Pewter

The sewing machine was invented in 1830, but
into the 20th Century
many tailors, seamstresses, mothers, daughters, children, orphans, still
hand sewed
blankets, handkerchiefs, table clothes, breeches, bonnets, dresses, nighties, vests
out of necessity,
poverty
lack
not trend.

Early in the 1800s, Cardiff Castle had flush toilets and taps, but
there are still fly-in villages in the North
Northern Canada,
not just Siberia
not just Papua New Guinea
not just Zimbabwe
without
clean drinking water.

Pewter

By the late 1800s,
Toronto
New York
San Francisco
London
had gas lamps, electric trams and sewage, but
in the North in the 1960s
the Canadian North
the American and Canadian West
between towns
to farms
there were few power lines,
telephone lines,
no gas lines,
each farm had a well,
most a generator
indoor or outdoor plumbing.

Big metal wash tubs, wash boards, and hand wringers,
pewter jugs and basins
are not just relics of the distant cowboy past.