And finally I got over to Barstow, California. I stopped there for some reason and it was real hot. And there's an old smelter, gold smelter, out to the west end of town there, and the people had told me that's where to catch the freight. So I was trying to stay in the shade there, and I got more thirsty than I did hungry. So I looked over, and about a block and a half over there I saw a very modest little house, you know. There's just two or three houses there, it's the end of town, west end of town.

So I went over there to see if I could get something to eat and some water. I didn't have any money. So a young boy just about my age came to the door. And boy, that kind of embarrassed me, you know. But I told him my story, and he says, "Wait, I'll get my mother." And so his mother came and says, "Yes. Come on in." And they had just come—she lived alone with her son, and another lady came from church with them. And they just had their lunch ready to put on the table, a good lunch. And they gave me a place out on the porch—they used to have a place to wash, you know, to wash up a little. And they came in and, boy, they had all kinds of food, and they kept piling it on my plate. And finally I couldn't eat anymore. Then they gave me a jug of water to take back with me, because the train wasn't going to move out till it was just about dark.

So when they got all through, why, they just kind of shoved back the tablecloth, and both of them... both of them just took their... dumped their purse out. And they had a dollar thirty-five cents between them and they made me take it. I'll never forget that.