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OUR YUCAIPA | AUGUST 2016 5 When we found out that Bob Henry, our very own, very old Yucaipa resident, was approaching 109 years on this planet, I wondered what the world was like when he was born and what he thought about all the amazing inventions he's seen and all the incredible events he's witnessed. I know in my 40-some years, I've seen a thing or two change. We used to have to sit by the phone when talking on the phone because the phone handset was attached to the phone base. I liked the kitchen phone the best because the cord was about six feet long and I could usually sit under the dining room table when I wanted privacy. We got a microwave in 1982 and my mom met with a lawyer to make a will. It was the fanciest thing we owned and we had a family meeting to decide who it would go to. The microwave had a wind up timer on the front and an on/off button. It made soup warm in five minutes, saving us the three additional minutes the stove usually took. We had four stations on the TV — ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. Often we had to wrap foil around the rabbit ear antenna to help give the magic television waves an extra boost. And when we wanted to change the channel, we had to get up and touch the television. Sometimes the knob would come off in my hand and I'd misplace it and we'd have to use pliers to change the channel. In my mom's station wagon, I remember sitting in the way back, facing the cars behind us, waving or making faces. There was a product that was sold for people on longer road trips where you could hold up pre-made signs on a paddle, depending on what you wanted to say to passing cars. "Honk Three Times If You Like Me!" "Smile If You're A Great Driver!" "Wave At Me!" It was like texting but with eye contact. When I started researching what life was like when Bob was born way back in 1907, I found a website that had archived newspapers. "This is like microfiche but without the giant knobs and I don't have to be in a library!" I exclaimed. The computer machine is another great invention I've enjoyed. I became engrosssed reading all the stories and studying ads of that year, realizing that we really have come a long way in 108 years. Women didn't have the vote. Suffrage was just starting to get a foothold in the U.S. and women were coming from England to help the movement. African Americans were barely 50 years out of slavery and attitudes were slow to change. Newspapers functioned like Facebook and had sections for people to read about what their neighbors back home were up to. Most people in California were transplants and, judging by how much New York news there was in the Los Angeles papers of the day, they were all from New York. The ads were the best. Seeing what things cost in 1907 was stunning - it made me wish for a time machine to go back and shop. My favorite ad is the one to the left. There were actually a lot of "physicians" advertising "cures" for "women's ailments." Not only could women not vote, many couldn't work and relied on their husbands to take care of them… and if they were in a bad marriage, divorce was practically unheard of. They had zero independence, often going from their childhood home to their married household. They suffered and became nervous, weak, tired, run down, dispirited, easily exhausted - in other words, a dishrag. Or, the dramatic before sketch you see in the ad. The worst part of being a woman, though, is when you did decide to get help and wanted to get a trial package of Stuart's Calcium Wafers, they contained belladonna, a poisonous plant that can block functions of the body's nervous system. And the only way you would know that would be to go and research it at the library but frankly, you're too tired to do that and there is no Google machine to tell you that the "medicine" is going to kill you. It makes me wonder if, 108 years from now, someone will be researching what 2016 was like and will say, "Can you believe they cut people's bodies OPEN and TOOK THINGS OUT!!??" (Thank you, Star Trek movie.) Overall I think things are better today than they were 108 years ago. Except for the texting while driving - or even walking. The texting feature should be disabled when the phone is in motion. Hey! Someone invent that! F. A. Stuart Co. was located in Marshall, Michigan. During 1915-1916, the company was sued by the government for misbranding and for not following FDA regulations. Things Are Better Now Except For All The Texting By Courtney Taylor

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