Lindsborg, Kansas

After a day in Hutchinson, Sandburg traveled to Lindsborg - a predominantly Swedish community. He worked a hay and broomcorn harvest with several other Swedes on a farm near Lindsborg. Although he was staying among people of the same heritage, Sandburg didn't necessarily get along with them.

I stayed three days at a dollar a day and meals, sleeping in a barn hayloft. On my third and last morning I had been awake a few minutes when I heard voices down below. One voice came clear to me, a Swede saying, "Is that bum up yet?" I said to myself, "Am I a bum?" And I answered, "Yes, I am a bum."... The first time in my life that I heard myself referred to as a bum was among Swedes I had made a detour to see.

 

• Linsborg, Kansas

  
  

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  After a day in Hutchinson, Sandburg traveled to Lindsborg - a predominantly Swedish community. He worked a hay and broomcorn harvest with several other Swedes on a farm near Lindsborg. Although he was staying among people of the same heritage, Sandburg didn't necessarily get along with them.

  I stayed three days at a dollar a day and meals, sleeping in a barn hayloft. On my third and last morning I had been awake a few minutes when I heard voices down below. One voice came clear to me, a Swede saying, "Is that bum up yet?" I said to myself, "Am I a bum?" And I answered, "Yes, I am a bum."... The first time in my life that I heard myself referred to as a bum was among Swedes I had made a detour to see.