My next door childhood neighbor was John Zelm. John was an only child and lived above Kaestner's clothing store. John's dad Harry (he was built like a suma wrestler and he drooled snuff), was the superintendent at the local Stokely Van Camp canning factory in town. Harry was my ticket to summer employment.
Once you turned 12 years of age, you could work in the farm fields owned or managed by Stokely. So in April, 1952 when I turned 12, I was elgible to earn "big money" toiling in the sun for the local canning company. Getting a job was not an issue. Harry Zelm made sure I was at the top of the hiring list.
I am reminded each morning as I go for my walk of the morning heat and the high humidity that was ever present when I went to work "weeding beets". The concept was not difficult. Stokely contracted with farmers to plant row after row of beets (those vegetables that all kids love). Thousands of rows. As the beet plants began to grow and mature, there were those awful weeds that tried to choke them out. That is where I came in. My job was to manually pull out all weeds encroaching on the beet plant. I got paid by the row. The length of the rows varied and some fields of beets had more weeds than others. The payment structure was designed to give us $8-$10 per day. The faster you went, the more you could earn provided you did a good job. So in a good week with no rain, I could earn $45-$50. For a kid there were no taxes so I got to keep it all. By the end of the summer I accumulated $500. I guess today that would be equivalent to several thousand dollars. Imagine your kid at age 12 earning thousands.
Each morning my Mother would fill a gallon thermos jug with ice cubes and kool-aid (sugar was not the considered evil). I had enough sandwiches to last all day and there was always a banana or apple. Occasionaly I would get a second small thermos with soup. Soup was always a treat. Never, ever did I get peanut butter and jelly. I hated peanut butter and jelly.
So from an early age, I accepted work as being required. The money I earned in the summer along with additional cash from working during the school year at the City Club kept me in "spending cash".
In looking back, the beet weeding gig was a life lesson. I earned good money for a kid. I was kept busy all summer and I learned a lot about the reality of life. I did not have time to get into major trouble. Throw in a few sports activities and there was almost no time for girls.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that it is good to keep your kids busy. Meaningful work can be very rewarding. Tired is sometimes good! My parents knew if I was busy I couldn't get into trouble. Dah! Imagine that!
Love,
Dad