Ho\v to Work 
 
 Your "Way 
 ThfoughCoUege 
 
 BY 
 
 M. B. Andrews 
 
 1921 
 
How to Work Your 
 
 Way Through 
 
 College 
 
 Mf BrANDREWS, A. B., A. M. 
 
 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF GREENSBORO 
 
 Price: 75 cents, postpaid 
 
 Greensboro, North Carolina 
 192 I 
 
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 ,UV* 
 
 COPYRIGHTED, 1921 
 
 by 
 M. B. ANDREWS 
 
 m 27 1,921 
 ^CI.A622472 
 
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 THE CONTRIBUTORS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Frederick Archer, Superintendent Greensboro Schools . . 35 
 T. W. Bickett, Former Governor of North Carolina .... 36 
 
 C. E. Brewer, President of Meredith College 36 
 
 E. D. Broadhurst, Board of Education, Greensboro 37 
 
 E. C. Brooks, Superintendent Public Instruction 33 
 
 J. E. Calfee, President of Asheville Normal 38 
 
 J. S. Carr, Banker and Philanthropist, Durham 39 
 
 H. W. Chase, President of State University 34 
 
 P. P. Claxton, Former Commissioner of Education 32 
 
 J. H. Cook, North Carolina College 39 
 
 W. B. Cooper, Lieutenant-Governor 40 
 
 B. B. Dougherty, President Appalachian Training School 41 
 
 R. L. Flowers, Trinity College 42 
 
 W. A. Harper, President of Elon College 44 
 
 H. S. Hilley, Dean of Atlantic Christian College 44 
 
 M. T. Hinshaw, President of Rutherford College 44 
 
 C. H. Ireland, President of Odell Hardware Company .... 45 
 
 J. E. Latham, President of J. E. Latham Company 46 
 
 E. C. Lindeman, North Carolina College 46 
 
 W. J. Martin, President of Davidson College 50 
 
 L. S. Overman, United States Senator 51 
 
 J. C. Peery, President of Lenoir College 52 
 
 W. L. Poteat, President of Wake Forest College 53 
 
 E. D. Pusey, Superintendent Durham Schools 54 
 
 W. C. Riddick, President of State College, Raleigh 54 
 
 G. T. Rowe, Editor, "North Carolina Christian Advocate" 55 
 
 F. M. Simmons, United States Senator 56 
 
 S. B. Turrentine, President, Greensboro College 57 
 
 C. G. Vardell, President, Flora Macdonald College 57 
 
 L. A. Williams, University of North Carolina 58 
 
 J. N. Wills, Chairman, Board of E'ducation, Greensboro . . 60 
 
 0. V. Woosley, Sunday-school Field Secretary 61 
 
 J. C. Wooten, Presiding Elder, North Carolina Conference 62 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. On the Highway 6 
 
 II. The Great Decision 8 
 
 III. A Test of Courage 9 
 
 IV. The Morning After 11 
 
 V. The Arithmetic of Life 13 
 
 VI. A College Freshman 15 
 
 VII. My First Vacation 17 
 
 VIII. Fog and Sunshine 19 
 
 IX. Nature : Human and Otherwise 21 
 
 X. Root, Hog, or Die 24 
 
 XI. Ticklish Business 25 
 
 XII. My Senior Year — and After 27 
 
 XIII. Your Move Now 30 
 
 XIV. Some Concrete Suggestions 31 
 
 XV. Men of Mark — and Their Message to You 32 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 Can a young man work his way through college? Is it 
 wise for him to undertake the task? Can a young woman 
 work her way through college? Is it wise for her to under- 
 take the task? 
 
 The above are real questions that a large number of young 
 people of both sexes have faced and Avill continue to face as 
 long as poverty exists and education seems desirable. 
 
 It is with a good deal of hesitation that one offers to the 
 general public any kind of autobiographical material that 
 records experiences less momentous than those resulting from 
 participation in the European debacle or the Paris Peace 
 Conference. But agreeing with Wilson that it is perhaps 
 never wise to take counsel of one's fears, I have decided to 
 disregard my feeling of hesitancy and issue this little 
 pamphlet. 
 
 The following pages contain both a straightforward story 
 of the struggles I experienced in trying to work my way 
 through Trinity College, Durham, North Carolina, and sev- 
 eral strong letters of encouragement written by some of the 
 ablest and most worthy citizens of our state. It is with the 
 hope that this material may help some other young person 
 in circumstances similar to mine — help that young person to 
 resolve to secure a college education regardless of the cost — 
 that I send this little book forth to the world. 
 
 The Author. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 ON THE HIGHWAY 
 
 The Reverend John C. Wooten met me at the forks of the 
 roads in my life and, perhaps unconsciously to himself, 
 directed me into the right way. Here are the facts : 
 
 At the age of fourteen, I entered school the first time. 
 Several years previously, I had lost my mother. I was the 
 fourth of eight living children. 
 
 At the age of sixteen, when I met up with Mr. Wooten, 
 I knew how to read and cipher, and was ambitious for an 
 education. But the odds were against me. Our family was 
 a large one, and my father was about as poor as, it is pos- 
 sible for a man to be; and, ambitious though he was for his 
 children, he frequently stated that he did not even hope ever 
 to be able to do more for us than to give each of us a high 
 school education. 
 
 At the time I came into contact with Mr. Wooten, I was 
 going to school, clerking in my father's small grocery store, 
 preparing the firewood at home, and assisting in the prepara- 
 tion of the meals. But, personally, I had only one source of 
 income: the treasurer of the Methodist church to which I 
 belonged was paying me $1.00 a week for my services as 
 janitor. 
 
 Mr. Wooten, professor of Biblical Literature at Trinity 
 College, was to deliver a sermon-address at our church as a 
 part of our school commencement exercises. The house was 
 crowded, and I suppose the address was a most eloquent one, 
 though I do not remember a word of it. After the address, 
 the preacher stood at the front door and shook hands with 
 his hearers as they passed out. 
 
 Finally, all had gone except one boy: I was pausing 
 behind in order that I might, as janitor, switch off the lights 
 and lock the door. As I was reaching up to take hold of the 
 switch, the preacher laid his hand on my shoulder and asked : 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 7 
 
 ''Young man, what college are you attending?" 
 
 Naturally, it hurt my pride to have to answer, ' ' I am not 
 attending college; I have not finished school here yet." 
 
 "Well, when you do finish, come up to Trinity," he said, 
 and was gone. 
 
 I am unable to understand it yet, but those words, spoken 
 as they were and at the time they were, inspired me to go to 
 Trinity College some day — and years later, I went. 
 
8 How TO Work Your Wat Through College 
 
 II 
 
 THE GEEAT DECISION 
 
 Mr. Wooten caused me to decide some day to enter Trinity 
 College. But there is a vast deal of difference between decid- 
 ing to do a thing and in deciding how to do it. For at least 
 three years, the following question occupied a very prominent 
 place in my mind : 
 
 "How am I going to get the money with which to pay 
 my expenses while in Trinity College?" 
 
 I knew I was going; I knew where I was going; and I 
 knew when I was going. But I did not know how I was 
 going to get the money. 
 
 Let me be frank about this business. All of my time was 
 taken, and practically every cent I earned was turned into 
 the family treasury. Finally, one Sunday afternoon in the 
 spring of 1909, I reached a great decision. 
 
 The weather being rainy, I was in my bedroom pondering 
 over books and magazines. In some way, the idea was sug- 
 gested to me that in the following year the United States 
 government would have the census taken. The answer to 
 my difficult question came to me like a flash: I would work 
 my way through college by selling maps based on the 1910 
 census ! 
 
 Perhaps the idea was suggested to me by a large map 
 hanging on the wall of my room with North and South Caro- 
 lina on one side and the United States on the other. This 
 was based upon the census of 1900: Isn't it strange that, 
 though this map had been in my home nearly ten years, the 
 idea of selling maps had never suggested itself to me before? 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through Col.lege 
 
 III 
 
 A TEST OF COURAGE 
 
 At last, my high school struggles had ended, and I was 
 now prepared — on conditions, of course — to enter any stand- 
 ard college of North Carolina. 
 
 I had already stood with the other members of my class 
 before the camera and had had my picture taken ; I had pre- 
 pared and delivered, in the most eloquent language at my 
 command, something that I called my graduating oration, 
 entitled "Industrial Co-operation." I had even gone up to 
 Goldsboro and delivered my speech before a great mass of 
 people who had assembled to attend the county commence- 
 ment exercises. 
 
 I remember all of the thrills I experienced ; I recall the 
 pleasant words one of the judges said to me after I lost in 
 the contest ; and I remember how impossible it was for me 
 to sleep that night ; a million unfamiliar faces were before me. 
 
 Since I am trying to tell this story as it actually happened, 
 I am going to say that the expense of that trip was paid 
 with borrowed money and that the suit I wore belonged to one 
 of my brothers. I was then twenty years old, a high school 
 graduate, without a position, and with not a cent to my 
 name. 
 
 For a few days, I worked at the store. Finally, on a 
 Sunday night, I had a talk with my father. I told him that 
 I had decided to strike out for myself that summer and try 
 to earn some money with which to enter college. 
 
 My father was opposed to my plans. Of course he be- 
 lieved in education, and he told me that he wanted me to go 
 to college. But he insisted from the first that I should not 
 try to go off that fall. It was my duty, he urged, to stay 
 with him and work at least one more year. 
 
10 How TO WoKK Your Way Through ColliEGe 
 
 I appreciated his argumeiits, and I wanted to do what he 
 said; but I conld hardly help muttering the words of a Lad 
 of another story, when he said to his chiding parents: 
 
 ' ' Wist ye not that I must be about my Father 's business ? ' ' 
 
 I was desperate. Though I had always been, I think, an 
 obedient son, I frankly told my father that I had come to the 
 parting of the ways and that, in spite of his objections, I was 
 determined to go to work for myself on the following morn- 
 ing. The last words my father said that night were these : 
 
 "If you fail to open the store tomorrow morning, this 
 will be your last night under my roof. This is final— and 
 I don't want to hear another word from you." 
 
How TO Work Your Way Througpi College 11 
 
 lY 
 THE MORNING AFTER 
 
 Surprise is a mild word to use in describing the way 
 I felt when I woke up next morning. Instead of having 
 been aroused at five o'clock as usual, I had been allowed to 
 sleep until the sun was an hour high, and one of my brothers 
 had been sent to the store. Neither my father nor I has 
 until this day mentioned the conversation which passed 
 between us on the Sundaj^ night before. 
 
 So far as I remember, that is the first time my father 
 ever made to me a promise of punishment that he did not 
 keep. I have often wondered what process of thinking his 
 miud went through in reaching the conclusion he reached. 
 But I never felt quite free to ask him. This, however, I 
 know: he did not give in because of my apparent stubborn- 
 ness — he was too brave for that. 
 
 The chances are that, after he had hushed me up, his 
 mind took him back to his childhood, to the days of his own 
 great yearning for an education : he then understood, no 
 doubt, perhaps better than he ever had before, just how his 
 owm yearning had carried over into the life of his child. I 
 say this because of his nobility of character, and because I 
 know that, while we children were growing up, he laid almost 
 as much stress on the value of an education as he did on 
 anything else — the motto of his life being, I think, purity of 
 heart, industry in labor, and education. 
 
 After breakfast, I went down to the local hardware store, 
 bought me a good hammer for which I promised to pay later, 
 walked up to the package factory operated by the Mount Olive 
 Manufacturing Company, and made application for a posi- 
 tion as Irish potato barrel maker. Though I knew but little 
 about this work, I was determined to make the best of it. 
 Freciuently I mashed my fingers, but soon I was doing reason- 
 ably well. 
 
 As a matter of fact, my ability to drive nails increased 
 
12 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 so rapidly that, within two or three weeks, I was making from 
 two to three dollars a day — as much as a good carpenter 
 earned at that time. 
 
 I did another thing in that factory that I have always 
 been proud of. I helped to popularize one particular piece 
 of work on an Irish potato barrel that had always been unpop- 
 ular among barrel makers. It consisted of what we called 
 ''putting in the inside bands." Up until that time, two 
 banders were needed for every barrel form; soon, only one 
 bander was needed for each barrel form, but I am told that 
 two are again needed now. 
 
 It was not unusual for some of the machinery to get 
 broken or to get out of repair ; so I generally took along in 
 one of my overall pockets some book that I wanted to study. 
 Yes, the boys tried to tease me about it at first ; but, as I 
 paid no attention to them, they soon learned to take my 
 reading for granted, and said no more about it. 
 
 Often, while I was driving nails at a very rapid rate of 
 speed, my mind was busy formulating plans for my future 
 college career. I decided one day to write to President Few 
 and tell him about my situation and ask him if he thought 
 it possible for me to work my way through. 
 
 Doctor Few answered that he thought such a thing pos- 
 sible, informing me that he had turned my letter over to Mr. 
 W. Gr. Matton, who was at that time secretary of the Greater 
 Trinity Club. After learning from me that I knew some- 
 thing of bookkeeping, I having kept my father's books while 
 working in the store, he referred me to Mr. Robert F. Perry, 
 manager of the Perry- Wood Company, prominent grocers 
 of Durham. 
 
 After brief correspondence, Mr. Perry suggested that I 
 go to see him, which I did. Within ten or fifteen minutes, 
 he offered me a position as bookkeeper, requesting me to start 
 to work at once. 
 
 This was about the second week in August, 1910. I went 
 back home, boxed up some books and magazines, spent for 
 clothes a good deal of the money I had earned making barrels 
 and cantaloupe crates, rushed back to Durham, and went to 
 work at $42.50 a month. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 13 
 
 V 
 
 THE ARITHMETIC OF LIFE 
 
 Life is like an arithmetic ; it is full of perplexing prob- 
 lems. I thought when I decided years before to enter college 
 after finishing high school, that perhaps the greatest problem 
 in life had been solved. But that same question had to be 
 faced once more even after I reached Durham in the summer 
 of 1910. 
 
 I had gone to work as faithfully as I could with Mr. 
 Perry and the other members of his concern. It may be that 
 I had been working too faithfully, for about a week before 
 college opened, Mr. Perry begged me to give up my idea of 
 entering college that fall and sign a contract with him for 
 a year. He argued that he would pay me enough to enable 
 me to lay some money aside so that I could do my college work 
 a year later without having to trouble myself about finances. 
 
 To be perfectly frank, his proposition appealed to me. 
 For the life of me, I could not see how I was going to earn 
 enough during my spare time to pay my expenses, and I 
 could not see how I was going to have spare time enough to 
 do much real work anyway. As a matter of fact, I came 
 very near giving up during registration week. 
 
 The situation looked rather hopeless. I had been 
 forced to give up a position that promised to pay me a good 
 salary and, on the morning of the opening day, had gone up 
 to the college for the opening exercises. Several of the pas- 
 tors of the city spoke words of welcome to the new students, 
 and a long string of announcements was made by President 
 Few. The whole program lasted something less than two 
 hours. During the entire day, I could not help thinking of 
 how much I could have earned had I been working. 
 
14 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 But Mr. Perry allowed me to continue my work during 
 my spare time, for which he agreed to pay me $25.00 a month. 
 As things were then, I concluded that I could live; so I 
 decided to make the best of the situation, work as hard as I 
 could, and spend at least one year in college. Beyond that, 
 I could not see — and I did not try to. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 15 
 
 VI 
 A COLLEGE FRESHMAN 
 
 Within thirty days after I enrolled as a college fresh. 
 man, I was getting along pretty well, as it seemed to me. By 
 that time, my daily schedule had been worked out — a task 
 that only a college freshman can really appreciate. My work 
 at the store was. moving along, and Mr. Perry seemed to be 
 pleased. In short, though I felt somewhat overworked, I 
 was really doing well, and I was thoroughly happy. 
 
 It may be worth while to state my daily program. I 
 got up at seven o'clock, dressed quickly, rode a bicycle from 
 Seeman Street in North Durham, to lower Mangum in cen- 
 tral Durham, where I ate breakfast. From there I went to 
 the college, where I was scheduled to be at 8 :30 so as to 
 attend chapel exercises. My last class closed at one o'clock; 
 so I went from the college immediately back to Mangum 
 Street for lunch. 
 
 By something like two-fifteen each day, I had walked a 
 mile and a quarter, had eaten some lunch, and was at the 
 office doing my work for the afternoon. 
 
 The store closed at six o'clock. After supper I always 
 went immediately to the house, where I arrived around seven- 
 fifteen, and went to work on my lessons,. Twelve o'clock was 
 supposed to be my regular bedtime, but I went to bed more 
 often at one o'clock, or later, perhaps, than I did at twelve. 
 
 I used to wonder why the Great Teacher found it neces- 
 sary to advise that we get the beams out of our own eyes 
 before attempting to locate the motes in the eyes of others. 
 But I think I know why now. Robert Burns used to say that 
 man was made to mourn; and possibly he was, but it seems 
 to me equally as true that man was made to walk blindly 
 through this world. 
 
 Doctor Boyd called me aside one day and cautioned me 
 about overwork and underexercise, and Avarned me that, 
 
16 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 before I knew it, I might suffer a nervous breakdown. I hope 
 I did not laugh in his face, but I certainly felt that he 
 knew little of what he was talking about; I was as strong 
 as an ox, I thought, and as tough as a plantation mule. 
 
 But the break eame all too soon, and it was very nearly 
 complete. I suffered from a severe attack of nervous indi- 
 gestion. Whereas I had previously thought I could digest 
 anything up to crushed rock and horseshoe nails, I really 
 found out that I was unable to digest two grains of rice. 
 
 The old proverb says that one extreme follows another, and 
 I believe it. Though I was as happy as Shelley's skylark a 
 few days before, now I was hopelessly despondent. Had Job 
 been living in my neighborhood, I am sure that he would have 
 tried to cheer me up. I remember writing some such sen- 
 tence as this in a private notebook I was keeping : ' ' Whereas 
 my future used to seem as bright as polished diamonds, now it 
 seems as dark as an ocean of black ink at midnight when all 
 the sky is covered over with a blanket of smutty clouds." 
 I could think of just two things to do : recover my strength, 
 or go home. To go home was unthinkable and impossible; 
 for to do that was to admit failure, and it was infinitely 
 harder to admit failure than to fail. 
 
 You can imagine the rest. I wrote to a thousand patent 
 medicine houses, consulted several doctors, wrote to the State 
 Board of Health, and drank in enough self-pity to kill an 
 elephant. 
 
 One of the things that worried me was that the doctors 
 I consulted did not seem to take me very seriously. They 
 suggested that I be. rather careful with my diet, that I 
 exercise freely, and that I secure enough sleep — all of which 
 seemed to be tame treatment for a man in my condition. But 
 by following the advice given, I was soon all right again. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 17 
 
 VII 
 MY FIEST VACATION 
 
 The end of my first year in college came all too soon. I 
 had forty-five dollars when I went to Durham; and I had 
 about five dollars when I got ready to leave. Giving up my 
 position with IMr. Perry, I went home to spend the summer. 
 I was badly worn, and my health was poor. I lay around 
 home two or three weeks before recovering sufficient strength 
 and courage to go to work. 
 
 I had thought a good deal about my work for the summer 
 and had often wondered what to do. Of course I remem- 
 bered my decision more than a year before to sell maps. But 
 I knew nothing at all about selling maps, and I did not feel 
 qualified to face the public. 
 
 I do not know yet why it was that I had such a strong 
 indisposition to approach people. Perhaps it was partly due 
 to my lack of training ; and yet I had spent several years in 
 my father's store and had come into contact with hundreds, 
 if not thousands, of people. It may be that my reluctance 
 was partly due to my physical condition, which was consid- 
 erably below normal. Anyway, I almost felt that I had 
 rather be burned alive than to go before the public with any 
 kind of proposition — to say nothing of maps. 
 
 It was almost nine o'clock, and the sun was half way to 
 the center of the heavens, when one of my classmates walked 
 into my bedroom where I was sleeping and announced that 
 he had come to get me to go out and sell maps with him ! 
 Dressing rapidly and eating a bite of breakfast, I went do\ATi 
 to the store, and he and I drank a milkshake apiece. At 
 ten-thirty, we turned our faces toward the country — map 
 salesmen ! 
 
 Would you believe it? Between that hour and sunset 
 that day, he and I together took orders for twenty-three maps, 
 and our profit on each sale was one dollar. 
 
18 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 I never shall forget how our hearts throbbed as we ap- 
 proached our first customer; as we approached a brotherly- 
 farmer at the noon hour and asked that we might be taken 
 in for dinner; and as we made application just about sunset 
 for a bed in which to spend the night. 
 
 The details come back to me as clearly as if I had seen 
 them all yesterday. The man with whom I took dinner was 
 tall and skinny and the wife was short, stout, and jovial. 
 She had recently returned from some hospital where she 
 had undergone a serious operation. 
 
 Let me change the subject. It seems impossible that 
 the walk should have cured my indigestion, but who could 
 think of ailments before such a dinner? Cabbage stewed 
 with country ham and corn meal dumplings; biscuits as 
 large as a coffee cup, buttermilk, peach preserves, home- 
 made pound cake, and huckleberry pie ! 
 
 To make the story short, I cleared up approximately 
 $150.00 on maps, collected and published in book form about 
 fifty of my own rhymes under the title of "A School Boy's 
 Poems, ' ' and sold four hundred copies of the book at twenty- 
 five cents a copy. 
 
 This is the story of what I accomplished during the sum- 
 mer following ray first year in college. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 19 
 
 VIII 
 
 FOG AND SUNSHINE 
 
 Sir Oliver Lodge and others are putting forth a desper- 
 ate effort to get a vision into the other world, hoping to 
 find out — to a certain extent, at least — what the future holds 
 in store for man. But my private opinion is that the great 
 Umpire of this universe made a wise decision when he ruled 
 that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard" what the future 
 holds in store for any man. 
 
 I went back to college in the fall greatly rejuvenated in 
 strength, high in hopes, and approximately one hundred dol- 
 lars to my credit; and I went back to my same old position 
 with Mr. Perry and his partners. 
 
 Within six weeks, some of the partners in the concern 
 sold out, and one of the new stockholders took over my posi- 
 tion. I immediately moved to the college ; and to cut expenses, 
 I made plans to do my own cooking and board myself. 
 
 My kitchen outfit consisted of a $1.25 oil burner, a drink- 
 ing glass, a bowl for cereals, a milk pitcher, salt, pepper, and 
 sugar retainers, and two spoons. I bought me some toasted 
 corn flakes, a twenty-two pound box of soda crackers, five 
 pounds of sugar, half dozen cans of condensed milk, some oat- 
 meal, and several cans of salmon ; with these supplies I began 
 boarding myself. 
 
 It was not long before the larger portion of my money 
 was spent and my health was gone again; and, therefore, I 
 felt like a lonesome fool. 
 
 But the clouds soon began to clear away. I secured a 
 a position in the office of the college as recorder of grades 
 at twenty cents an hour; and I resolved to begin patroniz- 
 ing a respectable boarding house, whether I might ever be 
 
20 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 able to secure an education and free myself of debt or not ! 
 And that was a wise move ; for from that day forth I began 
 to grow stronger physically and mentally — and began to go 
 deeper and deeper into debt. 
 
 At Christmas I gave up my work in the office, and became 
 an assistant to Mr. Breedlove as a clerk in the library. The 
 spring of 1912 found me finishing the work of the sophomore 
 class, with practically all of my conditions worked off, with 
 fair health, and with $250.00 worth of debts to my credit. 
 
 The summer was before me. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 21 
 
 IX 
 NATURE: HUMAN AND OTHERWISE 
 
 If there is any one idea in life that I have clung to with 
 a stronger grip than to any other, it is that, with the right 
 sort of man, the will is and ought to be the controlling force 
 in life. I cannot remember when I did not believe in that 
 principle ; and yet, circumstances wield a greater influence in 
 the formation of character and in determining the work that 
 one does than perhaps even the clearest thinkers realize. 
 
 The experience I had during my first vacation convinced 
 me that I did not want to try to sell maps again; I had no 
 desire to go on the road in an effort to sell anything. What 
 could I do? I wanted to return to college in the fall — I 
 was determined to return. Still I was $250.00 in debt, was 
 without a position, and had no other field of opportunity 
 open to me. I simply had to sell maps — and I did it. 
 
 In a great many respects, my work was decidedly pleas- 
 ant and successful. Locating in Smithfield, I immediately 
 formed the acquaintance of some of the splendid people there. 
 Hundreds of people bought maps from me. Indeed, my 
 efforts as a salesman were so successful that I induced one of 
 my brothers to work with me, and I cleared up approximately 
 $100.00 on the orders that he took alone. 
 
 Perhaps I should tell two or three of my experiences 
 during that summer. One Saturday morning about nine 
 o'clock, I walked into the office of the superintendent of one of 
 the local cotton mills. Within five minutes I had taken his 
 order for a map. Feeling encouraged, I asked him for permis- 
 sion to go into the spinning room and present my proposition 
 to each of the workers, and he very kindly gave his consent. 
 By about twelve o 'clock my orders had run up to thirteen ; my 
 commission now being $1.28 on each sale, you can easily 
 see how well I succeeded. 
 
22 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 That afternoon, after dinner, I put on my best clothes 
 and loafed around the old town pump. While standing there 
 observing the Saturday afternoon throng, I saw a man and 
 woman approaching me, and I heard her say : 
 
 ' ' There he is now. ' ' Picture it — think of it ! The woman 
 stepped up to me and said : 
 
 "I want one of those maps, too. You took an order from 
 every one of the men in the factory, but you failed to say a 
 word to a single one of us women. I am a widow and have 
 a little boy in school; and I am just as anxious for my boy 
 to have a map as any man is for his boy to have one." 
 
 Would you believe it? I took her order for one. 
 
 Let me tell another experience. I had walked several 
 miles out into the country, taking orders as I went along. 
 About 9 :30 one morning, I met up with a big force of men 
 who were repairing the public road. Calling the overseer 
 aside, I took his order almost immediately ; I then asked that 
 he allow me to present my proposition to the men working 
 with him. He asked them to lay their tools down, told them 
 to draw up close to me, and listen to what I had to say. 
 
 Acting, I imagine, somewhat like an evangelist conduct- 
 ing a meeting, I painted the picture of my map in glowing 
 colors, and then asked each man who wanted one to hold up 
 liis hand. Just at the right moment, the overseer came to my 
 .assistance in these words : 
 
 "Boys, what he says sounds like the truth to me; I have 
 decided to take one, and I believe each of you will be glad 
 to have one in your home." 
 
 When night came I counted up and found that I had taken 
 twenty-six orders that day. 
 
 Perhaps I ought to tell one experience of a different nature. 
 
 Like "B'r. Rabbit" in the "Uncle Remus" stories, I 
 stopped for the night where night happened to take me. 
 
 A rather old farmhouse was sitting back from the road 
 in a big oak grove. Soon after supper the two small boys 
 were sent to bed, and the grown young woman in the home — 
 an orphan, who had been adopted years before — received 
 company. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 23 
 
 Being tired and uninterested, I went to my room, which 
 was right next to the front porch. Well, I had heard of 
 "billing and cooing" for a long time, but I had never heard 
 the like before. 
 
 The moon was shining in all of its beauty; the beetles 
 were singing in the tops of the trees; and the young man 
 and the young woman, behind the trailing vines on the front 
 porch, were making noises familiar no doubt to all of the 
 young people of the race. 
 
 After a while, I went to bed, but not to sleep ; I will let 
 you guess why. It was no use; I couldn't sleep. The only 
 thing that I could do was to listen to the beetles and to the 
 couple on the porch. It was a dreary night, one of the 
 longest and most uncomfortable I have ever spent. The 
 sun was up next morning before I finally, lying on the floor, 
 dropped off to sleep for about a half hour. What became of 
 the couple, I do not know ; but I iwould bet a map they 
 married ! 
 
 At the opening of college in the fall, I had paid my debts, 
 and was about $150.00 ahead. 
 
24 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 X 
 
 ^'EOOT, HOG, OR DIE" 
 
 Perhaps I should explain that the work I did in the library 
 during one-half of my sophomore year, all of my junior year, 
 and all of my senior year, did not pay me a cent in actual 
 cash. I worked ten hours a week, at twenty cents an hour ; 
 and the amount earned was credited on my expenses with 
 the college. As I lived comfortably, it is easy to understand 
 that I went rather deeply into debt. Though I do not think 
 that I was extravagant in a single thing, I owed approxi- 
 mately $350.00 at the end of my junior year. 
 
 The members of the college faculty with whom I became 
 intimately acquainted were very friendly to me. They helped 
 me in more ways than I can mention. I never shall forget 
 a letter President Few wrote me during my freshman year 
 in which he spoke of my struggles in some such language as 
 this: "I fully sympathize with you in the praiseworthy 
 efforts you are putting forth to finance your own way through 
 college." Also, the folks at home co-operated with me heart- 
 ily. They boosted me in their letters, signed several notes 
 with me, and did everything else they could to help me along. 
 Yet, with it all, the conviction grew stronger and stronger 
 upon me that the unknown writer was right when he said: 
 
 "Root, hog, or die." 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 25 
 
 XI 
 
 TICKLISH BUSINESS 
 
 By the end of my junior year, my destiny was fixed ; it 
 was almost impossible even to think of doing anything else 
 but to sell maps. 
 
 I spent the summer in Person County, making Roxboro 
 my headquarters. On the whole, my efforts were rather suc- 
 cessful ; but I became painfully despondent at times. It 
 was somewhat more difficult to make deliveries in Person 
 County than it had been in the other counties where I had 
 worked. Then, too, I was rather heavily in debt. 
 
 When I reached Roxboro, I had less than $3.00 to my 
 name, and I did not know a soul there. In some way, my 
 courage nearly failed me in the very outset. I even spent three 
 or four days in my room at the boarding house writing mel- 
 ancholy verses before I went out and tried to take an order, 
 I dreaded to start — dreaded it with a dread far more intense 
 than the chap feels who, having prepared himself to go swim- 
 ming in the early spring, has dipped his toes into the water 
 and found it painfully cold. 
 
 When I received the card from the express office notify- 
 ing me that my first shipment of maps had arrived, collect 
 on delivery, for $70.00 and express charges, I had, as I 
 remember it, nineteen cents in my pocket — and not another 
 cent anywhere else in the world. What did I do? What 
 would you have done? I had taken a good many orders and 
 had notified my customers as to my proposed deliveries, but 
 I could not make the deliveries without the maps. How to 
 get them — that was the question. 
 
 I simply wrote a check on one of the banks at home, asked 
 a young business man, who was boarding where I was, to 
 cash it for me, took my maps from the express office, delivered 
 them, deposited the money in a Roxboro bank, and sent home 
 
26 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 a check for deposit covering the amount of my bogus check. 
 That was rather ticklish business, but it worked. 
 
 Toward the end of the summer, I could see that my net 
 profits were going to amount to a little more than $200.00 and 
 that, therefore, I was going to have to return to college with 
 at least $150.00 worth of debts still unpaid. Perhaps it was 
 unworthy of me, but some strange and unpleasant thoughts 
 passed and repassed through my mind. 
 
 I never shall forget one experience. I had worked as 
 hard as I could trying to make deliveries. But several of my 
 customers had turned me down, and some few I could not 
 find. Late in the afternoon, a heavy rain and thunderstorm 
 came up rather quickly. Driving my horse at pretty high 
 speed, I dashed into a neighbourly looking yard, and backed 
 the buggy under a shelter; the horse was in the rain. 
 
 The wind blew with great fierceness, twisting the fruit 
 trees in the orchard before me until many of the branches 
 were broken off; the rain poured down in drops as large as 
 small marbles; and the lightning and thunder flashed and 
 roared with an intensity I have never seen or heard equalled. 
 Of course it was unworthy of me, but during that storm, 1 
 almost secretly wished that a flash of lightning might end 
 it all. 
 
How TO AVoRK Your Way Through College 27 
 
 XII 
 MY SENIOR YEAR — AND AFTER 
 
 When I returned to college in the fall following the vaca- 
 tion after my junior year, I was almost in sight of the goal 
 I had set for myself years before. 
 
 Though I had entered college in the fall of 1910 poorly 
 prepared in all subjects and conditioned on modern languages 
 and Latin, I was ambitious to graduate with honors; to win 
 the orator's medal from the Columbia Literary Society, and 
 to be elected president of the society. 
 
 I cannot recall who inspired me to the ambition to gradu- 
 ate with honors, but I do remember the man of my class who 
 caused me to set my heart upon winning the orator's medal. 
 He met me in my room one afternoon during the latter part 
 of my junior year and requested me to enter the race. I told 
 him that I had already given considerable thought to the 
 matter, but that I had about decided not to undertake it, 
 being rather certain that I could not possibly win. 
 
 "Davis, I can't win the blooming thing, and it is useless 
 to try." 
 
 "What's the reason you can't?" he urged. 
 
 "You know why, Davis; my middle name is failure. I 
 wanted the freshman debater's medal, but you got that. 1 
 studied for six weeks and then sat up all night and worked 
 for the set of Shakespeare offered to the best sophomore 
 debater, and you know who got that. 'Tubby' Boyd flunked 
 me on my fall history ; I lost out week before last in the 
 inter-society debate preliminary; Shelton made first place 
 over me in the 'International Peace' contest; and I have 
 been told that two dozen of the boys are going to try for the 
 orator's medal; so, what's the use?" 
 
 "Andrews, you make me sick. Let them try; but you 
 can win if you will do it. What difference does it make if 
 
28 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 you did lose in those other contests? The experience you 
 gained is what counts. 
 
 "I will admit that the scout who won the set of Shakes- 
 pere might possibly beat you if he'd try — I agree with you 
 that he is the strongest speaker in our class. But he won't 
 do it — he's too blamed lazy." 
 
 "Well," I agreed, after two hours of that kind of talk 
 from Davis, "I'll do my best." 
 
 When college opened in the fall, there were, I think, fifteen 
 of us in the race for the medal; but I feared only one of 
 my opponents. As for him, I knew he could win if he would, 
 but I thought he might not try hard enough. During the 
 first sis months, he spoke practically every time I did, and he 
 made a better impression each time than I did. But before 
 much longer, he began to appear more seldom, and several 
 of the other boys finally dropped out of the race. 
 
 During the course of the year, my ambition to be elected 
 president of the society was realized. Being in office when 
 the year closed, it fell to my lot to instruct the treasurer 
 to pay for the gold orator's medal that had been awarded to 
 me by a vote of thirteen out of fifteen of the judges ! 
 
 I acted as literary editor of the college magazine, "The 
 Archive," during my senior year; and on commencement 
 day, to my great satisfaction, my name was printed on the 
 program along with the others who had been allowed to grad- 
 uate with honors. 
 
 The following morning I took an inventory of my pos- 
 sessions : 
 
 College diploma, a Bible, a gold medal, poor health, no 
 position, and a debt of $750.00. 
 
 No matter how I should have felt, I felt somewhat relieved, 
 rather tired and baffled, humble in spirit, and in doubt as to 
 my future career. 
 
 Not many days thereafter, I secured a position as a school 
 teacher at a salary of $92.50 a month, and I have been teach- 
 ing ever since. 
 
How TO Work Your AVay Through College 29 
 
 Today, my health is good ; my salary is reasonable ; I am 
 proud of my position ; I am told that I have a good reputa- 
 tion as a school man; and I have a family of my own — a 
 faithful wife and two of the most delightful boys anyone 
 ever saw! 
 
 Has it been worth while? Yes, and a thousand times 
 over. If I could retrace my steps, I would do as I did — only, 
 I would be more careful as to my health. 
 
30 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 XIII 
 YOUR MOVE, NOW 
 
 You will have to decide for yourself whether or not to 
 try to work your way through college. Here are some of the 
 factors involved: 
 
 1. Desire. — To succeed, you will have to want a college 
 education more than you want anything else in the world. 
 
 2. Willingness. — You will have to be willing to pay the 
 full price, no matter how much it may cost. 
 
 3. Initiative. — You will have to possess initiative ; that 
 is, after deciding to go, you will have to go^ — to decide is 
 not enough. 
 
 4. Perseverance. — If you start, you will have to have 
 the courage, the energy, and the patience to keep going, 
 regardless of difficulties. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 31 
 
 XIV 
 SOME CONCRETE SUGGESTIONS 
 
 I myself have known men to pay their way through col- 
 lege in nearly all of the following ways : 
 
 Borrow the money and pay it back after graduation ; run 
 a college pressing club ; act as an agent for a laundry ; wait on 
 a table ; work in some office ; work in the library ; run a con- 
 fectionary stand ; act as postmaster ; work in some of the retail 
 stores down town ; act as musician in a moving picture show ; 
 clerk in a hotel; take subscriptions for magazines and other 
 publications; write for newspapers; sell maps, Bibles, and 
 other books during the vacations; do stenographic work and 
 typewriting; coach preparatory students; and act as business 
 manager for one or more of the college publications. 
 
 If you really mean business, select the method of your 
 choice; work out your plans with earnestness; go at it; and 
 do not stop until you finish. 
 
 Instead of being a disgrace, it is an honor to a man to 
 work his way through college. Men who have done this are in 
 practically every walk of life in this country to-day. 
 
 Dr. P. P. Claxton, Commissioner of Education of the 
 United States, is one of this number; and there are thou- 
 sands of others less prominent who have done as he has. 
 
 "Let's go." 
 
32 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 Men of Mark and their Message to You 
 
 Just a word. 
 
 The messages in the following pages are so true, so clear, 
 and so helpful that, to me, it seems impossible for any sane 
 young person to read them without being inspired and encour- 
 aged. 
 
 The writers have digged down into their hearts and lives 
 in an effort to give to you the benefit of their experiences, and 
 each one has done this "without money and without price." 
 
 So let me take this occasion to thank the men whose mes- 
 sages you now have the privilege of reading for co-operating 
 with me so heartily in this enterprise ; and let me, also, thank 
 the others who have been so kind as to encourage me to pre- 
 pare and publish this little book. 
 
 M. B. Andrews. 
 
 May 21, 1921. 
 
 DE. P. P. CLAXTON 
 
 Dr. P. P. Claxton, former National Commissioner of Edu- 
 cation, expresses his sentiments thus : 
 
 "I am glad to know that you are getting together mate- 
 rial to encourage boys and girls in school to go to college, 
 although they may not have immediately in hand the means 
 to pay their way through college. 
 
 "I did not work my way through college, although I 
 started with only $37.50 and had an indebtedness of only 
 $500.00 when I was through. The only money I actually 
 made in college was by ringing the bell during half the time 
 in my senior year, for which I was paid $10.00 for five months. 
 
 ''I am, however, definitely of the opinion that any ener- 
 getic boy or girl who is willing to take advantage of oppor- 
 tunities that offer can easily make his or her way through col- 
 lege by working while at college or during the vacations, or 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 33 
 
 by borrowing whatever money may be necessary and paying 
 it back after getting through college. Almost any person 
 who is willing to work can get help in this last way." 
 Washington City, 
 March 28, 1921. 
 
 DE. E. C. BROOKS 
 
 Dr. E. C. Brooks, State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
 tion, Raleigh, says: 
 
 "All young people should realize this fact, that everj- 
 man is self-made ; that is, every one must use such opportuni- 
 ties as are available in developing his own intellectual, moral, 
 and material power. This is work. One may grow strong 
 and very useful by acquiring knowledge through books and 
 using this properly; others, by learning from contact with 
 people and working strenuously with people. But in the last 
 analysis, all power is the result of hard work. Students in 
 college, therefore, who are compelled to support themselves 
 wholly or in part while taking advantage of the opportuni- 
 ties of a college education may be developing as much capacity 
 as those who are more fortunate in being able to defray their 
 daily expenses without having to perform work of this kind. 
 In fact, it is frequently the case that the former will secure 
 the advantage over the latter because of the better habits 
 formed. 
 
 "No student, therefore, should be ashamed of the amount 
 of work necessary to defray his expenses, for this gives only 
 another opportunity to increase one's capacity in a little 
 different way. We have only to study the biography of the 
 number of men who supported themselves while in college 
 and who have succeeded so greatly since leaving college. The 
 secret of this success is found in the aim of the student and 
 the habits of work formed while seeking to attain that aim. 
 If we keep in mind that every man is self-made, we shall have 
 greater respect for the legitimate means used by each indi- 
 vidual in the making of himself." 
 Raleigh, North Carolina, 
 
 May 17, 1921. 
 
34 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 DE. H. W. CHASE 
 
 Dr. H. W. Chase, President of the University of North 
 Carolina, says in part: 
 
 "In reply to your letter of March fifteenth, it seems to 
 me that your plan of issuing a booklet outlining some of 
 the ways by which a man may work his way through college 
 is an excellent one, and I am in hearty sympathy with its 
 purpose. 
 
 "I doubt whether young men as a rule realize the many 
 possibilities which are open in most of our institutions for 
 students who want to work their way. There is to my mind 
 no reason why a young man in good health and with a good 
 amount of determination and foresight cannot go through 
 college on his own resources. I have known so many cases 
 in which men have done this, and have come through at the 
 end not only with a good education, but with the discipline 
 resulting from application and industry, and with the hearty 
 respect and admiration of their fellows, that I have come to 
 think of working one's way through college not so much as a 
 last resort as really a very valuable educational experience. 
 
 ' ' To any young man who really wants a college education 
 and feels that he has within him the ability to 'stick to his 
 guns' in spite of discouragements, I would say, 'Go ahead, 
 by all means. You will come out of college at the end with 
 an experience that will be of value to you all of your life. 
 Do not be afraid that you will be under any handicap in your 
 relations with your fellows. So far from discriminating 
 against you because you are working your way, they will 
 honor you for the fine purpose that you are showing.' 
 
 "I am sending you herewith a statement of some of the 
 methods by which men earn their way at the University, and 
 also a typical statement of a student's career who has worked 
 his way through college." 
 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 
 
 March 17, 1921. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 35 
 PROFESSOR FREDERICK ARCHER 
 
 Professor Frederick Archer, Superintendent of the Pub- 
 lic Schools, Greensboro, writes: 
 
 "I have just finished reading the manuscript of 'How to 
 Work Your Way Through College, ' and want to congratulate 
 you on the straightforwardness of the narrative as well as the 
 achievement recorded therein. I sincerely trust that this will 
 be printed in pamphlet form, and will have the wide distri- 
 bution throughout the state that, because of purpose and con- 
 tent, it deserves. It seems to me that a young man has few 
 achievements that he can take a greater pride in than that 
 of working his way through college, and I am confident that 
 no boy, whatever his circumstances may be, can have a wor- 
 thier ambition. 
 
 "I believe that the citizenship of North Carolina most 
 heartily approves of higher education ; I believe that the aver- 
 age parent whom one meets is determined that his boy or 
 girl shall have every help possible and necessary to the secur- 
 ing of a college education. But I believe also that it is 
 worth while for us to make the attempt to instill into the 
 minds of boys and girls of school age that this same North 
 Carolina public regards most highly the college student who 
 modestly but fearlessly confesses to the determination that he 
 is working his way, and this same public has scant regard 
 for the boy or girl who is attending a college, and is not only 
 wasting his own time and the money of his parents, but is 
 taking the place of a more worthy student who yearns for 
 his opportunity. 
 
 "A college education is, in my mind, no warrant that 
 one's life after college will be successful; but I have yet to 
 see any college graduate who worked his way through, who 
 is anything other than a most successful citizen, and at the 
 same time a most useful one. 
 
 "I sincerely trust that this pamphlet of yours will play 
 a great part in inducing a larger number of our boys and 
 girls rightly to resolve that 'principalities nor powers nor 
 
36 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 things present nor things to come' shall interfere with the 
 attainment of this worthy ambition. ' ' 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 April 4, 1921. 
 
 HONORABLE T. W. BICKETT 
 
 The Honorable T. W. Bickett, former Governor of North 
 Carolina, sends this message: 
 
 "One message I would send to the youth of the state is 
 that reliability is the greatest single asset any man can have. 
 It should be the ambition of every young man to have the 
 people who know him best say of him : 
 
 " 'He is thoroughly reliable. If he says a thing, you 
 can bank on its accuracy; if he promises anything, you can 
 count on its performance.' 
 
 "Such a reputation wUl always pay dividends, not only 
 in earning power, but also in that peace of mind that is bot- 
 tomed on self-respect." 
 Raleigh, North Carolina, 
 
 April 26, 1921. 
 
 DR. CHARLES E. BREWER 
 
 Dr. Charles E. Brewer, President of Meredith College, 
 Raleigh, sent a cheering message : 
 
 "In reply to yours of the 26th, let me commend you for 
 the interest that you show in the matter of making suggestions 
 to students about providing the means for their education. 
 
 ' ' I did not work my way through college because my par- 
 ents lived in a college town. I did work my way through high 
 school, however, running errands for the principal, cutting 
 his wood and carrying it in, and working the garden. 
 
 "At Meredith College we have opportunities for paying 
 part of the expenses by helping in the dining room. For 
 example, as much as $90.00 a year may be saved in the cost 
 of board. There are a number of positions also open to the 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 37 
 
 students to render assistance in several other ways in the 
 institution, thus enabling them to meet other portions of their 
 expenses here. 
 
 "One of the most valuable ways in which we can be of 
 assistance is to provide a small loan in cash that enables 
 students to tide over the hard places. 
 
 "I am greatly interested in the proposition that you are 
 making and shall be glad to know of the results." 
 Raleigh, North Carolina, 
 
 March 30, 1921. 
 
 ATTORNEY E. D. BROADHURST 
 
 Attorney E. D. Broadhurst, of the Board of Education, 
 Greensboro, sends this message : 
 "To the boy who really wants a college education: 
 
 "You can — there is little sense in saying you cannot 'go 
 off' to college — if you really want to go. In truth, your 
 father and mother will have done more than the average part 
 when they tell you frankly that they can get along with 
 the family expense account without your effort to help. It 
 does not take money in pocket for a real boy to get a college 
 education; but it does take — 
 
 "First, self-sacrificing parents who are not too 'sot' in 
 their ways to dream dreams along with their real boy — par- 
 ents able in spirit to look their real boy in the eye and say: 
 'Go ahead, my boy, and fight your way out and over your 
 present financial handicaps. We will get on without your 
 help till you get a college education. Go to college, work, 
 and remember: work and character are bound to win — the 
 combination is scarce. We're betting on you! We're pray- 
 ing for you.' 
 
 "Second, it takes a real boy with nerve, zeal, ambition, 
 to rise in spite of present handicaps and in spite of any 
 future handicaps that maj^ dare cross the path of his ambi- 
 tion. 
 
38 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 "Third, it takes a real boy, ready, willing, and anxious 
 to work — work at anything — just so it be honest work. That 
 kind of fellow will recognize a job as waiter in the dining 
 room or dishwasher in the college kitchen, wood cutter on 
 the college ground, fireman in the furnace room, printer in 
 the college printing shop, errand boy about the college, clerk 
 in the village store, or watchman about the college, as a real 
 opportunity at a real crisis in a real boy's life, and he will 
 grab it, 'hook, sinker, line, and all!' In after life, he will 
 glory in his self-sacrificing parents and wonder at his own 
 nerve and resourcefulness at that early period of his life. 
 
 ' ' Generally speaking, the self-sacrificing parents are ready 
 to sacrifice ; the college is ready to receive, encourage, counsel, 
 the boy — I mean the real boy; the ordinary 'ne'er-do-well' 
 boy would do well to stay home — I do not know that a college 
 is the place for him. The atmosphere about a college will 
 generally sprout a fool about as quickly as it will sprout a 
 man, so be careful ; do not go unless you are a real boy. 
 
 "Are you the boy — the real, nervy boy? If so, get up, 
 get out, and go to it — ^the opportunity is waiting just a moment. 
 Soon you will be too old ; the boyish ambition you now have 
 will, in a while, settle, and some other real boy will put on 
 the college waiter's apron that was waiting for you and work 
 out a college education to serve him and his state in a gen- 
 eration made poorer by your lack of a college education." 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 
 April 16, 1921. 
 
 DR. JOHN E. CALFEE 
 
 Dr. John E. Calfee, President of the Asheville Normal 
 and Associated Schools, writes: 
 
 "Yes, I worked my way through college, and am glad 
 that I did. In addition to working three hours a day and 
 going to school, I managed to squeeze in two inter-society 
 and two inter-collegiate debates; served as president of my 
 society one term ; served as assistant editor of the college 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 39 
 
 paper for one year and edited it another. Any boy with 
 sound body, mental capacity, and ambition, can work his 
 way through college. The boy who does not comes mighty 
 near being a fool. The education that one works for tastes 
 better than any other kind. With scarcely an exception, it 
 means success in later life." 
 Asheville, North Carolina, 
 March 21, 1921. 
 
 GENERAL JULIAN S. CARR 
 
 General Julian S. Carr, banker and philanthropist, Dur- 
 ham, says : 
 
 "Education is the Damascus blade that cuts the Gordian 
 knot of the world's great problems. He is to be pitied who 
 is found shackled in ignorance by reason of the fact that he 
 has failed to equip himself with an education. No sacrifice 
 is too great to provide such a necessary accomplishment. Sol- 
 omon never wrote a truer proverb than this: 
 
 " 'Knowledge is power.' " 
 Durham, North Carolina, 
 
 April 29, 1921. 
 
 PROFESSOR J. H. COOK 
 
 Professor J. H. Cook, of the North Carolina College for 
 Women and Director of the Summer School, Greensboro, 
 writes : 
 
 "Somehow or other, one always obtains the real necessi- 
 ties of life. To the ambitious, capable, earnest-minded young 
 person in this progressive age, a college education is a neces- 
 sity. Every year increases the complexity of our moral and 
 economic problems. The environment will overcome our 
 hero, thus revealing a tragedy, or our hero will understand 
 and master his environment, thus enabling his friends to 
 witness a triumph. 
 
40 How TO Work Your AYay Through College 
 
 "An ordinary education enabled many wlio are winning 
 to-day to win in life because this education was above the 
 average of those with whom they competed. An education 
 no better will surely foretell the failure of their children 
 because educational standards have risen above the average 
 of the older day. Adequate preparation in light of tomor- 
 row's standard is the price all must pay for success. 
 
 "Success in any new business can be predicted by one's 
 success in his old business. The business of a young person 
 is that of securing an education that will enter him into life 
 with every obtainable advantage. The outward mark of suc- 
 cess in education is no less a distinction than that conferred 
 by a college diploma. Success in this augurs success in both 
 making a living and living a life. Those who overcome the 
 financial difficulties of going through college will have already 
 recommended themselves to successful men and women. 
 You are, therefore, getting into the habit of success. 
 
 "A college education is worth what is put into it. Wis- 
 dom and the spirit of work are indispensable to all who suc- 
 ceed. Happy is the young person who has to work his way 
 through college, thereby acquiring these two qualities simul- 
 taneously. 
 " 'Couldst thou in vision see thyself the man God meant, 
 
 Thou never more wouldst be the man thou art, content.' " 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 
 May 18, 1921. 
 
 LIEUTENANT-GOYERNOE W. B. COOPER 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor W. B. Cooper, of the State of North 
 Carolina, Ealeigh, says: 
 
 "Your letter of April 19 is appreciated, and I agree with 
 you that it is always inspiring to one young man to know 
 the struggles that his friends and acquaintances went through. 
 I do not know that I have any special advice to give, but if 
 so, I would say to young men: 'Stick to the job, it matters 
 not what the difficulties are.' The world, and especially the 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 41 
 
 good people in the world, are always ready to help the boy 
 who helps himself. As soon as a young man has finished his 
 education and secures a position, I would say, 'Save a little, 
 by all means.' 
 
 "When I came to Wilmington from the country, before I 
 was twenty-one, my salary was $26.00 a month (and more 
 than I was worth at that time) ; but when the fall of the 
 year came along, the salary advanced to $35.00 a month; 
 and I proceeded to save a little, and that little, from time to 
 time, helped me to enter business on my account when the 
 proper time came. 
 
 "May I wish you every success in your undertaking?" 
 Wilmington, North Carolina, 
 
 April 21, 1921. 
 
 PROFESSOR B. B. DOUGHERTY 
 
 Professor B. B. Dougherty, President of the Appalachian 
 Training School, of Boone, says : 
 
 "Poverty is no hindrance to the youth that wishes to 
 become great. It is far better for a yomig man to fight his 
 own battles and win his OA\ai victories. By so doing, he 
 develops strength as well as confidence in himself, and°wins 
 the admiration of the people. On the other hand, a young 
 man that must be supported from home cannot have much 
 confidence in himself, will be weaker the day he graduates 
 from college, and will lack the buoyant force necessary to 
 success that comes from the people. However hard it may 
 at first seem, it is far better for a young man to be pushed 
 out upon his own resources at the beginning and earn his 
 support, than to be fed by a bounteous hand from a silver 
 spoon. 
 
 "Every young man in North Carolina today should be 
 thankful that he lives in this age, in this great progressive 
 state. There was one time in the history of man when the 
 common boy, so to speak, was not considered worthy of an 
 education. Human society was fixed like the strata of rock 
 
42 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 in the mountaiiis. As it is impossible for one stratum to 
 rise above another, so it was impossible for a young man 
 to rise above that position in life in which Ms birth had placed 
 him. If he were the son of a king, he would be king at his 
 father's death; but if he were a slave, he must remain a 
 slave and be sold with the farm upon which he was born. 
 Here in this good old state of ours, society may be compared 
 to the waters of the ocean; that which scrubs the bottom 
 to-day may ride tomorrow upon the highest wave. This old 
 mother state loves every one of her children. She teaches 
 them health, morality, industry, and economy, and daily 
 points out to our young men the well graded road leading 
 from every doorway through the public school, the high 
 school, and the university. 
 
 "Though born in a hovel, under a board roof, if a young 
 North Carolinian develops a strong body, establishes a good 
 character, is courteous to all people, willing to work, earning 
 at first more than he receives, he may climb the ladder of 
 life, step by step, round by round, until he reaches the high- 
 est position in the gift of our people. Every young man is 
 largely the architect of his own life; whatever he wills, he 
 may do. ' ' 
 Boone, North Carolina, 
 
 April 21, 1921. 
 
 PROFESSOR R. L. FLOWERS 
 
 Professor R. L. Flowers, Secretary to the Corporation, 
 Trinity College, Durham, writes, with a few omissions, as 
 follows : 
 
 " As a rule, a young man who does not get a college edu- 
 cation because he does not see the way does not really want 
 it bad enough. In other words, he is not willing to pay the 
 price. Many of the men who have achieved success have had 
 hard struggles to prepare themselves for their life's work, 
 but the very struggle itself has very probably been the decid- 
 ing factor in their success. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 43 
 
 ''I remember a young man who had made up his mind 
 that he was going to Trinity College. After the record of 
 his preparatory work had been examined, he was told that 
 his preparation was deficient and that he could not be 
 admitted. A few days before the opening, he came into my 
 office, and I asked him if he had not received word that he 
 could not enter. He said, 'Yes, I got the letter, but I am up 
 here, and I am going to stay. If I cannot get into college, 
 I am going to Trinity Park and stay there until I am ready. 
 I have seventeen dollars. This is all I have, and I see no 
 chance of getting any more. ' 
 
 "He was told that he must go to Trinity Park, and he 
 said, 'All right.' He made his appeal to the headmaster, 
 and he aided the young man in getting a position, letting him 
 go to work Mdthin a few hours. He stayed at Trinity Park 
 for two years, and made all his expenses. He then entered 
 Trinity College and four years later received his degree. 
 When he left college, he had more money than when he 
 entered. This is a story that could be told of scores and 
 scores of young men. 
 
 "I think I have never known many instances where a 
 young man could not get work of some kind if he tried hard 
 enough to get it. He seldom asks for aid in getting work, 
 but goes out and finds it for himself. If a man has the 
 courage and determination that will carry hira through the 
 first year in college, the remainder of his college course will be 
 much easier. There are many ways by which college students 
 may make money in vacations. I have known many college 
 students who have been able to make enough in the summer 
 vacations to pay the entire expenses of the succeeding year. 
 
 "The whole question is whether or not a young man has 
 definitely made up his mind that he is going to get a college 
 education. If this question is settled, the hardest part of the 
 task has been completed. Scores and hundreds of useful and 
 successful men, like the author of this volume, can verify the 
 truth of this statement." 
 Durham, North Carolina, 
 
 May 9, 1921. 
 
44 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 DE. W. A. HARPER 
 
 Dr. W. A. Harper, President of Elon College, says, in 
 part : 
 
 ''I did not work my way through college, though I did 
 through the university, and so I hesitate to give you the facts 
 in regard to myself. 
 
 "Our students here help earn their expenses by waiting 
 on the tables, helping in the administrative offices of the 
 college, as assistant librarians, as assistants in the power 
 house, about the campus, and as janitors. Quite a number of 
 them support themselves in this way every year. They always 
 make good in their studies, too." 
 Elon College, North Carolina, 
 
 March 18, 1921. 
 
 DR. H. S. HILLEY 
 
 Dr. H. S. Hilley, Dean of the Atlantic Christian College, 
 Wilson, says: 
 
 "From my own experience and as a result of my obser- 
 vation in the cases of other students, it seems to me that 
 working one's way through college is largely a matter of 
 will — the will to dare to begin and the will to go at anything 
 that offers a chance to earn an honest dollar. In my opinion, 
 any student who really wants to get a college education can 
 do so by his own efforts during the school year and during 
 the vacation periods. If a boy has some training, he may 
 earn his way in a shorter time. But even the unskilled at 
 any particular work can always find the odd job that will 
 pay him." 
 Wilson, North Carolina, 
 
 April 18, 1921. 
 
 PROFESSOR M. T. HINSHAW 
 
 Professor M. T. Hinshaw, President of Rutherford Col- 
 lege, says: 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 45 
 
 "I am always glad to testify to the fact that I worked 
 my way through school. Not only am I glad that I worked 
 my way through school, but I am glad that I worked my 
 way through ditches, corn field, and harvest field. I well 
 remember cutting wheat with an old-fashioned sickle eleven 
 days in succession just after coming out of school. It was 
 the fastest way I had to get money to pay some bills; so I 
 pushed ahead along with other hired men until it seemed that 
 my shoulders would pull loose. I am not proud of this fact 
 merely for the opportunity of relating it, but I attribute 
 the fact of having done a few things that other men have 
 failed to do to the habit of work and endurance acquired 
 this way. 
 
 "Since leaving school myself, I have been connected with 
 an institution that affords me an unusual opportunity to 
 observe men and boys who are working to pay their way 
 through school. From fifty to seventy-five of the two hun- 
 dred and fifty students enrolled at Rutherford College work 
 to pay a part or all of their expenses. I attribute the fine 
 spirit of work and earnestness of our students very largely 
 to this fact. In most instances, the day comes when a stu- 
 dent is proud of the fact that he had to make his own way 
 while at school." 
 
 Rutherford College, North Carolina, 
 April 18, 1921. 
 
 MR. CHARLES H. IRELAND 
 
 Mr. Charles H, Ireland, President of the Odell Hardware 
 Company, Greensboro, says: 
 
 ' ' This is the greatest day of opportunity to the young man 
 who has ambition. There are more avenues of opportunity 
 than ever before in the history of time. This is no day for 
 the slacker or slothful man. As to the equipment necessary, 
 there are just three requisites: 
 
 "Ideal. — You hardly ever reach any place unles.s you 
 know just where you are starting for. 
 
46 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 ^'Industry. — There is no such thing as luck or pull in this 
 day and time. All the alloy has been extracted. Pure metal 
 is currency of the realm. It will be recognized whenever 
 shown. No talent is ever so effective as hard work. Effi- 
 ciency is what is demanded. There is only one channel 
 through which it flows — work. 
 
 "Patience. — We are running everything so rapidly these 
 days that we do not give time for fruit to ripen, but pluck 
 it before it has had time in which to store up the juices that 
 render it palatable, with the result that most people are like 
 shipped fruit — green, insipid, or stale. The great business 
 world knows a well-developed character as readily as it does 
 an apple. Any boy in North Carolina can attain any height 
 he may aspire to if he will determine what he wants, is will- 
 ing to work for it, and will be patient enough to work while 
 he waits for his name to be placed on the roll call of those 
 who can do one thing well." 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 
 April 9, 1921. 
 
 MR. J. E. LATHAM 
 
 Mr. J. E. Latham, President of the J. E. Latham Com- 
 pany, realtors, Greensboro, says much in a few simple words : 
 
 "It was not my privilege to go to college, and the lack 
 of college training, education, and association has been a great 
 and constant handicap in my struggles for achievement. Let 
 me say to any young man, whether he be rich or poor, that 
 a college education is an essential thing and worth any price 
 that has to be paid, whether the pay is in labor or money." 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 
 April 11, 1921. 
 
 DE. E. C. LINDEMAN 
 
 Dr. E. C. Lindeman, Professor of Sociology, North Caro- 
 lina College for Women, Greensboro, tells this gripping story : 
 
IIow TO Work Your AVay Through College 47 
 
 "I began my college course at the age of twenty-one. My 
 only previous educational experience was in a small parochial 
 school which I left at the age of ten. Both of my parents died 
 at about that time, and I was obliged to begin working for 
 a living. I worked at various trades and occupations during 
 the intervening ten years, and in my spare time I attempted 
 to learn the English language. A few very kind friends 
 assisted me in my awkward efforts, but the trade which I 
 learned, namely, shipbuilding, made such demands upon my 
 strength that I made very little progress. 
 
 "In spite of my handicaps, I was possessed with an un- 
 quenchable thirst for knowledge, and the hope that I might 
 some day secure an education never entirely disappeared. 
 During the summer months I usually worked on farms, since 
 I loved the open and had inherited a strong rural inclination 
 from my father, who was an experienced shepherd in Den- 
 mark. It was on an Ohio farm that I was inspired to begin 
 college. The 'boss' of the threshing crew with which 1 was 
 working appeared to take an interest in me. One night as 
 we all sat about the orchard after the day's work was done, 
 he came over to me and started talking about agricultural 
 colleges. The mental struggles which I passed through after 
 he had planted within me the hope of an education are still 
 vivid in my memory. That fall I went back to my work in 
 the shipj^ard. 
 
 "In the meantime I had laboriously read every page of 
 the catalogue of the agricultural college of my native State of 
 Michigan. To the great surprise of my fellow workers and to 
 myself as well, I suddenly made a bold decision. College was to 
 open late in September, and I announced one day to my asso- 
 ciates at the lunch hour that I was going to college. At first 
 they greeted my announcement with laughter, and finally 
 with scorn. But I started off on the day that the catalogue 
 said the students were to register. I had accumulated eighty 
 dollars ; and although I knew little of a college or its expenses, 
 it seemed to me that this was sufficient to make a beginning. 
 By the time that my departure arrived, my companions were 
 reconciled to my leaving mj- trade, and one of the finest mem- 
 
48 How TO Work Youe Way Through College 
 
 ories of my life is. the small group of hardened riveters, 
 caulkers, reamers, et cetera — hardened but powerful person- 
 alities — wishing me luck as I laid down my tools and started 
 on the adventure which they could not understand. I have 
 never seen one of that old group again, and this I count to 
 be one of the losses or sacrifices which education entails. 
 
 "But, alas! My hopes were soon crushed. Upon mak- 
 ing application for admittance to the college, I was informed 
 that. I could not enter because I had no high school credits. 
 There was a state law, however, which made it compulsory for 
 this particular college to allow students to enter who had 
 been born in the state and had reached the age of twenty- 
 one. However, the president politely but firmly informed 
 me that it would be a waste of my money to enter; at that 
 time he also knew that I did not even have an elementary 
 school education. 
 
 "Somehow or other I shall never quite recover from that 
 shock. I had thought that any one who really wanted an edu- 
 cation could get one; but here I was confronted with such 
 obstacles as 'credits,' and I did not even know the meaning 
 of the term. My first inclination was to go back to my trade 
 and my old companions of the shipyard. But this I could 
 not do; a certain pride made it impossible for me to face 
 those men who knew me so well. They were a courageous 
 lot, and to face them with an admission of failure was a thought 
 unbearable. 
 
 "It was golden autumn, and in my depressed mood 
 I strolled out upon the college campus and from there over 
 the college farm; there I saw some workers cutting and 
 shocking corn. As I watched this scene and thought of the 
 happy, care-free groups of students strolling or lounging 
 about the campus, I was seized with the impulse to get a 
 'job' on this farm and at least live in the environment of 
 the college. It seemed to me that this would in some measure 
 satisfy my pride, and perhaps it might provide the oppor- 
 tunity for study in the college library. The very next 
 morning I was at work in this same corn field. And, alas, 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 49 
 
 again, that very day I lost my pocketbook with what remained 
 of my eighty dollars! 
 
 "The foreman of the college farm took an interest in me 
 and at the close of two weeks convinced the president that I 
 ought to be given a 'chance.' After much consultation and 
 rising and falling hopes, I finally matriculated as a prepara- 
 tory student in the agricultural course. I still shudder when 
 I recall those first few months of study. I lived in a farm 
 home about one mile from the college, and frequently the 
 kind mother of this home knocked at my back room door to 
 tell me that I ought to go to bed. There were many nights 
 when the only sleep which came to me was that of sheer 
 fatigue. It was not merely that I was obliged to study such 
 subjects as algebra (a name which I had not heard before), 
 but there was, in addition, the necessity of securing an income 
 to pay my living expenses. At that time there was not a 
 single person in the sphere of my acquaintance who cared 
 whether I was educated or not; moreover, there was consider- 
 erable objection on the part of a few relatives. 
 
 "Fortunately, as is always true, there were kindly hearts 
 who saw into my difficulties. The farmer allowed me to do 
 chores about the farm for my lodging; the foreman of the 
 college dairy herd employed me to care for forty head of 
 Holstein cows; one of the professors gave me work as jani- 
 tor in the veterinary building. 
 
 "How thankful I am that I possessed a sturdy physique. 
 To rise at four in the morning to take care of the cattle and 
 to finish cleaning up the veterinary building at nine or ten 
 at night, was, in addition to my intense struggles with new 
 studies, a strain which called for all the reserve that my 
 ten years of hard work had built into my hody. However, 
 the studies gradually grew less burdensome, and as I oriented 
 myself to the new life, I learned methods of economizing my 
 time. 
 
 "That first year of college was not creditable from the 
 scholarship standpoint. I failed in algebra and received 
 very low marks in other studies. An English teacher gave 
 me my only ray of encouragement ; my experiences in life. 
 
50 How TO Work Tour Way Through College 
 
 coiipled with a very lively imagination, made it possible for 
 me to write essays which seemed to please her. There came 
 a red letter day ! On a returned theme was this sentence, 
 written in red ink : ' Your essay was an oasis in the desert. ' 
 I have had many thrills of achievement since that day, but 
 none will ever compare to this one. It was the justification 
 of all my hopes and all my trials. For days I could scarcely 
 realize the great significance of that sentence. It affected 
 me so deeply that I remember distinctly the shy manner in 
 which I avoided meeting or speaking to this teacher ; I feared 
 that she might not have meant it or that she might learn 
 how it had disturbed my emotions. 
 
 ''Five years after that autumn, I received the diploma 
 from this college, and two years after graduation the presi- 
 dent of the college invited me to return as a member of his 
 staff. I am frequently asked if it is possible to work one's 
 way through college and what is required for the task. My 
 reply is, ' Courage, a sound body, an unselfish love for knowl- 
 edge, and faith. ' One of the chief glories of America is that 
 a young man or woman thus equipped need not be denied 
 the opportunities of education. ' ' 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 
 April 2, 1921. 
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM J. MARTIN 
 
 Professor William J. Martin, President of Davidson Col- 
 lege, writes : 
 
 "Let no young man or woman conclude that it is impos- 
 sible to secure a college education because they are poor. If 
 they are mentally able and have driving power sufficient to 
 study under difficulties incident to working their way through, 
 they can secure the opportunity — if not in one college, then 
 in another. 
 
 "They should be students of at least fair ability and 
 well prepared. They should have the testimony of those 
 who know them that they are really in earnest and worth 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 51 
 
 investing in. If their character and purpose are such as to 
 give promise of useful service, a way will open to them. 
 
 "I would suggest to all such as find it possible that it is 
 wisest in the long run to finance the first year without having 
 to do outside work, even though they have to borrow the 
 necessary funds. The first year of college work is the hard- 
 est, and the student has less time to devote to outside affairs. 
 
 "Personally, I believe it is wisest and cheapest in the 
 long run to borrow, if possible, for all college years sufficient 
 funds to prevent the necessity for too much outside work. 
 Some work will do good; too much will injure their educa- 
 tion. After graduation one can rapidly pay up the debts. 
 
 "Ability, ambition, backbone, and pertinacity, with good 
 judgment and good character back of them, will give them 
 the chance and insure success as well. ' ' 
 Davidson, North Carolina, 
 
 April 7, 1921. 
 
 SENATOR LEE S. OVERMAN 
 
 The Honorable Lee S. Overman, United States Senator 
 from North Carolina, writes: 
 
 "I acknowledge the receipt of your highly esteemed favor 
 of April 25th stating that you have planned to issue a little 
 booklet telling something of your struggles in trying to work 
 your way through Trinity College; I wish to congratulate 
 you on this, as it will no doubt be of great encouragement 
 to other young men who desire a college education and have 
 not the means. 
 
 "Along in the seventies, when Trinity was a struggling 
 college — as were all the colleges in the state at that time — 
 many of the young men who were educated there were men 
 whose parents had nothing ; everybody was poor, and a great 
 many of those young men had to work on the outside to pay 
 for their education. They had a great struggle and worked 
 their way through college by teaching during their vacation, 
 and in other ways ; and some of these men who actually did 
 
52 How TO Work Your Way Through ColliEGe 
 
 menial work around the college have now become very prom- 
 inent in the state. While I was fortunate enough to be able 
 to pay part of my tuition and board, I was compelled to work 
 and teach after my graduation in order to repay part of the 
 debt I owed in obtaining my education. I can name several 
 men who have attained great prominence in the state who 
 worked their way through college. This should be an inspi- 
 ration to other young men who are aspiring for an education 
 and are too poor to pay for the same, to know that many of 
 the public men of our state to-day who are now leaders, worked 
 their way through college, which fact is all the more credit 
 to them and probably had much to do with their success 
 in life." 
 
 Washington City, 
 May 3, 1921. 
 
 PROFESSOR J. C. PEERY 
 
 Professor J. C. Peery, President of Lenoir College, Hickory, 
 says: 
 
 "To all who would make their mark in life, I give this 
 advice : 
 
 "Your first step should be to secure a thorough education. 
 If you have not sufficient money to pay your way through 
 college, do not consider this a handicap ; it may be to you a 
 good fortune. 
 
 If you are willing to help yourself, a way can always be 
 found. Any college is glad to have such a student and will 
 help him. 
 
 ' ' The effort put forth in working your way through college 
 will be a valuable part of the training which will assure 
 future success. If you have not the energy, the patience, 
 and grit to work your way through college, you have not the^ 
 qualities which will bring success in life. This, therefore, 
 becomes not only the first step, but the test of your fitness 
 for real success. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 53 
 
 "Then, put away other plans and get an education. Do 
 not take a short cut, and do not let anything discourage you. 
 Success lies beyond. 
 
 "I myself not only paid all of my expenses through 
 college, but had to work very hard to do so." 
 Hickory, North Carolina, 
 
 April 28, 1921. 
 
 DR. WILLIAM LOUIS POTEAT 
 
 Dr. William Louis Poteat, President of Wake Forest 
 College, gives some splendid suggestions: 
 
 "In reply to your letter of March 16, I am under the 
 necessity of saying my father was able to finance my school 
 career, so that I have nothing to send you of my personal exper- 
 ience for your chapter on working one 's way through college. 
 On the other hand, I have seen the thing done so often and 
 have observed quite invariably the great advantage of it in 
 toughening the fiber of character, in developing a wholesome 
 respect for those who toil, and in laying the foundations of 
 a serious and successful career, that I have no hesitation in 
 recommending it to every young man of purpose and ambition. 
 
 "I agree with a distinguished dean of Columbia Univer- 
 sity, however, who was here a few days ago and who says 
 that one good method for a man to work his way through 
 college is to borrow the money and work it out after his 
 graduation ; the method does not interfere with class work 
 during the college course, and it makes possible a larger com- 
 pensation for work when it does come to be done. I think 
 that any young man who is not able to finance his college 
 course in any other way is amply justified in using this 
 method. 
 
 "Of course, in the institutions located in cities, man}* 
 jobs may be found which do not seriously interfere with 
 college work. In institutions located in smaller communities, 
 the number of such jobs is limited. A number of students in 
 Wake Forest College are engaged in working their way 
 
54 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 through. Many forms of work are open to them, and my 
 observation is that no section of the student body is more 
 highly respected." 
 Wake Forest, North Carolina, 
 March 22, 1921. 
 
 DE. EDWIN D. PUSEY 
 
 Dr. Edwin D. Pusey, Superintendent of the Durham City 
 Schools, says : 
 
 "By means of co-operative and part-time work, any boy 
 or girl can work his or her way through school. At present, 
 we have over forty boys in the white high school working 
 their way through ; in the colored school, we have about 
 eighty pupils, mostly girls, working their way through. 
 These pupils attend school part time and work the other, or 
 else attend school one week and work the next week." 
 Durham, North Carolina, 
 
 March 30, 1921. 
 
 DR. W. C. RIDDICK 
 
 Dr. W. C. Riddick, President of the State College of 
 Agriculture and Engineering, West Raleigh, writes : 
 
 "I doubt if there is very much about my experience in 
 getting an education to interest or inspire the youth of today. 
 I can hardly say that I worked my way through college ; in 
 fact, in my day there was little or no opportunity for doing 
 this. It is true, however, that I worked on my father's farm 
 during vacations. 
 
 "Many times during my college course, I was thoroughly 
 discouraged, and the credit for my remaining in college and 
 completing my education is, I believe, due to my parents 
 rather than myself, who were willing to make any sacrifices and 
 always urged me to remain in college, no matter what hard- 
 ships it entailed upon them. I, of course, had to practice 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 55 
 
 the strictest economy, and was frequently embarrassed by 
 lack of money. In those days, however, practically all students 
 with whom I came in contact were poor, and it was a struggle 
 for them to remain at college. 
 
 "I have always hoped to see the day when every boy and 
 girl will have the opportunity of just as much education 
 as they are willing to take, and I believe that day has about 
 come. With the numerous opportunities now offered for 
 working one's way through college, and the help offered by 
 the institutions in the way of loans, scholarships, and the 
 like, I believe that any boy or girl who has real ambition and 
 energy and who has fortitude to persevere against difficulty 
 and hardships can secure an education, unless, as is sometimes 
 the case, there is placed upon them the responsibility of 
 supporting their families; and this is, to my mind, about the 
 only valid reason that a young man of health and average 
 mentality can give for not getting that education which will 
 enable him to make the most of himself in his own behalf and 
 in service to humanity. I urge all young people that, before 
 they decide this most important matter, they consider it in 
 the light of the future and not give up striving for an edu- 
 cation unless they are sure that in the years to come their 
 consciences will be clear that they did their duty." 
 West Raleigh, North Carolina, 
 
 April 19, 1921. 
 
 DR. GILBERT T. ROWE 
 
 Dr. Gilbert T. Rowe, Editor of the "North Carolina Chris- 
 tian Advocate," Greensboro, writes: 
 
 "Trained minds will always direct and control in the 
 affairs of the world. Occasionally and at rare intervals, 
 there will appear a man who is able to get the necessary train- 
 ing without the aid of the schools; but in the great majority 
 of cases, a course of study which affords instruction and inti- 
 mate contact with the mature minds of teachers is indispen- 
 
56 How TO Work Your Way Through Colkege 
 
 sable. Only about one leader in a thousand is wholly self- 
 trained. 
 
 "The value of the records of men that have worked their 
 way through college appears in two things. First, it shows 
 that it can be done. All that a great many boys will need 
 to know in order to make the attempt themselves is that it 
 has been done. Second, after a boy has worked his way 
 through school, he does not have to wait until he tries him- 
 self out in life to see whether he is going to succeed; he 
 enters upon his life work conscious of the fact that he Las 
 already succeeded. 
 
 "This word is given quite humbly by one who doubts 
 whether he would have had the determination and foresight 
 to attempt what Professor Andrews and others have done, 
 and rejoices with them in their achievement and also in the 
 fact that they are pointing out the way for others to follow. ' ' 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 
 May 1, 1921. 
 
 SENATOR F. M. SIMMONS 
 
 The Honorable F. M. Simmons, United States Senator from 
 North Carolina, writes, with slight alterations, as follows: 
 
 "I am very glad indeed to know that you are to write a 
 booklet telling the story of your successful efforts to obtain 
 your present educational equipment. This story is sure to 
 be inspiring and helpful. 
 
 "It has always seemed to me in my observation of men 
 and affairs that education and knowledge are the strongest 
 and most potent weapons when they are held by one who has 
 had to fight for and win them through his own work and 
 through a desire for them that would not be denied. We have 
 had many notable instances of this type of man in the history 
 of North Carolina. 
 
 "I hope that you will not forget to send me a copy of 
 your booklet as soon as it becomes available for distribution." 
 Washington City, 
 
 May 5, 1921. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 57 
 
 DR. S. B. TURRENTINE 
 
 Dr. S. B. Turrentine, President of Greensboro College, 
 Greensboro, says: 
 
 "Three essentials to success are self-reliance, industry, 
 and economy. The earlier these lessons are learned the better! 
 About four-fifths of the successful citizens of our country 
 are said to come from the working classes, the larger propor- 
 tion of whom represent the rural sections. This fact is doubt- 
 less true because the three lessons mentioned can be more 
 naturally taught and learned amid simple conditions of rural 
 and village life than amid complex cooditions of congested 
 centers. 
 
 "Fortunate is the one who learns to 'bear the yoke in 
 his youth.' While the youth 'born with the silver spoon in 
 his mouth' can win success, yet such youth has more chances 
 to fail, because his lot is adapted to dependence, idleness, and 
 extravagance. The prime element of education is the devel- 
 opment of native talent promoting true self-hood. The prin- 
 ciple that work is a blessing is shown in the average success 
 of the student whose motto is not love of ease. Any education 
 that fails to teach the proper value and use of a dollar is 
 defective, whether the student is rich or poor. 
 
 The courage that wins in the work of life-preparedness is 
 as praiseworthy as the heroism that wins in the work of life- 
 service. ' ' 
 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 April 25, 1921. 
 
 PRESIDENT C. G. VARDELL 
 
 Professor C. G. Vardell, President of the Flora ]\racdonald 
 College, writes: 
 
 "Your letter received, and I did work my way through 
 college and seminarv% both. 
 
 "My preparatory work was done at Oberlin College, at 
 which place I was for some time janitor of one of the school 
 
58 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 buildings, washing windows, sweeping, making fires, and 
 carrying out ashes. As you possibly know, a large number 
 of the young people at Oberlin do this type of work. My 
 college is Davidson. At that time, there was very little oppor- 
 tunity for a student to do anything to help himself except 
 the ringing of the bells, and this work always went to the 
 seniors. However, I put in my summers at one kind of work 
 or another. One of them was making the first catalogue for 
 the Davidson College Library. I went from there to Prince- 
 ton Seminary and ran a boarding club, thus making my own 
 board. 
 
 "I will say that any live, wide-awake, willing boy or girl, 
 who can raise enough money to pay expenses during the first 
 year at college, will, with the assistance of the college and 
 opportunities offered for self-help, be able to win through. 
 The colleges are realizing more and more that their duty is 
 to make men and women — and not money. They are, there- 
 fore, most unwilling to let any good material escape without 
 the very best possible preparation for future work. ' ' 
 Red Springs, North Carolina, 
 
 March 26, 1921. 
 
 DR. L. A. WILLIAMS 
 
 Dr. L. A. Williams, of the University of North Carolina, 
 tells a true story: 
 
 "I am greatly interested in your letter of March 26, in 
 which you propose to issue a little booklet outlining some of 
 the ways by which a young fellow may work his way through 
 college. As it happens, I fall under that category; and, in 
 addition to that, I worked my way through high school also. 
 I left home when I was fourteen years of age without a cent 
 in the world and with no other resources than a healthy body, 
 a strong constitution, more or less of intellectual ability, and 
 a fixed determination to get a college education. I was suc- 
 cessful in utilizing all four of these resources as means toward 
 the accomplishment of my end, and in 1903 received my 
 Bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 59 
 
 "111 connection with this matter of a yonng fellow's work- 
 ing his way through college, I am often reminded of the 
 famous statement of Elbert Hubbard in which he classified 
 the recjuisites of the securing of an education as 'inspiration, 
 aspiration, respiration, and perspiration.' The implication 
 is that there is something highly poetic and romantic al)out 
 this procedure. I should like to take this opportunity of 
 saying very definitely that there is nothing romantic or poetic 
 about working your way through college. There are times 
 when it is a mighty prosy affair, and it takes all sorts of 
 determination and persistence to carry the thing through. I 
 somehow have a feeling that the last one of Elbert Hubbard's 
 requisites is perhaps the most necessary of all — perspiration. 
 
 "In the course of my working my way through, I believe 
 I made one very serious error. I worked so many hours 
 caring for furnaces and working in a printshop that I found 
 very little opportunity and had very little energy for enter- 
 ing into the college activities other than regular class work. 
 I am very thoroughly convinced now that this was a mistake. 
 I ought to have carried fewer courses if necessary and taken 
 longer than four years to do my college work and have entered 
 into the college activities outside of regular course work to 
 a very much greater extent than I did. I often feel that 
 one of the largest contributions to a young man's college edu- 
 cation is found in the contacts which he establishes through 
 extra-classroom college life. To be sure, there is the danger 
 that a young fellow may overdo this side of his college career. 
 I made the mistake of overdoing the other side. I can hon- 
 estly say that, in the light of my experience, if I had the 
 chance to start over, I should have no hesitation about taking 
 five years, even six years, to complete my course requirements 
 and spending more time in dramatics, debating, athletic, and 
 musical activities. 
 
 "I don't know whether there is anything in the above 
 statements which will be of any use to you; but if there is, 
 
60 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 you are at liberty to use it as you see fit. Please be sure to 
 send me a copy of the booklet when it is published. ' ' 
 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 
 April 2, 1921. 
 
 MR. J. NORMAN WILLS 
 
 Mr. J. Norman Wills, Chairman of the Board of Education 
 of Greensboro and Secretary-Treasurer of the Odell Hard- 
 ware Company, sends this thoughtful message: 
 
 ' ' To every young man or woman, the one important thing 
 in this world — and the next — is character. Upon it depends 
 usefulness, standing, happiness, and destiny. 
 
 "The process of character formation is one of response 
 to influences. To the young child, the influences of heredity 
 and environment come unsought, leaving him without choice ; 
 but soon he may discriminate to a greater or less degree. To 
 select the right influences, and to respond properly to them, 
 will result in a strong, righteous character. 
 
 "No influence during the formative period is more potent 
 than the school. The young man or woman who Avould derive 
 the greatest good from this vital factor must not be content 
 without a college course of the right sort. 
 
 "Here the power of discrimination must be exercised, and 
 that institution selected which, by reason of its traditions, 
 its courses of study, the character of its students, and, most 
 especially, the personnel of its faculty, exercises those influ- 
 ences which appeal to young life to make of itself the very 
 best. 
 
 "No doubt the young student contemplating a college 
 course would feel it a great advantage if his parents could, 
 and would, supply him lavishly with money, so he could attend 
 the college which he would prefer — usually an expensive one — 
 and have no care as to the bills ; and would have every oppor- 
 tunity to engage in the numerous activities, and indulge in 
 the numerous diversions, which are supposed to belong to 
 college life. But would this comparatively easy jaunt through 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 61 
 
 college make for character? That student who, on his way 
 to and through college, most constantly facing difficulties 
 caused by poverty— what is his chance of attaining his impor- 
 tant goal, as well as the ultimate one of making a success 
 of, rather than in, life? 
 
 The fact that he determines to overcome these difficulties, 
 and to make every possible sacrifice himself, rather than to 
 expect an undue degree of sacrifice on the part of others, indi- 
 cates the spirit of true manhood and womanhood. 
 
 "Following this out means the development of those ele- 
 ments of strength which will result in the attainment of a 
 worthy ambition— a life which will be a blessing to all whom 
 it may touch, and which will bring happiness and true 
 success. ' ' 
 
 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
 April 14, 1921. 
 
 PROFESSOR 0. V. WOOSLEY 
 
 Professor 0. V. Woosley, Sunday-school Field Secretary 
 of the Western North Carolina Conference, Lexington, writes : 
 
 "My father, a Methodist circuit rider, had sent me through 
 high school and had informed me that because of his limited 
 salary and number of other boys and girls in our home, it 
 would be impossible for him to help me further in my efforts 
 to get an education. We were living out in the country, 
 thirteen miles from a railroad, and there was nothing else 
 to do but to rent some ground and raise cotton and corn. 
 The corn went to feed the circuit rider's horse, and most of 
 the cotton went to pay the fertilizer bill. There was a living 
 in this work — if the teaching of a little country school during 
 the winter at twenty-five dollars a month for four months 
 were added to it. 
 
 "One day, a hot day in August, about two o'clock in the 
 afternoon, while the sun and the stinging worms were doing 
 a big business, it occurred to me that what I needed was less 
 fodder and more education. So emphatically I said to myself 
 
62 How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 out loud as I stamped my foot down in the loose ground: 
 
 " 'I am going to college!' 
 
 "The following winter was spent in teaching a little 
 country school and the following summer in selling fruit 
 trees. When fall came, all available funds had been invested 
 in expenses while canvassing, and no deliveries had yet been 
 made. My Sunday-school teacher loaned me twenty-five 
 dollars to get to college, and all bills were held in abeyance 
 until the fruit trees were delivered. Two weeks during the 
 first fall in college were spent in delivering my orders; in 
 fact, every fall witnessed such a circumstance, for I was a 
 fruit tree agent during the summers and a student and all 
 sorts of an agent during the school terms. I represented 
 various mercantile firms at the college during the week and 
 on Saturdays went to the nearby city and sold goods by main 
 strength and awkwardness. 
 
 "On graduation day, I had paid what I had borrowed 
 from my beloved Sunday-school teacher, had paid all claims 
 at the college, and had a gold watch and forty dollars in 
 money. I had worked my way through college and cleared 
 a bit of money. I felt mighty important. To get properly 
 in my stride, I went back to selling fruit trees during the 
 summers and teaching school during the winters till finally 
 my teaching and supervising demanded all my time. 
 
 "Any boy can go through college if he will just let the 
 stinging worms get after him on a hot day in August." 
 Lexington, North Carolina, 
 
 May 18, 1921. 
 
 DR. JOHN C. WOOTEN 
 
 Dr. John C. Wooten, Presiding Elder in the North Caro- 
 lina Conference of the Methodist Church, Raleigh, says : 
 
 "I am glad that you have undertaken to make it plain 
 to all young people that they can get a college education if 
 they will. There is too much undeveloped ta lent in our state. 
 
How TO Work Your Way Through College 
 
 63 
 
 And something should be done regularly to discover and 
 inspire these young folks. 
 
 "It is a magnificent task you have set for yourself, and 
 I trust that this expression of your faith and work' may 
 cause many others to develop themselves in our schools and 
 colleges. All ministers and educators should constantly seek 
 and be finding these choice young people." 
 Raleigh, North Carolina, 
 
 April 13, 1921. 
 
JOS. J. STONE & CO., PRINTERS, GREENSBORO, N. C. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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