People in that time and place had to do for themselves – there were not many "experts" available to help with urgent problems. Sometimes the problems were medical. One day Clelan was playing around the mill or working there when he had a good sized sliver of wood driven through his hand and wrist from the underside of the palm through the two bones and out the top side of his wrist. His dad came around right away. He got out his pocket knife and cut off one end of the sliver and then yanked it back out the other way to remove it from Clelan’s hand and wrist. Clelan still has the scar but suffered no handicap from the injury. They did later take him to the doctor, but with no antibiotics it is doubtful that he added anything of much value to the treatment.
Clyde tells of an example that, to me, show how his children respected and cared for him. In the 1920’s many of the single young men in the community were leaving to go to St. Louis to get work and bring in considerably more cash income than they could get at home. Some ended up permanently staying there or elsewhere, and some saved up some money and returned to their home area. Clyde was seeing his friends make this move and do well financially, and he was tempted to do likewise, but he felt that he was essential to his Dad’s lumbering operation – that he was the best worker he had. He was the "fireman", feeding the fire under the boiler with pine slabs. He was the only person who could do it efficiently enough to keep the saw running with no down time. They never discussed this, but it was obviously the situation. I don’t believe Clyde was paid for this work other than a place to live, clothes, etc., so he certainly did not stay because of a monetary advantage, but he did stay until he was about 21 years old.
Finally, he decided that he must take this opportunity to make some money for himself, so he approached his Dad. Hubert did not try to dissuade him but gave him $15. I doubt that their conversation was a very long one, but each had a respect and appreciation for the other.
By the way, that $15 was a pretty good investment. A one-way train ticket from Newport to St. Louis cost $10.64 and another $ .25 to take the "bull moose" train from Batesville to Newport. That left Clyde with $4.11, but it was all he needed to start a very successful business career.