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That was the first paid work I did, too. It was hard, dirty work. Carried a shotgun on the tractor to shoot copperheads and rattlesnakes, and it got used. Milk jugs filled with water and frozen sitting on the back of the tractor too, they’d melt over the course of the morning so we had ice water and it was much appreciated. Started before dawn to beat the heat but got soaked by the dew, wore long sleeve overshirts to keep the tobacco gum from getting stuck in the hair on our arms. Back to the house before noon to cool in the shade and lunch outside, then to the barns to string and put it up. Once I got a car at 16, I was able to get different summer jobs and did. Never worked in tobacco again. It was a hard way to earn a little spending money.

Last time I worked tobacco was for a guy in the other end of the county, just before I left for college. I made $7.00 an hour, and outworked most of the crew (which made them try all the harder). We speared and hung tobacco as well, and I had no problems with heights, so I didn't spear much (in MD, the whole plant was speared onto sticks and hung that way to air cure).

That was coming on the heels of a couple of summers working seawall crew, running a 120 lb sheeting hammer, so I was in really good shape...

It was funny, the jocks in my dorm all thought I 'worked out' and were stunned when I didn't know one end of a weightlifting machine from the other.