Produced by Anita Hammond, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) COLLEGE MEN WITHOUT MONEY EDITED BY C. B. RIDDLE [Illustration] NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1914 BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY _Published June, 1914_ CONTENTS PART I PAGE A MOTHERâS DESIRE REALIZED--AMES 1 âMAGNA CUM LAUDEâ--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 ONEâS PLACE--GERNERT 47 âTHE TARHEELâ--GUNTER 49 NO WORK TOO HARD--HALFAKER 53 CULTIVATING SIDE LINES--HELLER 60 A SMILING SELF-RELIANCE--HUGHES 65 A MOTHERâS 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 âDIVINELY SIMPLEâ--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 âSTART RIGHTâ--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 ONEâS 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 oneâs 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: âThe 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 âwhere there is a will there is a way,â that âpoverty does not chain one to the soil.ââ 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 MOTHERâS 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 motherâs 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 âcollege men with no money,â but rather to that of âcollege men with little money.â 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 motherâs 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 âcollege man with little money,â 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: âSchool 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:â 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._ âMAGNA CUM LAUDEâ 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 âMagna cum Laudeâ 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 summerâs 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 Bachelorâs 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 âspending money.â 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, Saxtonâs 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, âHow am I to bear the expense?â 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 âsamplerâ at the Experimental Farm. The work included getting up at five oâclock every morning and going out to the barn and âsamplingâ and âweighingâ 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 oâclock 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 monthsâ 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 âCollege Store,â 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 uncleâs estate. In June I decided to buy the âCollege Store,â as it was for sale, but how was I to pay $729 when I didnât 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 âCollege Storeâ for my senior year. During the summer I went to Nova Scotia and worked in a creamery in Brookfield, doing the helperâs 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 fatherâs 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 summersâ 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 weeksâ 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 bachelorâs degree. To so shape my course during the next three years as to correct the irregularities of my âspecialâ 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. Campbellâs 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 yearsâ 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 âvacation termâ 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, âHow do these people ever supply their wants?â He replied in the characteristic English of the locality, âMister, they ainât got no wants.â 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): âIf she is determined to go to school, let her go, and let us see what she is going to do.â 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 fatherâs 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 yearsâ 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 hoursâ 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, âMother is very ill. Come home at once.â 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
{'title': 'College Men Without Money by Carl Brown Riddle', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}