
It was swimming “Cooning” Watermelons .... 
2 
him with apparent ease. Dinner was called, but he heeded not. The second 
call was made and the boy kept on playing until I volunteered to go after 
him. The sweat was running down his cheeks making furrows through the 
dirt, and big drops were running down over his nose, somewhat resembling 
a miniature Niagara, and his face was as red as a crimson rambler. The boy 
rushed through his dinner and back to his play, while I lingered in the 
shade, dreading to again face the hoeing. 
It then dawned upon me that it was not the hot sun or the work that fa- 
tigued me, but rather the dread of it. I decided that if my little boy found 
fun and pleasure carrying heavy boards in the hot sun, I could get fun and 
pleasure hoeing Strawberries and doing other things connected with Straw- 
berry growing. Therefore I resolved I would play the Strawberry game the 
balance of my life. When I started to leave the house my wife asked what I 
was going to work at that afternoon. I replied: “I am not going to work; I 
am going out to play.” That afternoon the sun seemed to lose its power. I 
played all the afternoon with the hoe without stopping. The rows of Straw- 
berry plants seemed to slip behind me. When supper was called I did like my 
boy—just kept on playing and—hced another row. The following day I 
took up my work with great pleasure. That was twenty years ago, and I 
haven't done a day’s work since. But I have played the Strawberry game with 
all my might. I have put my whole life and being into it. 
9 ase change from the palace car and hotel to Strawberry growing was the 
best trade I ever made, because I have been healthy, happy and pros- 
perous ever since. I am satisfied. 
It is much more interesting to hitch up a real team of horses to a big wa- 
gon and haul manure than it is to hitch up a couple of barefooted boys to a 
little wagon with sawed-out wheels only to have a runaway which results in 
everything being smashed to smithereens, even to the string harness. Every 
time a forkful of manure is scattered over the ground it means a quart of big 
red berries, and the more forksful scattered the more quarts of berries will be 
brought in from the field at harvest time. When loads of berries are taken 
to market we can dress up and play the gentleman. 
One of the happiest moments of my life was when I took my first load of 
Strawberries to town. I was prouder then than I was when I wore my first 
pair of red-topped, brass-toed boots to school, and that is worth mentioning 
because such boots at that time were the pride and joy of a boy’s heart. The 
only thing that could beat a pair of those boots was that first pair of hand- 
some red-striped suspenders. “Believe me,” I stepped high and carried my- 
self erect when I wore my first boots and red-striped suspenders and, of 
course, it was too hot that day to wear a coat even though the thermometer 
did register below freezing. 
The reason a boy is so contented and happy is that he sees only the bright 
and beautiful side of things, and I see no reason why men and women can- 
not experience the same joy and contentment. It doesn’t require any practice 
to see beauty and brightness in Strawberries, and I suppose that is the rea- 
son I experience so much pleasure and joy in growing them. I not only get 
great fun and pleasure out of the work, but dollars also. During my 24 years’ 
experience growing Strawberries, | never have missed a year without paying 
myself a good dividend. (Continued on page 4.) 
[3] 


Fishing ‘acc oe 

Coasting and.... 
Making Snowmen 
