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|  What would it have been like to live during the first world war? What did girls like Penelope eat for breakfast? What kinds of clothes did girls wear a hundred years ago? What's a chamber pot? 
The Great WarIn 1917 Canada was part of the British Empire. It was known as a self-governing Dominion, halfway between a colony and the independent nation it is today. Since 1914 the British Empire had been fighting the German and Austrian Empires in what was then called the Great War of the Nations, or what we now call the First World War. Over the four and a half years that the war lasted, 650,000 Canadians served overseas (most of them passing through Halifax on their way) and more than sixty thousand died. The British Empire fought alongside the French Republic, the Russian Empire and, beginning in 1917, the United States. Looking back, eighty-five years later, it is difficult for us to understand why the nations were fighting in the first place. It's especially hard to understand why millions of young men had to suffer and more than thirteen million people had to die. At the time, people on either side believed they were fighting for freedom and a better world. When the war was over, the people of the nations and empires that fought came to believe that they had been wrong and that the war was a mistake. Canadians, however, looked back on the war as a time when Canada stood on her own, almost like a young person becoming a grown-up. GO BACK TO THE TOP Making Breakfast Most mornings, Penelope and her family ate porridge for breakfast. It was made by stirring oats into boiling water and then letting them cook for a half hour or so. When they were ready, some salt would be added -- never sugar! In 1921, the Quaker Oats company invented quick-cooking oats: these were oats that had been sliced very thinly so they would cook faster. Today it's possible to buy oats that cook in the microwave in one minute, but in 1917 it took a lot longer to cook breakfast. GO BACK TO THE TOP  More Work For PenelopeAnother one of Penelope's chores was changing her baby sister's diapers and then washing the dirty ones. These were plain cloth diapers, since disposable diapers weren't invented until the 1940s. And there were no washing machines either! Washing diapers was extremely hard work and could take all day. First, the diapers were placed in a large tub (also known as a "copper") of boiling water. Since laundry detergent wasn't invented until 1943, and powdered soap was quite expensive, most people grated bits of soap into the hot water. Simply boiling the diapers didn't get them clean, though: they had to be beaten with a funny-looking contraption called a "dolly." This looked like a small, three-legged stool with a long handle sticking out of the seat. The "stool" end of the dolly was placed in the tub and agitated up and down. Once the diapers were clean, and had been rinsed to get rid of the soap, they had to be put through the mangle. This contraption had two big, heavy wooden rollers that were turned with a crank. When clothes were forced between the rollers, any extra water was squeezed out. Once the diapers were wrung out, they had to be hung up to dry. In winter, or in bad weather, they had to be hung up inside the house. When you think of how many diapers a baby goes through, you can imagine how many diapers Penelope had to wash. And once the diapers were done, she had to wash all the family's clothing and linen, such as bedsheets, the same way! GO BACK TO THE TOP Only Three Dresses Take a moment and count up, in your head, all the different clothes you have. It's probably hard for you to remember. And it's certainly more than three outfits, right? Well, three outfits is all that Penelope had. She had a dress for church (her "Sunday best"), and two dresses for during the week -- and she considered herself lucky to have so many clothes. It's important to remember that in 1917 people didn't have nearly as many "things" as we do now. Children had fewer toys, fewer books and far fewer clothes. Clothes were very expensive, and they had to last. If your dress got a rip in the sleeve, or you started to grow out of it too quickly, it would be fixed or let out very carefully. Once you had grown out of something, your younger sister would have to wear it, and then it might be handed on to someone else, until it was completely worn out. If you've ever thought your grandparents might be exaggerating when they tell you about how hard life was when they were kids -- well, they're not! Life really was hard for most people. GO BACK TO THE TOP What's A "Po"? By 1917, most homes in Halifax had indoor plumbing, including flush toilets. Penelope's house had a toilet, so why did she and her sister have a chamber pot -- a "po" -- in their bedroom? This was because grown-ups thought a trip downstairs to the toilet, especially in the middle of the night, was too frightening (and possibly dangerous) for children, so kids were provided with a "po" in case they needed to go to the toilet at night. Although a primitive form of toilet was used by the ancient Romans, the modern toilet that is familiar to us now -- made out of porcelain and flushed with a flood of water -- wasn't invented until the late 1800s. Several different inventors in the United States and England came up with similar designs, and by 1917 all but the poorest homes were equipped with a toilet. And although you may have heard that a man called Thomas Crapper invented the toilet, it's unfortunately not true. He did invent several devices that made toilets work better, but he didn't invent the toilet itself. GO BACK TO THE TOP |
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