| A small town with a high birth rate attracted the attention of a team of university sociologists. They wrote a grant proposal, got a chunk of money, hired aides and an anthropologist, found a family planning and birth control specialist, moved to town, rented offices, set up their computers, and designed questionnaires. On the first full day of work, the project director went out for a cup of coffee. The waitress, knowing he was not a local, asked why he was in town. He explained and then asked her if she had any idea why the birth rate was so high. To his surprise, she replied, "Sure. Every morning the six o'clock train comes through here and blows for the crossing, waking everybody up. It's too late to go back to sleep and it's too early to get up!" |