“‘That sum, my son,’ he said, with a tone of regret in his voice,
‘represents what I have expended in these many years past to provide
you with a good education. How successful I have been, you know
better than anyone else. After mature reflection, I have come to the
conclusion that I have done for you in that direction all that can
reasonably be expected of any parent, and I have, therefore, called
you in to tell you that you have now reached an age when you must take
up the lines yourself. If you have failed to profit by the advantages
with which I have tried so hard to surround you, the responsibility
must be yours. I shall not upbraid you for your neglect, but rather
pity you for the indifference which you have shown to the golden
opportunities you have, through my indulgence, been enabled to enjoy.’”
“What effect did this admonition have on you? Did it awaken or arouse
you?”
“It aroused me, most assuredly. It set me to thinking as nothing before
had done. The next day, I set out with a determination to accomplish
something for myself. My father’s injunction rang in my ears. New
responsibilities rested on my shoulders, as I was, for the first time
in my life, my own master. I felt that I must get work on my own
account. After much effort, I finally obtained employment from the man
with whom I had passed so many afternoons strolling up and down the
little streams in the neighborhood, trying to fish. He was the county
clerk, and he hired me to copy what was known as the complete record of
one of the courts. I worked for months in a dingy, half-lighted room,
receiving for my pay something like ten cents per hundred words. The
tediousness and regularity of the work was a splendid drill for me, and
taught me the virtue of persistence as one of the avenues of success.
It was at this time I began to realize the deficiency in my education,
especially as I had an ambition to become a lawyer. Being deficient in
both mathematics and grammar, I was forced to study those branches
evenings. Of course, the latter was a very exacting study, after a full
day’s hard work, but I was made to realize that the time I had spent
with such lavish prodigality could not be recovered, and that I must
extract every possible good out of the golden moments then flying by
all too fast.”