Did The Codgers Really Have it Right?

[petergunn]

the codgers just didn't spend money, the old farmers I grew up with were very tight with their money(as was my old man).
They may allow themselves a small luxury or a bit of simple extravagance like a quality gun (as apposed to a lesser brand) or higher model car but they'd still justify the purchase with the fact that it was a usable item.
The other issue is debt the old timers were very reluctant to go in debt because of the depression, that attitude has been wiped from the psyche of America today.

 

[phred]

I'm seeing something of an analogy with cars... Bear with me for a bit.
I am not a 'car guy' - for me, it's a method of transportation, and my wife and I survived with a single car between us for almost two decades before we finally decided that having a second one was worth the additional expense. We go for practical considerations primarily - mileage, affordability, reliability - rather than appearances.
Other people love to collect cars, drive them, spend the weekends cleaning and waxing them, attending car shows, discussing them in online forums, agonizing about the best gasoline to use, etc. It's a hobby/lifestyle thing, and more power to them.
Those of us on this forum tend more toward the 'pipe guy' (and 'pipe gal') end of the spectrum - with the advent of hard-core anti-smoking, the days of everyone having a pipe around the house and being able to pick up a pouch at the drugstore as a matter of course are pretty much long-gone, so the casual pipe smokers with a single knockaround pipe and a single preferred blend of tobacco are not as common as they used to be. And the marketing people know this. :D

 

[mso489]

The codgers did have some experiences we don't. They really knew the array of tobaccos that were available,

and they established which ones could remain appealing all day, and they had the experience of actually

using up pipes, not through carelessness, but simply through use. They'd burn 'em until they cracked, and

these were well-loved pipes that they may have spent a guilty sum to buy. So having more stuff doesn't

necessarily mean living a richer life. It's funny the way we assume we have advanced well beyond our

ancestors. Then you read some of the ancient Greek thinkers (most of us do this in translation) and discover

they were as intelligent or more intelligent than most of the leadership figures in the present or within memory.

Rigorous teachers used to extract essays from their students in farm country or in poor city neighborhoods

that would put the editorial columns in good newspapers to shame. In handwriting that would put us all to

shame. Some of those codgers and their wives were incredibly intelligent in ways we no longer are.

 

[pipingruotsi]

mso489 +1 on that

 

[bobpnm]

Thank you to Beaudreaux for starting such a great thread! My grandfather had seven pipes, one for each day. All came from the mill store or the drug store. He smoked tobacco he bought at the same places. He often put Dottle back in his pouch and stirred it back in so as not to waste it. He lit his pipes with matches no matter where he was. He smoked from the same pouch till it was empty and then he refilled it. He saved the large Prince Albert and Carter Hall cans and used them for many things. He made sure he had one good suit for church and big occasions. He told me many times that a man should put work before play, needs before wants, family before friends, God before all of it. He was wise in ways education can not provide. He was rock solid. I confess I didn't realize this until he was gone. I had to grow up myself first.