Life Of The Working People

Has there ever been a time in your life where you couldn’t find work and once found, a wondrous blanket of peace surrounded you with its security. There was a time in the States when most had little or no security and lived from meal to meal. This time period was known as The Great Depression. John Steinbeck, an author, lived through this depression and of course was inspired from it to write his famous and well known novel "The Grapes of Wrath". He wrote five books in total along with an assortment of stories one being entitled "Breakfast".

The characters in the "Breakfast" story have no name; there are three men one being young, one woman who is also young, and her baby.

One cold, early morning, there was a man walking down a country road located in a valley; as he walked he noticed ahead of him what looked to be like a tent - it was the color grey and beside it a fire escaping through many cracks of an aged and eroded iron stove. On top of the poor little stove a short pipe emerged and from it a grayish looking smoke. At the side of the stove there was a young woman, dressed in fading clothes carrying her nursing baby in one of her arms with his head under her clothing. From the looks of it, the young mother was cooking and nursing at the same time without either affecting the other. The man noticed how incredibly graceful the young mother’s movements were as she juggled between her work and feeding her baby at the same time.

As the man drew closer to the young mother, he could smell the wonderful strong aroma of bacon protruding out her pan and the soft sweet odor of freshly baked bread seeping from her oven. The man came close to the stove and warmed his hands when the door to the tent lifted up and out emerged a young man and an older one. On both men were spanking brand new dungarees and dungaree coats with sparkling brass buttons both the color blue. They were looking toward the mountains and turned seeing the stranger for the first time. ""Morning," said the older man. His face was neither friendly nor unfriendly. "Morning, sir," I said. "Morning," said the young man.""

Both of the men began walking toward the fire to also warm their own hands; the young mother had not lifted her eyes or stopped working through the entire meeting; she began setting out tin cups, plates, knives, and forks on top of a large packing box. She then began lifting her freshly fried bacon out of its own grease and laid each piece on a large tin platter; afterwards, she opened her oven door and slide from its depths a pan overflowing with plump soft large biscuits. When the aroma of the biscuits reached the nostrils of the two men they simply inhaled the heavenly smell. The older one turned toward me and asked, ""Had your breakfast?" "No." "Well, sit down with us, then.""

The men gathered around the packing box and squatted down and thus the man found out a little more about these two men. He found out, they were simple cotton pickers that had had work for a total of twelve days. After finding this out, the young mother spoke out from the location of her stove and shared with the stranger that her men were even able to go out and purchase a suit of new clothes. "The two men looked down at their new dungarees and they both smiled a little. The girl set out the platter of bacon, the brown high biscuits, a bowl of bacon gravy and a pot of coffee, and then she squatted down by the box too. The baby was still nursing, its head up under her waist out of the cold. We filled our plates, poured bacon gravy over our biscuits and sugared our coffee. The older man filled his mouth full and he chewed and chewed and swallowed. Then he said, "God Almighty, it’s good," and he filled his mouth again. The young man said, "We’ve been eating good for twelve days." We all ate quickly, frantically, and refilled our plates and ate quickly again until we were full and warm. The hot bitter coffee scalded our throats. We threw the last little bit with the grounds in it on the earth and refilled our cups."" After the feast, the man watched as the two men looked toward the east and saw how their faces lit up by the light of the dawn; the man’s eyes were drawn to the older ones and saw "the image of the mountain and the light coming over it reflected in the older man’s eyes." The man thanked the men for the breakfast. "Glad to have you." They walked away together. The air was blazing with light at the eastern skyline. And I walked away down the country road."

This is a simple story about a family who were content with having a fire for warmth and cooking, food for not only their own survival but that of their young, clothes on their backs, and a place to lay their heads at night that kept them dry. The men had work to look forward to and were at peace. They had apparently experienced days with no work which meant no food. The life of the simple worker is just that but oh, it is so precious! It makes you want to taste the satisfaction they have when they eat their every crumb.