Buggies

Modern Mothercraft says prams should be made of wood and wicker, lined with American cloth. And when children can sit, they should go in something like this:

This section of the book makes me respect my grandmothers. I don't imagine that buggy is terribly light to push, not like my Mountain Buggy. Even the double Mountain Buggy I spend my days trudging around the suburbs behind looks easier to push. And the tantrums! If the toddlers of today can get so upset about their comfy modern prams, I wonder how the toddlers of yesteryear coped. I know lots of people may look down their noses and comment that in their day that pram would have been a luxury that no toddler would have ever objected to as it was preferable to walking six miles in the snow with barbed wire for shoes, but I'm certain the odd baby boomer would still have cried blue murder at being put inside.

As an aside, does anyone know what American cloth is without Googling it? Although to be honest even Googling it myself I'm still not certain what it actually is. All I can say with certainty is that it's not in my buggy!