1

AL-79
Poor
H. E. B

W. W. Skelton, R. V. Waldrep
Red Bay, Alabama. Editorial Department

I'LL BE AN OLD MAN TOMORRW

"I believe in letting your boys do what they want to. If you put
them in something they don't like they won't learn as fast and never will
do any good. I let my boys do what they wanted to. I give them that
Cook Correspondence Course in Chicago--I give it to Alvin and Earl; J. W.,
he picked up what he knew from them."

Mr. Skelton really believes what he is thinking and saying; but, as
a matter of fact, his boys just grew; as he didn't have a word or take a
drop of authority. He might have done something for the boys if he had
wanted to, but it never occurred to him to do anything.

Mr. Skelton is one of these scrawny, little, thin, leather[l]y guys,
looking as if he has been fried crisp and brittle like bacon--good bacon.
He is a talker; quite intelligent and fluent, too. He was talking about
himself, and the things he had done, and the boys he had trained. The correspondence
course he was telling about was in electricity. The boys
received little motors, diagrams of the ignition of cars, and diagrams
of house-wiring.

"The boys are all healthy. Roy eats the most; J. W. never did eat
anything much. But Roy, he could eat more than anybody I ever saw. For
breakfast, I never do want more'n two fried eggs, three biscuits, some
bacon, and some coffee. When supper comes I like nothing more than corn-
bread and milk. That's all I ever eat, and I reckon I'm healthy." He
stood there small and scrawny, and tough as a string of rawhide. His
hands, one horribly mutilated, were gnarled, bony, and stiff to the
shake. His neck came out of his shirt as lean as his wrist, and as tough.

"Whiskey won't hurt a fellow, I reckon. I was raised in a house

734

AL-79
Poor
H. E. B

W. W. Skelton, R. V. Waldrep
Red Bay, Alabama. Editorial Department

I'LL BE AN OLD MAN TOMORRW

"I "believe in letting your boys do what they want to. If you put
them in something they don't like they won't learn as fast and never v;ill
do any good. I let my boys do what they wanted to. I give them that
Cook Correspondence Course in Chicago--I give it to Alvin and Earl; J. W.,
he picked up what he knew from them."

Mr. Skelton really believes what he is thinking and saying; but, as
a matter of fact, his boys just grew; as he didn't have a word or take a
drop of authority. He might have done something for the boys if he had
wanted to, but it never occurred to him to do anything.

Mr. Skelton is one of these scrawny, little, thin, leather[l]y guys,
looking as if he has been fried crisp and brittle like bacon--good bacon.
He is a talker; quite intelligent and fluent, too. He was talking about
himself, and the things he had done, and the boys he had trained. The correspondence
course he was telling about was in electricity. The boys
received little motors, diagrams of the ignition of cars, and diagrams
of house-wiring.

"The boys are all healthy. Roy eats the most; J. W. never did eat
anything much. But Roy, he could eat more than anybody I ever saw. For
breakfast, I never do want more'n tvro fried eggs, three biscuits, some
bacon, and some coffee. When supper comes I like nothing more than corn-
bread and milk. That's all I ever eat, and I reckon I'm healthy." He
stood there small and scravmy, and tough as a string of ravhide. His
hands, one horribly mutilated, vrere gnarled, bony, and stiff to the
shake. His neck came out of his shirt as lean as his wrist, and as tough.

"Whiskey won't hurt a fellow, I reckon. I was raised in a house

734