The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1928-04-26

Succumbing to your flowery
promises / was tempted to pay
out good money to renew my SUBJ
scription for a year. Among your
many inducements to drain money
from the pockets of us poor ditch
farmers. you said that the Letters
of the People" would be continued.
Since / renewed, we have enjoyed
nary a continue. Why is this thus !?
And again / ask why all this thus
ness? What has become of all of
our letter writer's who were so
willing and anxious to uphold the
fair name of their home land with
their pencil and paper?
Has the sordidness of their sur
roundings dulled the inspiration of
their souls? Have they grown SO
poor as to become callous to their
abuses or so rich as to be above
such petty annoyances or has the
pain of physical toll destroyed the
keenness of their mighty brains :?
Whatever the cause. it should be
investigated and removed lest the
readers of your valuable paper be
deprived of the inspiration and adj
vice of the valleys best thinkers.
Since the cigarettes which we
were once taught to shun have tax
en- the place of the cough drop,
we were once compelled to take,
everyone shosld become great
speaker, but just how many good
writer's have we? If you remember
right, last winter "the Oracle of
the Valley" gave me the alterna-
tive of going to work or leaving
the country. both of which / could
do neither. Then I had high hopes
Of making a pretty penny by writ
ing the booster letter for five
dollar prize, until along comes my
old friend and schoolmhte, Mr..
Sellick with his offer to do that
for nothing. So between the evil
doing of my imaginary enemies
and the thoughtlessness of my So
called friends. have been reduced
to the point of earning my bread
by the honest sweat of my manly
brow.
I got a Job cutting asparagus
for a farmer down the valley. He
is the kindest man / ever met. He
said I could help with the chores
to pay my board and cut grass be-
tween times. The first morning
when he called me at four o'clock
to help milk I didn't know whether
the house was afire or he was
afraid / wasn't sleeping warm e.
nough. But he said he was so con-
siderate of his hired men he al
ways liked to wake them up just
to feed them. He also said his
cows were quite wild and we would
have to milk them before daylight
to keep them from stampeding.
How many words of wisdom are
spoken in idle jest. and before
the day was over how often
wished he had been telling the
truth! OF course in your sheltered
job in a warm office with your
body snugly fitted into a fine up
holstered chair and your feet up
on your mahogany desk you have
no way of telling just how good
a drink of "wild cows milk" could
taste to a poor asparagus picker
about ten o'clock on cold windy
morning.
Did you ever. cut any asparagus :?
Well sir. it certainly is a snap.
All you have to do is just to cut
one poor little defenseless stalk at
a time. You take a long bladed,
two-pointed knife and when you
see a good stalk of grass, you grab
it firmly by the top and jab your
knife down at its roots. If you cut
one that is too long and has gone
to seed you get a reprimand for
rot cutting it the day before; if
you make mistake in your aim
and cut one too short. you get a
cussing and the value of the stalk
is taken out of your wages and
if the knife chances off of rock
and cuts your knee you are told
how good it will feel when it quits
hurting or what to do in case
blood poison sets in.
I didn't know + had so many