He had a chance at college, but he
also wanted to be a social lion, all too soon. He could not afford it
in the first place; he couldn't spare the time from his studies, in
the next place; but he spent his dad's money anyhow and he let his
classes go bang. He did the social stunt--on credit. Result: he got
E's and F's on his grades and he was shipped. The faculty regards that
kind of a student as demoralizing to the morale of a first-class
institution. In fact he could not be called a student; he was an
"inmate," and it is hard to make an alumni out of inmates.
This young fellow landed back home for the summer, "out of luck," in
debt, and a cruel disappointment to his doting parents. He had done
the social stunt, but he picked the fruit before it was ripe, and now
it's hurting him inside.
_He flew his kite in the rain!_
He decided he would make good by being a civil engineer. He wanted to
be a civil engineer right away, but when he started in he found that
the first stages of civil engineering consisted in carrying a chain
and a rod up and down hill in the heat and taking orders from a smart
chap who looked through a telescope and made notes, so within a few
days he quit; he wasn't willing to pay the price. He thought he would
play the violin, but he wasn't willing to spend hours practising the
scales and simple fingering, so he laid aside the violin.
Pages:
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158