The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1941-03-06
The COmmOn-tater
Chuck Rattle
A Taxi Driver Looks

Taxi Driver Looks
Back Over Forty Years
Bob Elliott has been professional driver fol
quite a spell In fact his driving days span the jumI
horse is something most people in picture hung
reminscently on the wall. His story Is interest
ing because drivers learn a lot about the people fol
whom they drive His story is a page or two snatch
ed from the personal history Of this town. Boil
Elliott Is ruddy faced chap, quiet soft spoken, and
whose goes whizzing in and out of his yard botf
day and night to meet trains BUSES and hard or
the heels of private calls.
Well, sir when Bob first came here as an ex
ceedingly young fellow from the farm out in the
Mccormick Lake district he met first Steve Schwarz
bauer. He says that Steve was driving milk cart
for the o. S. Cass dairy and his horses name was
Daffy One night Bob went along with him on the
route and I'VE stopped at his mothers house and she
gave each piece of cabbage pie" So from
pie he moved into the driving business.
Naturally interested in men who drive he recalls
that T. L. Mccormick was the first man to haul a
gallon of gasoline out of Sank Centre. And he did
it by mule team. Four o'clock in the morning
Mack would be his way the runners of his heavy
sleigh would leave cleaning streaks the roadway
in the moonlight. His huge st. Bernard dog
riding on the seat behind him. Mack putting
his pipe.
Bob drove for DR.. ]. A. Dubois both by team
and automobile on country calls Bob enjoyed
these rides with the coorful old doctor. This is
of the reasons. And I'll tell it in Bob's own
words. Zone night we were returning from a call
in the Westport community. 1t bright moonlit
night and 30 below zero When the horses became
weary, would tie knot in the lines and hang them
around my coat collar When the doctor thought
1 was mapping, he would reach over and pull the
lines to left right and start the team going in
the opposite direction to try to get me lost Can
you imagine the great sense of humor in a man who
would try to prolong journey like that when he
had nice warm fire at homer"
ssss
And tipping over was a constant threat in those
days of horses and buggies and cutters. One
winter night Bob had driven Tom Peart into the
country by team. When they had reached a point
the Hines farm where the road ran along behind
the barn and through the grove the runner of the
sled struck disk harrow that was buried in the
snow. Impact tossed Mr. Peart out head first
into the snow bank. When he came up, sputterine
with snow in his mouth, his hat was missing.
They proceeded their way after making the
necessary minor adjustments.
IT had not much concern about tipping over,
Bob said when drove Dr. J. F. Dubois. For when
the sleigh would tip from right left he would
stick out his long legs and keep it right side up"
Bob's intent in furnishing us with these para
graphs that have looked inside his profession and
drawn color from the old days Is part Of his
philosophy. He points to the men Of Main Street
past the active ones like c. M Sprague, ]. A. Caugh
Neal c. Tobey the late Mr.. Hansen of the clothing
family, Mr.. Emerson and Hanson of the drug firm
and others. :. He wonders If the era that this
town has slipped into now will bring about as many
'0'0fio' 'nafa''ef'' 49,.
Venturing an opinion for myself it will probably
not Color reigned more supreme in individual char
acters in the days Of things less mechanical
But color Is thing of personality Of individuality
Of days when the individual had minimum Of out
side control was more master of himself and his
own fate One can hardly say today We are
subject to minimum Of control. The individual Is
tiny cog tooth in a society more than ever before
. The individual must be stronger than ever tc
make his personality shine in the spectrum Of color
Bob Elliott Is a practical fellow. He wonders
not only about coorfu characters. but about the
long run fame of this Main Street will you,
he addresses the young people, 'be able to furnish
few greats who will keep the already famous MAR
Street famous?" Sure, he points out Henry
Ford has built the horseess carriage, Edison lighted
the world, the Wrights made a machine that would
fly, Fulton a steam boat, William Crooks built tbs
steam engine, Jim Hill the railroad empire builder
and Sinclair Lewis wrote Main Street. "Yol
might" he said, begin career by inventing 6
gadget that would flash warning signal on the dast
of an automobile when a tire becomes dangerously
low of initiation as it speeds along the highway"
There you are A mans life by vague snatche
to be sure But his life just the same. His philos
ophy, his wonderment for the future. His simple
advice to a generation moving in. A taxi driver
a professional toter of other people who learns abou
them. And his first thought for something new
is something he's probably experienced Inven
q gadget to warn of low tires.
Bob Elliott is not just individual There ar
dozens of like him. He is a composite There ar
hundreds who into their work project their
personality and from their work derive the self sat
isfyng expression of those in whose contact the!
come. This business of earning a living is no
all cold. calculating, for survival though
heaven knows In tough times it is worse than that
1t Is a colorful expanse of the panorama of one
own life, of the life Of his community. Each Il
little thread whose knitting together makes
community and its life go around.