I miss the Montgomery Ward catalogs

The older I get and the less I enjoy going into town and shopping, the more I miss the old "Monkey Ward" catalogs, along with the other "mail order" catalogs and even the "order by mail" advertising in the magazines and papers we received.

They served a multitude of purposes for ranch families and for years most of our shopping was done from the catalogs.

Our clothing was ordered from the catalogs, everything from socks and underwear to a Sunday-go-to-meetin' dress. There were extensive fabric pages, where you could buy fabric by the yard, cottons, silks and wools, along with buttons, thread and trims and I remember looking at them with my mother and grandmother, who were ordering yardage to make my school clothes.

For as long as I can remember, my grandmother subscribed to "Grit" ... a newspaper type publication with articles of interest to women about gardening, cooking and family. There was always one full page of patterns that could be ordered, aprons, dresses, shirts and blouses as well as embroidery, knitting and crochet patterns. I learned how to embroidery with patterns ordered from Grit, ironed on white flour sacks.

Then there was the excitement when the Christmas catalogs arrived. I would spend hours paging through the catalogs and making "I want" lists ... although I only remember one Christmas gift that came from the catalog. That was a farm set, with a heavy cardboard barn that was put together with tabs and farm animals of heavy rubber.

I think I was even more interested when they started coming out with the "Farm" catalog, a separate, smaller catalog that was especially for farmers and ranchers. I could not believe that you could actually ORDER A SHETLAND PONY from this catalog. My cousin had a pony that she rode to school and I was incredibly envious. I rode bareback, not having a child-sized saddle, on my mother's retired cowpony and oh, how I wanted a pony and saddle so I could ride to school too!

I may be getting old and crochety now, but I would really like to be able to sit down and page through the catalogs again when I need socks ... or underwear ... or a new flannel work shirt. I don't enjoy going to a store, wandering around trying to find the department I need, or trying to find a clerk to tell me where that department is. I spend too much time dodging other shoppers, their carts and kids careening through the isles, with my temper getting shorter, only to discover IF they have what I am looking for, they don't have it in my size.

With a catalog, an index takes you to that department, you can see what it looks like, the colors and sizes it comes in and you can make your choice in the quiet and comfort of your own home. This does seem, to me, a much more reasonable way to deal with the frustrations of shopping.