St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1934-11-09
Howe About:
Conversation
On Quitting Work
The Country
By ED HOWE
q, Bell Syndicate.-WNU Service.

7 HAVE met some opposition In
l my contention that a man may
learn much from conversation go
ing on around him; that he may
thus acquire education as uncon-
sciously as he eats his meals, at
tends to his work, or otherwise
meets life's incidents.
I have known q telegraph opera
tor to sit idly for hours in room
full of Gathering instruments, and
suddenly grasp key when his call
came out Of the confusion. So q
man constantly in the babble Of
conversation may pay little atten-
ton to it until something Of interest
attracts him; bit Of wisdom,
news, or a Jest he has not heard.
Oscar Wilde left In books as
great a number of bright sayings
as any Englishman. All of them
were suggested from mingling with
men, first used in conversation, and
the best of them later transferred
to print. Men acquire education
laboriously from books they are
compelled to study as a duty, but
easily out In the world, where
every one has a little, and Is busy
distributing it.
Because man loses his job" !
read somewhere, sit does not fol-
low he should quit work"
That is good sense. I know
man who lost his Job as maker
Of radio parts. This morning l
bought vegetables Of him; he con-
tinued work on some land a neigh
Dor let him use, and he has not suf-
fered the humiliation Of calling on
the Salvation army, the Red Cross,
the county commissioners, or con-
gress.
I have another neighbor who lost
his Job ina machine shop. He did
not quit work, either; he Is now
operating a laundry in his home. In
case / am able to change shirts this
week, I shall certainly arrange
with this man to wash my old one.
Some Of my other neighbors are
getting SIS a month from the coun-
ty, and regularly their names ap-
pear in the papers, under the head
ing Of Disbursements to the Coun-
ty Poor" shall make hard
struggle to keep my name out of
the list. / know most Of the peo-
pie read it, and make ugly COM
ments.
If the people are starving, what
is to be done about it, since nature
has no more to give? / once lived
on a farm, and while am able to
recall some discomforts, l always
had enough to eat. Frequently, we
used parched rye for coffee, and
sorghum molasses for sweetening.
The other day I found sorghum mo-
lasses on the table, bought from an
old-fashioned farmer, and thought
it still very good.
We grated corn meal for bread,
and always down in the feed lot
were pigs coming on to supply
meat when the smoke house began
to show signs of emptiness. We
had cattle for blowing, and to sup
ply milk. Chickens almost took
care Of themselves about the place,
and supplied eggs in addition to a
surplus Of old ROSTERS which, when
boiled long enough, made fairly
good eating. We had wild plums,
blackberries, and preserved them
for winter use. There was plenty
Of fuel In the woods, and one man
in the neighborhood tanned beef
hides, from which another made
shoes. In almost every house there
was a loom, for the manufacture of
cloth called linsey woolsey, and
this supplied clothing.
It was a poor start, but we were
never hungry or naked while wait
ing for times to get better. And
times never did get much better;
indeed. think they are harder now