'Worthwhile Jobs Are Not Easy,' 1941

From Miss Current’s Column in the January 1941 issue of The Southern Planter

People who know the heavy schedule of a home agent sympathize with her. Of course her work is hard, but worthwhile jobs are not easy and it is inspiring work. One home agent says in a recent letter to me:

“Tomorrow, I drop over the mountain for a two-day school. I’ll be all worn out, for it’s the worst road I ever traveled. The people are inspiring though. At one home I shall find a crippled girl 16, at another a widow of a few days, at another a nice flock of White Leghorn chickens, at three to five homes new cotton mattresses, three or four new pressure cookers, a new bathroom, etc. We are to can chicken, make rolls, cookies, bread with yeast, distribute patterns and teach the women to make Christmas presents of craps of wood, burlap bags, acorns, etc.

“The women have asked for this. No special order, they come like to a ‘protracted meeting’. We are to take one thing each for our lunch and spread it together.

“Would you think of it? Several homes have bathrooms and running water.

“I’m taking my old newspapers to one woman to paper her house. I’ve got to go to the rag shaking now and find a coat for another one over there. I shall plan to pay not more than $1 for it.”