He Just Kind Of Wandered In........

I grew up poor in rural Louisiana. In the country there was not a lot of excitement, but a lot of hard work. There was also 4-H. In the country you just had to be in 4-H. City folk were too cool for a program like that. They had CYO and other programs. None involved animals.

I had my sights set on raising a hog for the 4-H contest in the parish. Visions of a grand hog winning first prize at the parish fair and bringing me untold riches danced in my head. The biggest problem I was facing was that a hog costs money. Money was in short supply around our house. I had a job, but all of my money was used to help feed and support the family. My Dad knew my wishes though and he told me to use my money to buy a hog. He’d help me go and get one.

And get a hog I did. It was a fine looking old fellow. At least that’s the way he looks to me now; many years after the fact. We brought the old guy home and began to “raise” him. I say raise because we did not have the money it took to get feed for a hog. He ate what we did not eat. That was not much for a hog. After the family ate around our house it looked like a swarm of locusts had passed through the kitchen. There just was not a lot of slop for a hog to eat.

My hog grew, but very slowly. The ag teacher at the school passed and shook his head when he saw my hog. The teacher informed me that my hog should weigh about 100 pounds more than he did for this stage in his life. First place was so far off. At the rate my hog was growing I would not even be able to bring him to the contest. He’d look like we had him on a diet.

Then one day I woke up to find my hog gone. I guess he finally figured I can find some better living somewhere else. I had gone out to check on him and he was just gone. I was sad, but I knew he was not having a good life living with us. So I wished him well wherever he had ventured. The 4-H contest was a month away so I did not have time to do anything else. I resigned myself to the fact that this was a great learning experience and next year I would do much better.

One morning, about two weeks later, I woke up and lo and behold, a gigantic hog stood in our yard. I ran over to the hog, but it was not mine. It had just wandered in. My Dad worked off for a month or so at a time so I had no one to help me out. I just led the hog to our pen and put him in. I figured someone would come looking for him.

No one did. The livestock contest was just a couple days away. My Dad had asked a friend of his to bring me and the hog to the show. The guy drove up and marveled at what a nice pig I had. He told me my Dad had told him the pig did not look too well. So we drove to the parish livestock show and fair.

My hog did me well. He made me proud. He came out 2nd place. He was sold for the princely sum of $27. This was a lot of money back then. I did not know what to do. I knew the money should not be mine, but $27 would help the family out a lot. My Dad arrived home several days later. I showed him the $27 and he was quite proud, but also quite skeptical. He saw right through the whole thing. Yet, to him $27 was a lot of money. It was going to become one of those don’t ask, don’t tell things.

The very next day at school we had to go to religion or Catechism class. Back in those days the classes were taught at the public schools. If you were of a different religion you could leave if you wanted or stay and get some Catholic learning. I did some learning that class. The class was about being honest and doing what was right. I knew what I had to do.

I went home and told my Daddy the whole story. He knew it was not my hog, but was not going to say anything. He still had the $27 in his wallet. He also told me Mr. Laverne, who lived about five miles down the road, had lost a very good hog.

“What do you think we should do son?”, my Dad asked
“We have to bring Mr. Laverne the money, Dad. It’s the right thing to do.”

So we drove to Mr. Laverne’s house. I walked up to the door while my Dad stood back a ways.

“Mr. Laverne, I have some money here for you. It’s $27. A fine looking hog wandered by the house a couple of weeks before the 4-H contest. Mine had run away. So I used your hog. He won 2nd place in the 4-H livestock show at the parish fair. This is your money not mine.”

Mr. Laverne looked on with a big smile.

“You are a very honest young man. I am glad I found out what happend to my old hog. I figured he had just run away. I tell you what. You keep the $27. It’s a lot of money, but you earned it for being honest and raising a hog and helping out with another one. So keep it. Your Dad should be proud of you.”

So in the end the story turned out just fine. I gave my Dad $20 of the $27 I had. I kept $7. That was a princely sum back in the day for a young guy. What did I buy myself? Nothing really. I used the money to take my Mom and Dad and my brother to town to see the movies one Saturday night.