perhaps during no other period of civilized history is the excuse for a boy’s not obtaining at least a college education so unfounded and unacceptable, to those of us who have traveled this very same road, as it is to-day. about us everywhere are great schools and institutions of learning with their various departments supported by state and individual endowments, eliminating the once felt great college expense, and placing the best within the reach of us all.
this fact, however, is not apparent to everyone, and it is for this reason the writer has been induced to say just a word of encouragement to the boys on the farm and to those who have seen a very little of life.
first of all, allow him to assure you that “no one knows the possibilities of a newly born babe,” and one must remember that our greatest statesmen and thinkers at one time could scarcely read, as well as that the most famous musicians once knew not the musical scale. just so it is with the boy in the remotest district of the country. he may have the making of a lincoln or be able to rise to the position 116 of a king. therefore, we see, “everyone is the architect of his own fortune,” and the only three necessary requisites are health, strength, and a sound mind.
it has been the writer’s great pleasure to have lived in every walk of life from the boy on the farm to one in the greatest cities of both the united states and europe and it is not through hearing or fancy, but with personal authority he can speak.
there is a greater appreciation for the working college boy to-day than ever before. even the greater institutions like the university of chicago, illinois, and wisconsin, as well as all the state universities of the south, have in their enrollments not only boys who are earning their way, but boys who are leading their classes and represent the strongest types of young manhood we know. one almost comes to feel that, though the path is a bit more rugged, self-help develops in the college boy, as in the football player, a keener sense of duty; gives to him a firmer confidence, and leaves no obstacles that he by constant, honest effort cannot surmount.
oh! what the writer would have given to have known this when he was a boy! he was reared on a farm and had very few of the opportunities enjoyed by the boys in the remotest districts of the country to-day.
there must have been an inborn instinct to try for an education, because no forms of business or other like inducements ever claimed any part of his 117 mind. he remained on the farm till he was seventeen years of age, going three months to school in the summer and doing what he could with his books himself at odd times. finally his brother gave him a cotton patch. the cotton, when sold, netted him $85. with this money he went away to a boarding high school where he came in contact, for the first time, with teachers of some influence and moral strength. he remained at this school five months and had to return to the farm because of no more money.
from the farm he went to work in a general store, thinking perhaps this was a quicker and shorter way, but found this a difficult task, too, to save any money ahead because of such small wages. all this time there was an ever increasing desire to go away to school, “money or no money,” but lack of experience made him afraid. from the store he went out from town to town as a picture agent and it was here perhaps that a bit of self-confidence was first gained. all this time the one purpose and desire was to save money for college, but sales were not successful enough to warrant his going into what seemed impossible to the inexperienced mind. finally, one day he came in tired out and discouraged feeling that to be a picture man was to be of little force in the world. he clearly saw that, first of all, one must be educated. acting upon this conclusion he boarded a train for the state university of louisiana, which was to open in ten 118 days. he first set about finding out whether boys without money could earn their way by work. he told the president that all the money he had was $65, but that he had come there determined to enter school. this determined spirit made the president offer some encouragement by advising the young student to register and try. he did far more than this by saying he would give the boy the name of a newspaper editor who wanted some boy to assist in managing the circulation of his paper.
with this small spark of hope, the young student settled down to study and to try to meet the entrance examination, which he himself thought he could not pass. the necessary “mark” was made to enter the subfreshman department, however, and he was finally enrolled and became one of the boys.
he worked every afternoon in this newspaper office, seeing that the papers were delivered promptly, collected for the paper and solicited new subscriptions. thus he made his expenses for the entire year. this did a great deal to encourage him. after spending the following summer looking after the horticultural gardens, he returned the next session and carried papers as an ordinary newsboy, and passed his freshman year.
after this year a scholarship was granted him by the university, which made his expenses possible during his sophomore year. during his junior and senior years he assisted in the zo?logical laboratories at the university and taught the sciences at the city 119 high school, which more than paid his expenses to graduation.
during his summers he worked as “tick agent” for the bureau of animal industry, washington, d. c., and in this way saved sufficient money to begin a medical course, which he saw no chance of completing at the time. luck came his way, however, and he met every obstacle for two years and finally borrowed money from a friend to finish his medical course.
one finds a course in medicine somewhat more difficult to work through than a college course, but after one has gone through college these difficulties are easily met.
finally, allow him to say that all any boy needs to obtain an education is money enough to pay his railroad fare to the school he wishes to attend; after he reaches there, if he is in earnest, someone will show him a way.
the writer does not wish to disclose his name for personal reasons, but anyone interested can get his address from the author of “college men without money,” and letters written to him concerning how to work through school will be answered with pleasure.
mississippi.
