Desert Messenger

20 www.DesertMessenger.com February 5, 2014 The Hobo's Mark Excerpts from " In the Shadow of Saguaros " by Rosalee Oldham Wheeler Voices from The Past in Quartzsite, AZ Prior to 1939, my husband's fam- ily had spent several winters near Quartzsite at their Jack of Dia- monds placer claim, but when we told them we were going to make Quartzsite our year-round home, they were skeptical about Charles leaving his Forest Service job near Flagstaff. They reminded us that times were hard, jobs were scarce to none, and that there were soup lines several blocks long in many cities. Often three or four families lived together in one home or, weather permitting in tents and cars. Government social programs such as Social Security would not have monthly benefi ts until 1940, while individual states were being encouraged to offer unemployment insurance to wage earners who had lost their jobs. Also in 1940, the U. S. Food Stamp Program started permitting people to buy "Orange Stamps" for their usual food pur- chases and then receive half that amount in "Blue Stamps" to buy foods determined to be surplus by the Department of Agriculture. After our decision, I enjoyed my new life helping Charles in our bee- keeping business, keeping house, and caring for our little boy but I longed for a friend I could sit down with and have a "girl chat." One afternoon I heard a tap, tap, tap on our kitchen door. I hurried to answer the door hoping for a visit with one of our neighbors who lived in and around Quartzsite. Well, that day's tapping didn't exactly bring the kind of person I had hoped for. I had never before seen this person and his attire rather startled me. His clothes were ragged and far from clean and he was not well- kept. His hair was long and shaggy and his hands were in the same shape as the clothes he was wearing, grimy. Fear- ful and unsure, my fi rst instinct was to slam the door, but some- thing made me wait and listen to what he had to say. "Ma'am, I am hungry and I'm thirsty too. If you have a little work I could do, I am willing to work for something to eat." As usual, I had some leftover bis- cuits and pinto beans so I made him a plate, adding a big dollop of honey. I told him not to worry about doing any work because our bees might sting him. Pointing to a nearby apricot tree, I told him he could eat there and leave the plate and fork when fi nished. He smiled and gra- ciously thanked me. Later, I peeked out to see if he was still there. He wasn't, but the utensils were. I told Charles about the hungry man who was looking for work and he suggested that if he came back, I might give him a shovel to widen the wells around our trees so they could hold more water. The Depression had left many men without work and we felt sorry for them. Many of the men were middle-aged and older. I won- dered where they had come from and why they were so far from the city where they might fi nd work or had families. That man didn't come back but, to my surprise, others like him did come, and often. Those who came later seldom asked if I had work they could do for something to eat, and if we did have something that needed doing, I had let them know. When they fi nished the work, I made a big plate of food for them. One chore that always needed doing was get- ting wood for our wood-burning kitchen stove. Our new Quartzsite neighbors told us that the best wood to cook with was ironwood. We had several big stumps of dead trees out back and our woodpile always had wood that needed to be broken up to fi t in the cook stove World-Class Wire Wrapped Jewelry Dichroic Glass Master Flint Knapping Sign up now Wire-Wrapping & Dichroic Glass Fusing Classes a-jstudio.com Rice Ranch, Space A-39 330-831-4399 Gifts for You and The Folks Back Home 234-567-0194 Across from McDonald's • Quartzsite NEED CASH? Jim Buys GOLD! Broken Jewelry, Old Teeth, Coins, Nuggets, etc. 1240 W. Main Street Call Don 928-927-3080 208-255-6955 Don's Rocks Decorative Landscaping rock Hauling, Dumptruck & Backhoe Services WE'RE BACK! Looking forward to seeing our Friends! www.HighSpirits.com 970-319-5375 High Spirit Flutes Harry is back! (formerly of Rice Ranch) NEW LOCATION! Nominated for 2008 & 2009 Indian Summer Music Awards Tyson Wells Showgrounds Row P-23 SEE HOBOS PAGE 32

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