I was prescribed my first pair of glasses in 1948. Let me give you some idea what life was like at that time in rural areas. This i s only a few years after the end of world war 2. The peace time economy was just starting to get into gear. I was working part time on a farm [ I did the milking] for my board , and had an 8 to 5 job in town 10 K.M away. I was the proud owner of a 1931 Model A Ford, which cost me $ 100.00[ the price of gas was 23 cents a gallon] to get me back and forth from work. In rural Ontario at that time we used crank type of telephones. you had to ask the operator to connect you with the number you wanted to call. Everybody was on a party line, so every one knew who received a phone call because they knew your ring 3 long, 2 short or whatever your ring was.[ fantastic for listening in and gossip] Electricity was slowly coming down the back roads [ delayed due to the war] Most farms still used oil lamps for light , a battery powered radio for the news. Everybody had an outhouse and waiting for hydro to come trough so they could have running water and inside bathrooms. The wood stove was used for cooking and heating. Sunday was a special day, everybody went to church, it was an important place to meet, and ther was not much else to do. It was not until the mid fifties that you could go to a movie on Sunday. Life was simple , but very enjoyable.
Because I was having some headaches, my landlady suggested I get my eyes examined. She made an appointment for me with a small optical store that her sister had used and recommended. The store had a hanging sign with a pair of glasses on it Optical stores were new at the time.they examined your eyes , and made up your glasses. Before drugstores had been the place to get glasses, and before that the peddler.
When I entered the store a young lady greeted me and took me to the examination room The exam was simple , I can t remember all the details, but I remember they used the light too look into your eyes, and the phoropter to establish my prescription There were no preliminaries as we have now with an assistant and fancy equipment. I was prescribed glasses, I guess about + 2.00 and some astigmatism. There was no display of eyeglass frames, and cannot remember being asked what kind of frame I wanted., or trying any. I was told the glasses would be ready in 4 days. When I went to pick up my glasses, they were a semi rimless gold type of frame, with the then newer square type of lenses. The glasses were well made and sturdy, the price including the exam was $17.50. I liked my new glasses , they looked good. When I wore my new glasses to church the next Sunday, it seemed that every woman gave me a compliment.
In the early fifties optical stores became more important, and started to display more eyeglass frames , in new styles and colors. More people started to wear glasses. My next pair of glasses had a plastic frame, a very light color, which started to turn green after about a year., they looked terrible. I got married in 1952 , my wife liked me wearing glasses , and I soon wore the latest style of dark half frames with a silvery colored wire at the bottom of the lenses. She liked them so well she selected the same type in brown for herself. The changes after the war were very fast, everyday you heard about something new. Black and white T V started to become popular. now there were tape recorders , then color T.V and some noises about computers. Now we had dial phones and private lines, and of course the big new gas guzzling cars. When I look back now, a pair of glasses has not changed much, except for styles, colors and plastic and other types of lenses. The biggest change I have noticed is at the optometry clinics. The assistant using all the new types of equipment for the first part of your eye exam and then taking all the print outs to the examination room . It seems all the optometrist has to do is check your eye health and fine tune your prescription and then print it . Most noticeable now is the increase in people wearing glasses now, . I still enjoy looking at people wearing glasses , and I like wearing mine and looking at my wife wearing hers. Some things never change.
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