I ammaking my own way through college because there was no one at home able to send me aid or to pay my expenses.
I am making my own way because I wanted to be a college man; to graduate from college; to become more intelligent educationally along general lines; to be able to take my place in public, whether on the platform, before an audience, or in polite society at social functions, with ease and grace instead of embarrassment. I was told a college man could succeed better than a man without a trained mind. I found the educated men advancing beyond me in position and salary, even though younger, at the office where I worked. I always looked up to college men and women, as to my elders, with a certain respect and admiration for their superiority—derived as I believed from their college course. I had a desire every time a public speaker referred, in my hearing, to ancient history or to some event, poem, or historic personage, to delve into those mysteriousrealms of learning so that I might appreciate more fully the point he was trying to make clear, by an understanding of the circumstances connected with the reference which would enable me to make the application to the speaker’s topic.
I am working my way through college because I had read before coming, and I have discovered for myself since coming, that many students succeed in securing a thorough college course by their own efforts and God’s blessing.
I am working my way through college because I have nothing to lose and much to gain thereby.
I am devoting part of my time—usually half of each day—during the school days, and all day Saturdays, of the two semesters comprising the school year, to the clerical work and such other duties as I may be called upon to perform under the direction of the president and the registrar in the administration department of the College located at Adrian.
During the summer vacations, holidays, and such other spare time as is at my disposal, I canvass with such articles as hosiery, underwear, neckwear, sweaters, and books, both among the members of the student body and the citizens of the municipality in which our school is located.
I get on by keeping everlastingly at it, steadily, day by day and year by year, and by a careful expenditure of the money earned, for necessities and such worthy causes as I choose to support, avoiding most of the luxurious and expensive pastimes forthe three-fold purpose of conserving time, money and energy.
I am encouraged along the way by the assistance, the kindness, the moral and financial support of a host of much appreciated friends and customers, and by the manifold blessings of God, such as health, strength, a normally perfect body, which in His mercy He has seen fit to bestow upon me, a poor, ignorant, ambitious boy, an humble and unworthy follower of the Great Teacher.
Adrian College, Adrian, Mich.
Myearly education consisted of the three R’s learned at home with my father as teacher, and a half-dozen two-month terms in the public school. There being no high school nearer than twenty-five miles, father kept me on the farm about three years after this and then sent me to a preparatory school for two years. These two years fixed my moral and religious ideas and gave me a great faith in the possibilities and rewards of human effort. After this he sent me to a private school in the West for one year, and the following summer to the North Texas State Normal. During this year, especially, my desire to be self-sustaining had grown to be very strong, and it led me to obtain a six-year first grade certificate to teach in that State.
Scarcely had my certificate been issued when a call came to return and take charge of a private rural school. The call was accepted, and school opened immediately upon my return. During this year I made up my mind to attend Peabody College and secure a life certificate good in a number of Southern States instead of returning to Texas for a permanentcertificate. All I needed to carry out this plan was the money. Father had helped me until I was able to help myself. I was not willing longer to spend his money. There was only one thing left me to do, and that was to enter the world’s workshop.
The next two years found me very busy, on the farm, in the log woods, and teaching rural schools. These two years rewarded me with enough money to pay my expenses during the two-year normal course I had planned. My application for entrance showed I had almost enough credit for college, and my plan was immediately changed from a two-year to a four-year course.
Having only two years provided for, I felt the need of doing outside work, but with a little entrance requirement to make up I found only enough spare time to work in a grocery store on Saturdays to pay my room rent. When the next year came the duties of business manager of the student monthly magazine, which left me no time to earn anything. Success in this enterprise, however, opened up greater opportunities the following year. The faculty committee made me joint manager of the college book-store. This work paid me enough for board and room. To provide for my other expenses I joined a crew of college men who were going to Virginia to sell books for a local publishing house. Besides furnishing the necessary means this work gave me a most valuable experience, and anopportunity to travel about twenty-six hundred miles, visit a large number of cities and see ten States.
Every expense of my junior year was now provided for, but this did not satisfy me. My eyes had been opened to see another opportunity. During this year in addition to my work in the classroom, in the book-store, and in the literary society, I found time to edit both the student monthly magazine and the college annual. Besides this I would use spare moments in taking orders for class pins, graduation invitations, and in soliciting business for a clothing house and a local jewelry establishment. I also joined my room-mate in organizing and conducting the annual Thanksgiving party to Mammoth Cave. These various sources yielded me half enough for my expenses the next year, my senior year.
But before my junior year had closed came the radical announcement that Peabody College would be discontinued for reorganization and rebuilding. This left me at sea, with insufficient means for a whole year and the disadvantage of selecting a new college. I decided to finish in one of the larger universities at a greater expense. This was met by another contract with the same publishing house. This contract was for six months and netted me above all expenses over one thousand dollars. Then I entered the University of Chicago, where I could pursue my work during the winter and continue with the publishing company during the vacation, helping not only myself, but many other ambitiousyoung men secure the means for an education, and a practical experience that will serve them to advantage all their lives.
Wildersville, Tenn.
Whyam I making my way through college? Like all normal young men I am possessed with an ambitious, enterprising spirit, which continually urges me to do things and be somebody. I am led by a natural inherent desire to press forward. I feel that, sometime in the future, when the greater part of my life is behind me, I shall look back over the years that are gone, and shall measure what I am with what I might have been. At that time, whenever it may be, I feel that, if I am not able to say that I have not lived in vain, life will seem empty and meaningless to me. I want to be, in every respect, a success in life. In short, I am ambitious.
Ambition may manifest itself in one or many of several ways. In days of yore, it rushed the impetuous youth into battle field. To-day it is very apt to express itself in a desire for a higher education. Everything depends on the attitude one takes toward higher education. I feel that the great problems of the day demand the attention of the best and broadest men that the age affords, and thatno uneducated man can ever hope to realize his best. I think that any man, in order to do the most good for himself and for his fellow beings, must be able to plunge into the battle of life unhampered by lack of preparation. I realize that many walks of life are open only to those who have a college or university education.
Here, then, is why I am working my way through college: because I feel that by so doing I can broaden myself physically, mentally, and morally; that I can fit myself to cope with the questions of the day, and conquer; that it will enlarge my possibilities in life almost beyond comparison; that it will not only enable me to become a success, but, if I apply myself rightly, that it will leave me in a position to do something of value for coming generations; and that, for my having lived and done, the world may, in some way, be bettered.
Many are the means which I employ to accomplish this end. It requires not only the making of money, but the saving of money as well. It requires a systematic arrangement of time, and a constant concentration of energy to the task at hand.
During the school year I have done almost all degrees of physical labor, ranging from folding papers to shoveling coal and digging tile ditches. My motto is, “anything that is honest.” A college town always affords plenty of employment. I find that steady work of some kind is much more satisfactory than depending upon odd jobs. I wait ontables in a hotel for my board and like the plan very much.
I spend the summer months in the country, generally at farm work. I sold books one summer. Last summer I spent a month and a half at tiling, and find that it pays very well, but the work is rather severe for a student. I am able to save from $90 to $125 during the three summer months. With this much in hand I am able to meet expenses very well.
Working one’s way through college demands economy, hard work, and determination; but the end in view justifies the means. It is a real pleasure for one to feel that he is doing things himself. With the possibilities that are open to the young man to-day it seems that everyone ought to be willing to devote a few years to preparing himself to better understand and deal with the conditions under which we live.
Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa.
Inevery college town there are many openings for the young man and woman who wish to earn their way through college. There are always men who will make room in their homes or in their place of business, for that young man who is anxious enough about acquiring an education to work for it with his hands. Seldom do we find such a person making his way through school by working at the same thing each year. More frequently we find them working at the best thing that offers. It is in this way that I have made and am making my way.
Usually young ambitious persons work their way through school because it is their only means of acquiring an education. In other words, they are self-supporting. Others, however, who are not forced to do outside work in order to go to school, find it very advisable to take upon themselves a certain amount in addition to their studies.
The first thing I asked myself was: Am I able, physically and mentally, to work my way through school? Some are not physically able to do outside work and to carry their school work at the same time. Others are not mentally qualified topursue their studies in an official manner while making their expenses, in whole or in part. I have found, however, that by making a definite schedule for each day, I can give a certain amount of time to outside work, though the time allotted to each of my school subjects may possibly be more or less than the time required by others for those same studies. It may be seen that it is not for everyone to carry regular work in school and while doing so to earn his expenses. Yet if a man can he is better off to busy himself with work that is bringing him an income. In taking outside work, I feel that I can do it without detracting from the time required for the preparation of my studies.
Again, I have always been taught that for a man who has never been placed under obligations to himself in any way, it is better that he bear a little responsibility. The young men who jump out into the whirl of life’s battles are at a great disadvantage, but the young men who, while in school, have learned how to contend with impending circumstances, will be enabled to cope more successfully with the circumstances which will surely confront them after their school days have ended. I believe that every thinking person will bear me out when I say that the strongest college graduates are those who have known what it was to roll up their sleeves and to help do the ordinary commonplace things. If, by being responsible, one acquires a new experience and added strength, it is essential thatwe assume some responsibility. Therefore, I feel that I am making my education twofold in value by working my way through school.
To many there comes the opportunity of doing some work along the line of their intended profession and in such cases outside work is to be encouraged. Such is my privilege. I am studying for the ministry and have been preaching for four years in connection with my school work, earning in this way the greater part of my expenses. In that four years, I have written, in outline form, three hundred and ninety-two sermons. To some this may not represent much, but to me it represents a great deal, including extensive research along different lines and the task of putting together my thoughts in a logical form. I feel that I will be more capable of preaching my first sermon after leaving school, having had all these experiences in the pulpit and in the study.
Furthermore, practical experience brings us into close touch with people. In this manner, have I learned the different ways of the church and I have become acquainted with the various classes of people which are represented in the church. This means a great deal to any man, for there are many complex situations in connection with the church, and there are also many matters associated indirectly with the church, which demand solution.
The first means by which I made a part of my expenses was by scrubbing halls and washing windows.This I did in compensation for my board and a part of my room rent. It was new work to me; for I had never scrubbed a floor in my life. Yet it enabled me to see the world from the standpoint of the porter and I frankly confess that, after I had once gone through this experience, I had a different regard for the men and women of this occupation.
Later by selling and delivering papers, I got to see the world from the standpoint of the newsboy. This proved to be a valuable experience to me. For the first time in my life I faced the mobs of the street and transacted business with them. The many faces into which I looked made impressions upon my life, some of which have been lasting. The care free and the burdened; the hilarious and the melancholy; the custom-bound and the independent; the victims of disease and those to whom disease was unknown; in fact, people representing every condition and every class of life were among those with whom I came in contact. The good which I received from dealing with these widely different and distinct types of humanity is measured only by the resolutions that a man makes when he sees the beautiful and the unattractive, the uplifting and the debasing, the efficient and the inefficient, all within the experience of a day.
After my experience as a newsboy, I secured a place in the college dining hall to carry off and to scrape the dishes. This I did for a school year.Though I had little liking for this work, I am better off because I did it and I have more sympathy for the housewife, the daily routine of whose duties every true mother must endure. From this place I was transferred a step higher. I began to wait on tables—a good place in which to cultivate one’s temper and to learn the art of being patient. Here one deals with all kinds of temperaments. The waiter must listen to the reasons (given by the girl who came in late) why toast is better buttered before it is served, and why coffee ought to be eliminated from the menu. Of course, he comes in contact with others who do not care what they have to eat, just so they have enough of it, and so it is hot. Hence, such work is valuable experience, and the waiter who for two or three years finds these faults repulsive to him and then allows himself to drift into the same sort of thing, deserves little pity.
At the present I am holding a student pastorate in the Methodist Episcopal Church. I can reach my appointment by leaving Saturday night, being able also to get back in time for my first class Monday. A great deal of fault is found with the student preacher, and usually this criticism originates within the college halls. In some schools he is regarded as one who cannot do anything else but preach—a sort of abnormal being; in others, however, he gets the respect which is justly due him. We do not need to investigate very far to find that most denominational schools owe their very existenceto the never-tiring work of the clergy. By making my school life twofold, I am enabled to state my theories and conclusions from actual experience; for each day I receive incentives which serve to promote the line of work which I am pursuing and if I should once more go through the process of finding my place in the world, I am of the opinion that I would be drawn into the work of a student preacher.
We often hear that the college is a place where preparation for the work of life is made. Our elders tell us that the work of the college serves to broaden our horizon by changing our perspective; but the college, to the man who has never supported himself, will not mean a revelation to the world’s activities in their most true and real form. After graduating from college a man will find that he has awakened in a real world in which men are bearing responsibilities, and will realize that in every phase of life the world is calling for men who have had the most experience, who have received the strength which comes only from carrying a load.
Indianola, Iowa.
Thedemand of to-day and to-morrow will be for men who have had a college training, while the men who have little or no education will be compelled to fill the mediocre places in life. This fact was profoundly impressed upon my mind while yet in the grades of our common school. The per cent. of the men who have made good under adverse circumstances awoke in me dissatisfaction with my surroundings and circumstances. I resolved to attain some better station in life.
The fact that Abraham Lincoln, in spite of his physical appearance, financial condition, and many obstacles, any one of which would discourage the ordinary boy, attained the highest honors in the gift of our nation, was an inspiration to me. Marshall Field at one time was a poor boy, a clerk, in a country store, who, upon visiting Chicago, resolved to become a great merchant.
I perceived that the keynote of the greatness of such men as Lincoln and Field was not only in having an ideal, but that, never ceasing, never flinching, never faltering, they kept their ideal before them.These men realized there was no victory in retreat. They were men with a mission and an aim. They had faith in the standard they were striving to attain, and consequently they were truly successful.
Because of the fact that the world has an unlimited field for the man with a college education, while the uneducated man is forced to mingle with the mass in the lower walks of life, a college education became my ideal. Circumstances were such that I had to work my way through college, if I ever attained my ideal. At first the barrier seemed insurmountable, and I allowed myself to think of a college education more as a dream than something which I might actually obtain. After coming in contact with some college men, however, I found that my dream of an ideal might become a reality. Through many discouraging difficulties somehow I clung tenaciously to my ideal, broke down every barrier that arose, and came to Simpson College.
Everything was entirely different from what I had pictured. However, my ideas are not changed so much as they are strengthened and broadened. The vital question of work while in school, which at first seemed dark and gloomy, has changed its aspect entirely. In the first place the thing that impressed me most forcibly was that the boys and girls who take class honors are students who are compelled to work their way through college. It is not that any of us lack talent. We all have sufficient talent, but where we are deficient is in will-power to persistentlykeep our ideals before us and attain that ideal with the vigor of a Field or a Lincoln.
The next thing that I readily perceive is that the student who earns his way through appreciates his opportunity. He realizes that fortune smiles upon those who roll up their sleeves, put their shoulder to the wheel, and have backbone and stamina to fight the battle, and not turn aside for a little dirt or hard physical labor. The student who strikes the word “luck” from his vocabulary waits for no psychological moment, loiters not for a miracle to occur, but rather creates the miracle, makes his own opportunities.
In our college, here in the Middle West, the manner of earning one’s way varies a great deal. We are blessed with a rich country and the greater per cent. of the people are prosperous. The majority of students canvass during the summer vacation. I was formerly employed as a clerk in a hardware store before coming to college. Next summer, however, I will take up some form of canvassing. Canvassing has two distinct features that should appeal to the student; first, the opportunity to study human nature, and secondly, the fact that the harder you work the more you earn. Next school year I will have a position whereby I can earn my board and room, and with my summer earnings I shall be able to return for another year’s work.
My first reason for working my way through college was because of financial necessity. Now if Iwere to choose between the two avenues of securing a college education I would cast my lot with the boy who works his way. His conceptions of life are broader, and he is better fitted for the battles of life he will meet when he leaves college. Thus, in many ways I consider the necessity of working one’s way through college not a detriment, but a blessing in disguise, which gives one a greater knowledge and a broader conception of what a life worth while really means.
Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa.
Ithas been my misfortune, or fortune, to be reared practically in the arms of poverty. I have spent the most of my days on a little farm in southwest Arkansas, the family consisting of six children and father and mother, living in an old log house on the farm. Just at the time when we were getting to where we could make a crop without buying everything on time, we lost about all we had on account of the ill health of my mother.
I was eighteen years of age when I finished the seventh grade. I thought then that I had enough education for any ordinary man. I had finished geography in the high school, I knew United States history fairly well, and had been through fractions in arithmetic; so I thought I was prepared for life. Besides having enough education, as I supposed, mother’s health was very bad; so I decided that it was time for me to stop fooling with school and go to work.
The next school term came around and mother’s health was no better; so as I had to stay at home, I decided to attend school. Three days after school was out, mother died. “Now as mother is goneand I have finished one grade more than is necessary, I must get out and make something to replace our loss,” was about as high a thought as ever entered my mind.
Along in the summer I went to New Mexico. There were several children where I stayed, and when they started to school, the thoughts of the dear old school days came to me, and I wished that I were in school. As soon as I could get money enough, I returned home and entered school. Although I had learned enough to begin to realize my ignorance, I was still determined to make something to replace our loss. With this in view, I went to Texas, before school was out, to take a position at $30.00 per month and board. This was more than the average man received; yet it did not take me long to realize the fact that competition is too hard for any ordinary man to earn enough by honest labor to place himself in good circumstances in twelve or fifteen years. I had come to desire a nice home surrounded by the comforts of life, and when this desire dawned upon me, I decided to finish the high school.
I returned home and entered school at the beginning of the term. After some insisting on the part of my professor, I decided to go through college. I had practically two years of high school work before me, and I had no money at all; still, the more I thought about it, the more determined I was to take a college education.
By working hard and doing without many necessities, I managed to graduate from the high school at the end of two years, with first honors. As the time of my departure for college drew near, I found that my determination increased. I borrowed a little money with which to make the start. I arrived at Fayetteville, Arkansas, September 18, 1912. As the old boys have nearly all of the work about the University, it is hard for a freshman to get work. But after school had been going on a week, I secured a position which paid me $5.00 per month. I soon made a good many friends, including the commandant. With their help I have been able to get enough work to carry me through my first year. I wish to say to those who read this, that I never could have made my way this far without these friends, and a determination. I try to make all the friends I can, but I never let a friend come between me and duty.
University of Arkansas,Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Have you succeeded as yet on the way to successOr has your life been one of despair?Have you taken life in its daily process,Or chosen your path with a care?
Have you succeeded as yet on the way to successOr has your life been one of despair?Have you taken life in its daily process,Or chosen your path with a care?
Have you succeeded as yet on the way to successOr has your life been one of despair?Have you taken life in its daily process,Or chosen your path with a care?
A defeatso long as it is not on the roll of the Grim Reaper is not a defeat but a victory. You cannot win without experience, and defeat is only a blazer to the goal of success.
You can afford to take the harsh treatment from the hands of the world, because it means that later on in life you will be able to undergo the same without flinching.
Set your mark and keep your eye on it. When every chance seems gone and all the world fighting, you look towards your goal—stop and think—do not rush off into the old road of “I give up.” Life is worth more to you than a complete failure—you can succeed half way and be a howling success. Keep your eye on your mark.
Failures are recorded from the mere fact that a man quits at the first mile in the race of life. From the time you start in until the end has arrived, form a determination to succeed in some way or another.Make it a persistent effort even though failures pile high on your list.
You cannot gain the determination in a day nor a year. Every day of your life beats the time as a pendulum of a clock, and every day you must try to get that determination. In the end even though you haven’t shone as a brilliant star, you have formed an idea of what it means to be determined.
A man who has not suffered defeat is the man who will utterly fail when defeat does come. Experience is teacher of belief, and in the defeats you receive you learn to love the battle of life. The realization comes that life is a little of your own making and not at all a matter of course.
Work is an excellent developer of the mind. It winds you in and out through the different roads of humanity and you come to a point of seeing the realness of life. The unreal is left standing as a skeleton, weak and frail. From your position in which you are toiling for an education you cannot fail to choose the reality. It has a determination and all views are in accordance with yours—a persistent effort to succeed.
Shurtleff College, Alton, Ill.
I amglad to be numbered in that group of students who are working their way through college. It has fallen to my lot for many years to make my own way in the world. Early in life I decided that the best thing I could do was to obtain a good practical education as soon as I could, and then I would be better able to make a living.
I had no means with which to go to school, as my parents died when I was quite small, leaving me none of this world’s goods; but, through a friend I heard of a school near my home in Georgia, where one could go without much money. So I applied for admission, and entered The Berry School of Rome, Ga., in 1908. It is a Christian industrial school for country boys whose means are limited. I remained there four years, working at the school during the summer to pay all expenses for the following year. I finished there in 1912.
It was while I was at The Berry School that my vision of life was broadened, and I was determined that my main object would not be simply to make a living, but to be of some service in the world, especially to those who were less fortunate than I.I decided, therefore, to go through college, if possible. It was the influence of the noble founder and teachers of Berry School which gave me a desire to go to college, and it was they who helped me financially through my first year at college.
This is my second year at Davidson College, North Carolina, and I believe I can finish the four-year course without very much more outside help. The first part of last year, I put in a good deal of my spare time in working for some of the professors, but in the spring term I spent the time in collecting Kodak films to be sent off for developing, for which I received a liberal commission. I found this work to be much more profitable than the other odd jobs I had been doing. I still have this agency, and besides, my room-mate and I represent a laundry and a shoe repairing establishment of Charlotte, N. C. The three agencies take up very little more time than one, yet, our profits are more than trebled.
For the spring term I will wait on tables at one of the boarding houses, and this will pay my board for the term. I also have the monitorship of our class, and this pays well for the time it requires. I don’t say that with all this work my studies are not somewhat neglected, but with systematic work I do not believe it will interfere very seriously with my classroom work.
Last spring when I was looking out for work for the summer, my attention was called to that of canvassing. I never thought I would like this work,but knew that there was good pay in it, so I decided to try it. I liked the work much better than I expected, and it is very profitable business. I believe that the average student who works hard could make at least $100.00 per month canvassing, and meeting with different people throughout the country and studying human nature is certainly profitable educationally. I know the experience has helped me a great deal, and I would not take a considerable sum of money for the training I received while canvassing. I am going into the same work next summer.
I don’t believe that any young man should deprive himself of a college education, simply because he thinks he cannot afford it. My advice is to start right in, and some kind of work will present itself, enabling you to work your way to graduation.
Davidson College, Davidson, N. C.
To-dayif a young man or woman lacking financial means wishes to get an education, the question is not: Am I able to get it? It is: Am I willing to work for it? I have not completed my education, but I am working for it. With the hope that it may encourage someone who thinks working for an education is a colossal task, or that it may suggest a way, I shall tell how I have been working my way through college.
At fourteen I debated whether I should complete my high school course or not and ended with the belief that a commercial school would give me a more practical education than the high school and would put me on a salary basis when I was through. There were six of us children at home; as they would grow up the expense of keeping our family decently would soon exceed father’s income, for he was a wage earner. It would cost about $15.00 per month to go to the commercial school. This father could spare out of our month’s savings, but it would be a sacrifice; yet he was willing to do it. I decided to get a business education, but determined to pay the expenses myself. At Laurium, Mich., two milesfrom my home, was the Laurium Commercial School. The day after my father and I had agreed upon the course I should follow, I went to Laurium and had a talk with the principal of the school. He needed a janitor and I offered to do the sweeping, dusting, window-washing, firing and all duties incident to a janitorship in return for all expenses. He hesitated, for I was young, and small for my age. Finally he agreed, and one day after the opening of the regular fall session I was at work on my Bookkeeping.
It was hard work, especially when winter came, when I had to trudge through the deep snow, and sometimes it was dangerous, when a northwestern blizzard would come sailing over us from Lake Superior. The stoves of the school had to be fed during the months between October and April. It was necessary to carry the fuel from the basement to the third floor at convenient times and to arrive early in the morning to enliven the fires. It was hard work on the muscles, but my heart was seldom heavy, for the students were considerate and kind and they made me feel inspired rather than humiliated; in fact, I was one of them. I succeeded in covering as much work as the average student and at an average standing, and in a year and a half I had completed the combined commercial course.
Just before leaving the commercial school, I made application for a position with a commission house in our city. They took me on trial and for awhileit seemed as if they would not keep me. But I succeeded in sticking and by burning some midnight oil, and a lot of digging managed to fall in line with the work, and it was a task, for the accounting system used was a cost-finding system and made the work of the bookkeeper difficult and a matter of great responsibility. I remained in this position three years when I resigned to accept a position with a lumbering firm during one winter’s operations.
I had long come to learn that my education was inadequate and many times regretted that I left the high school. To make the best of it, I spent most of my evenings in the public library and in my room covering lost ground. As my ignorance made itself more and more manifest, I began to think out some plan by which I could get to college. The winter I worked with the lumbering firm, I was employed three evenings a week tutoring a class of men in a large coöperative department store, who wanted to make ready for promotions. This work brought me some money and experience. The money I had saved would not keep me more than a year in college, but I thought that with a little more preparation I could teach the commercial subjects in some college in return for my expenses. So I resolved to take my earnings and attend the Zanerian School of Penmanship, Columbus, Ohio, that I might be capable of teaching Penmanship as well as Stenography and Bookkeeping; but father was stricken with pneumonia and disabled for six monthsand I gave him the greater part of my savings to help him out, and retained only $150.00, which would pay all traveling expenses, tuition and room rent, but would leave nothing for board. Yet I went to Columbus, and a week had not passed before I had a place as waiter in one of the best restaurants in the city, where I worked 2-1/2 hours a day and got my three meals, and the work did not interfere with my classes. Numbers of students in the Ohio State University and other colleges of Columbus earned their board that way. I made many acquaintances through my connection with the church, Sunday school and Y. M. C. A., but my being a waiter in a restaurant did not seem to hurt my standing with them.
Before eight months had passed my money was spent and I began to seek a position. It would not have been difficult to get employment as a bookkeeper or stenographer, but I wanted to teach. I was not seeking long. Mr. Zaner, principal of the school, called me to his desk one morning and asked me if I wanted to go to North Carolina to teach. I replied that I would. After a short correspondence I had my contract with the Bingham School, Mebane, N. C. At this time it was necessary to borrow some money, which I did, and after making a little pleasure trip through the eastern states I arrived at Bingham School and began to teach Bookkeeping, Shorthand and Typewriting. That was last year. During the day I taught and during theevenings I studied history, literature, mathematics and science. The reading I had done came to good stead, and I found that I was not so far behind in my education after all. Before the year was half gone I came in touch with Elon College about fifteen miles away. Learning that the institution had a commercial department, I wrote to the president, offering my services as a commercial teacher for expenses in the college. My offer was finally accepted. When spring came I had paid all debts and saved some money. With it I went to Rochester, N. Y., and attended the Rochester Business Institute, securing a teacher’s diploma.
Last September I entered upon the work I am doing here. As a student I have twenty hours of college work per week and I am teaching bookkeeping and stenography. Altogether it amounts to about thirty-two hours of work per week. It gives me much to do, yet I am not sorry, for I have no chance to waste any time and there is not much tendency to fall into lazy habits. Besides my regular work I give one and one-half hours daily to gymnasium and spend every Monday evening in literary society work; in fact I enjoy as many privileges and opportunities as any other student has time to enjoy, and I believe that I would not be doing any better if someone else was paying my expenses. Now the way is open before me to get my college education. When the proper time comes it is my plan to enter the University of Michigan to study for a profession.At the present time my purse is empty, yet I am sure there will be a way; there always was a way when I was willing to pay the price, namely, a little hard work and a careful management of my time and means. Of course, there have been times of doubt and disappointment, when I have been among strangers, or when temporary pressure of work has made me feel that I could not hold out another minute; but those incidents have been eclipsed in the regular progress of better experiences and now I feel that I would not have the past to be other than it has been, and I face the future with a hopeful heart.
Elon College, N. C.
Aftergraduating from a high school in 1907, I was thrown upon my own resources. The possibility of entering college and paying my own way seemed only a faint hope. I had read of such things but, at the time, it seemed too great a handicap with which to burden myself. For three years I worked at the collection window of the First National Bank in my home town, and in September, 1910, quit my position and left for Minneapolis, determined to take at least a year or two at the University of Minnesota. I had four hundred dollars in my pocket, the result of three years’ savings. My first work was given to me by the secretary of the University Y. M. C. A., and for two years I took care of the Y. M. C. A. building and the university observatory on the campus. For this, I received twenty dollars a month, which helped considerably,—especially in view of the fact that I had joined a fraternity and my expenses were somewhat higher than the average. My first summer vacation was spent in a machine shop and I saved $150.00 from my summer’s wages. This and what I had earned while the University was in session paid my expensesthe first two years. By this time I had decided to finish my course at any cost. The second and third summer vacations were spent at outdoor carpenter work which proved both remunerative and healthful. In my junior year I was given the care of the furnace at the fraternity house, in which I lived, in return for my board. I was also advertising manager of theGopher, the junior annual, and solicited advertising on a commission basis. In the meantime, I was active in college activities and had been elected to an associate editorship of theMinnesota Daily, the student newspaper. In the spring of last year the students elected me to fill the position of managing editor, carrying with it a salary of twenty-five dollars a month. The amount has since been raised to thirty dollars a month for the nine months of the college year. At odd times I have done newspaper work for metropolitan newspapers. At the present time I am receiving, besides my regular salary, from five to eight dollars a week from Minneapolis newspapers for reporting university news. The University is also paying me $5 a month for drilling as captain in the cadet corps, making my total earnings from $50 to $60 per month at the present time. I am carrying full senior work in the University and, although it keeps me busy handling it all, I expect to graduate next June without any conditions or failures.
What has been accomplished is no more than any young man can do. I have been especially favoredat all times with the best of friends, who have pushed me forward at every opportunity. A willingness to work is, I have found, the best asset.
University of Minnesota,Minneapolis, Minn.
Beingfilled with the determination to force the future to surrender its best opportunities to me, and fully realizing that this determination must be the mainstay of my confidence in my own powers to accomplish whatever end I had in view, I set out for college one September day, the goal of my educational dreams. I had forty dollars in my pocket and possessed hopes of securing several jobs that would furnish me board, room, and a little spending money.
I spent most of my days around and about Dayton, Ohio, prior to this time and had never been in a larger city. Columbus, Ohio, the capitol of the State and the location of Ohio State University, appealed to me as being a place that must surely afford me an opportunity to earn my way through college.
Having arrived within her borders, I immediately hastened to the vicinity of the University and rented a room. I soon found a room-mate, the room costing us seven dollars. I had decided that if necessary I could sleep in a hay-mow and I would have done that very thing before I would have turned my steps homeward.
I next picked out a restaurant. The proprietresscame forward and gave a smile which encouraged me to present my cause to her. It was not very many minutes before I secured a promise of a job,—to be taken on probation. This was what I wanted, as I knew I could soon impress her that I meant business.
But this only guaranteed me my board. I then sought a job up town as clerk. I had had a little experience in a shoe store at home and felt rather safe in tackling such a job in Columbus. At the second store to which I applied, I was able to make a bargain to serve as clerk nine hours every Saturday for three dollars. This made me feel that my present college problem was solved.
Before the year was up I lost my shoe store position and applied at a haberdasher store. I had little experience in this line, but felt that if I should heed instruction carefully and work diligently I could hold down the position. Owing to this fact I was never disappointed by losing work due to my inability to “make good.”
During the summer, at the close of the first year, I was able to secure a position as stenographer. I obtained my stenographic knowledge the year after I left high school, working during the day and attending a business school in the evenings. I might also state here that I was able to supplement my earnings during my first year at the University by little jobs of typewriting to be had about the campus. The money that I earned during the summer had to be partially diverted into other channels, and leftme but little more to start the second year than I had the first. I was a little more familiar with surroundings, however, and knew just what avenues to take for remunerative employment. I went about it almost as I did the preceding year. I first obtained a restaurant job. Then it was not long before I heard of a stenographic position open requiring several hours of my time each evening. This was the most lucrative channel I had yet entered. It was not permanent, however, as the employer realized that for two more dollars per week he could command the services of a girl for full time each day. I then returned to the restaurant, and now claim it to be my only salvation.
If I may add a few words of advice to this experience of mine for any who are similarly determined, I would say, “Don’t give up the ship,” even though you are unable to see from whence your next dollar is coming. Make every possible avenue refuse you first. Enlist the services of your professors, make application with every employment bureau, go up one street and down the other searching for work. This I have done and have met with success. If you will do it, your college course is an assured reality. If you are a man of this caliber, your studies will not be neglected. After your graduation you will enter life, having met all its requirements for success.
Ohio State University,Columbus, Ohio.
I hadnever seriously considered going to college until, during my junior year in high school, a visiting university professor, who addressed the student body on “The Advantages of a College Education,” offered statistics to show that, while only two per cent. of the high school students of this country ever graduate from college, about seventy-five per cent. of the successful men to-day are college graduates. This came as a surprise and a revelation to me, and set me to thinking seriously about what advantages a college education really had to offer, with the result that I decided that it has many in this day and age. And so I resolved to go to college.
Then there arose the question of finances. I consulted my parents; they encouraged me in my ambition to continue my education, but told me that if I went away to school it would be on my own resources. However, I knew that there were a great many self-supporting students in the colleges of the United States. I had sufficient confidence in myself to be willing to make a trial at earning my way as others were doing.
I entered the University of Arizona in the fall of 1911. The first two or three weeks I made expenses by beating carpets, hoeing weeds, and mopping floors; then a newly made friend, the superintendent of the University dining hall, gave me a job there waiting on table. I was the only student waiter. There were, in addition, eight or nine Japs serving as waiters, with whom I managed to get along all right. From that time on I have had easy sailing. To-day, the Japs are no longer in the mess hall, but in their places are thirteen student waiters. This is indicative of the rapid growth of our college, and particularly of the number of self-supporting students who enter every year. Ninety per cent. of the men students of the University of Arizona are self-supporting; this is said to be the highest average of any college known.
There are three essentials that the young man who enters college with the intention of working his way must possess. First of all, he must have stamina. Call it what you will: “grit” or “sand” or “pluck,” it all amounts to the same thing, that he must “screw his courage to the sticking point,” and, in the face of disappointments and rebuffs, keep it screwed there.
The fellow who can best do this is the one who has the happy faculty of looking on the bright side of things. For the young man who starts out to work his way through college, an optimistic temperament and a flat pocket-book are to be preferred toa pessimistic disposition and a purse with $25 in it. The college or university man working his way should take to heart that little rhyme which says: