LIFE AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

Essay, Research Paper

Life At The Turn Of The Century

Life at the turn of the century was full of changes for better and worse. The inventions of science and technology revolutionized practicably every human activity and stimulated further investigation and discovery. It is easy to feel that the early years or the twentieth century really brought in a new way of life. The people of the first decade of the century seem less unfamiliar, less hard to understand then there parents, the people of the eight-teen hundreds. Many features of modern living first made there glorious daube in the early years of the century. Which includes all the marvellous new inventions. The changes and happenings in the field of medicine. The homes that the children at the beginning of the century grew up in. Also school life for those who attended. Even vast transformations were accruing in the field of sports.

For those children attended school, school life could be hard. For example, there were not as many schools, so some children had to travel on horseback or foot for miles to even get to school. This would be an especially hard task yo complete in the harsh winter moths. Speaking of harsh winter months, it was common place for a child’s lunch to freeze along with the water in class and even the ink. To heat up morning lessons would be done in front of the big black heater. Before the turn of the century the lessons were fairly simple, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Including Latin being a compulsory subject and German and Greek could be taken. However in the early nine-teen hundreds this was considered to be hardly enough. So as a result of this agriculture and teacher colleges were established, and other hands on teaching was done. However, boys ans girls did not stay long in school, since school only had to be taken until the age of fourteen. Some children didn’t even stay that long. Still at the beginning of the century people were starting to realize the importance to the development of the world as we know it.

After a hard day of work at school, a child cold come home to a nice home. And a nice house it would have been have been, since most turn of the century homes were massive two-storey’s with wings at the sides added as the family gets bigger. On the front would be a large wooden veranda surrounded by a vast yard. Usually there would be a large garden to tend to. The inside of the house consisted of large spacious halls. In the boils of all old houses there would be a immense and roomy dirt floored cellar. On the more luxurious side of things an average house included a parlour. This is where the organ and gramophone were kept incase company drops by. This is the reason it is kept spic and span. The living room was used only on Sundays and on special occasions. Rooms like these and other rooms around the house were always large and high ceiling. However in those times the kitchen as the most popular of all. Family life and activities were centred around the kitchen. To be exact the two kitchens, since there was a back kitchen that was used in the summer months. However in the colder months of winter time was spent in the other kitchen, around the wood stove. The stoves used were mainly wood burning. However the coal burning stove was becoming more popular in the early nine-teen hundreds. In the kitchen the most comfortable chairs were kept. Speaking of furniture, it was always massive and ornate. The furniture was primarily made of oak, yet walnut and mahogany were often used. It is obvious to see that the people the time period took a great deal of pride in there homes.

The old cliche, in with the new and out with the old comes to mind when looking back on sports at the turn of the century. Popular sports of the eight-teen hundreds like sculling and cricket soon lost ground to sports like football, hockey, and baseball. College football began in 1898 along with the big four league. The amateur football league was organized in 1909. At that time the Governor General Lord Grey donated a cup to the league to give to the champion of the annual championship game. The competition was latter known as the Grey Cup. The Ontario Hockey Association was formed in 1891. This league soon became the National Hockey League. Another Governer General Lord Stanley donated a cup for this sport. As a result of this the league’s annual competition was to be known as the Stanley Cup. At the turn of the century lacrosse was also a big hit. For example when the town lacrosse team played half the shops in town would close in order to be in attendance. Another favourite sport, basketball was invented 1891 by a Canadian Dr. James Naismith. One sport that won universal favour was boxing. It is evident that the generation growing up in the early nine-teen hundreds had a different set of interests than there parents in the field of sports.

The best way to describe the medical state of the early nine-teen hundreds, would be to say it were like a tipsy turvy roller coaster of triumphs and tribulations. The turn of the century was filled with medical break throughs and break downs. Such triumphs were when the yellow fever was found to be carried by a mosquito. As a result of this the yellow fever was stopped making vacations to tropical areas much more bearable. In 1895 the x-ray machine was invented along with the discovery of radium. Biologists came up with new information about the inner workings of the body. Speaking of the body, Sigmund Froid endured extensive research on the brain. The information that was found made a great impact in medicine. Sir William Osler unearthed diagnosis for many illness that were thought to be physical, but were truly mental sicknesses. However there was a down side of the medical state of that time period. For example, in 1906 to 1907 the biggest typhoid epidemic in Ontario’s history took place. People infected by the virus had to be transported to Toronto hospitals, just to receive medical attention. To contain the virus tents were set up to house the patients. Nurses would go from tent to tent in high rubber boots to tend to the sick and dying. To add to the disturbance small pox and black dyptheria were starting to rage. To try and stop the small pox pest houses were set up to isolate those infected. In the end, it could be said that good triumphed over evil, since all medical disasters were defeated.

At the turn of the century a explosion of inventions revolutionized the world as we not it. It was the beginning of the biggest era of technology the world had ever seen. One of the biggest inventions at that time was the automobile. However, in the early nine-teen hundreds cars were only for the rich. That was common fact, until Henry Ford came out with the Moldle-T or Tin Lizzie as it was known in 1908. After ten years of its production the Mole-T’s price came down to 350$, making it affordable to the average person. The statistics show that a lot of average people bought cars, including the Model-T, because in 1908 a recorded three thousand cars were on the road. However, in 1915 there were a recorded 50,000 cars on the road. Another astonishing creation was the Wright brother’s air plane invented in 1903. The wonderful world of electricity was discovered and contributed to a lot of inventions of that period. In the 1870s the very first telegraph line linked all the provinces together. This made it possible to send a message in days what used to take weeks. In 1876 Alexander Ghram Bell made the first long distance telephone call. Speaking of conversation the first two-way conversation was committed in 1898, and the first wireless transmission was made in 1901 by Gugliemo Marconi. Since mentioning a great inventor, another was Thomas Edison who invented the movie, and in 1907 the first movie theatre opened in Montreal. Another bright idea at the turn of the century was the invention of the light bulb. It is easy to see from the long list shown that the contraptions invented in the early 1900s shed a little light or cleared the way if you will for generations to come.

In the end the events and changes that happened at the turn of the century came to get her to make a irreversible change in the life of everyone they touched . Changes in the world of sports and recreation. Developments and setbacks in the field of medicine. The giant explosion in the amount of inventions made. The improvements in the education system, and finally the grand stature of the homes of the early 1900s. It is easy to see that the turn of the century was a critical time period in the development of the world today.