16,237 South Cornuta Avenue, Bellflower, California Southern California Representative
National Enameling and Stamping Company
I used to be a terrible "worry wart". But no more. In the summer of 1942, I had an
experience that banished worry from my life-for all time; I hope. That experience made
every other trouble seem small by comparison.
For years I had wanted to spend a summer on a commercial fishing craft in Alaska, so in
1942 I signed on a thirty-two-foot salmon seining vessel out of Kodiak, Alaska. On a
craft of this size, there is a crew of only three: the skipper who does the supervising, a
No. 2 man who assists the skipper, and a general work horse, who is usually a
Scandinavian. I am a Scandinavian.
Since salmon seining has to be done with the tides, I often worked twenty hours out of
twenty-four. I kept up that schedule for a week at a time. I did everything that nobody
else wanted to do. I washed the craft. I put away the gear. I cooked on a little wood-
burning stove in a small cabin where the heat and fumes of the motor almost made me
ill. I washed the dishes. I repaired the boat. I pitched the salmon from our boat into a
tender that took the fish to a cannery. My feet were always wet in rubber boots. My
boots were often filled with water, but I had no time to empty them. But all that was play
compared to my main job, which was pulling what is called the "cork line". That
operation simply means placing your feet on the stem of the craft and pulling in the
corks and the webbing of the net. At least, that is what you are supposed to do. But, in
reality, the net was so heavy that when I tried to pull it in, it wouldn't budge. What really
happened was that in trying to pull in the cork line, I actually pulled in the boat. I pulled it
along on my own power, since the net stayed where it was. I did all this for weeks on
end It was almost the end of me, too. I ached horribly. I ached all over. I ached for
months.
When I finally did have a chance to rest, I slept on a damp lumpy mattress piled on top
of the provisions locker. I would put one of the lumps in the mattress under the part of
my back that hurt most-and sleep as if I had been dragged. I was drugged by complete
exhaustion.
I am glad now that I had to endure all that aching and exhaustion because it has helped
me stop worrying. Whenever I am confronted by a problem now-instead of worrying
about it, I say to myself: "Ericksen, could this possibly be as bad as pulling the cork
line?" And Ericksen invariably answers: "No, nothing could be that bad!" So I cheer up
and tackle it with courage. I believe it is a good thing to have to endure an agonising
experience occasionally. It is good to know that we have hit bottom and survived. That
makes all our daily problems seem easy by comparison.
I Used To Be One Of The World's Biggest Jackasses
By
Percy H. Whiting
Managing Director, Dale Carnegie and Company 50 East 42nd Street, New York, New
York
I have died more times from more different diseases than any other man, living, dead, or
half dead.