Franklin High School - Molecule Yearbook (Franklin, VT)

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9 A Summary of- Tha Orapas of Wrath”, by John stainbstt— . Thla itory. Tha Orapoa of Wrath”, takaa plaoa in Oklahoma and othor waatorn «tatas whioh ara aubjaot to tarribla duat storms,, Thaaa duat atonaa, aoaatUaa.iaat for aavaral daya at a timo0 Aftor tha atom, fina partioiaa of duat will hang intha still, hot air for a day and a halfo Aftor tha duat haa aattlod, tha paopla look out of thair win- dowa on rulnod crops and burlad farm tools - a drlad up dlamal aoa of waata. Aa timo wears on, parhapa tha aropa ara atartad again, or tha paopla may raly on work and wagaa alona for a living until aaothar aaa- Hhq V. , .InTth? dual stricken araa, tha small fan ownart - aa rapraaantad by tha Joad family in Tha Oropos Of wrath5- borrowad manay from larga loaning oorporationa , to buy now aaoda and supply tha naaoasltlaa of lifo until harraat tiaOo Tha atom aantinuad, and tha borrowimt infarsas- ad, Finally, tha aorporatiom daaidad tf ttta evar tha poor paoplaa' land and make it into groat oottod fiolda «In awaslant ida«; thaj thought, Dut tha paopla? wall, thay joltfti b«rt had athar idaaa, Guti t i»Si wara thay? Thjy. alona, aould not fight tha oorparatlona, Thar Saa only ona thing laft to do - mart out.But. whara? whara alaa aould thaaa paopla go ijndMki a living? This woo tha vltol quaation which tha man folks pondorod oraro Aftar a whila, thair onawar aou. It aama in tha fora af an oranga handbiii. Tha ona «Kama in tha world to work and oak a Uwing had ooma0 fas, pitting fruit in Oalifomlo woo tha anawar. Raxt, how war thay to got to Oallfomla? Moat af th« want to ot «- ond hmnd oar daalora to purohaaa adsa old.brokan down , anolont «rook - ■©««thing juat as unoartain aa thair living had boon an tha farna thay wara baing driran off from0 But thay didn't think of thati all thay could rhink of, waa gat ting to thair daatination, and atarting work, with tha aars or trucks thoy purchased, thay wara outragaously robbad, but what aould thay do? If a oar happened to hara a dry transmission or orankaaao, tha daalara would fill It with aawduat, inataad of waating oil on ito Tha aawduat served aa a silanoar to tha dry, attmeohing , protaating gears, but soma of tho farmors didn't know enough about oars to dstaot thiaj so , perhaps, thair neighbors eama upon stranded somawhara in tha daaart. But noona oould atop to halp, for all tha oars and trusks wars alraady graatly overloaded Thus, truckse oars, and graves wara found by tha hundrad, along tha roadside,, It naadad no deteetlve to fig- ura out tho aauaso .u £2 « toward tha land of promisa, thay would band togo- •r Mg llul! «olonlw to halp ona anothsr0 But paopla in ihesta through they passad would awoar terribly at than, sail thsm”Oakiaa , anu drlTa than off0 lot, thay didn't cars- raueh0 It would ba dlffarant in California, thay thought0 Would it? Tha farther thoy want, tha poorar thoy grow, until on tho last lap of tho journey, tha bast food thay oould gat was friad dough, or parhaps a faw potatoao If thay wara wall off.

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10. 0 At lut , they arrived at ths border of California,, tho land of thoir dr iami 'How , they thought, wo oan got plenty of work, and buy food for our faat starring children» Their hopee were slightly dampen- ed when they met other “Oakies returning from California. But still thwy pushed onward down into the green walls?s where trees, laden with ripe fruit, were growing. But as far as work was concerned, it was rarely found; and as for wages, these people almost had to pay the Californians to be allowed to work for them Conditions , finally,became so hard that these poverty stricken people-»» - grew desperate, snd killed and robbed for a small amount of food. f t, in some places, large amounts of land lay fal- low; and some of these p ople, purchasing a few seeds, would go out, at night.to plant a bit of this land. A few of these secret gardens would grow to almost full slse before some rotten hearted official would dis- cover and stamp out the plants, and put the person who planted them in A very few of the people, however, were lueky enough to get into a nice government oamp where everything was clean and aanitary. Here, there were no police to bum their scanty bufjj p houses, to kick them off some rich person a land, or to put them in jail. Here, they were governed by committees ehSsen from th men and women in the eamp itself. Sanitary living quarters ware provided in return for work done about the camp, snd food oould be obtained for a short time while the people were look- ing for work. Outside the government oaapa, conditions were terrible. Men were foroed by starvation to pick fruit for flvs cants ( or oven for two and one half} oents a date. In this pitiful way some familias were able to make a meager living. These low wages caused strikes, famines, and un- holy disaster to these people who had corns from the East. With the cot- ton picking earn th usual flood . Th heavy rains lasted for many days, and the water ran in great streams on the surface of th earth. Theae torrents swept away the flimsy camps of thousands of p oplo, and loft them without a single solitary thing. During this tfeAe, there was no work to be found; and as a result many died of starvation or disease. Sc this is California , thought the men from the East, well, we can take it. Some survived, but many didn't. In ay opinefen„ these were the moot courageous, determined people I ever heard of Howard 0Instead '40 »» » » » !■ -1, »»»»»«« »» f «• (► Green Mountain Boys' stats lhtoh to my surprise, soon after school wlosed last year, I reoelv- ed a letter from Leslie E„ Wilson, Secretary of Boys' State, notifying me that I had been chosen by the school faculty and the Federated Men's Club of ranklln to attend the Green Mountain Boys State to be held at Horwleh University, Horthfleld, Vermont. I had heard quite a bit about the Green fountain Boys' State that had started recently, but I had no Idea that Z should ever have a chance to attend. I wvi glad of the op- portunity and as soon as I found out that I was going, I started getting rsT-dy. Aa soon as I heard that two boys from Enosburg wore going too I got acquainted with them., and we made plans to go together. We were told