rev. bishop edwin h. hughes, a.b., a.m., s.t.b., s.t.d., d.d., ll.d.
when i was nineteen years of age, i concluded that it was no longer right to ask my father to continue my support while i was a college student. it simply meant going in debt for him. i preferred, if it were necessary, to assume the debt myself. i then began to plan to maintain myself during the remaining five years of my collegiate and professional courses.
i was able to do this without any particular difficulty. i do not have the slightest reason to pose as a hero in the transaction. i made considerable money by securing the agency for a photograph gallery in a large city not very distant from the college. i added to my funds likewise by getting out certain advertisements for a lecture course, being paid a fair commission on all advertisements secured. i preached occasionally also as a supply and received some remuneration for this work. in addition to these three sources of income, in my senior year i received some prize money, which was a very great help. my last two years in the theological seminary i was able to support myself entirely and 66 to add very largely to my working library by taking the pastorate of a small church. indeed, while i was in the seminary, i managed to pay off all the debt that i had incurred while going through college.
it is my deliberate opinion that the poor boy in america has even a better chance for an education than the wealthy boy. this observation grows out of the experience of my student days, and likewise out of my experience as a college president. the poor boy is much more likely to present over the counter those higher purchase-prices than are absolutely necessary in the securing of an education. given strong purpose and good health, there is no reason why the average american youth should not go through college.
my final word on the subject would be this: some young fellows who “work their way” through are a little too apt to do considerable whining and to put themselves in the attitude of claiming sympathy. i do not believe that this mood has a good effect on character. a smiling self-reliance will represent a much more winning attitude.
i shall be happy if these few words shall prove in the least degree inspiring to any of our american youth and shall add even one good life to that procession that moves toward our higher institutions of learning.
san francisco, cal.
