[18] He got up at five o’clock every morning to practice the piano, which he studied more than twice a week until he was fifteen, becoming quite a skilled player.[19] Truman worked as a page at the 1900 Democratic National Convention in Kansas City;[20] his father had many friends active in the Democratic Party who helped young Harry to gain his first political position.[21]
After graduating from Independence High School in 1901, Truman took classes at Spalding's Commercial College, a Kansas City business school. He studied bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing but stopped after a year.[22]

Working career
Truman's home in Independence, Missouri
Truman was employed briefly in the mailroom of The Kansas City Star[23] before making use of his business college experience to obtain a job as a timekeeper for construction crews on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which required him to sleep in workmen's camps along the rail lines.[24] Truman and his brother Vivian later worked as clerks at the National Bank of Commerce in Kansas City.[25]
In 1906, Truman returned to the Grandview farm, where he lived until entering the army in 1917.[26] During this period, he courted Bess Wallace. 