If we sang it once, we sang it a thousand times. "Sixteen Tons" was No. 1 on the Lowell Elementary School hit parade, holding the record as the most requested song in fourth-grade music class.

Personally, I preferred the sentiment of "Froggy Went a-Courtin'" (all 97 verses) over the hopeless plight of that pitiful coal miner.

To be perfectly candid, I hadn't thought much about the old boy and his doleful lament until just recently.

We were having dinner with friends when the subject of the "company store" came up. I knew I'd heard that phrase somewhere. In a flash I was back in class belting out that old familiar chorus:

"You haul sixteen tons, whaddaya get? Another day older and a-deeper in debt. Saint Peter don'tcha call me 'cause I can't go — I owe my soul to the company store.

What was this company store, and more importantly, why did this guy owe his soul to it? Must be pretty serious if his debt could forestall his death.

As I've always said, if you need an answer, find a teacher. That sent me into search mode.

Enter Richard Joyce, past history teacher at Wilmington High in Wilmington, Illinois. Here's what I learned from Mr. Joyce.

When rich coal deposits were discovered in the 1860s, mining companies moved in fast. They bought enormous tracts of land, sank mines and built towns around them. Workers poured in from the eastern states and Europe, and settlements that barely existed suddenly became bustling mining towns.

Then came the reality of the job. Miners spent 10-hour days underground in dark, wet, filthy passages, sometimes so low they could not stand upright. They picked and shoveled coal while breathing dust-filled air that eventually left many suffering from black lung.

But the companies' reach didn't end at the mine entrance. Once a miner took the job, the company could control nearly every part of his family's financial life.

The company often owned the town itself — the land, the house the miner rented and the store where his family bought food and necessities. Quit the mine or go on strike, and he could lose not only his paycheck but his home.

Then came the company store. Prices could be high, but credit was easy. Some companies even paid workers in scrip instead of regular money — currency that could be spent only at the company store. The miner worked for the company, lived in the company's house and spent his company-issued pay at the company's store.

Well, that certainly explains those lyrics. It's not only a song — it's a history lesson.

Needless to say, Mr. Joyce's explanation makes me thankful to be living in 2026 and not 1898. I mean, really, can you even imagine living under such intolerable and unfair economic conditions?

How could a company hope to stay in business these days if it was encouraging, possibly enabling, its customers to purchase goods and services beyond their means? No one in these times would conduct their lives in such a way that a company could gain control over their financial well-being. After all, this is modern America.

Gone are the days when a person would become depressed because a company had a grip on his or her income. We can only imagine what that would feel like — to owe your soul to a company?

No, sirree. Companies these days care about their customers more than their bottom line. They would never charge usurious fees or think of offering credit to the point that a customer could ever become overextended.

You know, it's good to take time for reflection now and then, to make sure we've learned from the mistakes of the past. After all, we sure wouldn't want to repeat them.

Oh, we've come a long way, baby!

Or have we?!

Mary invites you to visit her at EverydayCheapskate.com, where this column is archived complete with links and resources for all recommended products and services. Mary invites questions and comments at https://www.everydaycheapskate.com/contact/, "Ask Mary." This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually. Mary Hunt is the founder of EverydayCheapskate.com, a frugal living blog, and the author of the book "Debt-Proof Living."

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