rev. j. f. morgan, a.b.
when i was about fifteen years of age i was converted and joined big oak christian church in moore county, north carolina. at the age of about seventeen i felt the divine call into the gospel ministry. i made known to the lord my willingness to obey the heavenly vision. but i could not see how i could prepare myself for so great a work as i did not have any money. neither was my father able to help me in a financial way. i was then working at public work and the money that i earned was being used to help support the large family to which i belonged, there being nine boys and four girls in our family.
however, i told my father of my desires and how that i desired to become a preacher some day. he told me that if i could make my own way through school he would let me go then, even though i had not reached the age of my freedom. i appreciated this kindness of my father very much. he was always good to us boys, and so was mother. but they were poor and i knew they needed my wages, at least until i was twenty-one. i knew i was no better than my other brothers, and i also 89 knew that my father was not able to treat us all so nicely as to let us quit working for him before we were twenty-one years old. hence i felt it best to work on with him until i reached that age, which i did.
on my twenty-first birthday the “boss man” paid me off and i carried the money to my father and gave it to him. i then began to work for myself and to plan to go to school. i worked at a shingle mill for two months, saving in that time about $30.00. i then left home for school. i had about fifteen dollars when i got to the first school i attended which was why not academy in randolph county, n. c., it being conducted at that time by professor g. f. garner. here i kept “bachelor’s hall,” doing my own cooking and cutting wood on saturdays to help defray my expenses.
while here i began to correspond with the president of elon college, elon college, n. c. this institution belongs to my own denomination and i decided that i wanted to study there. i had no money with which to pay my expenses, but i had some good friends who loaned me enough money to start to college on. so i entered elon college. i was timid, dull, and embarrassed, but i know god had called me to a great work and that call included a preparation. i was willing to make the sacrifice. those things with which i busied myself in the afternoons were chopping wood, cutting corn, and cleaning off the town cemetery. i kept up this 90 work for the first year. the second year my conference licensed me to preach and i was called as pastor of two churches. after this i made my way through college by doing pastoral work. it was hard on me, but i believe it was god’s way of helping me through college.
my college career was one of hard work and much toil. in fact it was a miracle that i got through at all. and i am convinced that if a man has a noble purpose prompting him to strive for an education, he can get it.
elon college, n. c.
