LEROY W. PORTER

At the age of twenty-one Leroy had developed the idea that he ought to do something for mankind and for the world in which he lived. One day he sat in the shade of a large tree pondering over this matter, and he thought, “I can never do my part in making the world without an education.” And he thought that every man had a part; for he had come to see through his reading that most men who had accomplished things were educated. But as he turned these things over in his mind, he remembered that somewhere he had heard of young men working their way through college, and he said, as if speaking to the ants that were ascending and descending the trunk of the tree, “If others have done that, I can.”

After he had rested, he got up, went into the house and said, “Mother, I believe I will go to college.” But his mother said, “Why, my dear boy, you have no money, and your father could not help you, for he is not well and cannot support the family. You have been so very good to stay at home after you were of age to help us and give us the 253 money you have earned at spare times.” Leroy said, “Well, Mother, others have worked their way through, why can’t I?”

On January 22, 1908, Leroy arrived in a college town in the Middle West. After he had introduced himself to the treasurer of the College, he was questioned as to his means, and replied that he had but 58 cents left. When he was asked how he expected to go through college without money, he answered, “By work.” That was a satisfactory reply, so he was assigned to a room.

The weather was bad for some time, and work was scarce, but after a whi............