Nellie and I grew up without the benefit of our own Encyclopaedia Britiannica set. I had to go next door and ask to borrow the volume in which my topic was found. It was a most difficult task for a very shy boy to do. Our next door neighbor enjoyed a great job and as a result of it decided to provide to his children the Encyclopaedia. Nellie and I decided upon the birth of our first child that they would not have to endure that embarrassment of having to borrow from neighbors things we could have. We paid for the whole deal the man was selling. Yes, a man would go door-to-door selling these, and you could even see kiosks in the mall where you could order your own set if you happened not to be home when the salesman came calling. In the Valley a renowed tv anchor left that job to become the kiosk person at a dying mall.
The news today is that the presses at EB have stopped and no longer will they be sold like before. If a family wants access to their knowledge you have to pay the $70 annual fee to EB. That gets you all the information right at your fingertips which includes videos and other helpful information the folks at EB have amassed through the years. It is sad in a way but it is a sign of the times. EB had the ability to adapt to the internet and to seek a way to keep a presence if only online.
We also bought a piano and paid a lot of money to have one just in case, we hoped, our daughters will desire to learn to play it. I dreamed of the day our home would be filled with piano music. Alas, no one had interest in it and as we moved from parish to parish we lugged the piano and the huge bookcase of Encyclopaedias with us until the day came when we realized that more information was available online and that we didn't need the extra weight of a piano on our moving van. Our oldest asked for it and she got it. We got the pleasure of not having to move with those things. I remember the night we drove with all the EB volumes in our car to the charity drop box and into the box went each volume. Our silent prayer is that it would benefit the children of this particular organization or the organization itself.
What other things in our life time are changing and adapting? What things must just go out of existence or close down?
