I was born in Holyoke, MA in 1951 and
moved to New Jersey in 1962. Long ago, my mom worked for National
Blank Book, a paper manufacturer there in Holyoke, which was an
Industrial city. My dad worked for A.G. Spalding in Chicopee and
made golf balls.
I would return to Holyoke several
times during the 60's and stay with my dad. The year of 1966 was
one of those years that I went there. I was 15 years old at that
time. I enjoyed re-uniting with my friends during those years
and during this trip back thee, my friend Joe and I wanted to get a job. We knew
several 'kids' who were working in the tobacco fields in Southern Mass
and into Connecticut and at that age, all we could ever get as far as
jobs went would be working on farms.
Joe and I went to someplace similar to an Unemployment Office and signed
up. We would have to catch a bus at a location a few blocks away
from where I was staying. The bus would go around and pick up
maybe 8-10 other workers (kids) and take all of us south to the tobacco
fields, where we would work for he day and then ride the bus home.
Perhaps we went about 25-30 miles and each day we went to a different
field to pick the tobacco leaves which were
use as wrappers for Roi Tan Cigars back then. These type of leaves were referred to
'shade tobacco' and was used as wrappers on cigar filler tobacco from
Honduras and the Dominican Republic
Since it was early in the season, we began picking
the lowest leaves on these plants which
stood about three feet tall. (that is NOT me in the picture)
In order to pick these leaves, you had to lay on your back and scoot
yourself along the row, taking 3 leaves from the right plant and
then 3 from the left and then another three and you made those into a
'pad' and laid then down in the middle aisle as you worked your
way up the row repeating the process. Later, a 'hauler' picked
them up and placed them on the wagon and when there was a substantial
amount, hauled them away.
So, during the early part of the 'season' you went
from field to field picking the leaves. Then a week or so later,
you would be taken back to the same fields and pick the next layer. These
tobacco fields were covered with some kind of cheesecloth and it was
rather cool in the morning and then around noontime, it heated up.
It got pretty hot inside there.
At the end of each day, the bus would take us back.
I would take a bath every day and the water would be almost totally
black from the juices which got on your body. Of course, the
clothes got a little roughed up also. I worked there for six weeks
and will never ever forget the experiences of my very first job. I
only received $1.05 per hour, but that was good enough for me. I
was just a kid. The very first thing I bought was a radio...I
forgot how much I paid for it.
