Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/104

 90 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

hanging in enticing clusters on the wire trellises from twelve to fifteen feet in height. When we reached our division we were instructed to take a partner, as we were to pick two to a vine, and to provide ourselves with baskets, enormous affairs, de- signed to hold twenty-five pounds — and hops are very light — and a canvas bag in which to empty the baskets when full. Thus accoutered I was initiated into the mysteries of picking. One said, "Strip the vines, leaves and all;" another said, "Throw in some sand, it weighs good." But the voice of the yard boss came loud and clear, "Pick clean or you get no money."

Picking hops is fascinating and there is a tradition in Ore- gon that it is a most healthful occupation, but it is hard with the reaching and stooping and tramping over the rough, ploughed ground. Then the air is thick with pollen, which is supposed to be health giving, but it choked me and by dinner time I could hardly speak; but I had picked fifty-three pounds, according to the weigher, and got a coupon entitling me to fifty-six cents in cash. I worked about two hours and a half because I had to stop at half-past eleven to go up to the restaurant to wait on tables. They were short of help and offered free meals to girls who would serve for an hour. As the cost of the meal was only twenty cents the job was not in great demand; they could earn more in the field, they thought. The woman in charge of the dining-room had me marked from the first and kept asking me to help. The big and the strong evidently appealed to her. Fi- nally I yielded and so I had to leave the field before the others to get my own dinner. I was paid in advance; I would not work on any other basis! I took no chances on getting a meal after the hungry horde was fed. The twenty-cent meal was the best for the price that I have ever seen, but in order to show its superior judgment in such matters the crowd complained over the lack of pie. They told me to "get a move on" or they'd have me "fired." At one o'clock I sat down with a girl to gloat over the seventy-six cents I had earned since breakfast and to wonder how long one could endure such weariness when the manager came along and ordered me to the kitchen to wash dishes. At