Part 19 (1/2)

I was using the truck to haul crossties to the Moffat Tunnel The ties were to be used in the railroad through the tunnel The tunnel was eightand would cut 25 h the Rockies The railroad which served our mill was curved one way or the other just about every foot of its entire length A 30-car train would have three engines pulling it And the three engines would not all be at the front end of the train That would have a tendency to pull the cars off the rails on sharp curves So, the engines were placed at regular intervals between the cars Even with all safety precautions we constantly heard of derailht cars down the ot there when they could

I signed on for that luency in Denver and rode a bus to the mill Naturally I was not clothed for that cold weather But the bookkeeper at the et what I needed and have it charged That was before I started to work That sa mad because they wouldn't credit him at the company store He and I had co I kept quiet about my credit I didn't want him mad at me like he was at the coo to the tool house and bring him a half-dozen picaroons Now, I kne htest idea what a picaroon looked like nor what it was used for What's more I was too proud, or too stupid to tell him I didn't know So I went to the tool house and looked at all the tools I knew the names of all the tools except one I took hi they were picaroons I don't knohat I would have done if there had been two kinds of tools I didn't know the names of Anyhow, he thanked me and I went back to my other work

In case you ular ax handle, exceptonly a pick instead of a blade The work to roll it over, or he can stab it into the end of a s into a desired place

Another time, the foreain I could not tell a lie However, I kneas speaking of Old Nig, and I also kneould be a pleasure forwas a black horse, and I' to do with his being na This horse had won first place in the state one year for his skill in the art of log-skidding That alonewas a horse to respect as well as to obey I had watched a few men ith the horse but had never seen one of theed drivers three times one day He simply wouldn't put up with anyone who cussed hi business than most of the men he had to put up with He didn't need anyone to drive hi needed was a le-tree back when he backed up, so he wouldn't step on it, and he needed aHe had no hands or he could have done it hi, he would bite you, if and when he got the chance Or he ht stomp his hind foot and switch his tail just to remind you there was fire in that end of hiht say the wrong thing to him that he put a rein on his bridle and led hi to hi, I already knew ot along well together What I didn't know about the job, he did I just talked to Old Nig as I would talk to you; that is, I would be as kind to you as I was to Old Nig as long as you did your work as well as he did his I didn't care whether he had a bridle on or not I didn't need to lead hio and what to do And without a bridle, he could see better how to do his work I would tell the horse when to back up another few inches and when to get over to the right or to the left Principally I was his hooker-upper and his unhooker

One day ere sorting a pile of logs, skidding the small ones over by a pile of other small ones, the medium size ones by a pile of e ones on the yard So I hooked Old Nig to a large log and told him I'd have to find out where to put it Then I went to the office and asked the fores In theto the proper place but I didn't know it He was already standing there waiting for me to unhook him from it The foreman came to the door, pointed, and said, ”Put it up there where Old Nig took it He knohere”

Thanksgiving caed owners The foreht he could run the mill with feorkers I was laid off However, he was sure that, if I wanted to stay around a week or two, they would need o right away because that place was often sobund by this ti So again I landed back in Hae of the outside world and perhaps just a wee bit ot a job in Hamlin and soon paid Papa back the 22 he had wired me for a railroad ticket home from Denver

Papa was always kind to s I respected him for it and was proud of him I was proud of Ma of trust and regard between Papa and me that reached beyond the bounds of a boy's expectations The following poem which I wrote while I was in Denver, expresses, in sos toward my father

Daddy, if the Lord had made you A companion fit for me, If He'd iven you a courage And a will to fight and win, If He'dto the end, If He'd hest star, Then He would have made you, Daddy, Just exactly as you are

CHAPTER 14

HAUL MAIZE, REPAIR TRUCKS, TURN TRUCKS OVER

While I was running around I was getting a lot of experience, soe, and perhaps a little wisdo rid of all my stupidity Perhaps stupid is not the word to use here I don't really believe I was a stupid kid But let's just say I was a nors at tis I did in er days, as well as some in my older days, it causes sters these days who so I have not always taken time to look back on h to hitch a teain to the oilh to cover up allmuch, really

I re box ofthe fence rows from there almost to Harass and weeds It's a wonder we didn't set our load of cottonseed on fire It was after dark and the fires made beautiful fireworks We even wondered why farht ere really doing the up their fence row And it was a lot of fun

”And with all thy getting, get understanding” Well, we got soon in his car, and very politely explained that he realized we boys had not thought about the fence posts ere burning and the wires ere da them too much Then he added that he knew our daddy, and he knew that Papa wouldn't want us to do ere doing Then he promised not to tell Papa, if ouldn't set any e ere doing We were sorry, of course And we certainly didn't want to do anything that would reflect on Papa and the faood nauess he never found out or he would have said so to us about it

While we lived in Hamlin, Papa had an old farm twelve rass and we tried to help the grass grow by plowing the field every year We had a breaking plow, amachine, a hay rake and a hay baler, all horse-drawn We baled the hay and stored it to sell in winter when it would bring a better price There was an old rundown house on the farm I went out to plow the field at times and I slept in the house rather than drive back and forth to Hahbors It ay out, and staying there at night proved to be challenging and quite scary

The doors of the old house were only half there-sagging, splintered, and broken, and the ere all broken out

Noises jumped out at me from every dark corner The silence seele beasts and packratson the roof Daybreak was alelco back the veil of fear

The warehouse which inally built for hay storage In haying season we baled the hay and hauled it to that hay barn In the hay field, we usually had, as, canned pork and beans for dinner Once in awhile we had pork and beans at hoood unless he was sitting on a bale of hay

Papa also had another farm twelve miles south of Haot hold of it nor why he owned it I think he had to take it in on a land deal of so off his hands that he had and didn't want Now he had a sandy farm on his hands that he couldn't use and didn't want There wasn'tof value on the land-a rundown peach orchard and a half-dugout There was a dug well by the house four feet across and 60 feet deep There was never any water in it, but 100 yards away out in the orchard was another well about three feet deep ater standing within a foot of the top of the ground There was no cover over it; you just walked up and dipped a bucket of water any ti, the cows and horses could drink from it