Recorded in Lawson, Missouri.
This snapshot was gathered in conjunction with the Museum on Main Street program at the Smithsonian Institution and its "Stories from Main Street" initiative. The project is intended to capture Americans' impressions and stories about their small-town and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal experiences, and cultural traditions, and work histories.
Talk about a job you remember.
"But when I was a kid I sold magazines. I knew everybody in town. We had 3,900 people and I knew all of them, even the dogs, because I sold Liberty Magazine and Saturday Evening Journal and one other, I can't think of it right now.
I picked cherries for a dime a gallon. I shoveled snow and I was a fry cook at Jack's Shack Restaurant for $2 a week and my meals. Went into coal mining when I was 11 years old, worked one day and got a quarter for that. Told dad I'd never go back in again. I went from the first ... We didn't have kindergarten. I went from first grade through the eighth and then moved to Kansas City."
Asset ID: 7376
