DOC LEE BRINGS TOBACCO

DURING our first winter in Washington with the snow four feet deep, no snow plows, no cars, no mail, and no means of communication with the outside world, our family had an abundance of food, as did our neighbors, but my father, as well as other men of the neighborhood, ran out of tobacco. That was tragic! In vain. Father looked through all his trousers pockets, turned them inside out, and chewed the tiny morsels of tobacco that he found. He looked in all likely places for tobacco to be hidden, then in the most unlikely places. He even searched behind the pictures on the wall! Then one day Doc Lee, my uncle, who had moved to Goldendale for the winter, came into sight on skiis. He had negotiated the twenty-five from Goldendale on skiis! Jim Pitman grasped him warmly by the hand, then with longing in his eyes, asked,

"Got any tobacco, Doc? Gimme some."

Uncle Doc teased him a while, baited him on, let him see the plug of "Saw Log." finally let him smell it, then just put his tongue to it.

"Well, gimme some!" said Pitman, and Doc gave him his rightful share of the amount he had brought. Uncle Doc made a triumphal tour of the neighborhood, doling out each man parcel of precious tobacco, and received unlimited thanks. At last my Father was at ease and paced the floor no longer. Peace was in his heart and tobacco in his pocket.