PAGE
A MOTHER’S DESIRE REALIZED--AMES 1
“MAGNA CUM LAUDE”--ASPINALL 5
TASK WORTH WHILE--CLARK 8
MAKING ODD HOURS PAY--DAY 12
THE COLLEGE STORE--DODGE 15
BROTHER HELPS BROTHER--DRAPER 19
THE COLLEGE INSPIRATION--DYER 24
OVERCOMING HARDSHIPS--FRAZIER 29
THE DIGNITY OF SERVICE--FOX 35
A HAPPY MISFORTUNE--FRENCH 42
FINDING ONE’S PLACE--GERNERT 47
“THE TARHEEL”--GUNTER 49
NO WORK TOO HARD--HALFAKER 53
CULTIVATING SIDE LINES--HELLER 60
A SMILING SELF-RELIANCE--HUGHES 65
A MOTHER’S INFLUENCE--KENDALL 67
RICHES MORE OF A HANDICAP THAN POVERTY--LAWRENCE 75
THE WILL AND THE WAY--MCCUSKEY 79
KEEP GOOD COMPANY--MCLEOD 82
THE DEMOCRACY OF A COLLEGE--MOON 83
OBEYING THE CALL--MORGAN 88
DETERMINATION AND STEADFASTNESS WINS--MOSLEY 91
MAKING ONESELF USEFUL--NELSON 96
A FAITH “DIVINELY SIMPLE”--NICKS 112
ONE WHO KNOWS IT CAN BE DONE 115
DIFFICULTY AND WILLINGNESS ARE ENEMIES--ROWLAND 120
FAITHFUL IN LITTLE THINGS--SAUNDERS 126
FROM JANITOR TO COLLEGE PRESIDENT--STALEY 134
STARTING WITH FIVE DOLLARS 138
FROM GOOD TO BETTER--SWAIN 142
A TASK WITH A MORAL--TRAYNOR 146
FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER BULLETIN 151
THE FRATERNITY OF WORKERS--VAN RUSCHEN 157
HOW THE PHYSICAL SIDE HELPED--WADE 162
THE WAY ALWAYS OPEN--WALTERS 167
THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH THE WORLD--WATKINS 171
OPPORTUNITIES MAKE US KNOWN--WENTZEL 177
MAKING PLAY OUT OF WORK--WIGGINS 185
NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS--WRIGHT 189
WORK A STIMULUS TO AMBITION 194
THE UNIVERSITY AS A GOAL 200
PART II
WORKING TO MAKE HIMSELF A MORE USEFUL MAN--BASSFORD 205
MANY LANES OF USEFULNESS--BOSWELL 208
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE WILLING HEART--DAFT 212
DIFFICULTIES PREPARE FOR REAL WORK--FRYE 215
PLUCK RATHER THAN LUCK--HENRY 221
POVERTY IS NOT HIS MASTER--JOHNSON 225
DEFEAT DOES NOT MEAN FAILURE--JOHNSON 228
“START RIGHT”--JOHNSON 230
THE REAL QUESTION--JORGENSON 233
WILLINGNESS TO WORK A GREAT ASSET--MOORE 239
KEEP ON TRYING--OMAHART 242
OPTIMISM IS AN ASSET--OXLEY 245
THE DESIRE FOR SOMETHING BETTER--PATRICK 249
DETERMINATION VERSUS POVERTY--PORTER 252
THE REAL NEEDS OF THE WORLD--RANKIN 255
THE ONE WHO SUCCEEDS IS THE ONE WHO TRIES--SCURR 257
THE HELP YOURSELF CLUB--SELLARS 261
THE HOW AND WHY--SHINN 263
MAKING USE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY--SMITH 266
EDUCATION WORTH THE PRICE--WEST 273
WORK NO CLASS BARRIER--WRIGHT 280
PART III
HOW TO WORK ONE’S WAY THROUGH COLLEGE--BROWN 283
DOES A COLLEGE EDUCATION PAY? 286
PREFACE
Having entered the preparatory schools with 94 cents, and college
with less, and knowing that the greater number of those who control
the affairs of the nation and who strive to make the country better,
are men and women who did likewise, the thought for this book entered
my mind. The first aim was to collect matter from students only, but
this was changed. The main part of the book contains articles from
college and university graduates. The last part of the book contains
contributions from students now in college, and shows how the actual
thing of working one’s way through college or university is being
done. A few of the articles which go to make this volume were used
as a special series in the _Raleigh Times_, Raleigh, North Carolina,
and requests from various parts of the country were received by the
compiler for the production of the series.
The object of the compiler is not to praise the merits of those who
have succeeded, but to point a moral to young men and women who desire
an education and have small means. A prominent editor says: “The
history of college education among English speaking people is now
about one thousand years old. It began with the University of Oxford
in England, which has been in existence a decade of centuries. It has
spread to many lands, but in all lands it has been about the same to
the poor boy. It can be truly said that he has never seen an age or a
country or a college where he had an easy time in getting his diploma.
It has always been a fearful struggle for him, and it will doubtless
continue to be. But it is also true that the brightest pages, the very
brightest, in all our long educational history are those that record
the triumphs of the poor boy. And his triumphs are written throughout
that great period. He has demonstrated a thousand times over that
‘where there is a will there is a way,’ that ‘poverty does not chain
one to the soil.’”
So, my efforts have been to help rather than to praise, to make the
past a great light for the future, and to pave the way for more college
men not blessed with wealth. If this volume serves to aid one in these
directions I shall be glad.
To Professor W. P. Lawrence, Professor E. E. Randolph, Professor R.
A. Campbell and President W. A. Harper, of the Elon College Faculty,
the compiler is greatly indebted for their faithful service in the
preparation of this work; also to many others who offered suggestions
and advice.
C. B. RIDDLE.
Elon College, N. C.
March 16, 1914.
PART I
A MOTHER’S DESIRE REALIZED
FORREST B. AMES, B.A.
Before the close of my high school course I faced two proposals,
acceptance of one of which would cause me to go to college; the other
would set me to work. The first was this: provided I would live at home
in Bangor and go back and forth daily to the University of Maine in
Orono (a ride of about fifty minutes on the electric car) I was offered
about half of the expenses of my entire college course. The second
was--work.
Thanks to my mother’s influence and the fact that I wanted a college
education, I had no hesitation in accepting the first proposal. Thus
I came to belong, not to a class of “college men with no money,” but
rather to that of “college men with little money.” The essential
difference is one of degree only, provided there is present a true
determination to secure a college education.
Why did I go to college? To a great extent because of my mother’s
influence; because of her who could not conceive of her sons as
non-college men. She thus constantly encouraged us to go to college
regardless of whether we had to earn all or part of our way. In
addition to this ever-present influence I was a somewhat imaginative
and philosophical lad. It seemed to me that just as a hill was made
not merely for climbing, but that the climber should be rewarded for
his attempt by the beautiful view of broader countries seen from the
summit; even so a college education was designed, not to be a stumbling
block to the youth of our country, but rather to serve as a means of
intellectual elevation from which should open up visions of greater
things in life. These two things made me become a “college man with
little money,” who was ready to do any honest work to make up the
financial deficiency.
How did I earn my way through college? In an account book, which I have
preserved for many years, I find this statement, written when I was
a sophomore in high school: “School closed (for the summer vacation)
Friday. On Saturday I helped Roy cut grass and received twenty-five
cents. From that regular employment followed and I earned and spent
money as follows:”
There follows, then, a record of fifteen cents from someone for cutting
grass, or fifty cents from another for a bit of carpenter work such
as a boy could do. Very consistently during the remainder of my high
school course I worked, caring for lawns and gardens in the summer, and
running one furnace and sometimes two and shoveling snow in the winter.
I also pumped a church organ. By these means I earned and saved
$200.00 in the two years before I was ready to go to college. This sum
I placed in the bank.
For two years of my college course I lived at home and went to and from
the University each day. To earn money I tended a furnace and shoveled
snow, pumped a church organ, and occasionally sold tickets at various
entertainments in the Bangor City Hall. In the fall of the sophomore
year I won a first prize of fifteen dollars in the annual sophomore
declamations. During the summer between my first and second years in
college I worked as an amateur landscape gardener, caring for lawns and
gardens and doing odd jobs of all kinds. For the greater part of the
summer following the second year I worked as a carpenter. I also tried
the work of book agent, but made little headway at that.
Beginning with my junior year at college my plans were considerably
changed. No longer did I travel to and from college daily, but,
thanks to the generosity of a friend, I was permitted to live at the
fraternity which I had joined in my freshman year. Thus I was given
an opportunity to enter into the larger life and activity of the
University, and so to share some of the college honors and profit by
them.
But still there was the necessity of earning money. I still lacked many
dollars, even many hundred dollars, necessary to secure my college
education. During that junior year I worked at every opportunity and
earned money by selling tickets at various places, giving readings
at a church entertainment, winning another first prize in the junior
declamations, taking school census in my home ward in Bangor, and by
doing odd jobs whenever any presented themselves. During the summer I
secured work at a seashore resort and because of the somewhat isolated
nature of the place saved nearly all my earnings.
In amount of money earned in all ways, my senior year was the best
of my entire college course. During the Christmas recess I worked as
floor-walker in a store, and during the spring vacation again took
school census, this time in a larger ward which returned me more money.
I won fifty dollars in an intercollegiate speaking contest, and earned
nearly sixty-five dollars as substitute teacher in Bangor high school.
These amounts, combined with my previous savings, or what was left of
them, and an advance from the same friend, enabled me to graduate from
the University of Maine in 1913 with all bills paid, but burdened with
a great debt of gratitude that I can never properly pay.
As I look back over my college course, I feel that it was worth all the
work that I was obliged to do.
_Orono, Maine._
“MAGNA CUM LAUDE”
REV. RICHARD ASPINALL, B.A., M.A., B.D.
At the age of twenty-five I went to West Virginia Wesleyan College with
a fairly large amount of worldly experience, very little book learning,
and enough money to take me through two terms of school. I was
preparing myself for the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and was willing to preach my way through school. I did not know anyone
in the school, nor did I have any definite promise that I would get a
charge near the College. Incidentally, I might say that I had been in
this country only eighteen months at that time. I landed in New York
with only six dollars, plus the amount that the immigration authorities
require each one to have upon landing on these shores. I did not know a
man from Maine to California.
After consultation with the Dean I found that I needed one year to
complete the college entrance requirements. During the next summer I
made enough money to pay my few debts; so I returned to the college
square with the world. A few weeks after school opened, I went to our
conference and was assigned to a circuit in close proximity to the
College, which paid me $360 for the year. There were six appointments
on the circuit; each congregation wanted me to hold a protracted
meeting and I had to hire a horse every Sunday, for the average
distance for me to travel was twenty miles a Sunday.
There was no opportunity to make any extra money, for I held protracted
meetings in the vacations and had to do extra pastoral work in the
summer, which, of course, had been sadly neglected during the school
year. It need hardly be said that there were many trying times. I had
much practical experience in a system of bookkeeping; but, somehow, and
at very irregular intervals, the bills were all paid at the end of the
year.
I was returned a second year. The salary was increased $50.00, and for
a time I was passing rich. But troubles were plentiful, sometimes.
I was going out on a mission of good cheer, riding thirty miles on
Sunday--it may be in sleet and snow, and the steward had been able
to collect only $3.21, when I needed much more than that to pay
my board bills. Then when I could succeed in casting these gloomy
thoughts from my mind, in would rush the inspiring thoughts of my
Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Math., all fighting for first consideration.
Notwithstanding, given good health, one can get through. It has been
done and can be done again, is part of my philosophy.
The last two years saw me on another charge, paying much more money,
but a much more difficult field, mentally. I was able to graduate,
free from debt, though I had seldom been so during the whole five
years. I feel as though I have a right to say that I did not slight my
work, for I was graduated “Magna cum Laude” and took a few other honors
besides.
Taken collectively, the grind of lessons, the worries of a circuit
together with shortage of money are not always conducive to optimism,
but I felt like I had to get through. The same zest I had then for
learning is still with me. I may say that I have no more money than I
had when in college, but as much ambition.
_Madison, N. J._
TASK WORTH WHILE
THOMAS ARKLE CLARK, B.L., DEAN OF MEN, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
I worked my way through college from necessity--I had to do so, or to
give up the idea of having a college education at all. I had no ideas
then concerning the great advantages of such a course.
When I was a little boy my father had formed the plan of sending me to
college when I should have reached the proper age, but he died when I
was scarcely fifteen years old, and my hope of ever securing a college
education vanished. Seven years later, when I was twenty-two, a chance
experience renewed within me the desire to go to college, and I laid my
plans accordingly.
I had little money, though I had been teaching school two years and
had also been farming for myself. It seemed to me then, and I feel it
much more strongly now that I have had an experience with hundreds of
other students in a similar situation, that it would be better to delay
beginning my college course until I had saved enough money to give me a
good start. This I did, farming another year and spending an additional
winter in teaching a country school. When I was ready to enter college
I had money, which I had myself earned, more than sufficient to pay all
of my college expenses for two years.
I had not been in college long before I saw that the fellow with no
special talent or training is very much handicapped in earning his
living. Such a man must take what work he can get, and must usually
work at a minimum wage. Often, too, the only work which he can get is
mere drudgery. The man who can sing or can play a musical instrument
well, the man with a trade, or a particular fitness for any special
sort of work, can earn his living more quickly and more pleasantly than
can the man who must confine himself to unskilled labor.
Soon after I entered college a chance came to me to become an
apprentice in the office of the college paper and to learn to be a
printer. I did not need to earn money during my first year, so I
entered the printing office, and gave myself to learning to set type.
I worked at the trade industriously during my leisure moments, the
fellows in the office were quite willing to instruct me, and at the end
of a year I had become so proficient that I was employed as a regular
type-setter. In this way I earned satisfactory wages during the rest of
my college course.
My connection with the college paper gave me an interest in newspaper
work in general, and I soon had an opportunity to do reporting for one
of the city daily papers published in the college town. For this work
I was paid a definite amount a column, with an understanding that the
total amount of news which I should furnish each week should not exceed
a set number of columns.
These two sources of revenue, together with small amounts which I was
able to earn proved quite sufficient to furnish me enough money to meet
my regular college expenses. They gave me, also, more pleasure than I
should have been able to obtain had I been forced to earn my living by
means of unskilled toil.
My summer vacations I employed on the farm. I had many rosy
opportunities presented to me by solicitors who came to the University
to earn possibly fabulous sums of money during the vacation by
retailing their wares, but I preferred to work on the farm for two
reasons: such work offered me a definite sum for my summer’s work,
small though it might be, and I was in such a position that I felt that
I should know what I could rely on. It gave me in addition three months
strenuous exercise in the open air, and thus prepared me for the months
of hard study that came through the college year.
As I look back now at the manner in which I earned my way through
college, it seems to me in the light of the many years of experience
which I have had since, a very good way. As I have watched the hundreds
of self-supporting students at the University of Illinois, I am led to
the conclusion that it is seldom a good plan to start upon a college
course without money, even if one has to postpone going until that is
earned. Unskilled labor is unprofitable, and anyone who would succeed
must have or must develop skill or training in some special work.
Lastly, it seems to me that the average man will find it very much
better to employ his vacations in work that will bring him a definite
and assured income, even though that be small, than to risk earning ten
times as much, as a book agent, for example, where he is quite likely
to fail.
_Urbana, Ill._
MAKING ODD HOURS PAY
REV. JONATHAN C. DAY, A.B., D.D.
I was born in Harlan County, Kentucky, which is one of the remote
southeastern mountain counties of that State, on the twentieth of
December, 1877. I was one of eight boys. After my mother died my father
married a second time. He had six boys and two daughters by his second
marriage. We lived on a rough mountain farm. Our income was meager and
our educational and cultural advantages even more meager. Our public
schools were of the poorest kind and lasted only three months in the
year. We did not attend them even consecutively through these three
months. I always was ambitious, however, after I had learned to read,
to get what I could from school, and from books.
My mother died when I was fourteen years of age. It was about this time
that I began to try to attend public schools regularly although ours
were poor. At the age of seventeen I had my first five consecutive
months of school. This gave me a taste for more knowledge, since here
we were studying geography and history and those branches which gave
us some knowledge of a larger world than we mountain boys knew.
At eighteen I entered the Presbyterian School at Harlan Town. I
graduated from this little academy when I was twenty. All of this
time I had taken great delight in working odd hours outside of school
and on Saturdays and holidays, to pay my way. By this time I found it
possible to teach in the country schools. This I did two terms. There
was finally an opening at college where I had a chance to pay my way by
taking care of the fires, milking cows, running errands, etc., for a
gentleman who lived near the college and who had to be away from home
most of the time.
I entered Tusculum College at Greeneville, Tenn., in September, 1897. I
worked for Mr. L. L. Lawrence, an attorney, who lived near the college
campus. My work was not very hard, but took a great many hours each
day. By diligent application to my studies I found it possible to make
up the branches in which I was deficient in the preparatory department,
and to graduate with my Bachelor’s degree on the 1st of June, 1901.
Having to do the manual labor that I did and at regular hours,
established in me regular habits, both in meeting engagements and in
preparation for classes, which I have found in later life invaluable.
As I look back over my experience in college, I cannot remember the
time when I was not perfectly delighted with the opportunity of work
and study, even though I went many weeks destitute of “spending money.”
After I had finished college I entered upon a course of theological
study which I pursued for four years graduating from McCormick Seminary
in the spring of 1907. Meantime, however, I gave two years to teaching
and to the work of the Y. M. C. A. as student secretary in Tennessee.
This I found necessary in order to earn money to purchase books and
carry on my courses of study without running too heavily in debt.
Since I have been regularly in the ministry, I have many times given
thanks for the Providence that made it necessary for me to get what
little I did get in the way of education through this long course of
labor, manual and mental. Many encouragements came along the way. There
were many kind friends who, without my solicitation, have helped me at
various times. I believe that the man who tries will always find much
encouragement.
_New York City._
THE COLLEGE STORE
PROFESSOR W. I. DODGE, B.S.A.
By way of introduction, I will say that when I was in school I never
had any inclination whatever to attend a higher institution of
learning. But upon graduation from the ninth grade I was influenced
to attend the academy. I was at that time living in St. Johnsbury,
Vermont. I attended the academy there two years, and then finished my
preparatory course at Vermont Academy, Saxton’s River, Vermont. As time
drew near for graduation there, I finally became quite interested in
agriculture and I decided to enter the Agricultural Department of the
University of Vermont at Burlington. The next question was, “How am I
to bear the expense?” My father was perfectly willing to help me and
desirous of helping me through, but he was financially unable to send
me through on his own resources. Since I was desirous of learning, I
agreed to find some method of helping him out. It was finally decided
that I should enter that fall (1908) and my application was sent and
accepted.
My father, who aided me to the extent of $50 the first year, went
to Burlington a short while before College was to open and held an
interview with Professor J. S. Hills, the Dean of the Agricultural
Department. It ended in my securing the work of “sampler” at the
Experimental Farm. The work included getting up at five o’clock every
morning and going out to the barn and “sampling” and “weighing” the
milk from fifty odd cows. There were two of us that did this work. When
there was nothing ahead we would help in the milking. This required
about two hours in the morning. At five o’clock in the afternoon
the same work had to be done. If any of the readers have ever done
this kind of work they can well appreciate my circumstances. For
remuneration, I received fifteen cents an hour and was able to earn an
average of twelve dollars a month, from which I paid my board. This
consisted of one meal in a boarding house and two in my room. Although
the work was rather undesirable in many respects, I have, nevertheless,
many times thanked fortune for it. On Saturdays, I had a job emptying
ashes and carrying coal for a woman down town, and in the winter I
kept her roof and walks clean. In this way I picked up a neat sum. I
did this work all the first year of college. During the summer I was
very fortunate in securing a position at the Experiment Station under
Professor Washburn (the head of the Dairy Division) for $40 a month,
working nine hours a day. Along with this I kept my work at the farm so
I managed to get $55 or more a month. Most of this I saved to help me
in my sophomore year.
When the three months’ summer vacation was over, I still retained
my work at the farm and kept it during the whole year. My father
occasionally sent me a little money, and I got along as well as I
could. During my sophomore year my uncle died and left me a small sum
of money, but I used only $50 of it during my sophomore year. During my
summer recess in that year I again worked for Professor Washburn on his
books and experiment work. I received the immense wage of $45 a month,
and still worked at the Farm, so I managed to obtain about $60 per
month. I worked the whole three months, and then I decided to change my
work.
I went to see the student owner of the “College Store,” Mr. I. H.
Rosenberg, and obtained the work of clerk in the store at the salary
of four dollars a week. I worked the whole year for that and it more
than paid my board. The $125 saved during the summer paid my necessary
bills. Then I received $100 more from my uncle’s estate.
In June I decided to buy the “College Store,” as it was for sale, but
how was I to pay $729 when I didn’t have it? I wrote to a relative
of mine in regard to the money, but he would not lend me the money
without a note signed by myself, father and grandfather for security.
I thought there must be another way to obtain it, so I went down town
and conferred with Mr. G. D. Jarvis, a merchant in the city. He had
known me for two years, and had taken a strong interest in me, and
after knowing my circumstances he told me he would lend me the money.
Of course, I had no property to give as security; but Mr. Jarvis knew
me and took my note as security for the money wanted. I paid $600 down
for the store and gave a note for the balance, the first of June. So
I became owner of the “College Store” for my senior year. During the
summer I went to Nova Scotia and worked in a creamery in Brookfield,
doing the helper’s work. I wanted to learn creamery work and I thought
that was my opportunity; so I took it. I received $12 a month and
board. I came back to college no richer financially, but richer in
knowledge. I opened my store at the opening of school, and I earned
enough to pay my expenses through my last year. I sold it in the spring
to another student and paid Mr. Jarvis.
I graduated in the class of 1912, the first class graduated by
President Guy Potter Benton, now of the University. I received the
degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture.
In June of my senior year I secured the position of teacher of
Agriculture and the Sciences in one of the Vermont schools. I am still
there, and enjoy my work very much.
_Morrisville, Vermont._
BROTHER HELPS BROTHER
HENRY F. DRAPER, B.A.
When I graduated from the high school of Oswego, Kansas, in 1896 at the
age of seventeen, I had the ambition to attend college, the University
of Kansas in particular, which seemed to me to be the normal thing for
a young man to do. My parents were in full accord, as their example
and precept had always been favorable to as large a use of books as
circumstances would allow. Though up to that time my every educational
need had been met, it was recognized that my college training must come
only after I had earned the money to provide it. I was the oldest of
five children and my father’s income was only that of a country doctor
in a county seat, a town of 2500 inhabitants.
Before her marriage my mother had taught school and many of her best
friends and mine were teaching school at the time of my graduation from
the high school. This and perhaps more particularly the further fact
that I had received good grades at school seemed logically to suggest
that by teaching school I should earn money for a college education.
But during the summer of 1896, and, again the next year, I sought in
vain to persuade country school boards that I was the proper person to
teach the youth of their district. They considered me rather young and
forsooth lacking in experience, which I was seeking a chance to secure.
And so I was saved from becoming a poor school teacher.
Opportunities as clerk, however, were offered and by the first of
April, 1901, I had experiences in hardware, grocery, and shoe stores.
The various changes were made through no fault of my own; but, though
they were in the nature of promotions, the financial return was so
slight that after five years I had perhaps not more than $50 saved
toward my cherished college career.
On April 15, 1901, I began work for a real estate loan company with
duties but little more responsible than a fifteen-year-old office boy
might have discharged. The wages were small, but were soon advanced.
In four years I was earning what was accounted a goodly amount for a
town of that size. Though I had spent some money on vacation trips each
summer and for necessary things throughout the year, I had saved a few
hundred dollars.
Meanwhile, my brother, two and a half years younger than I, had secured
fairly remunerative work earlier in life than I had done. He, too,
wanted a college education and had entered the University of Kansas in
September, 1901. As nearly as I can recall he had enough money to go
through the first year without doing any outside work. Occasionally
during the next three years I lent him money which he repaid when I was
later in school; but in the main he supplemented his summers’ earnings
by strenuous activities during the school year. He was at different
times steward of a boarding club, night clerk at a hotel, and one of
the student assistants in the University library. His experiences and
difficulties were really of more interest, and more particularly those
of a student working his way through college than any I can relate of
myself.
In September, 1905, when twenty-six years old, I went to Lawrence,
Kansas, and enrolled in the state university as a special student. I
desired courses particularly in history and economics. As I expected
my college career to be limited to one year, I believed the special
classification was advisable. Because I wished to study as much as
possible I attempted no outside work, but I was economical in my
expenditures. Yet I did not then, nor at any later time, deprive myself
of a reasonable amount of recreation.
At the close of school in June, 1906, I returned to my work in the real
estate loan office in my home town. I was not satisfied with the extent
of the schooling received. I kept under my ambition, however, and laid
aside my earnings again until September, 1907. I then returned to the
University and again enrolled as a special student. I started to earn
my board by washing dishes, but after six weeks’ trial I found that it
took so much time that I quit outside work and gave myself wholly to
study.
The spell of the college was now strong upon me and I wanted to
continue until I could secure a bachelor’s degree. To so shape my
course during the next three years as to correct the irregularities of
my “special” course was a task, especially since I was now vitally in
newspaper work and desired more courses in history and English than the
schedule permitted for a regular student.
Though I yet had money to my credit, I wanted to be able to aid my
sister who started this year. Therefore, to earn my board, I served as
table waiter at a club from September, 1908, to June, 1909. Meanwhile,
my outside duties on the student newspaper and in Y. M. C. A. work
increased in addition to the larger opportunities for profitable
recreation. Thus my life was growing strenuous.
In an effort to keep down expenses, I started the fall of 1909 as
associate steward of a club. Ill success attended me, and before
Christmas I was paying board. My work for the student newspaper brought
me some slight return financially, but not commensurate with the time
it took. I was also a member of the Y. M. C. A. cabinet this year.
From September, 1910, to my graduation in June, 1911, I gave a very
considerable amount of time to my newspaper work and had more pay
therefore; but at the end of my course I had borrowed several hundred
dollars from a brother. I was on the Y. M. C. A. cabinet during this
last year also.
My university training has not prepared me for any get-rich-quick
career. Efforts since graduation to push ahead into a newspaper life
have added to, rather than taken from, my debt. Nevertheless, I do not
regret the plan of action which I followed to get a college education.
I cannot estimate in dollars the satisfaction I have in the retrospect.
I was not penurious with myself when in school, and so enjoyed life,
even though always economical. The friendships formed and the larger
vision of life which I now have compensate me for past difficulties and
those yet to be overcome ere I can obtain such financial stability as
I might have acquired six or more years ago if I had been content to
continue in the real estate loan office of my home town.
_Oklahoma City, Okla._
THE COLLEGE INSPIRATION
FRANK R. DYER, A.B.
My first inspiration toward college came from a public school teacher
by the name of Homer C. Campbell, now a successful business man of
Portland, Oregon. Mr. Campbell was a gifted teacher, brimful of
inspiration and helpful suggestions.
My impression while I was a boy was that the rich only could get
through college. My estimated amount of money needed was far beyond
what I ever had seen together and was beyond my fondest hopes.
During the seven months of Mr. Campbell’s stay with us, he taught us
much not in the books. He made us realize that there were higher fields
inviting us and the means to the end were within our reach. Before he
left us he exacted a promise from me that I would go to college. I was
very willing to promise, due to my confidence and admiration for the
man; but, at this late date, I realized that far, far away was my hope
to realize the goal. My old teacher did not let me forget my early
ambitions, but took numerous opportunities to remind me of my promise.
After teaching a short term in the country and then serving as
clerk more than a year in a country store, I quit the job with many
misgivings and started for the Ohio Normal University, located at Ada,
Ohio,--the school founded, and many years directed by that prince of
educators, President Henry S. Lehr. I had all the queer sensations of
a new boy in a strange school, but the experience is common to all who
will read these letters; so it will be unnecessary to repeat it here.
I had one hundred and forty dollars as a nucleus that I had saved from
two years’ work. Three terms made up my first year. There were five
terms in the year. I was able to get through three of them, and have
a small amount of my capital left. I may add that the Ohio Normal was
run for the benefit of the student body and a vacation was a very
rare occurrence, and when it did occur, there was what was known as a
“vacation term” for the students who did not have time to quit. In the
town was my old teacher, who often had a kind word for me and always
pointed to the day of graduation, a day which seemed too far away for
me to consider.
I taught school that winter. As soon as school closed I went back to
the Normal, took a new start, and worked all summer till time for
school to begin in the fall. So, by the plan of the Normal school,
I was able to teach each winter and go to school from early in the
spring till late in the fall, and still make the purse hold out. The
high cost of living was not in evidence. I paid $1.40 a week for table
board, and fifty cents for my room. This continued till the purse
came in a little stronger, and I went up to $1.60 a week. I may add
that in my later years I got into the plutocrat class and paid $2.00
a week, but the room rent was the same. Two dollars per week was a
regular Rockefeller rate for the Normal boys, but we lived well. Our
wants increased as the years went by, but we were able to have some
surplus left over each year, which was a very gratifying condition.
Thus, by half year work and half year study, I was able to complete
the classical course when the long hoped for day of graduation came.
This is now history. My ambition had been thoroughly aroused and I
felt that I must now finish college. My surplus with a little that my
brother lent me during the last few months in college was enough to
take me through. As I look back over the road, I find only pleasant
recollections of the college work, even though there were times when
we bought our coal oil by the half gallon because it avoided a large
investment at one time in one commodity.
We did not ride in automobiles then as many do now. Our only expense
aside from lodging, board, and fuel, was to spend a few dollars for a
good book now and then, and a few dollars more for lecture tickets. The
lectures were of the best, by Joseph Cook, George Wendling, Sam Jones
and men of that type. We must admit at this late date that our best
girl beside us made the lectures more interesting and instructive than
they could have otherwise been.
Our temporal wants were few, and our intellectual opportunities,
accordingly great.
One time in traveling through the mountainous part of Kentucky the
most conspicuous sights were the cabin on the barren hillside and
the razor-back hog with the proverbial knot in his tail to keep him
from running through the crack in the rail fences. I was so impressed
with the simplicity of the life there that I said to a gentleman on
the train near me, “How do these people ever supply their wants?” He
replied in the characteristic English of the locality, “Mister, they
ain’t got no wants.” These people seemed to be happy. As I look back
over my college work and experience when often the purse got down
below the last nickel, I recall that our desires for knowledge were so
paramount that we did not seem to have any wants.
At this time of life I take off my hat from the place where the hair
ought to grow to do honor to the Ohio Normal University, because it
made it possible for me and thousands of others to get inspiration for
higher things. All honor to the Ohio Wesleyan University, my later
school, for its scholarly instruction, its able professors, its college
association, and above all its training in Christian manhood, a part of
the curriculum never forgotten or neglected in the O. W. U.
May the years deal kindly with all such as the president emeritus
of the Ohio Normal who will still inspire youths to do their best,
and reach out to the things beyond. Rewards have come to many of my
professors in the Ohio Wesleyan University, but the memory of their
lives and work remains.
Any young man or woman who has no obligation but his own support can
enjoy the advantages of the best educational institutions of this or
the Old World and make every dollar of his expense independently.
_Wichita, Kansas._
OVERCOMING HARDSHIPS
VIOLA E. FRAZIER, A.B.
From the very beginning my opportunities in school were very limited.
I was the third child of a family of eight children. My parents were
very poor and we older children had to work hard helping father fight
the wolf from the door. Then too, father did not take the interest in
sending us to school that he should have taken, although he was an
educated man, and taught school nineteen years. He claimed that we
could learn as much at home as we could at school. Holding to this
theory he kept us at home. The theory might have worked well, if he had
given us fixed hours for study and play; but instead of this he kept
us at work on the farm all summer and fall. In winter he would cut and
sell wood. Every morning, when the weather was not too severe, he took
my two oldest brothers (and me too, when mother could spare me) to the
woods to cut or saw a load of wood, while he hauled a load to town and
sold it. Of course, I could not cut wood, but I could pull one end of
a cross-cut saw equal to either one of my brothers. When the weather
would not allow us to go to the woods, father made us study.
I had a yearning desire to learn to read and cipher. Still, like all
other children, I liked to play, and devoted most of my time to it.
One of my cousins, who lived near us, used to come over and play with
us every Sunday. She would tell us what a good time she had at school.
This made me anxious to go too, and I pleaded with father to let me go,
but my pleading was all in vain. He said I would learn more mischief
than anything else, and he was not going to send me. Mother saw that I
would learn, if I only had an opportunity, and she, too, insisted on my
going to school. Still father would not listen to the request.
At the age of twelve I had never been inside of a schoolhouse. Mother
saw that father was making a mistake by keeping me out of school. So
she decided to send me without his consent. One day when father came
to dinner, he did not see me and inquired where I was. Mother told
him that I had gone to school. He hardly knew what to say or think;
so at last he said (realizing that he was in the wrong): “If she is
determined to go to school, let her go, and let us see what she is
going to do.”
The question then arose, how was I to get my books? I knew father would
not get them for me. I told my cousin (Miss Nettie Bruce) my situation,
and she agreed to lend me her books the first year. After that I always
raised turkeys or ducks enough to buy everything that I needed in
school.
I went to the public schools five sessions. During this time I made
fairly good progress. An almost uncontrollable thirst for knowledge
took possession of me. I was not satisfied unless I had a book in my
hand. My teacher told me that I ought to go to college. I thought this
was impossible. So I decided that I would teach the next year.
During the summer Professor J. J. Lincoln, one of father’s old
schoolmates, paid us a visit. He insisted on my going to college.
Father wanted to send me, but was not financially able. Professor
Lincoln told him how I could go with very little cost to him. He told
him that he could get me a position in the dining room, by which I
could pay half of my board. He thought that father could certainly
arrange to lend me the other half, and the college would wait until I
finished for my tuition. This seemed reasonable, and after a little
consideration father agreed to send me.
On September 5, 1906, I started to Elon College, N. C. This was my
first trip from home. The first few weeks were trying ones with me. The
thought of being two hundred and fifty miles from home without money
or friends was almost more than I could bear. But I plucked up courage
enough to conquer the homesickness, and just determined to stay. It was
not long before I began to make friends.
I entered the sub-Freshman class. Had the faculty allowed me, I
would have undertaken two years’ work in one. I went there with the
determination to do all that my strength would permit. I managed to
get them to allow me to take twenty-six hours’ work a week. This gave
me all that I could do. I did not have much time for pleasure like the
other girls. As I was kept very busy, the time soon slipped away.
On April 21 I received a telegram saying, “Mother is very ill. Come
home at once.” The next day I arrived at home and found her very ill. I
knew that she could not live long. I sat by her bedside until the 9th
of June, when God called her home.
My hopes of ever receiving an education were now gone. As I was the
oldest girl, and my youngest brother was only four years old, the
responsibilities of the home and mother fell largely upon me. I tried
to fill her place in my humble way the very best I knew, feeling that
this was the only way that I could honor her.
The next fall before school opened I made preparation for my younger
brothers and sisters to enter school the first day. How I did wish that
I could go too, but I knew that this was impossible, as father could
not get anyone to keep house for him. During the winter I devoted every
spare minute that I could find to my books; but you may know that I did
not find much spare time after sewing, cooking, washing, ironing and
mending, and keeping the house straight for such a large family. Of
course, my sisters helped me every evening and morning.
The next year I decided to teach the public school just three miles
away, where I could board at home, and look after the home affairs too.
This year, by raising turkeys and teaching I cleared one hundred and
fifty dollars, which was enough to pay half my board and other expenses
(not including tuition) for one year in college.
Father was very anxious for me to go to college now. Sister being
seventeen years old, father said he thought that she could keep house.
Still I felt that she could not, and that it was my duty to stay at
home, but at the same time I was praying for an opportunity to go to
school. Taking father’s advice, the next fall I went back to Elon.
The following spring, before I came home, sister ran away and married.
This made the way difficult for me to go back to college, but father
succeeded in hiring a housekeeper, and I went back the next fall.
Before I came home in the spring someone had persuaded our housekeeper
to leave us and keep house for him. Father tried in vain to get another.
“Where there is a will there is a way.” I never gave up the hope of an
education. I did my best, and left the rest with Him, Who doeth all
things well. He opened the way, led and directed, and I did the acting.
The next fall, one week before college opened, God sent one of my
cousins to keep house for us until I should finish my college course.
I continued waiting on the table in the college dining-room as long as
I was in college. This paid half of my board bill. Father lent me the
other half. During my vacation I raised chickens and turkeys enough to
buy my clothes and books. I gave the college my note for my tuition.
I graduated last spring and am now principal of the Holy Neck Graded
School. I hope to clear enough money this year to pay my college
tuition.
_Elkton, Va._
THE DIGNITY OF SERVICE
REV. MARTIN LUTHER FOX, A.B., A.M., D.D.
I was born on a Michigan farm the third in a family of ten children.
Some of the first words, the meaning of which I learned, were _Debt_,
_Mortgage_, and _Interest_. And I soon appreciated that the united
toil of the entire household was required through the season to
provide for interest and annual payments on the mortgage. We were
happy, notwithstanding the scarcity of money. The produce from the
farm furnished us with an abundance of good food and we had cheap but
comfortable clothing. With my brothers and sisters I attended the
district school and completed my course in it at fifteen. Two or three
young men of the neighborhood had gone to college and I was fully
bent on going too. It never occurred to me that poverty was a barrier
to a college course. I was large for my age. So I took a teacher’s
examination and was granted a certificate and taught a six months’ term
of country school, closing it seven days after I was sixteen. I boarded
at home and received $130 for the six months. Half of this money I
gave to my father and with the other half I entered and completed the
spring term of the high school. During the winter evenings while I was
teaching I studied Latin grammar and Jones’ “First Latin Lessons.”
Hence I was able, with some help from my brother, to join the Latin
class on entering the high school, to pass the examination at close
of the term, and thus to have a year’s Latin to my credit. I returned
to school at the opening of the fall term, but left at Thanksgiving,
when I returned home to teach the same school I had taught the previous
winter. I received this time $120 for four months. I studied my Cæsar
evenings, and on reëntering school in the spring found myself able to
join the class and to maintain a passing grade. I always was needed
on the farm as soon as school closed in June. There was a large hay
crop and a wheat harvest of 75 to 100 acres. Then followed plowing and
preparation of soil for fall seeding. But I generally found a few weeks
and a few rainy days, that I could take for making money. I canvassed
the country one summer selling a United States wall map. The price was
$2.00, within the reach of the farmer’s purse. I was quite successful
in making sales, and the commission was good. Indeed, I regarded it a
poor day in which I did not make five dollars, so that in two or three
weeks I earned about $60, my capital for the coming school year.
I entered college in the fall of 1883. I really had no money and had no
hope of any financial help from home. During the summer I had earned
enough to purchase a four years’ scholarship, the value of which was
$100, but which I secured at a reduced price. This, together with good
health and a hopefully inclined temperament, was my capital with which
to begin my college course. I secured a room in the men’s dormitory,
and to obtain necessary furniture, I had to incur a debt of $16. The
room was to cost me $12 per year. Of course, I had to have books and
that increased my debt; but I was perfectly familiar with the word, for
my whole previous life had been concerned with it. I did not worry.
But with neither wheat nor potatoes growing to pay my debt, I realized
that the situation required some attention. I noticed in a corner of
the campus about fifteen cords of four foot beech and maple wood. I
made inquiry and learned that it belonged to the college president.
Then I called upon him and applied for the position of wood sawer to
him. He asked me whether I had ever sawed wood. I replied truthfully
that I had never sawed much, but that I knew how it was done. He said
he would furnish the saw and the “horse” and that I would have to saw
only enough each day to keep him supplied. That suited me, for it
meant that I could have other contracts running at the same time. It
took practically the whole winter to complete the work, sawing usually
toward evening enough for the following day. My compensation in money
was $20. But I was also facing the question of daily bread. I couldn’t
go to a boarding club for I had no money. There was a college boarding
hall. I noticed that they kept a cow, and I conceived the idea that
that cow might help support me. I applied to the matron and arranged
that for feeding and milking the cow and running some errands (the
telephone was not yet) I was to have my board. It seemed to me then
that everything was favorable. I continued to earn my board in this
way till towards the close of my sophomore year. Then, for what reason
I do not now recall, I resigned as milkman and secured a position to
assist in the dining-room of a leading hotel. There was no specific
contract as to how much I was to do. What was right in service for my
board was left entirely to my judgment. But I recall that I aimed at
one thing--punctuality. I do not remember ever to have been late. I
remained there until I voluntarily quit near the close of my senior
year. I never had any misunderstanding with anyone while there; was
always treated well, and liked the place. The board, of course, was
good--almost too good for a college student.
A young man in college, though, must have collars and cuffs, and a
cravat occasionally and new clothes. He will have laundry bills, and
must have money for stationery and postage, if he writes home to mother
weekly. Every young man who has a mother should do so. I was such a
young man, and of necessity I was constantly alert for employment
that would bring me needed money. My suit became shabby. I pondered
what to do. I saw in the _Sunday School Times_ an announcement of Dr.
Trumbull’s new book, “Teaching and Teachers,” and sent for a copy and
agent’s terms. It sold for $1.50 and the commission was 60 cents per
copy. I started out, and by putting in spare time for a week I earned
enough to purchase the new suit. The college cistern needed cleaning.
I took the contract for $3.50. It was a large cistern and supplied the
drinking water for the dormitory students. There was about one foot of
water in it the day I cleaned it. I hired a fellow for $1.00 to hoist
the buckets and I went down into it and scrubbed it clean. We finished
about sunset. The authorities concluded to lay a new conducting pipe
from the dormitory to the cistern, a distance of about fifteen feet.
While we were cleaning they tore the old one out. Just as we finished,
the college president came along and peered down at me. “Ah,” said
he, “how nice and clean. Now pray for rain.” “No, no,” exclaimed the
registrar, who had overheard him, “don’t you see we have not laid the
new conductor pipe? Wait till that is laid before you pray.” There was
no sign of rain. We felt perfectly secure in leaving it; but that night
there came a great storm with a terrific downpour. The water collected
from the dormitory roof was discharged into that open clay ditch in
which the new conducting pipe was to be laid and thence flowed in a
dashing stream into the cistern. At sun-up there was four feet of water
and clay in the cistern. I had another contract at $5.00 that day, and
I wrote on the fly-leaf of my trigonometry that night, “God helps those
who help themselves,” and I’ve believed it ever since.
Let no one think I had no fun. The memory of my college days is
decidedly pleasant. I found time to play ball. I was a member of the
college male quartette and of the Choral Union. I always attended the
college lecture and entertainment course. I was a member of one of the
literary societies, and was frequently on the program of great public
demonstrations of college oratory. I never was conscious of any slight
because I worked. On graduation day Ex-president Rutherford B. Hayes
addressed our class. Some things he said seemed intended for me. He
spoke of the Dignity of Work. He said many people had hands and didn’t
know how to use them. It was really an appeal for manual training, a
phase of education not then in vogue, but to which advanced educators
were turning attention. But I had had it all as an extra. I had read
Latin, Greek, and German with my classmates. I had traversed the
historical centuries in their company. I had struggled with them on
conic sections and had lounged with them in logarithms. They were my
equals and superiors in all these, but I had the advantage--I had taken
Manual Training. There were some points of contact around that college
and campus that _I_ only had touched. To be sure it was of necessity,
but it was a blessing, nevertheless. I have not yet lived to see the
hour that I have regretted that I worked my way through college.
_St. Joseph, Mich._
A HAPPY MISFORTUNE
HON. BURTON L. FRENCH, A.B., PH.M.
Burton L. French of Moscow, Idaho, who is now serving his fifth term
as representative in Congress, was born on a farm near Delphi, Ind.,
August 1, 1875, of Charles A. and Mina P. (Fischer) French. In 1880
the family moved farther west and lived two and a half years near
Kearney, Nebraska, where young Burton attended four terms of three
months each, in the country schools. When he was seven years of age,
his people moved to the Northwest, living part of the time in the State
of Washington and part of the time in Idaho. At the age of fifteen, Mr.
French had completed, in the Palouse, Wash., public schools, a course
practically equivalent to our present public school course, including
the first year of high school work. From this period in his life, he
worked his way through the preparatory school and through college,
taking the degree of A.B. at the University of Idaho in 1901, and the
degree of Ph.M., at the University of Chicago in 1903.
HOW AND WHY HE WORKED HIS WAY THROUGH COLLEGE.
Mr. French says: “As one of the older children in a large family, the
responsibilities that rested upon my father and mother at the time I
was ready to take up educational work preparatory to entering college,
and as well later, to carry through a course in college, were such that
I was thrown upon my own resources.
“Two of the chief circumstances that attended my early life were:--
“1. That of being required as a boy to perform under the direction of
my father and mother, a reasonable amount of wholesome manual labor,
largely the kind that is required of the ordinary farmer’s boy.
“2. That at the age of sixteen, I was thrown upon my own resources in
the matter of continuing my educational work.
“My parents, aside from teaching me respect for manual labor and in
a large degree helping me to be proficient in the same, inspired me
with the ambition to complete a college course. I did not regard the
fact that I would need to work my way through college as in any way an
embarrassment, and I do not recall ever having had the wish that my
people could send me through college.
“Before reaching my eighteenth year, I had been able to attend the
preparatory department of the University of Idaho for six months and
had earned the money to carry me through this period by serving as
clerk in a general merchandise store and by working in hotels as a
waiter.
“Following the close of the term of school, I found work as a waiter
during the summer months, and in September following my eighteenth
birthday I began teaching in a country school. During the succeeding
eight years I completed the work in the preparatory school and a
college course in the University of Idaho, leading to the degree of
A.B., earning most of the money that I required to pay my expenses by
teaching school and at periods when there was no employment in this
field, by working upon a farm.
“My circumstances required that I take my college course by doing part
of a year’s work at a time and I was able to attend college from the
opening of the college year in the fall until the close of the college
year in the spring, only once during my college course and that was
during my junior year. During the period, too, I was away from college
two years in succession, serving during this time as principal of the
public schools at Juliaetta, Idaho.
“During the latter portion of my undergraduate years, I was able to
do a small amount of tutoring in the preparatory department of the
University, and as well, at one time earned my board by managing a
boarding club that accommodated from twenty-five to sixty students and
faculty members. In order to remain in college and complete my senior
year with my class, it was necessary for me to borrow a small amount of
money, which I was able to do, without imposing upon anyone else the
responsibility of standing as my security.
“Prior to completing my senior year in the University of Idaho, I
had been elected a Fellow in the Political Science Department of the
University of Chicago. My fellowship, supplemented by a small amount
of money which I borrowed, enabled me to do postgraduate work in that
institution, leading to the degree of Ph.M., which I received in 1903.
“It is proper to say that during my undergraduate days I was able
to do certain classes of work while engaged in teaching that helped
me materially in carrying my college work upon returning to the
University. For instance, one spring I made my herbarium, collecting,
mounting and classifying the plants required to be assembled by each
student in botany.
“Not only was this work of benefit to me, but it was of intense
interest to every boy and girl in the country surrounding my school.
Many were the children making herbariums of their own, who would assume
an air of superior importance in comparing themselves with their
fellows who did not accept the names _anemone-nemorosa_ in lieu of wind
flower, _ranunculus ranunculaceæ_ in place of buttercup, and the common
variety of the saxifrage family as _philadelphus-grandiflorus_ instead
of mock orange. This was the most clear-cut piece of work that I
probably did outside of the classroom, though in history, mathematics,
and the languages, I was able to do a large amount of work that made it
possible for me to carry with less difficulty the classroom work upon
returning to the University.
“Another thing that is quite as important as the manner in which I
earned the money to carry me through college, is the manner in which
I spent it. The high cost of living was a serious problem, and having
obtained my money in serious manner, I necessarily measured its
value with much care, and during more than half of my years in the
preparatory and undergraduate school, I found it necessary to be a
member of a bachelors’ club made up of students, who, like myself, were
working their way through college. In this way we were able to lower
the expenses of living considerably.
“In the letter from the author of ‘College Men without Money,’ Mr.
Riddle in referring to me as one who had worked his way through
college, spoke of me as among that fortunate class, and I regard
his phrase as a very happy one. Probably the brief recital of my
experiences and the way in which I earned money to complete my college
course, may mean little or nothing to anyone other than myself. To me,
however, the working my way through college is a positive asset, and as
I said in the beginning of this sketch, I regard it as one of the most
fortunate circumstances of my life.”
_Moscow, Idaho._
FINDING ONE’S PLACE
IRWIN W. GERNERT, A.B.
The problem of a college education confronts many young people. We
have many colleges, but how to obtain a college education is a vital
question to many high school graduates and others who have not the
money. Here are the colleges and the teachers, but many do not have the
funds on which to go. This is the decisive hour, as here it is that one
decides to climb the hill or remain at the foot.
My experience in working my way through college is not peculiar, but
tallies with the experience of hundreds who have undertaken the same
task. If a person is determined to get an education he will succeed,
and herein lies the keynote to the problem.
It was my fortune to attend a college situated in a small town, as such
locations are always best for the one who has to make his way. Work was
easily secured, and as my desire was to get an education by my labor, I
seized every opportunity for making a dime. Serving as janitor, making
fires in the early morning hours, raking snow and ice from the college
walks in the winter, raking leaves on the campus in the fall and
spring, serving as clerk on Saturdays and other work of this kind paid
my way. But that which gave me the inspiration for all this, and made
the task easy, was the one great purpose of preparing for the gospel
ministry.
I have finished the A.B. course in Wittenberg College, Springfield,
Ohio, and was better off financially the day of my graduation than the
day on which I entered. There is work for him who desires it. There is
always a place in life which we should fill, and the finding of that
place is an epoch in our lives, and the preparation for it is what
makes the event memorable and life-lasting.
_Louisville, Ky._
“THE TAR HEEL”
H. B. GUNTER, A.B.
The why: I wanted a college education.
The how: By sticking type, kicking the 8 x 12 Gordon jobber, feeding
the old Babcock drum cylinder, yanking the lever of the paper cutter
(which usually had a dull knife), doctoring the ramshackle old engine
in the print shop of The University Press at Chapel Hill, N. C., and
working fourteen and sixteen hours a day,--and enjoying it, too--on
rare occasions, especially when there was a ball game on the “the Hill.”
Later, when I came to be manager of the shop, the principal part of
my work, at times, was finding new and novel excuses for not getting
the work out on time. I am not sure, but I am inclined to think that
I did my full share of creative work in that field, a field in which
imagination has done and is doing wonders. I believe that I may safely
refer to Acting-President E. K. Graham, Dr. Archibald Henderson, Dr.
George Howe, Dr. L. R. Wilson, Professor N. W. Walker and other members
of the University faculty for testimonials along this line. Certainly
they will bear me out in the statement that I always had an excuse
ready; also that I usually needed one.
The smell of the print shop had been in my nostrils since I was a
mere youngster. I “learned the case” on _The Express_, at Sanford,
N. C.; graduated into the shop of Cole Printing Company, in the same
town; worked for a short time in one or two other shops, and so when
I started for Chapel Hill in the fall of 1904, fired with enthusiasm
by glowing tales of life on “the Hill,” I felt that I was fairly well
equipped to earn my living and get an education.
I might state, parenthetically, that the enthusiasm lasted almost to
University Station. It came back later with compound interest; but when
I first set foot on Chapel Hill soil I did not stand calmly and survey
the world that I had come to conquer. In fact, the conquering instinct
in my manly breast was distinctly dormant.
I was armed with fifty dollars, enough to pay the registration fees
and to give me a feeble shove. The above soon lost its force, however,
and it was up to me to dig, which I did. There may be poetry and there
may be glory in working your way through college, but I found that it
consisted mostly of digging.
I got along fairly well with my school work during my freshman year.
I earned enough money, lacking just five dollars, besides my initial
fifty, to pay my expenses, but I didn’t luxuriate noticeably. I did,
however, learn to study.
It was well that I had learned this. During the summer I received the
appointment as manager of the print shop at Chapel Hill. And then my
troubles began in earnest. I used to examine my head before going to
bed, to discover if my hair had turned white during the day.
The shop handled six or seven university publications, ranging from
the weekly students’ paper to the annual catalogue, in addition to
a goodly amount of job work. The work, all except the binding, was
done by students. Their work at best was irregular. The supply of
printer-students was always short. The university authorities gave free
tuition to the boys in the shop, but there never were enough of them on
hand to keep up with the work properly. It was owing to this fact that
I was compelled to develop the excuse-making part of my imagination.
Oh, it was a man-sized job. And I was just turned nineteen, and the
little blue devils were constantly on the job. It was probably very
fine training. But it was also rather fierce.
But never mind. The job carried with it a regular salary, ridiculously
small, but enough to furnish the necessities and a luxury now and then.
I learned to crowd much work into a given period of time. I learned the
value and limitations of running a bluff. I learned to love some of the
faculty men, who were patient with the shortcomings of the shop. Also I
got off my school work in pretty good shape.
My junior year was not so bad. I had learned that it was not a hanging
crime for a publication to come out late--although some of the editors
seemed to think so. I had a better and larger force of student
printers, and I had more time for recreation. Also my salary had been
increased so that I never had to worry about my board bill.
At the beginning of my senior year, having been elected editor of _The
Tar Heel_, the college weekly, I resigned as manager and borrowed a
little money. I did some work in the shop, enough to keep me from
forgetting that I was a horny-handed son of toil, and associated
(euphemism for loafed) with my fellows more, and played a little
football--and made marks that were not nearly so good as those I had
made in the days of my labor.
Altogether, though I wouldn’t care to go through with it again, the
work there was good for me. It was hard at times, mighty hard. But
the old shop was a God-send to me, as it has been a God-send to many
another young fellow, who owes his college training to the opportunity
offered there.
_Greensboro, N. C._
NO WORK TOO HARD
REV. JOHN S. HALFAKER, B.A.
On January 7, 1902, after a long and hard summer’s work on the farm I
determined to enter college and prepare myself educationally for the
Christian ministry. I had carefully saved the earnings from my summer’s
work, which was my first away from home. My accumulations amounted to
one Crescent bicycle, a trunk filled with the kind of clothing that
a green country lad would get when making his first purchases in the
average “Jew Store,” and one hundred and twenty dollars in cash. I
felt that with this I would be able to become established and be in
a position to earn my way. My intentions were good and my faith was
strong.
Having seen in the _Herald of Gospel Liberty_ the announcement that
any honest industrious young man who desired a college education could
attend Defiance College a whole year for one hundred and ten dollars,
I thought, here was my chance. Surely if such a young man could go to
college for the amount named above I was running no serious risk in
undertaking to go from January to June on that amount. My eagerness
increased.
Now, it was almost two hundred miles from my home to Defiance, Ohio.
This was a long journey for a lad of my makeup to take on his own
initiative and under protest of many friends. But amid showers of tears
and volumes of good advice my mind was made up, and no one was happier
than I when the time came to start.
At eight-thirty o’clock I arrived in the historic old town of Defiance,
reputed far and wide for its mud and natural scenery. I shall never
forget the old board walks. It was dark and the rain was coming
straight down. No one met me at the train for I had sent no herald to
announce my arrival. I mounted the old hack and made my way straight
to the College. At that time the institution did not belong to the
Christian denomination. Really you would have thought it didn’t belong
to anyone. Dr. John R. H. Latchaw was the President and Rev. P. W.
McReynolds was Dean. Dr. Latchaw was out of the city and when I arrived
at the college Dean McReynolds met me at the door. He received me and
welcomed me in his characteristic manner and proceeded at once to
enroll me as a student. I was soon enrolled, had my tuition paid, and
was on my way in company with the Dean to find a room. By nine o’clock
I was located and had partially unpacked my trunk. That was “all glory”
for me.
I was out for business, therefore it was my business to be out. My
plans were laid to be regular and persistent in my work, so, no sooner
were we located, than I was on my way down town to purchase an alarm
clock.
Not only did I need the College but the College needed me, as luck
would have it. The basement was full of four-foot wood (cord wood),
which must be made ready for four small heaters in various rooms of the
building. It was in the basement of the College building that I took my
physical culture each evening and on Saturdays, with a cash dividend
of twenty-five cents for each cord of wood I cut. Soon we had all the
wood cut, and I was out of a job. But my attention was called to the
fact that more wood was needed at my room, and that it was my turn to
furnish the supply. I inquired and found that if I would walk out in
the country about three miles I could have the privilege of chopping
up the dead timber for the wood. On Saturday mornings I shouldered my
ax and saw and made for the woods. Many was the day that I chopped
entirely with the ax all day, with four cords of fine wood in the rick
at night and a good supply of tired and sore muscles. We were able to
get the wood hauled in at twenty-five cents a cord. I had my supply of
wood for our room, and sold about ten cords to other students who had
more money than desire to exercise after the woodman’s fashion. I would
deliver the wood evenings at $1.50 a cord. This gave me some spending
money.
June came and I was getting along well, when one day after supper at
the club I engaged in a wrestling match which resulted in a broken
arm. All my plans were broken in a moment. My work was at an end for
the summer. After commencement I returned home and spent the summer
doing errands and chores with no financial income.
During the summer I was notified that the College would be removed
from Defiance, Ohio, to Muncie, Indiana, about fifty miles from my
home, and that the school would be known as Palmer University. I was
urged to come to Muncie early and enroll in the new institution. No
sooner did I receive the word than I mounted my bicycle and peddled my
way over to Muncie to see what arrangements I could make to earn my
way. The President arranged for me to become advertising solicitor and
business manager of the _University Bulletin_. This was a new line of
work for me, and it was with some hesitancy that I took hold of the
work. But I was in no condition for physical labor; so gave myself the
advantage of a doubt and went to work at once. I was very successful
and cleared about forty dollars, which those in charge seemed to think
was too large an income for a student and began at once to curtail the
contract. This was not at all pleasing to me.
In the meanwhile the effort to remove the College from Defiance to
Muncie had failed. The citizens of Defiance arose in arms, elected
Dean McReynolds President of the College, put up a considerable cash
guaranty and began an enthusiastic canvass for students and money. The
College at Defiance became the property of the Christian Church, and
a definite campaign for funds was instituted and carried forward by
President McReynolds. All the old students were at once communicated
with and urged to return. I was acquainted at Defiance and was only
waiting for an opportunity to return.
President McReynolds remembered the farmer lad who could handle the
saw and the ax so well. He wrote me that if I would come to Defiance
he would give the position of janitor at a salary of seven dollars per
month and that I could room in the College building and board myself.
I thought that I would be able to earn something in addition, so I sat
down and answered the letter at once, stating the train on which I
would arrive.
When I reached Defiance I thought it the most beautiful spot in all
the earth. I felt like the prodigal son when he came in sight of his
father’s house. President McReynolds met me about two blocks from the
campus and with suit-case in hand we went to the College. In less time
than it takes to write it we had gone over the work and I was employed
as janitor of the College, a position which I held for two long school
years. My arm was weak and tender, but the work was not slighted. At
the close of each month I received a check for seven dollars. The smile
that played over the President’s face was worth more than the check. He
simply wouldn’t let a fellow get discouraged or give up.
Of course, it was impossible to get along on seven dollars a month,
even if one had no room-rent to pay and boarded himself, so I was
compelled to earn something besides. I undertook the laundry agency,
which the first week netted me the snug sum of ten cents. But by the
following June my commissions amounted to from two and a half to
three and a half dollars each week. It was a good business indeed for
a student. At the same time I was college librarian and in this way
earned a part of my tuition. My work was very heavy, indeed, but I had
never failed to make the grade; so I felt that the only honorable way
out was to go straight ahead.
In the fall of 1903 I applied to the Northwestern Ohio Conference for
a license to preach, which was granted. I began by supplying wherever
opportunity afforded. I did not drop any of the work I had been doing,
but during the remaining college course I supplied the pulpits of over
forty different churches. Sometimes they more than paid my expenses,
and again I bore my own expenses. In the fall of 1904 I accepted the
pastorate of two churches in connection with my college work. All the
time I was compelled to do at least a part of the work at the College.
In January of 1905 when I engaged in special meetings with my churches
it was impossible for me to carry the work at the College. I then left
school and accepted the pastorate of the third church. In July of 1905
I married and moved to Wakarusa as pastor of the Christian Church
there. I served that church for a period of two years, after which I
resigned to complete my course at the College. I moved to Defiance and
served two churches during the school year of 1907-8, and graduated in
June of 1908. I am proud of my Alma Mater, and since my graduation I
have had the honor of being president of our Alumni Association.
In September of 1908 I was called to serve the Christian Church at
Lima, Ohio, as pastor. I continued for just four years. I then received
and accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Christian Church of
Columbus, Ohio.
These have been years of toil and sacrifice and joy. Though much of the
way seemed dark, I have been conscious of the guidance of an unseen
hand all the way.
_Columbus, Ohio._
CULTIVATING SIDE LINES
PROFESSOR DANIEL BOONE HELLER, A.B.
I was born January 19, 1888, on a small farm near Ladora, Iowa County,
Iowa. My first nine years were care free, with no responsibility except
school and play. In the spring of my tenth year my mother died, and
there being a large family it was difficult for father to keep the
children together thereafter. In the following fall I, with two younger
brothers and a sister, was placed in the care of the Iowa Children’s
Home at Des Moines, Iowa. In the following February I was “bound out”
to a big ranchman in South Dakota.
Tagged as a sack of sugar, stating my name, from whence I came, and my
destination, I was ushered aboard a Milwaukee train, only too soon to
reach my new home on the Dakota prairie. Very soon after my arrival
upon the ranch, I was informed that the purpose of my presence there
was not for ornament but for work. I also very early realized that my
portion of the work was not imaginary. During the second summer, my
assignment was to milk ten cows twice daily and to spend the rest of
the eighteen hours of the working day in the harvest field. I did
not, however, complain about the amount of work that I had to do, but
I did object to the kind of treatment that was accorded to me. Being
but eleven years of age, I did not have the judgment of a man, and I
suffered for it. I shall carry through life scars of that old raw-hide
whip,--and they did not come by chance. Believing that I was not
adapted to ranch life, I decided to take an extended leave of absence.
On the 5th of August, 1899, before daybreak, unknown to anybody, I
started on my journey. All day under a scorching sun I tramped the
dusty road westward across the prairie. Tired, penniless, and half
starved, I begged food and lodging of a family late in the evening. I
told them my story, and winning their sympathy I remained with them
several weeks.
After an absence of about two years, I returned to Iowa County, only
to find that my old home was no more. My father, older brother, and
sisters were each supporting themselves, and I must do likewise. For
seven years I made my home with an old soldier, who lived near Ladora.
I worked during each summer, and very profitably spent the short
winters at the yellow schoolhouse located in the woods. In the fall of
my eighteenth year I entered the high school at Ladora. The school was
small, not accredited, hence the advantages offered were much inferior
to those of larger schools. Believing that I could make better progress
elsewhere, I entered the Iowa Wesleyan Academy in the fall of 1907. It
was here that I first came in contact with the real struggle for an
education. I had often dreamed of college life and its opportunities.
Now my visions were beginning to be realized, but not without effort.
I entered the Iowa Wesleyan Academy with three hundred dollars and an
ambition; after graduating from the Academy, I had only an ambition. My
money was gone, and there were four years of college life yet before
me; but my ambition was only bigger. My willingness to work and my good
health were the factors which made my education possible.
Upon my arrival at Wesleyan I had a very cordial introduction to a
Hershey Hall dishpan and we very soon became intimate. In addition to
the dishwashing, I mowed lawns, tended furnaces, swept houses, and even
did family washing. I was there for an education and determined to get
it at any cost. During my first summer vacation I followed the worn
trail of the canvasser, to return with some valuable experience and
little profit. During my second summer I was given employment with a
Chautauqua system as tent hand. I am now serving my fifth consecutive
season, having been promoted to advance diplomat. The Chautauqua
affords employment for about ten weeks during the summer and an
opportunity to hear the very best talent on the American platform. The
experience in Chautauqua work has been worth as much to me as two years
or more in college. I value very highly indeed the privilege of coming
into personal contact with such men as Senator Gore, and Hon. W. J.
Bryan.
While listening to these masters of the platform, I conceived the idea
of lecturing on my own account. Realizing my lack of ability to compile
an original lecture, I secured a note-book, wrote down everything I
heard. After collecting for two summers I arranged my stories in series
under the caption of “Chips and Whittlings.” I had printed a lot of
advertising material, and posing as a humorist, I began my platform
career. Some of my friends laughed at my undertaking, while others
commended my nerve; but it was easier bread and butter than sawing
wood. I had to do one or the other, so I stuck to the platform. Without
serious neglect to my college work, I had by the end of that school
year realized a profit of three hundred dollars above expenses. After
another summer I compiled another lecture entitled “Scrap Iron.” My
people did not fall over each other to hear my lectures, yet I usually
made good and have even filled a number of return dates.
I cannot remember when or how I received the inspiration to attain a
college education. I entered with a determination to win; to win not
only a degree, but every experience possible. In many ways I have
won, but not because of my ability; only by hard and persistent work.
Three times I represented Iowa Wesleyan in debate; twenty-two times I
fought for her laurels upon the gridiron; and, last year, representing
Wesleyan in the Iowa State Oratorical Contest, I carried the purple
and white to victory. I served as president of the Hamline Literary
Society; was for three years a member of the Y. M. C. A. Cabinet, one
year as president; a member of a Gospel team; and a student member of
the Forensic League. In my sophomore year I won the debating medal.
In my senior year I was awarded the national degree in the Pi Kappa
Delta, an honorary forensic fraternity. I was charter member of the
Sigma Kappa Zeta fraternity, which, during my senior year, was granted
a charter by the national Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. My activities
were not, however, confined to college alone.
My college life at Iowa Wesleyan has truly been full of many and varied
experiences. Believing that old motto, “We are rewarded according to
our efforts,” I resolved always to do my best, and the results have
not been disappointing. While studying constitutes a big part of
college, yet I am convinced that books alone are by no means all of
an education. In college I have ever striven for the practical. I now
possess two degrees, one from the college of Liberal Arts, the other
from the college of “Hard Knocks.” I know what I have; but more than
that, I know the price that it cost. I pride myself as being one of the
fortunates who has worked his entire way through college.
_Batavia, Iowa._
A SMILING SELF-RELIANCE
REV. BISHOP EDWIN H. HUGHES, A.B., A.M., S.T.B., S.T.D., D.D., LL.D.
When I was nineteen years of age, I concluded that it was no longer
right to ask my father to continue my support while I was a college
student. It simply meant going in debt for him. I preferred, if it
were necessary, to assume the debt myself. I then began to plan to
maintain myself during the remaining five years of my collegiate and
professional courses.
I was able to do this without any particular difficulty. I do not have
the slightest reason to pose as a hero in the transaction. I made
considerable money by securing the agency for a photograph gallery in
a large city not very distant from the College. I added to my funds
likewise by getting out certain advertisements for a lecture course,
being paid a fair commission on all advertisements secured. I preached
occasionally also as a supply and received some remuneration for this
work. In addition to these three sources of income, in my senior year
I received some prize money, which was a very great help. My last two
years in the theological seminary I was able to support myself entirely
and to add very largely to my working library by taking the pastorate
of a small church. Indeed, while I was in the seminary, I managed to
pay off all the debt that I had incurred while going through college.
It is my deliberate opinion that the poor boy in America has even a
better chance for an education than the wealthy boy. This observation
grows out of the experience of my student days, and likewise out of my
experience as a college president. The poor boy is much more likely
to present over the counter those higher purchase-prices than are
absolutely necessary in the securing of an education. Given strong
purpose and good health, there is no reason why the average American
youth should not go through college.
My final word on the subject would be this: Some young fellows who
“work their way” through are a little too apt to do considerable
whining and to put themselves in the attitude of claiming sympathy. I
do not believe that this mood has a good effect on character. A smiling
self-reliance will represent a much more winning attitude.
I shall be happy if these few words shall prove in the least degree
inspiring to any of our American youth and shall add even one good
life to that procession that moves toward our higher institutions of
learning.
_San Francisco, Cal._
A MOTHER’S INFLUENCE
REV. A. B. KENDALL, D.D.