Thurston worked for a time at this "filling station" as it was called then. It was on the main street of town, which was Central Avenue. The station was operated by Hilburn Arthur, who was Thurston's brother-in-law. Thurston's pay was 25 cents a day in 1933.
Things were really hard for Thurston and his mother after Manning died in 1929. Mama Atwood wrote in her letters to Mamie about the hard times. They lived on "poke salit" from the hard, and black-eyed peas from the garden. Mamie, Frank and sometimes Edward sent a little money to Mama to help out but they all had difficulty during the Great Depression.
One time Thurston worked in an "ice house" where he had to lift heavy blocks of ice. He did lots of odd jobs and for a long time he delivered newspapers on his bicycle which Mamie gave him for his 15th birthday. Mama wrote about mending and altering clothes that had been Frank's.
No comments:
Post a Comment