[Dingfod]

Life was great 100 years ago in America. Men put in 14-16 hours of heavy labor a day, six days a week, for about a dollar a day, if you were lucky enough to have a job at the foundry/factory/mine/smelter/mill. It was common for women and children to work in sweatshop conditions as well, anything to get by. Only a small percentage of homes had electricity, telephones, or flush toilets. Coal and wood smoke in the air practically choked the life out of you. Human waste and horse manure littered the streets. Women only washed their hair once a month, and most people rarely bathed more than once weekly. Outside of cities there were few paved roads. A car was only a dream for most people. The leading causes of death were pneumonia and influenza, but only about 10% of physicians had much in the way formal education; life expectancy was only about 45 or 50.

On the other hand, marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available at corner drugstores without a prescription. That might have made it barely tolerable.