the past. On Tuesday evenings for a few months I worked at a bingo game for a dollar.
One Saturday I worked in the produce department of a self-service market (forerunner
of the “super market") and earned $1.48 for my 7 1/2 hours. That came out to 19 cents
an hour, less than my rate at Mrs. Henderson’s. I looked ridiculous in the oversize
apron and cap. I didn’t work there again.
I worked on Mrs. Henderson’s lawn through November, until the grass was
dormant and there were no more leaves to rake. On Christmas Eve she hired me to
help trim her tree and gave me a gift of four new fifty-cent pieces. I resumed yard
work for Mrs. Henderson in April for one or two times but my after-school and
Saturday schedules had become so heavy that I gave it up. Our association had been
nice. I think it must have pleased her, as the school term moved on, to see my name
and picture in the Cumberland Times in connection with my high school
involvements. (We communicated once or twice a few years later when I was in the
Army and she sent a gift when I was married. A few years later she was killed in an
automobile accident.)
My lawn- mowing, shrub-clipping and room-painting jobs at home continued
for the usual weekly 50-cent stipend, although Grandma often slipped me a modest
bonus as well. One of my wintertime chores was to “bring in the coal." There was
no room in the small, unfinished cellar for coal to fuel the stoves in the living/dining
room and in the kitchen, so each day’s supply had to be carried in buckets from a shed
at the foot of the backyard to the backporch. Many a cold Saturday morning when I
would like to sleep late, I was hustled out of bed to do my duty. Winter also meant
shovelling snow and this year, on January 14, we had a lot to shovel - 12 inches.
And so I struggled through my Senior year on a pittance. But then, with more
money at my disposal I might have been tempted to go places and do things to the
neglect of my studies and my extracurricular activities.
Here is a description of me written in November 1938 which I thought
ridiculous at the time. Re-reading it in 1994, I find that perhaps as my life unfolded
and ultimately took shape, the analysis was not far off the mark.
You have a logical, well regulated mind. You are
rather versatile, able to do many things well, and you
like to dabble into this and that and exert your ingenuity.
You haven’t so much aggressiveness, but you do have perse-
verance and ambition. Plain, practical and good taste
combined with common sense, sane judgment and a leaning
toward conventions, help to make you a good wholesome
individual, one of the kind that makes good husbands,
inspiring fathers and desirable citizens. You are regular
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