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borhood children. We were lined up along the inside of the fence and told to keep very quiet. Four men brought boilers filled with scalding water which they emptied into a large wooden barrel. I thought that they were going to shoot the pig first, but, no, -- one of them pulled out a long knife and proceeded to slit the pig's throat. The squealing of the terrified animal sent me into a spasm. I shouted for them to stop, but they paid no attention to me. Down the middle of his body they again plunged the knife, then the four threw him into the barrel of scalding water. Screaming and crying I ran to my home, the eerie sounds of the squealing pig still ringing in my ears. The night-mares it evoked, can only be comparable to some of the vio-lent scenes our young children see today on TV. Jobs for children were very scarce, hence we were de- lighted when anything that paid a few dollars came our way. Thinning beets was usually open each year, however, and I can never forget how we crawled on our hands and knees in the blazinq sun down the long rows. These rows, which seemed a mile long, paid about 6 cents each. A really fast worker could earn about 54 cents a day. We left for work at 5:00 a.m. and returned at about 5:00 p.m. One of the joys of my life was to walk behind "Queenie" Campbell and absorb every detail of her beautiful clothes. Queenie was the living-doll-type little girl, a granddaughter of the Ras Andersons, who came to Mt. Pleasant every summer with her mother to visit her grandparents. She had long blond ringlets and wore bonnet-shaped hats which set off her pixie face. Her elegant dresses, made of exquisite material, were the epitome of California styles. To complete the pic-ture, she wore short stockings which matched her frocks and Maryjane slippers. Althouqh I begged to have half socks just like Queenie's, I was never allowed to have them. Mama was sure that I would take cold. I noted, however, that Queenie suffered no ill effects, but I continued to wear long pink, blue, or white stockings. As time passed and I grew older, I began to design my own dresses. The Fourth of July holiday was the social event of the season for children. Weeks before the big event -19- |
