Good writing as usual. I like your "memoir"-your past recollections, which shows the real life at that special times. I also appreciate your simple and straightforward way to tell your experience. Thanks for sharing.
But I have to point out a small mistake you made in this one. Last century was not 19th century. It was 20th century. Right now we are in 21st century. The reason is simple: at the beginning of centuries (i.e. 001 to 009), we cannot call those years in 0 century. We have to call them 1st centruy. So after that, we have to call 100 to 199 2nd century. If you want to call what years as century, we just add 1 to the first 2 digits of that year.