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25A

sunday august 27    woodstock

My first job in America was on a railroad in Spokane. The hotel manager in Seattle arranged and got job for me in the roundhouse. I didn't know what it was all about but I got $2 a day and I was only 13 years old. I thought it was big money.

Going to Spokane fare was paid by the Great Northern Railroad Company. Several of us, all strangers, got there next day and they showed us place where we were to sleep. It was a tent and apparently a great big tent because there were more than two dozen men sleeping, and [[strikethrough]]hard[[/strikethrough]] home made wooden beds without mattress or spring. I felt terribly disappointed seeing these things because I glorified America and romanticized it but to face this reality was a great shock. They told us to go at night to steal some hay for the bed so that you can sleep comfortably. So we did and somehwo we slept that night.

Breakfast next morning was another surprise. There was a great big tin kettle of coffee and there were tin cups and many tin pans full of sliced bread. That was all.

I watched the people eat and followed their example. We had coffee and put sugar on bread. I was young and hungry so I must have eaten an awful lot of bread. When we out into the filed, the section manager told me that "you go near the engine house." I didn't understand him but another man