This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.
It's a good thing the little village of Edgington, Illinois, just west of here, was so sequestered from civilization. Otherwise, what happened there on the afternoon of February 13th, 1902, might have spread, and infected the entire Nation.
One that cold winter day, a dozen or so Edgington men had taken their customary seats around the stove at the Edgington General Store. Several of the men later claimed that what happened next was purely spontaneous—"without the guiding hand of any particular genius." My guess is, it was a scolding wife or two who may have asked when the men in town were going to get out and do something rather than sit around all day.
Whatever the reason, the grocery store gathering became the first impromptu meeting of the Edgington Loafer's Club. As the minutes of this first meeting later noted, the men were "galvanized into activity." They filed out of the grocery store directly over to Woodman Hall to organize. The first man through the door, Os Bruner of Taylor Ridge, became president, and the next three, vice-president, secretary, and assistant secretary.
After speeches of thanks and congratulations, the president appointed a foraging committee who went out and in less than half an hour, returned from various homes with the fixing of a first-class banquet. Afterwards, there were cigars. Another committee was appointed to plan activities for the coming year.
Before long nearly every Edgington man had joined the Edgington Loafer's Club. But there, the whole idea seems to have ended. And a good thing, too. Suppose it had spread to Rock Island, to Chicago, then New York and Washington, D.C.? Even to Moline? Today, men everywhere would be spending hours on the couch watching television, trying as hard as they could to qualify for the next level of loafer, say Third Degree, or for their black belt in loafing. The more ambitious might even have their sights set on becoming state president.
I could even see clubs for children: the boy and girl loafers. And we can't forget the wives whose scolding began the whole movement. There would, of course, be a Loafer's Auxiliary. Otherwise, the men would have to cater the annual Loafer's Banquet.
Rock Island Lines is underwritten by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and Augustana College, Rock Island.
