I read Ken's posting about his first job, and I got to thinking about mine. I
grew up in Oklahoma in the 60's. In those days, any normal, healthy, teenage
boy could make a lot of money doing farm work. In those days there was no age
limit when it came to farm work. So I got my first job at the age of 13. It
was harvesting broomcorn. For those of you who are not familiar with
broomcorn, it is the crop that is used to make straw brooms. Harvesting
broomcorn was done in June, July, and August. It was a hot, dusty, sweaty,
itchy job. But if you could do the work it paid a man's wages. $1 an hour.
Let me tell you something, $10 a day in 1964 was real good money for a 13 year
old. More money than you can spend. That is probably why Mama and Papa took
$55 and left me with $5 a week. Still yet, $5 a week was a fortune for a 13
year old boy. I can still remember Papa's last words the first morning he
dropped me off at the broomcorn field before he went to his job at the lumber
yard, "Don't come home without the money". Then later in the autumn, I had to
pull cotton, but that is another story.<<<
>>><<<Orville Hendricks -Selling Butter and Eggs. Selling butter and eggs is
>>>a whole lot easier that harvesting broomcorn. Matter of fact, I can
>>>remember in 1971 when I got drafted and sent to Viet Nam. Some of the
>>>guys were griping, and I told them, hey if you don't count the getting shot
>>>at part, this war is a whole lot easier than harvesting broomcorn.
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