridener) 1959.

Gaskell, Elizabeth. Mary Barton. Penguin Classics. London. 1985

McCourt, Frank. Angela's Ashes. New York: Simon & Schuster Audio Division, 1997 Cassette one introduction.

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