rev. s. f. nicks, a.b.
orange county, north carolina, was my native home, where i was reared on the farm in a home of limited means. there were eight of us children who grew to manhood and womanhood in the old home.
our advantages for an education were unusually poor, being only that of the old free school which at the time ran from two to three months in the year and ofttimes we did not get to attend all the time. that old free school was all that my brothers and sisters ever had the privilege of attending. father provided a good honest living for the home, but was not able to send his children away to school.
i was not willing to stop with only the advantage that little school afforded. at twenty-one i had fifty-four dollars, and with that i entered the siler city high school and remained there for three five-month terms. while there i did my own cooking, cut wood, made fires and swept the academy for my tuition. i then taught one session of public school at $20 per month. i then entered the caldwell institute of orange county, n. c., and was in school there two years. the first year i boarded with a 113 widow and did enough work to pay my board and received my tuition there for work that i did in securing students.
in the fall of 1899 i entered trinity college, where i remained four years, graduating in the spring of 1903. while in college the work that i did for paying expenses was mostly during vacation. by this time i had become quite a successful salesman. i traveled every vacation, selling books, pictures, etc. the goods that i handled were always of a helpful nature, and as an evidence of this fact i traveled the same territory for five different summers. every summer i made enough to pay my expenses in college the following session, and when i graduated i was in better circumstances financially than when i entered. the last summer i was promoted as general agent for books and had several sub-agents working under me.
now i have briefly outlined how i worked my way through high school and college, while there are many other ways not mentioned in which i earned small amounts, such as cutting hair, mending shoes and cleaning clothes, i desire to say that the working my way was not all; i can remember how well i managed—making a little go a long way; learning the value of a dollar and knowing when and how to spend it to the best advantage. all this is due to my keeping a book account of all my expenses. i kept an itemized account of everything, even to my postage stamps. 114
i shall never forget the kind words of encouragement from dr. w. p. few and others while i was in college. dr. few, now president of trinity college, is truly a friend to a poor boy.
in conclusion i desire to say that my working and managing my way through school has been of untold value to me in other ways. i have never had work that paid any fancy salary, but have always been able to lay aside a little every year. the giver of all has helped me to manage that little so that it continually grows and multiplies and shall ever be dedicated to the master’s use.
milton, n. c.
