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Joe Raunikar graduated from
college in the early fifties and applied for the new job as Agriculture
teacher being created at Moss. Things were done differently then. He
was told that he would have to
have a job interview with each of the board members.
Armed with their names and the directions to their
farms, he set out. He came to the first farm, ignored the barking dogs and
knocked at the front door. The nice lady who came to the door told him her
husband was cultivating cotton. She directed him by the house, through the
barn lot, down the lane to the cotton field. He walked that distance
through the heat, dust and weeds and came to the cotton field. He could
see the man at the far end of the field and watched as he made his way
back. Dust trailed from the old riding cultivator and the horses heads
bobbed as they leaned into the load. At the end, the man turned the horses
and got them set on the next row before stopping. He had been riding the
cultivator for days, bent over watching the row of cotton pass beneath
him. He could not fully straighten up so he turned his head sideways to
look up into Joe's face.
"Hiddy", the man said.
Joe introduced himself and stated that he was applying
for the job as Agriculture teacher.
The man, taking his responsibility seriously, seemed to
study the reins he held in his hands for a moment. Finally, he tilted his
head back up to meet Joe's eyes.
"Do ya smoke?" he asked.
"No", said Joe. "I don't."
The man scratched at a callus on his hands while he
again formed his next question.
"Do ya go to church?"
"I did when I was at home, "Replied Joe. "But I could
not always go while I was in college."
The man seemed to be digesting this information. After
a while, he looked up, then at the field of cotton in front of him,
gathered the reins in his hands, clucked to his horses and said, "You'll
do."
Clayton Adair, Class of 1954 (Clayton attended Moss 1942-53 and
graduated from Holdenville - 1954)
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