Ben’s Education– by Louise

Daddy usually started to school and then had to drop out to work in the fields. He never finished a grade. He studied out of his brothers and sisters books. He took a corespondance course in Automobile electrical system, penmanship. His handwriting was beautiful, slanted left-handed. They didn't have the money to pay for a diploma, so he never got one. And a veternary course, he just wanted to learn how to doctor his stock.

My daddy was always considered an 'educated man' and a leader in our community. He served on the jury, when he was called. The year I started to school, he was elected a school trustee. He 'hung in' and kept our country school open, until his youngest, Stanley was in the fourth grade. Once he 'found' pipelines that oil companies that oil lines were not paying taxes on. Daddy said that being a school trustee was the most thankless job on the world. One teacher wanted to give Daddy his entire paycheck- if he would hire him to teach our school. Daddy said that he never could figure that out. No telling what he saved us kids from. He did not hire him.

Daddy was always very kind to Mama. He told me that sometimes they disagreed, but she would soon come to see that he was right. I always knew that he was smarter because he would 'blindfold' me an egg for breakfast. And Mama couldn't do that.