ELMER & THE TOWEL

When my dad was farming this homestead, he contracted with Elmer Bell to harvest our wheat. Elmer would come with his state-of-the art self-leveling combine which seemed huge against ours, which Daddy pulled with his D2 Caterpillar. Elmer's wife, Myrtle, hauled the grain by means of a dump truck to Nezperce. While they worked in our field, we would provide a noon meal (dinner) for them. My mother either cooked it at the old wood range in the kitchen or prepared it at home in Orofino and carried it to the farm. Anyway, I remember an occasion when Elmer came in from the field covered with dust. Mother gave him a pan of water and a towel so that he could wash his face and hands before dinner. He never said much to me, but this time he looked at me with a wink and said, "If I get half of it off with the water, the other half will come off with the towel." Without my missing a beat, Mother rejoined from the kitchen, "Kathy believes it!" I thought of this incident recently when my washcloth turned brown with the use of a liquid bath soap. I then saw the value in purchasing the recommended bath poof. KW