Our age is revealed not so much by our years, but by stuff we no longer useRock County historian Betty Mann was named Luverne’s Friend of Education this year, largely for the volunteer time she spends talking to kids about their past.Her favorite tools are Laura Ingalls Wilder books and some corresponding artifacts from the Rock County museum.For example, if the Ingalls girls were churning butter in the book, Betty brings a butter churn from the museum to show students how it works. Or if the Ingalls family relaxes after supper to the light of a kerosene lamp, one of those shows up with Betty’s trip to the classroom.There were countless ordinary, essential items used by pre-technology-era pioneers that are today considered artifacts, useful only for their historic value.It occurred to me that someday, decades from now, if the Lord’s willing to let me live that long, some of the essential tools in my life will be displayed as artifacts.Or, wait … I think it’s already happening.Most kids graduating from college today have never used a rotary-dial phone, or a corded phone, for that matter. They’ve probably never watched a movie on videotape or listened to music on an audio-cassette, much less an album. Sounding like a "stuck record" has as much meaning for them as an artist winning "Album of the Year."A manual typewriter, for them, is just as archaic as the mimeograph machines have become for their parents. (Remember the warm, damp sheets of paper and the fragrant, blue ink on your grade school desktops?)Right here in the Star Herald office, there are dust-collecting tools that remain as reminders of the past.The pica pole (a metal ruler), for instance, used to be in every newsperson’s back pocket on press day. It assured text was pasted in straight, even columns, photographs were cleanly trimmed and keylined and headlines floated at just the right horizontal distance from the stories.The wax machine, which laid an even layer of hot stickum on the back sides of text and photos, is collecting dust alongside the page rollers, miniature rolling pins used to smooth down a completed page before it was sent to the darkroom – also an artifact today.Even our sharp Fiskar scissors are collecting dust on their wall hooks.Text and photos today, of course, are composed on computer screen pages, which are sent via Internet directly to the presses.When the Cub Scouts visit for the tour of the local newspaper, I find myself spending more time telling them how we used to do things, because it involved the sort of hands-on busy work that holds a young boy’s attention.Giving a page demonstration on the computer isn’t half as exciting as lathering hot wax on paper and rolling it down on the layout boards.Besides, most kids today are familiar with digital photography and desktop publishing, so the novelty now is the old stuff.… which, of course, makes me feel old, and somewhat novel.