Treadle

We have to be powerfully struck by the infusion of amenities, functional and frivolous, into our mostly rural America.

Treadle sewing machines, iron beds and bathtubs, thousands of book titles, chairs and commodes.

We find millinery, watches and pages of jewelry.

A solid gold 18-carat wedding band costs $5.00. Last year's catalog may have been sent off to serve the privy out and back, but each new cheap paper emporium was an engine of transformation in my parents' world, and it was still working its magic when I was young.