According to Martin, living in the 19th century would have been a very nice thin

Martin: Don’t you think it would have been very nice to have lived in the nineteenth century?
Ruth: It depends on who you were.
Martin: Whoever you were, I think the crucial thing about the past is they didn’t have this terrific stress and pace that we have.
Ruth: Yes, I know, but what did they do with that leisurely pace? All most people had to think about-was where the next meal was coming from.
Martin: What are people then thinking of when they say "the good old days"?
Ruth: They are talking about a loss of innocence, I think.
Martin: But don’t you think one always manages to forget the unpleasant things7 I mean, things like the weather, ff you read books, novels about the past, they always talk about the long sunny summer afternoons. The weather always seems much worse than in the good old days.
Ruth: Yes, but the infant mortality rate in the good days was very high...
Martin: I agree. Children are enjoying much better medical service nowadays. But don’t you think there is a kind of corruption the child growing up today faces, with the media-with television, with problems like violence.
Ruth: That is a problem.