Lint Heads

They had names for people like us.The most common word they used was lint head.It came from working in the cotton mills and having lint in your head.My folks would use an air house before leaving their shift but always would be some left.Strange thing but working in the mills feed most everyone direct or indirectly.If you had a business of some sort and you dealt with the public most likely the majority of your trade came from us mill folk.So the professional folk,trade and service type where living off the mills also.When I was a kid the mill was just about the only thing in town where you could get a job.After WW2 my Dad ended up here for some reason and worked in the mill.The only other job I know of that Momma had beside the mill was working as a cashier at a dry cleaners,which by the way is still in business.Houses where provided for the workers and their families.I heard the rent was based on how many rooms in the house.I have lived in many mill houses it seems.It was called a Mill Village.At 6am each working day the work horn would blow,time for shift change.At times I would have to walk to work with Daddy,every body walked in those days,I would wait In the guard house ,waiting for Momma to come out.So I am a son of a lint head and proud of it,I never missed a meal,always had clothes and shoes.I know people that where raised just like me and They have turned their back on the way they where raised,ashamed to admit they where lint heads I guess.