Yesterday i made a comment on farmer in bib overalls.Well this is how i learned about the men that wear them.
When i was about 12 my grandfather loaded up about 6 cows for the auction.We has 6 cows in a 68 model Chevy and i mean aload so off to the sale we went.For a 12 year old at his first cattle auction i was mesmerized by the cows and bulls the ring men and the cadence of the auctioneer.The place was full of old cattlemen with muddy boots and overalls telling lies and caring on and grand paw was right in the middle with them with me tagging along.Now you could spot the meat company men because they wore suits and sat on the front row.I still remember when a Brahma bull cleared the ring and the handlers jumped the rail and landed in the lap of the men in suits.All the ranchers and farmer roared laffing.When it was all said and done we went up to the office to settle up.As the bills were tallied my grandfather and a group was betting on coke bottles.The game went like this old coke bottles had a city and state listed on the bottom showing where it was made who ever pulled the bottle from the farther est point won the pool.There was about 10 overall wearing farmer playing at 5.00 a pull so it was a 50.00 pot and grand paw was right in with em.Well one of the girl hollered at one of the men his bill was toted he said who owes who she told him he owed almost 6000 for what he bought.Well he pulls a wad of hundreds out of that bibb pocket and tosses it to the ladie tells her to peel it off of that he is busy playing.When she counts it out marks the bill paid she hands it back to him he shoves it back in the pocket.She asks him count it to make sure he just turns around and says it feels about right then he tells all the men he has to go been fun.When we were in the truck i told my grand paw that roll of cash was more than i had ever seen and how could a man dressed in overalls carry it around like that.Old gran paw told me that that man could buy and sell most 10 times and had earned it the hard way.He told me tha if i ever dealt with a man in bibb overall and mud to his knees.He may be broke but his word was his bond and if he was buying he would have cash in his bibb pocket.Well in my life i have never been done wrong by a man in overalls and i have seen handshake and cash deals done in a minute that most men would need legal papers drawn.On more than one thing some of those old timers have used the phrase "just you wait and see if I'm right"I don't drought what life has taught the few that were old bibb overalls .Ever since that cattle sale i know never to make lite of those men.
That's part of a rural tradition that is slowly dieing out, like so many other things. The schools teach a homogenized , sanitized value system that has been carefully vetted to insure it doesn't favor one ethnic groups culture over another. The result is that it has no moral overtones at all. One of the reasons I quit teaching was seeing what a negative impact the schools philosophy had on the growth of young people.
ReplyDeleteWant a depressing thought we are becoming the old farts.Schools have become just a warehouse and the cirriculem is what the teachers understand not skills of use in the average world.I asked a teacher why wasnt there a class teaching how to run a cash register a POS system read a ruler a micrometer,calipers or a dozen differant things people have to learn in most work places.He repled as a teacher it was outside their ability they never worked outside education.Because it wasnt a collage requirment he didnt understand the ? or the need.
ReplyDelete