THE REAL QUESTION

H. E. JORGENSON

To-day if a young man or woman lacking financial means wishes to get an education, the question is not: Am I able to get it? It is: Am I willing to work for it? I have not completed my education, but I am working for it. With the hope that it may encourage someone who thinks working for an education is a colossal¹ task, or that it may suggest a way, I shall tell how I have been working my way through college.

At fourteen I debated whether I should complete my high school course or not and ended with the belief that a commercial school would give me a more practical education than the high school and would put me on a salary basis when I was through. There were six of us children at home; as they would grow up the expense of keeping our family decently would soon exceed father’s income, for he was a wage earner. It would cost about $15.00 per month to go to the commercial school. This father could spare out of our month’s savings², but it would be a sacrifice; yet he was willing to do it. I decided³ to get a business education, but determined⁴ to pay the expenses myself. At Laurium, Mich., two miles 234 from my home, was the Laurium Commercial School. The day after my father and I had agreed upon the course I should follow, I went to Laurium and had a talk with the principal of the school. He needed a janitor⁵ and I offered to do the sweeping⁶, dusting, window-washing, firing and all duties incident to a janitorship in return for all expenses. He hesitated, for I was young, and small for my age. Finally he agreed, and one day after the opening of the regular fall session I was at work on my Bookkeeping.

It was hard work, especially when winter came, when I had to trudge⁷ through the deep snow, and sometimes it was dangerous, when a northwestern blizzard⁸ would come sailing over us from Lake Superior. The stoves of the school had to be fed during the months between October and April. It was necessary to carry the fuel from the basement to the third floor at convenient times and to arrive early in the morning to enliven the fires. It was hard work on the muscles, but my heart was seldom heavy, for the students were considerate and kind and they made me feel inspired rather than humiliated⁹; in fact, I was one of them. I succeeded in covering as much work as the average student and at an average standing¹⁰, and in a year and a half I had completed the combined commercial course.

Just before leaving the commercial school, I made application for a position with a commission house in our city. They took me on trial and for awhile 235 it seemed as if they would not keep me. But I succeeded in sticking and by burning some midnight oil, and a lot of digging managed to fall in line with the work, and it was a task, for the accounting¹¹ system used was a cost-finding system and made the work of the bookkeeper difficult and a matter of great responsibility. I remained in this position three years when I resigned to accept a position with a lumbering¹² firm during one winter’s operations.

I had long come to learn that my education was inadequate¹³ and many times regretted that I left the high school. To make the best of it, I spent most of my evenings in the public library and in my room covering lost ground. As my ignorance made itself more and more manifest, I began to think out some plan by which I could get to college. The winter I worked with the lumbering firm, I was employed three evenings a week tutoring a class of men in a large co?perative department store, who wanted to make ready for promotions¹⁴. This work brought me some money and experience. The money I had saved would not keep me more than a year in college, but I thought that with a little more preparation I could teach the commercial subjects in some college in return for my expenses. So I resolved to take my earnings¹⁵ and attend the Zanerian School of Penmanship, Columbus, Ohio, that I might be capable of teaching Penmanship as well as Stenography¹⁶ and Bookkeeping; but father was stricken with pneumonia¹⁷ and disabled for six months 236 and I gave him the greater part of my savings to help him out, and retained only $150.00, which would pay all traveling expenses, tuition and room rent, but would leave nothing for board. Yet I went to Columbus, and a week had not passed before I had a place as waiter in one of the best restaurants in the city, where I worked 2-1/2 hours a day and got my three meals, and the work did not interfere¹⁸ with my classes. Numbers of students in the Ohio State University and other colleges of Columbus earned their board that way. I made many acquaintances through my connection with the church, Sunday school and Y. M. C. A., but my being a waiter in a restaurant did not seem to hurt my standing with them.

Before eight months had passed my money was spent and I began to seek a position. It would not have been difficult to get employment as a bookkeeper or stenographer¹⁹, but I wanted to teach. I was not seeking long. Mr. Zaner, principal of the school, called me to his desk one morning and asked me if I wanted to go to North Carolina to teach. I replied that I would. After a short correspondence I had my contract with the Bingham School, Mebane, N. C. At this time it was necessary to borrow some money, which I did, and after making a little pleasure trip through the eastern states I arrived at Bingham School and began to teach Bookkeeping, Shorthand and Typewriting. That was last year. During the day I taught and during the 237 evenings I studied history, literature, mathematics and science. The reading I had done came to good stead, and I found that I was not so far behind in my education after all. Before the year was half gone I came in touch with Elon College about fifteen miles away. Learning that the institution had a commercial department, I wrote to the president, offering my services as a commercial teacher for expenses in the college. My offer was finally accepted. When spring came I had paid all debts and saved some money. With it I went to Rochester, N. Y., and attended the Rochester Business Institute, securing a teacher’s diploma.

Last September I entered upon the work I am doing here. As a student I have twenty hours of college work per week and I am teaching bookkeeping and stenography. Altogether it amounts to about thirty-two hours of work per week. It gives me much to do, yet I am not sorry, for I have no chance to waste any time and there is not much tendency to fall into lazy habits. Besides my regular work I give one and one-half hours daily to gymnasium and spend every Monday evening in literary society work; in fact I enjoy as many privileges and opportunities as any other student has time to enjoy, and I believe that I would not be doing any better if someone else was paying my expenses. Now the way is open before me to get my college education. When the proper time comes it is my plan to enter the University of Michigan to study for a profession. 238 At the present time my purse is empty, yet I am sure there will be a way; there always was a way when I was willing to pay the price, namely, a little hard work and a careful management of my time and means. Of course, there have been times of doubt and disappointment, when I have been among strangers, or when temporary pressure of work has made me feel that I could not hold out another minute; but those incidents have been eclipsed in the regular progress of better experiences and now I feel that I would not have the past to be other than it has been, and I face the future with a hopeful heart.

Elon College, N. C.

1 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 janitor   

n.看门人，管门人

参考例句：

• The janitor wiped on the windows with his rags.看门人用褴褛的衣服擦着窗户。
• The janitor swept the floors and locked up the building every night.那个看门人每天晚上负责打扫大楼的地板和锁门。

6 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

7 trudge   

v.步履艰难地走；n.跋涉，费力艰难的步行

参考例句：

• It was a hard trudge up the hill.这趟上山是一次艰难的跋涉。
• The trudge through the forest will be tiresome.长途跋涉穿越森林会令人疲惫不堪。

8 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

9 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

12 lumbering   

n.采伐林木

参考例句：

• Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
• Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

13 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

14 promotions   

促进( promotion的名词复数 )； 提升； 推广； 宣传

参考例句：

• All services or promotions must have an appeal and wide application. 所有服务或促销工作都必须具有吸引力和广泛的适用性。
• He promptly directed the highest promotions and decorations for General MacArthur. 他授予麦克阿瑟将军以最高的官阶和勋奖。

15 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

16 stenography   

n.速记，速记法

参考例句：

• Stenography is no longer a marketable skill.速记法已没有多大市场了。
• This job necessitated a knowledge of stenography and typewriting,which she soon acquired.这工作需要会速记和打字，她不久便学会了。

17 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

18 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

19 stenographer   

n.速记员

参考例句：

• The police stenographer recorded the man's confession word by word. 警察局速记员逐字记下了那个人的供词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A qualified stenographer is not necessarily a competent secretary. 一个合格的速记员不一定就是个称职的秘书。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》