By Wally WachterRetired Herald Managing Editor
HERE IT IS almost the Fourth of July and we still are looking forward to the clear and warm days that make the outdoors a paradise.
It's been a long time since we have experienced a summer like this. We have had only a few warm days, but they have been spaced between days of torrential storms that always seem to follow. We find ourselves even yearning for the hot and muggy days that we can complain about. They are sure to come, but today we have ways of dealing with them. Back before air conditioners, electric fans and backyard swimming pools, we had to submit to the wrath of torrid summers.
Back then we suffered the stifling heat, hoping for a thundershower to cool things off. If and when it came it made things worse by increasing the humidity.
I still remember the muggy Sunday mornings in church. We didn't dare dress as casually as we do today to attend services or masses. Men wore heavy suits, usually the same ones they used all winter long. Women were dressed in their all-season finery, complete with hats of all designs. Even the younger set was uncomfortably dressed, with neckties and jackets.
Every person attending the service was given a hand-fan, a round cardboard mounted on a stick handle. These were usually with the compliments of a local funeral director who had advertisements printed on them. As the pastors preached, the swaying and swishing of fans could be seen and heard throughout the congregation.
At home, our attempt at relief was to open all of the windows in the house, hoping that by some small chance a slight air movement would create a breeze.
Some enterprising people would cut pieces of burlap or cheesecloth into strips and suspend the split ends in a pan of water at the windows in the windward side of the house. When a breeze did come, it was much more cooling as it swept through the water-moistened homemade air conditioner.
Children seemed to be less concerned with the hot spells and transformed them into adventure. During the hot nights, we fashioned tents out of old rugs, old oil cloth table covers or other materials and slept in the back yards. Some of the older kids sacked out on front porch swings and gliders until the mosquito hordes chased them back into hot bedrooms.
On extremely hot afternoons, city firemen would attach hoses to hydrants near the fire station and spray youngsters in their bathing suits with the cool water. This was an extra city service that was appreciated.
As kids, we welcomed the downpour of heavy storms that we always knew would follow the heat waves. We built mud dams or just ran with bare feet through the puddles the storm had left. And we sailed paper ships in the running water that hugged the curbs on its way to the corner sewers.
The hot sun that appeared after the storms gave rise to colorful rainbows, which brought people out of their homes to see.
Although there are many more means of relief today from the discomfort of summer's heat, there are still problems remaining. A drain on electrical power by air conditioners and fans can cause power outages and black out entire cities.
We never had to worry about that back in the old ``dog days.''