During the 1930s our family lived on Canal Street in Houston. The Southern Pacific railroad ran behind our house.

I remember on many occasions my mother feeding breakfast to homeless men, then called hobos, wandering along the railroad right of way behind our house. Then and for a few years following my older brother and I goofed off along the railroad tracks. We were always amazed at the contents of the many open cargo train cars parked on the railroad siding loaded with junk (scrap metal) on its way to the Houston docks for shipment to Japan. We learned later of the dastardly use of this scrap metal by Japan.

I remember the first time we noticed some empty refrigeration cars parked on the sidings. Looking into them, we saw ice chips remaining in the corners and, being kids with a lot of curiosity, we climbed into them and to our delight found a few good vegetables (carrots, beans, turnips, etc.) that had fallen out of shipping crates. With a lot of excitement, we eagerly took what we found home to our mom. After that we were told to keep our eyes open for any more empty refrigeration parked on the sidings.

I remember Mom and Dad enjoying the vegetables at suppertime more than us boys.