Alice and Sam Versus the Refrigerator

When Alice and Sam went to work, it was raining. The day started out with a beautiful dawn and a rosy sunrise, but after the early morning sunshine broke over the trees, the clouds began to gather and a slow drizzle set the stage for a change in the weather.

Alice did not mind the rain, and apparently neither did Sam. Alice had been on the job and delivering ice through the neighborhoods of her small town for over twenty years. Sam was her draught horse and had been her best friend and companion the entire time.

Alice and Sam were not the only veterans working for the big icehouse, but they had certainly worked together longer than most of the other crews delivering 25-pound blocks of ice for the iceboxes of America.

Alice cringed when a banged-up Model-T roared past splashing puddles and spewing smoke, but she had enough sense to know that was a contraption that would end up as a pile of junk while horses like Sam would still be some of the most beautiful creatures God had ever placed on the earth.

When Sam turned the corner and stopped automatically at the first house after the rain began, Alice jumped down from the buckboard, went around to the flatbed, and lifted the covering from the sawdust and the heavy blocks of ice. Alice was good at her job and so was Sam. While Alice clamped the tongs, lifted the ice, and began her trek up the sidewalk and the steps of the first home on the street, Sam was already on the move and pulling ahead to the next house. It was a system that worked smoothly without any help from anyone. It was also a Godsend, because it saved Alice from jumping up on the wagon again and driving to the next delivery.

When another of Mr. Ford’s banged-up and smoking contraptions drove past, splashing puddles and honking the horn, both Alice and Sam both stopped to look, but Sam was not frightened and remained steadfast at his post. Alice was not afraid of the car and its obnoxious whippersnapper of a driver, but she was a little afraid for Sam and also for the future.

The great depression had certainly changed everyone and everything, but folks still needed ice—especially in Florida. A 25-pound block of ice would last about a week in a good icebox if the weather was not sweltering, but when summer settled in and the sun became a relentless hammer, Alice and Sam doubled their route.

Most folks were nice and ready, and waiting on the doorstep when Sam shook his head and the bells on his harness started the call down the street, but others would not even come to the door and Alice was worried that the ice would melt and not be useful.

As the rain began to come down harder and as thunder rumbled in the distance, the ice lady with the straw hat and boots quietly began to worry about the doorsteps where no one was waiting to offer a greeting. The last twenty years had gone fast, and Sam and Alice were both getting older. A draught horse had a working life span and so did a woman. As she continued to follow Sam and her wagon down the street and the horse that she loved more than anyone possibly could, and as she hefted the latest block that was still clinging to the sawdust, her worry suddenly became a living nightmare.

Down the street and up ahead of Sam and his nodding head and jiggling bells that were making the call was another one of Mr. Ford’s contraptions, but this one was a truck. This was a truck with two men and the men were making a delivery.

Alice had heard about the newfangled icebox that did not need ice. She had scoffed at first and thought it was not possible to replace the icy delivery that would keep the perishables fresh. She had also found ridicule with the wires that ran from the pole to the lights, the house, and the barn where she and Sam slept, but the very thought of electricity applied to the manufacturing of ice was terrifying.

Alice knew that over 400 thousand people across the nation worked in the ice business. In winter, thousands worked on or near the Great Lakes, cutting ice in giant blocks and hauling it to warehouses carved into the ground where it would be well insulated and last all summer. She also knew that trains and railroads carried the ice to the big icehouses that were a major hub in every community. Alice and Sam’s lives depended upon that working system, and she knew in her town alone, a hundred folks were busy and thriving with the storing, cutting, and delivering of ice.

As Sam continued down the street and began to inch closer to the Ford and the men who were hurrying to keep the brand new refrigerator dry, Alice stopped in her tracks and set down her tongs and her heavy block of ice. When she looked around, all the neighbors were out on their porches and watching. The rain was still coming down, but for Alice and Sam, the world had suddenly changed.

Refrigerators began to replace iceboxes in the 1930s. Automobiles began to replace horses and wagons when Henry Ford began to fight with his accountants over the price of his cars. The accountants wanted the cars to be pricey with big profit margins, but Ford said, “No. Everyone needs to be able to afford them.” The refrigerator companies liked that idea.

The refrigerator was terrifying for Alice and Sam, but today, the refrigeration business and the people working on Artificial Intelligence are thriving.