Archives/Special Collections, University of Illinois at Springfield

Q: I see. (chuckles)
A: Out of the tavern, he'd. . . . Then they passed a law, I remember when I was a kid. you
couldn't open until noon on Sundays. And it seemed like beer would taste better then
hcauw you couldn't have it. They'd all want to get in before nmn.
Q: (chuckles) Well. Was he connected - wah the school connected with the church then?
A: School connected with church. They had nuns teaching here then. I went to school at
that particular time. That's one thing, I owe a lot to them for the type of education you'd
get. Compared to what you get today, how strict they were on you. I remember we had
one of them in particular. She was from Germany. And she was here for years and years
and years. They commanded respect. You were afraid of them. They had control of
everything. I remember my mother and father wanted me to take music lessons. And I sure
as hell hated to go take lessons. I was the only one in town who ever took a damned music
lesion and I'd go up with that damned briefcase and I'd have to go to their sisters' - what
you'd call a sisters' house and I'd sit there an hour and practice music.
Q: What instrument were you . . .
A: Piano. And I used to hate that. But they wouId do that for little or nothing. I don't
think they were paid very much. But 1 often tell the story of when I got in politics and
I had an old truck driver who went out with me. He never took a lesson in his life and
he'd sit down and they'd say, "Play thi$ Jim," and Jim would play any damned thing he'd
want to play. And here Z took lessons for years and I couldn't play a damned thing.
Q: Well- (chuckles)
A: Well that's the reason I'm a promoter of trying to teach someone something they were
adapted for instead of just sending them to schd and teaching them something. I thought
it would be foolish to try to make something out of somebody who wasn't adapted for that
particular profession.
Q: What kind of schoolwork did you like in those days in grade school?
A: I was god in mathematics all of the time, and I . . .
Q: Hi.
(taping $topped for introductions, then resumed)
Q: Now we were talking about the school days. You say you liked mathematics?
A: Yes. I'm disgusted with the kids today. 1 go into n place and they've got to have one
of thw damned machines and - when thgy're even working here, I can go out here and
add it up quicker before they ever wen get started with their machines. One day 1 bought
a lot of tape at some place, and for only eight dollars and something. The guys they had
to get a machine out to figure the tax on it and, my God, I was in a hurry. I had this dl
figured out before they ever even got their machine yet. They've got to get a machine for
everything. We were taught we could add.
And then I used to like history. Had an old fellow who stayed here in later yenm who was
quite a historian. Charley Hagen, he worked for Big Bill Thompson. He's the assistant
prasecutor out of Chicago. He's quite a historian. He's always bringing up things about
history.
Q: You say he worked for Big Bill Thompson . , .
Carl Wittmond Memoir -- Archives/Special Collections, University of Illinois at Springfield