In today’s column, we continue to “remember” life in the Borough of Chapman, when the slate industry prospered in the small Northampton County community. I was fortunate to gain a vivid picture of Chapman a number of years ago when I interviewed lifelong residents; unfortunately, most of these fine people are no longer with us.

Mr. Clyde Roberts, a genial man, was the first to share memories with me. His grandfather and father both worked in the quarries. Clyde was born in 1922. He was delivered, like many of the youngsters in Chapman, by a neighbor midwife. He attended the Chapman School for eight years. His father, William, left school when he was in the sixth grade when he was 12 or 13 years of age.

“My uncle split the slate, and my father dressed them,” he said. “I was hired when I was 17 years old. I carried water to wet the slate blocks, so they could be cut. I also went to the hand pump across from the present borough hall, filling buckets of water to quench the thirst of the quarry workers.”

I asked Clyde how much he was paid.

“At first, I wasn’t paid anything,” he replied. “I was there to learn quarry jobs. One day, the foreman, Owen Jones, went to my father and said, ‘I need a dresser. Let’s put Clyde at the machine.’

“With this new Social Security law, I had to be 18, and I didn’t have a card. Owen said, ‘We will fix that. We’ll put your pay in your father’s pay envelope.’ And so he did.

“We worked on the piece rate. I needed plenty of experience to make money. Twenty-five dollars would be good money for five nine-hour days and half a day on Saturday.”

Clyde also remembered the Lehigh & New England Railroad and the railroad station.

“The railroad ran up to the quarry,” he said. “The railroad moved tons of our slate to big-city projects like buildings in New York City.

“I took the train to Bath to visit relatives but not very often. My father finally purchased his first automobile, a 1938 Plymouth, but he never drove, so I ended up doing the driving.”

I asked him about the Great Depression.

“Times were tough, so I helped farmers make hay and pick potatoes,” he said. “I earned $2 a day but had to wait until the farmers sold the crops. They always paid me.”

I wondered who his father voted for in the election of 1932.

“I doubt if he voted for Franklin Roosevelt,” he said. “Pop was a solid Republican and voted for Herbert Hoover!

“The quarry was idle, and my father used a sledge hammer to break rocks for roads. Works Progress Administration was providing employment for laid-off men to build roads.

“My dad worked at the slate quarry for years. He never received a pension. I remember when he received his first Social Security check, he was happy. It was for $130.

“My father liked his job. He had no choice but to work in the quarry, for all his relatives lived here, so he couldn’t leave or the relatives might hunt him down.”

During my long discussion with Mr. Roberts, I said, “Clyde, you’re a very nice man for answering all my questions.

With eyes beaming, full of wit, he said, “If I’m nice is debatable.”

So ended a journey into the past for a Chapman slater.

***

In two weeks, a home for $650 - what a bargain.