98 —Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 30, 1977 Paul worked the dusty side of the baler By JERRY WEBB University of Delaware It was a hot day in July and a crew of men and one small boy were loading hay bales left by a pick-up baler. The year was 1942. There was a war on and farmers were lucky to get enough help to make a crew, those with plenty of kids were fortunate because field hands were hard to get even though some could get draft deferments. It was patriotic back then to go to war and farm boys went even though they didn’t have to. So the fanning was done by old men, small boys, women and a few drunks ' who couldn’t pass a physical Two pullers go full distance THE BUCK—An Elizabethtown man driving an Allison Aircraft powered tractor, and a Lancaster Countian who serves as secretary of the National Tractor,Pullers Association, were the only competitors at last week’s Buck Tractor Pulls to go the full distance on the 300-foot dirt track. Galen Spickler won the 9000-pound open class with his aircraft engine machine, beating Harry Griest of Coatesville who was good for a distance of 268 feet and six inches. Greg Manners of Ringoes, N.J. was third with a ptdl of 252-8. In the 12,000 pound open class, however, Griest’s IH 1456 proved to be too much for the Allison Aircraft. Griest won that class with a pull of 242 feet, followed by Spickler at 238-3 and Tom Middleton of Ridgely, Md. aboard an IH 1066 who went a distance of 236-3. Les Houck of Kinzer drove a Cockshutt 40 which is powered by twin Dodge 440 cubic-inch engines to win the 7000 pound modified class. Manners, aboard an M 55, placed second at 270-3, and Don Landis of Berlin, Pa. was good for third at 268-6. READ LANCASTER FARMING FOR FULL MARKET REPORTS Tractor Driven Alternators! Protect your farm again costly power failure. Bui lease a Winpower Altern V\ r ~WTL winpo'v NEWTON, lOWA 50208 " A !® Write today for more information Marvin Hoist Luther Edwards Bob Swanson Lebanon, Pa. Ephrata, Pa. Kennett Square, Pa. 717-272-0871 717-733-6611 215-444-5610 but could sober up now and then long enough to bale some hay and earn a few bucks. Paul was one of those drunks. He worked the dusty side of an old Case baler like no one else could. He’d be right there tying those wires with the dust so thick you could hardly see him. Paul’s clothes would be soaking wet with sweat and his face a different color from field dust and chaff. But he never complained. In fact, he never said much of anyting. He just chewed a great mouthful of Beech-Nut tobacco and tied bales as fast as that old machine could make them. Results of other classes follow: 7000 pound super stock 1. Harold Stauffer, Ephrata, Deutz, 272-9; 2. Marlin Brubaker, Quarryville, AC D-21,262-10; 3. Coleman Wheatley, Bethel, Del., JD 4010, 245-6. 9000 pound super stock 1. Tom Middleton, 287-5; 2. Harry Griest, 274-5; 3. Marlin Brubaker, 252-11. 5000 pound super stock 1. Coleman Wheatley, Bethel, Del., JD 4020,250-11; 2. James Ringler, Berlin, Pa., IH 560, 246-8; 3. Dave Hitchner, Bridgeton, N.J., AC 180, 246-3. 5000 pound modified 1. Gary Mills, Fallston, Md., 427 Chevy, 244-4; 2. Dave Johnson, Deerfield, N.J., 427 Chevy, 237-8; 3. Bill Cobb, Shiloh, N.J., two 327 Chevys, 235-10. STOLT2FUS MEAT MARKET A | CUSTOM BEEF BUTCHERING IV 1 Our Own Corn Fed Beef |V V / - -FRESH BEEF AND PORK— fI \ OUR OWN HOME MADE ft M SCRAPPLE A FRESH SAUSAGE MM rwf Bacon and Country Cured Hams 4/ Orders taken for freezer Meats PH. 768-3941 Directions: 1 block east of Intercourse on Rt 772 ■ Newport Road STORE HOURS l" s Jerry Webb It was generally thought that Paul had an incurable disease and was slowly dying. But no one was sure. He was a big husky man who could do two men’s work and had no idea of his own strength. He was a day-hand, working for neighboring farmers who would call on him when they had work. During the threshing and haying seasons he was always busy. 'What he did the rest of the time was not known. They said he visited relatives out of state when he wasn’t at home in that old converted chicken house. Maybe he was sort of a one man migrant crew working the hay and wheat fields of Missouri in the Summer and the vegetable fields of Florida in the Winter. He always did manual labor - never drove a tractor didn’t even own a car. He was the one who pitched bundles - a shock a throw if you wanted - stacked straw from the thresher or tossed hundred pound hay bales over his head into a hay loft. He always took the heavy end of a two-man job and small boys soon learned that Paul could be a big help during a hot, hard day. Being a ninetyear-old farm boy back then wasn’t very easy. There was hard work like dragging bales, sacking grain and digging post holes - all jobs a little too big for a boy. But Paul was there to help'out, demonstrate the best way to hold a pitchfork or hay hook and how to lift a hay bale the easy way. And if there were 12 bundles in a shock, he would more than likely pitch seven or eight of them. Paul was the “Big John” of agriculture. He could do backbreaking work all day, take his $5 pay and spend it that night on booze, and be right back in the field at 7 a.m. the next day. Maybe he’d shake a little and sweat more than the rest, but he never quit and he never complained. Paul went away one Fall and never came back. Maybe he died in Florida or wherever it was he went. Small boys weren’t always told the truth. It was probably just as well that he didn’t come back. By the time the war was over, farmers had switched from threshers to combines and bales were tied by machine. His skills were no longer The Number 2 Type Improver In The United States Hanover-Hill Lucky Shamrock EX (90) GM LUCKY SHAMROCK is a TRIPLE PLUS bull!!! LUCKY SHAMROCK has a STAR STUDDED PEDIGREE!!! Sire: Selling Rockman EX-Extra Dam: Johns Lucky Barb EX [97] 4E GM 90% repeatability. That’s a nice reliable figure. On[y two [2] bulls in the breed today can boast of being plus this high on type and also have a decent plus on milk. There are several bulls with hgher PDT’s than LUCKY SHAMROCK but they all have considerably lower repeatabilities or are very low or minus proven on milk. LUCKY SHAMROCK...TRIPLE PLUS...OUTSTANDING PEDIGREE!!! Available from your local AMERICAN BREEDERS SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE. Bangor, PA Ephrata, PA Gap, PA Holtwood, PA lIUU Landisville,PA Manheim, PA Port Murray, NJ ■BSEESp Reading, PA Richland, PA Thomasville, PA Pleasantville, NJ Vincentown, NJ . West Grove, PA needed. Mechanization hands, as men like Paul were replaced his kind as called, became a thing of the agriculture moved out of the past - something to be horse and manpower era into remembered as part of farm a more modem mode. Day life from another time. 29H2475 LUCKY SHAMROCK 1563649 USDA 5-77 842 D. ave. 15,594 M. 3.72% 580 BF. 97% Rpt. +J33 +316 M. +.02% +l4 BF, HFA 2-77 PDT +1.42 94% Rpt. 232 D. ave. 80.8 82.3 age adj. 64% of the daughters above breed average. Eric Heinsohn Darvin Yoder Lynn Gardner Paul Herr James Charles Lamar Witmer Robert Kayhart Robert Greider Paul Martin Ira Boyer Eugene Hornberger Gerald Hall • Maurice Stump 215-588-4704 717-733-0966 717-656-6509 717-284-4592 717-898-8694 717-898-8694 201-689-2605 215-378-1212 717-866-4228 717-225-3758 609-927-7372 609-859-3783 215-869-9187 BBS
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers