Wheels of Progress

My favorite attraction we visited in Texas  the other day was the Cowboy Hall of Fame in the Ft. Worth Stockyards, or more particularly, the Sterquell Wagon Collection which is housed there.  The rodeo stars who were highlighted and the Old West displays and artifacts were interesting, but the wagons were fascinating.

There were some sixty styles of wagons, representing their various uses for living and working, from chuck wagons to sleighs, which could be converted to wagons when needed.  I loved the Amish, or market wagons, the dairy wagons, and wagons for almost any business you can think of:  Photographer's wagon, U.S. Mail wagon, Laundry wagon, etc. Of course many were just used for pleasure or transportation, including the "surrey with the fringe on top." 

At one point, I exclaimed, "Oh, look!  A calliope!" when I saw a fancy, gold-trimmed conveyance with lots of curves and curlicues.  Lovely flowers were visible through glass windows, and on closer inspection, I saw a beautiful mahogony box with elaborate moulding behind the glass.  Then I realized it was a coffin in a hearse!  Wow!  How much more genteel than the hearses of today!

I couldn't help but marvel at how far we have come in little more than a hundred years!  Up until then, since the invention of the wheel, people had traveled with horse drawn vehicles.  Time seems to have moved slowly then, when people waited patiently for deliveries, letters, or services.  Labor was slow and intense, from housework to farming to industry.  Few appliances were available, and certainly not the instant communciation of wireless internet service we have today.

My husband and I were studying the meager contents of a chuck wagon kitchen's simple shelves--just salt, bacon, flour and beans, with a pot and frying pan alongside.  Menus at home were probably plain, too, with no convenient mixes or frozen foods, and probably no imported fare or delicacies except for the very wealthy.

Even in my lifetime, I remember when our country home had no electricity and we rode around in Daddy's wagon for short jaunts, probably not to town, but on country errands.  What a drastic contrast to today's living! Kids are clueless as to how it used to be.  I saw a funny instance when a father remarked to his youngster that he didn't have a computer growing up.  The child was astounded, and asked "Then how did you get on the internet?"

Daniel 12:4, reads: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."  In our old family Bible, there is an artist's rendering of the verse with the headlights of cars beaming down a crowded highway, with the caption:  "Prophecy of the Automobile."  I don't know about that, but no one can argue about knowledge being increased, and few would disagree that we are living in the times of the end.

Drawing from the biblical account of Elijah's chariot to heaven, the old song says, "Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home."  However Jesus decides to come for us, may we be ready! Even so, come Lord Jesus.  Rev. 22:20.