The Peddler

The Peddler

The Peddler

The peddler, an old Jewish man, drove up from New York
He went to church on Saturdays and stayed away from pork.
His dull green Chevy paneled truck was built in ‘32
And he dressed in denim overalls, faded, worn and blue

A real life old time peddler, his route was long and rough
And he drove the Catskill Mountain roads selling all his stuff
Straw hats and jeans and sewing thread, his truck was crammed with goods
And he’d start out high and end up low just like we knew he would

He had a scraggly unkempt beard all sprinkled through with gray
His deep set eyes held a guarded look that never went away
His manners were impeccable, old world genteel and fine
His voice, accented, rumbled low, but always warm and kind

A rolling-dry-goods-hardware-store, he’d show up close to noon
And to keep his faith, for lunch he ate potatoes with a spoon
That old green truck was loaded with his memories and his dreams
As well as kaki shirts and pants and gingham by the ream

He’d always block the tires so his old truck wouldn’t roll
And I bet he had the shadows of old pogroms on his soul
Of all the many millions he knew of one a least
An uncle, brother, nephew, a neighbor or a niece

I heard his wife took her own life in a very painful way
By drinking lye or DDT on a bleak, besotted day
Other’s lives are mysteries we cannot fathom well
I guess she changed a hell to heaven or heaven into hell

We don’t know where he came from and we don’t know where he went
But he still lives in our memories as strange and old and bent
And when I think about him now, I’d really like to know
Would he be surprised we remember him from 60 years ago?

Getting The Cows

Co' Boss

“Co’ Bos, Cooo’ Bos”, we used to call when the cows weren’t at the gate
At the hilltop just below our house, when we were running late
If they weren’t there, we’d walk and run by the “crik” bed up the hill
Through sparkling dew, wet wild flowers and the song bird’s morning trill

Getting up at six o’clock in the morning sun or rain
We had to get the cows and milk before the school bus came
Our cow dog Prince, would bark and swing his broken leg around
As we worked the cows out through the trees and brought them slowly down

The old cow path’s were there before first mule and wagon tracks
And settlers planted buckwheat all through the hills out back
Began by Indians hunting game all through those rolling hills
And I bet in just a little while, I could find them for you still

But we never thought of that back then as we strived to get chores done
Just tried to get those damned cows milked, then school and have some fun
Because the girls were miles away except for those in school
So village kids thought school a drag but rural kids thought it cool

Johnny Goodmonk rode for hours on an old gray Ford farm tractor
To court the girls out in the hills and get what he was after
And so the spring and summer days rolled smoothly into fall
And every day we brought the cows inside and milked them all

One time in school, a teacher said, trying to wound my pride
“Whoever smells like cow manure, I wish you’d go outside.”
I left the class and slowly said, “It’s true I’ve stepped in shit,”
But it’s only on the outside, but you, you’re full of it.”

Prof bounced me from the school again and this time not for smoking
To say teachers were full of it was pretty much verboten
So I got a school vacation for two late springtime days
When I got up each morning, guess what I had to say

You guessed it, “Co Bos, Co Bos” to get the cows to come
And then I worked for two full days hard labor on that farm
But I guess I learned a lesson as I stayed from school those days
Nothing’s often good to do, and always good to say.

The Milk Check

The Milk Check Came Today

Brought up on a dairy farm in the Catskills in New York
We always had enough to eat with beef and veal and pork
With veggies from the garden and milk from Jersey cows
I guess we lived a life style that’s called subsistence now.

But always short of money, we couldn’t buy most things for cash
And there always were a lot more days than dollars in our stash
The milk checks came out twice a month, the fifteenth and the first
And sometimes weeks were not too bad but sometimes weeks were worse

When we needed clothes for senior trips, we usually sold a cow
Which seems so self-defeating when I think about it now
By trading in the future for what we needed right away
The money just got smaller when it came to milk-check day

So we charged some things at Bailey’s Store, then across the road at Cook’s
And we charged our gas at Raymond Brown’s and got by hook or crook
Until our mother softly said, “I guess we now can pay.
“Wally Stryker brought the mail, the milk check came today.”

“The weights are off, the price is wrong, the butter fats too low”
Our Dad would say ‘bout every time in words both loud and slow
So Mom would firmly tell us kids, “Better go outside and play.”
“Your Dad has got to pay the bills, the milk check came today.”

At his battered home-made desk, I still hear and see my Dad
As he pulled old bills from pigeon holes and paid with what he had
The checks he wrote left handed, as he shooed us kids away
Sustained the farm and family when the milk check came that day.

So we milked the cows each morning and we milked the cows each night
In the winter time we shoveled shit, baled hay in summers bright
I think I started planning then so I ‘d never have to say
“I guess we now can pay the bills, the milk check came today.”

So I grubbed my way through college, driving truck and digging ditch
With luck, I got some real good jobs, some folks would call us rich
But I guess I’m only richer now in quite a different way
When long ago I heard these words, “The milk check came today.”

That damned old farm has branded me with thoughts I can’t dispel
And leaves me with these tales & lies I always have to tell
Sometimes at night before I sleep old sounds and words hold sway
Like “fit to eat” & “co’ bos’” & “the milk check came today”……………...

Hayden Clark Hubbard's First Haircut, April, 2006

First Haircut April, 2006, Portland, Oregon.