glenn daft

why am i making my way through college? like all normal young men i am possessed with an ambitious, enterprising spirit, which continually urges me to do things and be somebody. i am led by a natural inherent desire to press forward. i feel that, sometime in the future, when the greater part of my life is behind me, i shall look back over the years that are gone, and shall measure what i am with what i might have been. at that time, whenever it may be, i feel that, if i am not able to say that i have not lived in vain, life will seem empty and meaningless to me. i want to be, in every respect, a success in life. in short, i am ambitious.

ambition may manifest itself in one or many of several ways. in days of yore, it rushed the impetuous youth into battle field. to-day it is very apt to express itself in a desire for a higher education. everything depends on the attitude one takes toward higher education. i feel that the great problems of the day demand the attention of the best and broadest men that the age affords, and that 213 no uneducated man can ever hope to realize his best. i think that any man, in order to do the most good for himself and for his fellow beings, must be able to plunge into the battle of life unhampered by lack of preparation. i realize that many walks of life are open only to those who have a college or university education.

here, then, is why i am working my way through college: because i feel that by so doing i can broaden myself physically, mentally, and morally; that i can fit myself to cope with the questions of the day, and conquer; that it will enlarge my possibilities in life almost beyond comparison; that it will not only enable me to become a success, but, if i apply myself rightly, that it will leave me in a position to do something of value for coming generations; and that, for my having lived and done, the world may, in some way, be bettered.

many are the means which i employ to accomplish this end. it requires not only the making of money, but the saving of money as well. it requires a systematic arrangement of time, and a constant concentration of energy to the task at hand.

during the school year i have done almost all degrees of physical labor, ranging from folding papers to shoveling coal and digging tile ditches. my motto is, “anything that is honest.” a college town always affords plenty of employment. i find that steady work of some kind is much more satisfactory than depending upon odd jobs. i wait on 214 tables in a hotel for my board and like the plan very much.

i spend the summer months in the country, generally at farm work. i sold books one summer. last summer i spent a month and a half at tiling, and find that it pays very well, but the work is rather severe for a student. i am able to save from $90 to $125 during the three summer months. with this much in hand i am able to meet expenses very well.

working one’s way through college demands economy, hard work, and determination; but the end in view justifies the means. it is a real pleasure for one to feel that he is doing things himself. with the possibilities that are open to the young man to-day it seems that everyone ought to be willing to devote a few years to preparing himself to better understand and deal with the conditions under which we live.

simpson college, indianola, iowa.