paul p. omahart
being filled 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 proprietress 243 came 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 left 244 me 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.
