walter a. johnson

i am glad to be numbered in that group of students who are working their way through college. it has fallen to my lot for many years to make my own way in the world. early in life i decided that the best thing i could do was to obtain a good practical education as soon as i could, and then i would be better able to make a living.

i had no means with which to go to school, as my parents died when i was quite small, leaving me none of this world’s goods; but, through a friend i heard of a school near my home in georgia, where one could go without much money. so i applied for admission, and entered the berry school of rome, ga., in 1908. it is a christian industrial school for country boys whose means are limited. i remained there four years, working at the school during the summer to pay all expenses for the following year. i finished there in 1912.

it was while i was at the berry school that my vision of life was broadened, and i was determined that my main object would not be simply to make a living, but to be of some service in the world, especially to those who were less fortunate than i. 231 i decided, therefore, to go through college, if possible. it was the influence of the noble founder and teachers of berry school which gave me a desire to go to college, and it was they who helped me financially through my first year at college.

this is my second year at davidson college, north carolina, and i believe i can finish the four-year course without very much more outside help. the first part of last year, i put in a good deal of my spare time in working for some of the professors, but in the spring term i spent the time in collecting kodak films to be sent off for developing, for which i received a liberal commission. i found this work to be much more profitable than the other odd jobs i had been doing. i still have this agency, and besides, my room-mate and i represent a laundry and a shoe repairing establishment of charlotte, n. c. the three agencies take up very little more time than one, yet, our profits are more than trebled.

for the spring term i will wait on tables at one of the boarding houses, and this will pay my board for the term. i also have the monitorship of our class, and this pays well for the time it requires. i don’t say that with all this work my studies are not somewhat neglected, but with systematic work i do not believe it will interfere very seriously with my classroom work.

last spring when i was looking out for work for the summer, my attention was called to that of canvassing. i never thought i would like this work, 232 but knew that there was good pay in it, so i decided to try it. i liked the work much better than i expected, and it is very profitable business. i believe that the average student who works hard could make at least $100.00 per month canvassing, and meeting with different people throughout the country and studying human nature is certainly profitable educationally. i know the experience has helped me a great deal, and i would not take a considerable sum of money for the training i received while canvassing. i am going into the same work next summer.

i don’t believe that any young man should deprive himself of a college education, simply because he thinks he cannot afford it. my advice is to start right in, and some kind of work will present itself, enabling you to work your way to graduation.

davidson college, davidson, n. c.