We ate poorly, had very few clothes, and worked too hard. I fed pigs, chopped wood, worked in sugar beet fields, shined shoes in barber shops, helped pitch circus tents and move heavy equipment, and even shovelled dung. But all in all, I don’t regret having grown up that way. It made me tough and well prepared for the life ahead. I was never ill or down with sickness. My body became tough as leather.
