European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 21, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Dail Magazine i of pm a cars Are All. Right. But they Don t fit this Job new Hampshire egg Man Bert Southwick. The egg Man Hub big memo by George Esper associated press Ert you never Well we had other things to like what of we re Busy most of the time. There Ain t too Many people interested in this kind of work. We Ain t spent much time looking since he was 14, Bert Southwick has delivered eggs and vegetables from his family s farm to his new Hamp Shire neighbors in the villages of Northfield and Tilton first by bicycle and later by horse drawn Wagon. When school closed last Spring i finished 41 years Bert says. Now 56, he s still on the Job a vestige of a passing americana. It s All there. The Green and yellow milk Wagon with red wheels and Black roof pulled by misty the 8-year-old Pinto Mare. At misty s Side is her Colt nursing. The Colt Ain t big enough to have a name South Wick s face is weathered his Frame sturdy. Blue overalls ordered from the Sears Catalon cover his Short sleeved Blue shirt the one his Mother Laid out for him this morning. Southwick was born a Farmer. His father Carmen Southwick he died nine years ago bought the 300 acre farm on Zion Hill Road in Northfield in 1916. Bert still lives there in the 10-room House with his Mother Vida 83, who Cooks on a Wood burning stove and his sister Edna 54. He s a shy Man. He never went beyond eighth Grade. He was More interested in getting Home on the farm his Mother says. It All has to be done to keep it rolling so there Ain t much to dislike about it Southwick says. You just have to do it to make it you did t think you could find a wife who would take an interest in your work not Many would has t it been kind of a lonely life never marrying no it Ain t been lonely we have something to do All the time. No free time either. We raise cattle and horses and pigs and keep a thousand hens most of the time. We be been up to 1,800,1 guess the Bert Southwick is one of the last of the old time paddlers a simple hard working Man. He s a living portrait from the turn of the Century. Children flock ing around his Wagon. Dogs Barking at misty and the Colt. The tree lined country lanes. The River that divides Northfield and Tilton. Southwick recalls the Days when the grand Union Tea Man was still going around. Well they practically All disappeared since i started. Of course a lot of people raised Little gardens and had a few chickens and took stuff around some. Because the stuff got so expensive Grain and things got so expensive Why they just gradually kept dropping and moving on making Money to buy things they need instead of growing their own. Things like cars something Southwick has never owned. Never driven either. On cars Are All right if they fit your Job but they Don t fit this Job. There s stopping and starting. If we run a motor vehicle we d have to have a special one. We would t use it enough to have it work Good. The License and insurance would Cost More than we d get out of it so there d be no Point in us doing it if we had to do it with a Southwick makes his egg rounds once a week Friday averaging 130 dozen on his eight mile route. There s Only two or three of the first customers that i had that i still take eggs to. I m Selling eggs to the grand children of people i sold to when i started. And they re grown up now. There s children that weren t born when i started that have children old enough to leave school for 41 years and More Bert Southwick has done the same thing in heat and cold never missing a Day except for four weeks of summer National guard duty soon after world War ii. Southwick usually is up by Dawn. It varies a Little. School time sometimes we have some school kids helping and we work late at night so we Don t get started so Early in the morning like some people. We re most always going before six. By six. We finish when we get done so we can Sou Siwick has Only one full time hand working for him. My sister works outside in an office. My Mother she does a Little something most of the time tending the eggs the Garden the Southwick has 500 hens right now. He lost 500 in a fire in his barn last june. He has 30 horses some of them boarders others he rents to an amusement Park in summer 25 cattle three pigs. We bought some horses and raised some. We keep having Little ones and keep Selling them so we Don t gel too he raises almost All of his Hay on 100 acres of Field land. His biggest crop is potatoes grown on two acres. We sell most anything we raise More than enough to eat beets carrots tomatoes. We also sell Wood that we Cut has Bert Southwick Ever dreamed of bigger things i guess i grower up that Way. And we Haven t we be been Busy enough so there has t been time off to go to anything else anyhow without giving it up. So we just Haven t Given it up. So we re still at it. It s part of our income. We have to have Money to pay our Bills with so it s just part of our Job. We started with a bicycle to get a Little something out of what we raised. We be always raised stuff and in order to get something for it we have to sell part of Southwick is clearly one of a vanishing Breed. Have modern technology and the modern temper passed him by i guess so. They always got to have something. The majority of people Are in such a hurry they can t wait to get Back. They got to go fast. Like the Eastern states meeting i went to that had been in Pennsylvania where the dutch were. And a Little dutch girl was waiting with her father for a bus. They were right close to Home and she d forgotten something. She said daddy if i go right Home Quick hurry right up and come right Back real soon will i still be Here yet she wanted to go Home and get something and get Back before the bus went. It s just the same with everything else. They want to get their work done so Quick and spend All their time for pleasure and spend All they Southwick delivers an average of 130 dozen eggs each Friday on his eight mile route. Friday october 21, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 13
