In the fall of 1892, Carl Sandburg began delivering milk for George Burton. The dairy farm was located two miles from Galesburg. To save the nickel streetcar fare, Carl walked to the Burton farm. That winter was brutally cold with recurrent bouts of ice and snow. Delivering milk house to house for five hours every morning of the week was hard work even on milder days.

 Sandburg’s family had no money for warm boots as the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, where his father was employed, had reduced working hours by more than half. One day Carl was ten minutes late to work because his feet had become so wet and cold. Mr. Burton had no compassion for the teenage boy.

 Carl quit the milk delivery work and got a job as barbershop porter at the Union Hotel located on the Public Square. There he cleaned spittoons, hauled clinkers from the furnace, shined shoes and performed other menial tasks. It was inside work and, if he was careful, he could eat from the free lunch served in the barroom.

 After a few months, he started working for Sam Barlow who also had a dairy farm. Carl drove the milk wagon to Galesburg twice a day. Mrs. Barlow served a good meal every day at noon, and the teenaged Sandburg was invited to partake of it, in addition to the $12 monthly pay. When Mrs. Barlow saw the condition of Carl’s footwear, she gave him a new pair of warm boots.

 Carl discovered that he could read newspapers and books while driving the milk wagon to town. He devoured every kind of reading matter he could get his hands on. Mr. Barlow played the fiddle and encouraged him to learn about music. Carl tried various instruments by making his own and practicing on them.

 Sandburg walked across the Knox College campus each day on the way to the Barlow dairy farm. He observed the plaques placed on the wall of Old Main containing quotations from Lincoln and Douglas when they had appeared in the great debate of 1858. The words of Abraham Lincoln were soon imprinted on his mind: “He is blowing out the moral lights around us, when he contends that whoever wants slaves has a right to hold them.”

 Growing up in Galesburg, Carl Sandburg was surrounded with the history of the city, the economic presence of the railroads and the social layers of native and immigrant residents. His experiences there would stay with him throughout his life. They provided him with an endless stream of ideas for his writing.