Francis Donovan
Thomaston, Conn.
Wednesday, Jan. 11
1939 "I hear that Brown lost his {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}job{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}today," says Mr. MacCurrie. Brown is the manager of one of our chain stores. He has been in town for sufficient number of years to allay the mistrus{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}with {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin handwritten}which{End handwritten}{End inserted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}native Thomastonians{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}regard strangers and has come to be{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}{Begin inserted text}accepted{End inserted text} as{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}a "local man." This is not a status to be easily{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}attained and{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}the fact that Brown has been accepted after a comparatively short probationary period (ten or a dozen years) marks him as a sterling character indeed. {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}({End handwritten}{End inserted text} "They'll regret it," says Mr. MacCurrie, "lettin' him go. He has a good many friends here. You can never tell, with them chains, what they're goin' to do next.{End deleted text}
{Begin deleted text}"Though, all in all, I think they've been a good influence. Why goddomit, I remember before they come in here, the merchants in{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}town would get together every day. One would call up another. 'What're{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}you goin' to charge for butter{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[todayy?]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}today'{End inserted text} {Begin deleted text}he'd say. That's the way they'd keep the prices up. Now they can't get away with that stuff.{End deleted text}
{Begin deleted text}"You know they had stories around, when these chains first started comin' in, that they were givin' people short weight, that they were{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}chargin' less because they gave less and that you could buy better from the independents, when it came to quantity. That was all propaganda.{End deleted text}
{Begin deleted text}"I was readin' an article aboot the A and P stores not long ago in the Saturday Evenin' Post. Told aboot the fight to put them oot of business. The company is owned by two brothers. They've got the controllin' stock in it. Maybe you've seen some of their advertisements in the papers aboot this Patman bill.{End deleted text}
"Goddomit, I don't think it's right to legislate against them. After {Begin page no. 2}all, they employ a good many thousand people. Do you think it's right to put them all oot of work? Of coorse I don't know anything aboot this outfit that Brown worked for. From what I hear, they didn't give him much of a chance.
"They tell me he came in to work this mornin' and found another lad in his place. Didn't give him very dom much notice, did they? Well, I feel sorry for him. Jobs ain't to be picked up everywhere {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} these days."
Mr. MacCurrie produces the snuff box from an inner pocket, a signal that the subject is about to be changed.
"See where Bob Woods got hit by a car last night. Right oot here on the cross walk. He wasn't hurt. Just shaken up a bit. Goddomit, the way some of them tear through town, it's a wonder {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} there's not more accidents. It was a lucky thing this fella happened to be goin' slow.
"You've got to judge your distance these days. Sometimes you think you can make it, but they come so dom fast they catch you aboot {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} halfway between. I'm gettin' so I hate to cross the road. I'm not as fast as {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} I used to be. They won't slow doon a goddom bit, either.
"They say the pedestrian has got the right of way. They took it to the supreme coort and they ruled in {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} favor of the pedestrian. But you can't argy with a fella in a car. What's the use {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} of {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} standin' up for {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} your rights if it's goin' to kill you?
Mr. MacCurrie peers out the window.
"This looks like Coburn comin'. He'd {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} ought to be able to tell us somethin' aboot Brown."
Mr. Coburn enters and we "pass the time of day," according to {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} immutable custom. This {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} includes a detailed discussion of the weather Then Mr. MacCurrie broaches the subject of our recent {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}conversation.{End handwritten}{End inserted text}
"What do you hear aboot Brown?" {Begin page no. 3}"Well," says Mr. Coburn, "I was up {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} to Birdsall's having a milk shake this mornin' and Brown {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} come in. He says, 'Me and the Big Boss have agreed to disagree.'
"Birdsall says 'What's the trouble?' and Brown says 'Well, they wanted me to work for some other guy for a while to see if it made any change in business.' {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} "Birdsall says, 'You mean they're takin' the managership away from you?'
"'That's the idea,' says Brown. 'So I told them I was through. I been here a long while. I know business is bad, but it ain't my fault. None of the rest of them around here are gettin' rich.'
"Birdsall asked him what he was goin' to do, and he said he didn't know.
"But I know Brown. He'll get over bein' mad by tonight and go down to the Boss tomorrow and tell him he'll take up his proposition."
Mr. MacCurrie: "So that's the way it was, hey. Well I think he was kind o' foolish. Maybe there's a chance there for a job for you."
Mr. Coburn; "Naw, they've already got a guy in there. But I see the {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} district manager. He told me to go to see the Boss tomorrow, there might be a job for me. I said Okay, but I won't work for no goddamn twenny five cents an hour like you offered me the last time, seventy hours a week. He says {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} Go see him anyway.' So maybe I will, I don't know."
Mr. MacCurrie "Business must have fallen off quite a bit with Brown."
Mr. Coburn: "It's just like he said, it ain't too goddamn good anywhere right now. Well, I got to be movin'. I just stopped in for a look at the paper. It come in yet?"
Mr. MacCurrie says he hasn't seen it, and Mr. Coburn says he guesses {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} he won't wait. After he leaves Mr. MacCurrie {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} remarks:
"I kind of look forward to it myself every day. I wonder what the {Begin page no. 4}{Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} politicians have been up to today. It's a great show--one goin' on over there in Hartford and the other doon in Washington.
"I see yesterday where the Democrats are gettin' together with the Republicans over {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} in Hartford. It looks to me like the same old business. What they call the double machine. You do me a favor and {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} I'll do you one. And the people be dommed.
"There's that truck from Branford," Mr. MacCurrie points to a huge vehicle rolling slowly to a halt {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} at the bottom of the incline on "the other side."
"They're supposed to come {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} back to fix the doors," he explains, craning his neck to look at the workmen, who enter the door to the {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} Hose {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} Company quarters. It is plain that the {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} repairmen {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} are not, for the present at least, coming our way, and Mr. MacCurrie turns from the window to amplify his last statement.
"These new doors--the slidin' doors," he says. "They don't slide. First time they had a fire after they was put in, the boys had to push them up from the bottom. The way they're supposed to work, the driver sits up on the tract and pulls that cord you see there, and they slide right up. But they won't do it. After they painted 'em they swelled up." {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} Mr. MacCurrie turns {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} once more towards one of the small panes in the sliding {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} door that doesn't slide, and is silent for a while. Then he {Begin deleted text}[??]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}is{End handwritten}{End inserted text} perceptibly on the {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} qui vive. "This looks like the paper boy, anyway," he says. "Yes, b'God {Begin deleted text}its{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}it's{End handwritten}{End inserted text} him at last. "He moves briskly toward the door to take the paper from the boy's hand.