REQUIEM FOR A VILLAGE

The rural village of yesteryear in its former configuration is no longer part of the present day social structure. Lifestyles changed with the decades, the fast pace of the era after W.W.II affected most families and the modernization of our society had a noticeable effect on the village structure.

The local post office as a gathering place has been phased out and replaced by block mail boxes. The partyline telephone gave way to modern technology and the friendly "number please" is a dial tone. The village nurse became a social worker; the family doctor who took the time to discuss family events other than medical is now a general practitioner who can be seen at the office in the "professional block". The clergy person can no longer find time for family visits; they now hold counselling appointment at the church office.

The village that remained constant for several generations and population growth was never more than one or two a year became the bedroom of the city and the village farms are now housing subdivisions. New names, new faces and new attitudes came with the citizens of the present decade.

The village school has become an "educational facility", part of a diversified system with teacher's assistants, volunteers and a variety of professional types to analyze the actions, attitude and learning ability of each student.

The main street now requires lights for traffic control, the side streets are paved and there is a fire station complete with a fire truck and firemen. Law enforcement is the duty of several police officers who drive about the village in a police cruiser, marked with the village logo and complete with flashing lights and siren. The funeral director's coach that served a dual purpose by carrying the dead to the cemetery and the sick to the hospital, has been replaced by an orange and white ambulance and a cadillac funeral coach.

The barbershop is a Unisex Hair Designer; there is no more room for the checker board or the spirited conversation of matters of importance to the village.

The general store is called a "milk store" and people go to the city to shop for their family needs. No longer are the consumers satisfied with a limited selection of goods provided by one store; catalogue shopping has lost the family attraction and children could not be seen at school clothed in anything but the lastest fad.

The Saturday cattle drive down the main street to the railway "stockyard" is not necessary, trucks pick up the cattle at the farmyard.

The delivery of bread, milk and fish to the busy housewife has been declared redundant; it was said this service cost too much to continue and also the homemaker was never home; she was employed as a teacher, steno or a professional in the city.

The sandlot baseball game is no longer viable, each team must be organized, complete with uniforms and regulation equipment. Fees for family members' sport activities are now part of the family budget.

We are told we have come a long way since the days of our grandfathers. Lifestyles changed to meet the needs of the nuclear family; relaxing and conversing in the village park is considered a waste of time and finding time for all the family activities is essential.

A new car in the village is rarely a conversation piece. A trip overseas for a vacation is considered a normal family activity. A school field trip to some exotic foreign country is accepted as part of education. Saving small change for once in a lifetime trip to Toronto Exhibition is considered mundane by today's standards.

The village "Drama Society" stages the annual Broadway production and school children study drama, music, dance and movie, and T.V. production as part of their education. Early grades of students are writing plays, novels and manuscripts. A video production, totally staged by grade two is considered student development. Students from the first day they enter the educational system are encouraged to be artists, designers and creative individuals. The teacher no longer grades on the quality of the Christmas concert and the "3 R's" are considered only part of a complete education.

Villagers are termed urban dwellers. It is a fast pace society with little time to reflect on generations past or the village heritage. Many of the new residents of the village have their roots in some other society; they are part of other cultures and have customs, traditions and ideals of their own families. The "gentle society" of the rural village is in the memories of those who spent their youth in the village culture with the inherent ways of their grandparents, mothers and fathers, and village neighbors. There are still on occasion, the story of a village happening, the recollection of a villager or special event and sometimes a number of village oldsters will get together and talk about the "good old days".

The village may disappear with the spread of urbanization. In succeeding generations the urban community will have lost its rural atmosphere and grandfather's stories of his generation will be supplanted by the stories of another generation but possibly in the pages of a book future generations will read and be able to understand the folklore of their heritage and state with pride: "my grandfather helped build the village".
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