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NEWS
Students write about life 100 years ago
TRIBUNE-REVIEW Wednesday Sept. 4, 2002

Editor's Note: As part of the Daily Courier's 100th anniversary, local youth were invited to write essays on what life was like 100 years ago.

20th Century Change

Today's lifestyle, casual and pleasant, greatly differs from the lifestyle 100 years ago. Back then, in 1902, people had a tough time finding jobs to support a family.

Families fought a tough battle keeping their families well feed and well clothed. Some people, such as the coal miners, had to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, for only about $60 a month. Many people could not afford to pay back their debts, and some lost their savings, homes, and possessions because of this. Coal mining, not easy nor safe, involved high risk, and deaths frequently occurred. With 12 hour days at work coal miners hardly had time to spend with their families, but without their coal mining jobs they could not support a wife and children.

Today, we often take for granted what we have, with our eight-hour workdays, well paying jobs, and qualified workers in every field. With machines replacing many of the extremely strenuous jobs and computers to store much of the work we do, we have a life of luxury compared to what they had in the past. People did not have television to sit down and watch every evening, nor would they have had the time for it. Now, in 2002, we do not have to send workers into the mines to risk their lives, we have machines to do it for us.

Life in 1902 greatly differs from what we live in today. We enjoy life and live it to the fullest because of the technology we have developed through the years. As much as America has changed, from 1902 until 2002, it is difficult to imagine how much change will occur throughout the next century.

Danny Proud Mount Pleasant Area High