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Show 48 I draped myself over one of the larger of these and slept, my mouth drueling with stupidity. The other thinners were now to the north of me, the south side finished, and I was still alone in the field. I was still a rod or two from the bottom of the patch when they finished the field, so they all fell to and helped me to the finish. I was presented with a silver dime amidst ceremonies only equalled now by a Presidential inauguration. Perversely, the lavish praise I received from everybody, Papa especially, made me squirm, remembering all the help I had. I was let off from the twenty-rod rows, so my total earnings for that year were ten cents, but it is still the biggest money I ever earned. Next year, unaided, I earned twenty-five cents. I went onward and upward until one year I earned almost that many dollars, which I took to the store in the form of a check and had changed into pennies, which I fondled like a miser, until the time came to spend it for my Fourth Dress. We got nice dresses twice a year, for the Fourth and Christmas. Now that I was a field hand a new world opened up for me. Beets, as soon as they were thinned, were set off in furrows and watered. They grew quickly, had to be hoed and weeded two or three times during the summer, harvested in late October or November. School let out for this occasion. I learned all the steps by personal experience. Once I was hoeing beets on my birthday and felt somewhat injured to be thus ignored. All hands turned to for beet topping. Papa and Uncle Joe, who had |
