I have heard it said, "Time waits for no man." That is so true. Also with it, people change and are now different.
One of my jobs during high school was to carry money for the county to the bank two times a day. Just walking down the street with it.
I think during the 1940s I went to see my parents by car. Coming back, a young man was hitchhiking. I picked him up for a ride. After awhile, I let him drive while I took a short nap, then I took over again. Girls and boys hitchhiked those days.
I went to a one-room school house for my first six grades. One time the teacher needed something from her home, which was about four miles away. She gave me keys for her car and I drove it to her home.
When I was about 20 years old, I moved from a farm to a city. I worked at Ford Motors, then got laid off. I saw some horses pulling bakery wagons. I went over and applied. They had five or six bakery routes, delivering baked goods to homes. The boss offered me a job if I would help build the ones he had and then we would make a route for me. I did. I pulled up to deliver to a home behind a coal truck. When I was on a porch of the home, the man in a truck raised his dump part of truck. The horse got scared and ran among a number of milk wagons that were returning for the day. That boss came to my home and offered me $30 a week. I accepted.
As a milkman, I had some odd experiences. One lady's husband had a bad heart. She asked me if I would help her change and turn her mattress for her bed. I did.
I delivered milk to a double flat. It had two doors and two large windows in front. When I came, I saw smoke circling in the lower windows. I told the lady upstairs to call the fire department. She did.
One family had four generations in one home. The young folks took care of their elders.
It was patriotic during World War II to buy war bonds. I, when I had a sum of money, would stop a police car to give some money for a war bond. Later policeman would bring me the bond. I don't think he even gave me a receipt.
When I purchased my first new home, much work was needed to be done on my lawn. I was very busy delivering milk. Men, who wanted something to eat and a job, would gather at a corner of a highway. My wife went over and picked one man up. He worked a few hours. She gave him lunch as he sat on the rear porch. Then my wife would drive him to that corner.
Why do you think life is so different now then 60 years ago? I think as more and more the people got away from what the early Christian forefathers stood for, is the reason.
Leslie E. Swanson
Winona Lake
Editor's Note: This letter was edited to conform more closely to the 500-word limit as stated in our letters policy.
