Going Back 



annual source of revenue in the neigh- 

 borhood was an adjacent farm devoted 

 to small fruit and berry culture. When 

 the strawberry beds had blossomed, 

 and at last the sweet red product had 

 ripened on the vines, old "Uncle 

 Billy" Waite, the owner of all that 

 lusciousness, would send for the chil- 

 dren to help harvest the crop. 



It would be back-breaking work for 

 that boy now in these same sunny 

 fields, but it was not altogether a hard- 

 ship in that blessed land of yesterday. 

 First of all the outfit ate about as 

 many berries as they picked, but in 

 addition to that the generous-hearted 

 employer paid 15 cents an hour for the 

 work in real money! I think the boy 

 earned as high as $3.75 one big year. 

 True, he could have burned up in five 

 minutes Fourth of July morning what 

 it had taken him more than ten hours 

 to earn, but he didn't. Not much! 

 Those little red Chinese "crackers" 

 were altogether too precious for the 

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