The Life of Me: An AutobiographyJohnson, Clarence Edgar
History
The Life of Me: An Autobiography
Johnson, Clarence Edgar
Fisher County (Tex.) -- Biography; Fisher County (Tex.) -- History; Johnson family; Johnson, Clarence Edgar, 1906-1994
Now, I never did enjoy holding back when there was something to
be done. I had always been a "go-getter." But now I was being
held back by an invisible force 40 miles away, Earl. And I was
beginning to feel about as useless as a knot on a stick, and I
was being treated as such by big freight men who were beginning
to wonder why W. F. Johnson didn't get a driver with the ability
to solicit and haul freight. Competition was the name of the
game and I wasn't competing.
Anyhow, in this case, if I hauled the windows, I wouldn't be
competing with Rountree, it would be with the railroad. I
reasoned that Earl shouldn't be opposed to that. But my Stamford
freight had to go by way of Hamlin, and Earl would have to take
it from Hamlin to Stamford the following morning.
I made my decision, loaded the windows, and took them to Hamlin.
But Earl was very unhappy with me. He was never one to calmly
ask, "Why?"--and then listen to reason. He had one
uncompromising attitude, "I told you what to do. You must do
it."
Naturally, Earl was upset toward his little brother. He even
refused to haul the windows, and went to Stamford without them.
Finally, after two or three phone calls from the consignee to Wm.
Cameron Company and then to Papa, Earl delivered the windows,
reluctantly and under protest, and only at Papa's order. And
Papa told me to get all the Stamford freight I could, and he told
Earl to deliver whatever I brought to him.
Although Papa was owner of the truck lines and was supposed to be
in full command, Earl had ways of making life miserable for both
Papa and me. And as time went by, our relationship didn't
improve.
Remember now, this is my version. If Earl were writing this, I'm
sure it would read differently. And actually, it wasn't all that
bad. Earl was a good boy, and he still is. He's my brother. I
loved him then, and I still love him. That was a long time ago.
I don't hold any of this against him. I'd do anything I could
for him. And I don't think he holds anything against me, except
maybe my writing about it like this. But then, we are big boys
now and we probably don't have more than forty years left to
enjoy living and reminiscing. Why not enjoy it while we can?
I was a Jonah to Earl and perhaps to Papa also. At any rate,
Papa found a way to throw me overboard. In 1931 he asked me if I
would like to farm. He said he would invest money in a farm for
me like he had invested in a truck for each of the other boys and
I could pay him rent from the farm.
I agreed and he made a down payment on a farm nine miles
southwest of Roscoe, Texas. That is where Ima and I lived during
the year of 1932, and that is where we lived when Dennis, our
first born, came to live with us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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