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Quote by Allie Ray

“I was sharp and thin, a bone-faced girl like all the other bone-faced girls they printed in magazines: Here is the Great Depression. Color of dust; pale brown hair and drab, blue-gray eyes. Color of the sky on days when bad things are about to happen. Color of droughts and heat and withering things.”

Quote by Allie Ray

Book:Holler

Work

Holler

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Allie Ray

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“The longing for rain has become almost an obsession. We remember the gentle all-night rains that used to make a grateful music on the shingles close above our heads... But we waken to another day of wind and dust and hopes deferred, of attempts to use to the utmost every small resource, to care for the stock and poultry as well as we can with our scanty supplies, to keep our balance and to trust that upon some happier day our wage may even yet come in.”

“Full-blooded democracy still remains a brave new experiment, the history of ancient Athens notwithstanding. It would be unwise to assume that its victory across the globe is inevitable, for democracy is not always a simple mode of governing. It is almost forgotten that one reason why in this century the world stood three times on the verge of chaos — during two world wars and one world depression — was that the leading democracies were almost as prone to accidents and blunders as were their authoritarian rivals.”

“(but) for many in the city, the name Hoover had become a term of abuse. Hoover blankets were the sheets of old newspapers that the homeless wrapped themselves in to keep warm, Hoover leather was the cardboard they used to cover the holes in the soles of their shoes, and Hoover flags were their empty pants pockets turned inside out— the visible proof of their destitution as they held out their hands for alms. And at night they slept in Hoovervilles— shantytowns made of cardboard, tin, and scraps of broken wood.”

“People don't realize how easy they have it these days. Most kids have never known what it's like to go without anything. They want something, they get it. If there isn't enough money, they charge it. We never wanted anything because we never realized we could have anything. We never missed what we never had. Things were much simpler back then, and we were stronger for it. We worked together to keep the house in order, to put food on the table. We kept things going.”