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people, especially in rural areas, who
could not read or write. In those
days, transportation was primitive
… few cares and only dirt roads,
which ranged from bad to impassable,
limited their going to town to
shop — maybe once a week or once
a month. Educated people had to
make a long list for their needs, but
the uneducated had to rely on their
memory. They might need 10 to
20 items for their household. They
almost never failed to get all of the
items they needed (or those that
they could afford). Necessity had
trained them through their years to
have a perfect memory, which was
not learned by list-writing educated
people, who complained of their lack
of memory.
For the list makers: Try going to
the grocery store without a list. If you
forget the bread, butter, potatoes,
grits, chicken, beans and watermelon,
and you are looking forward to the
big meal of the day, you might go
hungry; so your memory might, over
time, react better next time or you
might, over time, lose weight.
Better than
Deer Hunting
A deer hunter at Orton
arrived at his deer stand
early, but saw no deer.
As he was about to
leave, a mama bear, rare at Orton,
appeared with two small cubs, about
30 pounds each. They were about
the cutest animals that he had ever
seen. Eventually, the group left, and
the hunter drove about and soon
saw three wild turkeys. He then saw
a coyote ahead of him; then, on the
shoulder of the road, he saw a bobcat
(wildcat) at close range looking at
him, all of the above in one outing.
The failed deer hunt was exceeded
by the rest of the day, which to me
would have been one of the best days
of my life.