A Change of Dress is as Good as a Nap

A change of dress is as good as a nap... Yet countless women - farm women especially - never put on a fresh dress after dinner unless company is expected or they are going to town. 

So said the Exeter Times, 100 years ago today; a weekly newspaper read by your ancestors and relatives in Huron County and Middlesex County...

Woman's Sphere column in the Exeter Times, 18 November 1920, page 2.

This is just one example of the advice that was doled out to your rural relatives, a century ago. It wasn't enough that a woman had been cooking and baking all day, not to mention sweeping, scrubbing and scouring the house, tending to at least some of the livestock, and caring for at least half a dozen children. It seems that after all that, she was also expected to look attractive for her husband when he came through the door at the end of the day.

What about her husband? Did he change into a fresh pair of overalls when he returned from the fields or did he sit down to dinner smelling of the barnyard? The newspaper article neglects to inform us about whether or not he freshened up his appearance. Someone should have written a similar column for the men, advising them that "a change of dress is as good as a nap."

Culbert Veterans Presented with Parker Pens

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two. After the war ended, Biddulph Township Council presented all the returned Service men and women of World War Two with a Parker fountain pen and Eversharp pencil set with their names engraved on them.[1]

A reception was held in Granton, Ontario, near Lucan on the evening of Tuesday, 25 June 1946.

Brothers, Kenneth Arthur Culbert, Ivan Hector Culbert, and Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert received their pen sets at this reception. This photo was published in the London Free Press the next day, 26 June 1946...

LUCAN VETERANS HONOURED: Left to right: Ken Culbert, a former Flight Sergeant in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF); Ivan Culbert, a former Sergeant who just recently returned from 6 years and 4 months of overseas duty; and Mel Culbert, a former RCAF Sergeant. The Free Press caption says the Culbert brothers were from Granton but it should say Lucan.

Parker pens were used by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Douglas MacArthur to sign the agreements that ended World War II.

Eisenhower holding Parker pens.

Parker pen used in the signing of the German surrender, WWII.

In a previous post, I listed some of the descendants of John Culbert and Mary Ward who served in World War One. Ken, Ivan, and Mel were just three of the many Culbert descendants who served during World War Two. 

Photo colourized by Phil Culbert.

If you'd like to see Phil Culbert's Remembrance Day tribute to his father, Ivan Culbert, click here to visit his Facebook page. 

Footnotes: [1] Pioneers to the Present: Biddulph Township Sesquicentennial History Book 1850-2000, Lucan, Ont. : Corp. of the Township of Biddulph, 1998, p.26.