I was always little and frail as a child, and was what they called a "shirt-tail boy" until I was about 8 or 9. It was about that time that I got my first set of pants. Also Uncle Mose had decided that it was time for me to make my first trip to Neosho—a neighboring town of Diamond Grove. My brother had been making the trip there by himself for some time. Now I had reached the age where they it was time for me to do so. Uncle Mose told me to take along my savings and gave me some money to buy some coffee for him. I was really fascinated by the plant life I observed on my trip there. I had come to know that they had many uses beyond food. Some of them could be used for some things like dye for the painting that I had become fond of.