My experiences with work.
I grew up among people with strong work ethics. I never heard em say it,but they lived by the modern motto of whatever and as long as it takes. As a child Iwatched the men and women around me,day after day, gettin up while it was still night time,somtimes sick or hurt or both. Joints in thier knees and ankles poppin,as they still clad in thier boxer shorts and wife beater t shirts made thier way to the coffe pot. Women had been up ,fryin bacon and oil sausage,kneadin biscuit dough in an ancient wooden bowl. If it was winter time a fire was in the fireplace and a heater was on in the dinin room. If summer,only a wooden frame screen door separated us from 2 or 3 hound or bird dogs,standing at the back steps,smellin the meat cookin and waggin thier tails. These men would eat in silence,then dress and put on thier boots,somtimes coughin everyother breath ,needing more to be in a hospital than going out to work,They didnt discuss thier ailmets,just stuck a hankerchief in thier back pocket and move on. After I got big enough they would give me some instructions as to what to get done that day, It wasnt a request and I learned early on it was in my best intrest to have it done when they got home.Theyd come in and start feedin cows,bushhoggin or plowin or pickin somthin and if it got too slow,why theyd just start buildin a lean to on the barn. At about 13 I started doin odd jobs for nieghbors for pay,it felt great to have my own money. People didnt hand out money to kids then like they do now.
The summer I was 14 Jackie Mcdonald and I landed a job at the stockyard. It was just being built out across from the motor plant. We and someother were buildin the cattle pens. It was hot as june and july usually are. The lumber was green oak 2 x8 and 10s,I forget the size nails but they were bigger than 16
penny.you had to use at least a 20 oz.hammer for drivin these spikes and to prevent splittin the wood or benin the spike wed blunt the nail ends. We had a couple adults supervising us, That lumber was heavy and hard. We dug the post holes by hand on that red clay hill. Neither of us had drivers license yet,we caught rides the 12 mile to work each morning,some of our families or nieghbors always gave us a lift. We didnt knock off until most of the people we rode with that morning had already went
home.WED CUT ACROSS THE FIELDS AND WOODS OVER TO LONGINO ROAD WHER IT RUNS INTO 21,THERE AT THE SPOT WHERE rUSHS OLD STORE USED TO BE WED WAIT FOR A RIDE HOME,We never had to wait too long,anybody would pick us up,if they were in a pickup,wed jump in the back ,it was cooler and we were pretty funky from workin and sweatin all day. I think we were gettin paid 3 dollars and hr. plus overtime.4.50 for everything over 40/ We thought we were gettin rich. Jobs like that. Haulin Hay,clearin off fence rows with and ax and kaiser blade,paving highways were what I did in the summer. I caught my first boat when I was 18,the snow was deep up in Il, and it was bitter cold,but wa still the easiest work I had ever done. Lookin back now its sorta amazing then,iT WAS JUST A JOB,YA HAD TO HAVE AJOB TO HAVE MONEY TO BUY THINGS AND DO STUFF.. nOW FOR THE LIFE OF ME i CANT UNDERSTAND HOW A HEALTHY MAN OR WOMAN CAN STAND TO SIT AROUND AND NOT DO NOTHIN.tHERES MORE TO A JOB THAN A PAYCHECK,A PERSON NEEDS A REASON FOR GETTIN UP IN THE MORNING,NEEDS TO FEEL LIKE PEOPLE ARE DEPENDING ON EM ,aT LEAST i DO.
