The Coeval Blog

“My First Year(s) Of Marriage”

Michelle sent in another 2 part short story on her grandmother’s first year of marriage. It’s truly a great story; amazing to see how different life was. One can only imagine what it would  be like for two newlyweds to live such a lifestyle today. Enjoy!

“My First Year Of Marriage”

I was married to the love of my life in 1934. My husband and I spent the first year of our marriage getting to know one another. My husband was the Assistant Manager at Woolworths when I met him. After we were married, he met a man who told him he could make money as a traveling salesman. The decision was made and we broke down housekeeping and went on the road. Wear Ever Aluminum Cookware was a brand new product then and like many other new products it sold by doing home demonstrations. We set up a tent near the river, in a sort of community. Other salesmen and their families lived in tents nearby.

We would put on parties at people’s homes, and he would demonstrate the products, by cooking a complete meal then serve it to the attendees. Of course, the host would receive free cookware, for allowing us to put on the party. We made good money, in fact, one night we made $600.00. My husband put the money under our mattress and we slept on it. Each morning we would go to the bank and deposit the monies we made, then go out and buy whatever was needed for that night’s demonstration.

Looking back, it is hard to believe we were able to live that way and not worry about being robbed. I do not believe that type of life is possible today. The experience not only helped me to believe in myself, but also in the man, I loved. I believe having that first year together, alone, was the cement that held our relationship together until his death in 1975.”

“My Second Year Of Marriage”

Traveling around the country was not possible when I was young. With the invention of cars, we all were able to travel farther and see more than we could dream of. My husband became a traveling salesman of paper products, to churches out west. We remained east of the Mississippi River, but just being able to see this great country was a true experience that I will never forget.

We slept in our car at night. My trusty companion Peaches the dog stayed with us during our travels. We would go to restaurants to take our meals and at that time, dogs were allowed inside. She would sit between us and the waitresses would bring scraps of food for the dog. We were not charged for her meals believe it or not. One restaurant I will never forget. We went in to eat breakfast and as always Peaches accompanied us. Our food arrived and we began eating, Peaches however seemed to be preoccupied with the underside of the table. She would run her nose back and forth as if following something. After a short time, my husband decided to find out what was so interesting. He looked under the table and to his surprise Peaches was watching cockroaches running back and forth under the table. No, we did not finish our meal, and yes, we did leave immediately.

We traveled from town to town selling to church after church. My husband had to have his white shirts cleaned and pressed. There were no Laundromats at that time, so I being the dutiful wife, washed our clothes by hand in the great Mississippi River. I pressed his shirts using a license plate as an ironing board and an iron. No, it was not electric. I used the old style cast irons, having to heat the iron over fire and pressing the clothes.

Sleeping in the car was a true experience. Among our suitcases and boxes of product, we were able to sleep and had our alarm clock set on the boxes so we could get an early start. One night Peaches knocked the clock off the box, I of course, was hit in the eye with the clock. It became a gorgeous black eye, which I did my best to hide. That evening we met with some church people. The wife invited me in, I was very reluctant to go in, but eventually did. I overheard her stating how badly my husband had beaten me. If she only knew the truth.