The Cook County herald., 1899-06-17
Sohuman's Upward Life.

Schurman's Upward Life.
AT 10 years of age country lad on
a backwoods farm on Prince Edward
Island. AT l3 he had become a clerk
in a country store at a salary of $50
a year. AT 18 he was a college stu
dent, supporting himself by working
i'm the evenings as bookkeeper. At
20 he had won a scholarship in the
University of London, in competition
with all other Canadian students. At
Is he was professor philosophy in
Acadia college, Nova Scotia. At 3S he
was appointed president of Cornell
university. At A he is chairman of
President McKin1ey's special commits
sion to the Philippines. In this sum-
mary istepitomized the career of Jacob
Gould Schurman. It is a romance Of
real life, such as is not unfamiliar in
America. Mr.. Schurman's career diff
;fers from that of some other self-made
men, however. Instead of heaping up
millions upon millions, he has applied
his talents to winning the intellectual
prizes of life, and has made his way,
unaided, to the front rank of the lead
ers in thought and learning. His ca
reer is "a source of inspiration to all
moor boys who have their way to make
in the world, for he has won his pres
ent honors by his own unaided efforts.
President Schurman says of his early
life: fIt lis impossible for the boy Of
today, mo matter in what part of the
country The is brought up, to appreciate
the life cof Prince Edward Island as it
was forty years ago. At that time it
had neither railroads nor daily news
papers, nor any of the dozen other
things that are the merest common
place nowadays, even to the boys of
the country districts. I did not see
railway until late in my teens. I was
never inside a. stheater until after was
20. The only newspaper that came to
my fathers house, was little provin-
cial weekly. Thetonly books the house
contained were a few standard works
such as the Bible, Bunyan's Pill
grim's Progress, Fox's Book of Mar
tyrs, and few others of that class.
Remember, too, that this was not back
at the beginning of the century, Lut
little more than generation ago, for
was born in the year 1854. My ia
ther had cleared away the land on
which our house stood. He was poor
man, but no poorer than his neighbors
No amount of land, and no amount of
wNr11 0H1111 vio11
necessaries of life in that time and
place. There were eight children in
our family, and there was work for all
of us.
"Our parents were anxious to have
their children acquire at least an ele-
mentary education; and so, summer
and winter, We tramped the mile and
ia half that lay between our house and
the district school, and sometimes,
when it was at its worst, our father
would drive us all to school in a big
sleigh. But no weather was bad
enough to keep us away. That would
be looked upon as a poor kind of
school nowadays, I suppose. The
scholars were of all ages, and every
thing from "A, B, c, to the Rule of
Three was taught by the one teacher.
But whatever may have been it's de-
ficiencies the work of the school was
thorough. The teacher was an old
fashioned drillmaster, and whatever he
drove into our heads he put there to
stay. I went ITO this school summer
and winter until Il was 13, and by that
time had learned to read and write
and spell and figure with considerable
accuracy. At the 'age of 13, left
home. hadn't formed any definite
plans as to my future merely want
ed to get into a village and to earn
some money. My father got me a
place in the nearest town-Summer-
side-a village of about 1000 inhab-
itants. For my first years work I
was to receive $50 and board. Think
of that young men of today! Thirty
dollars a year for working from z in
the morning tlntia 10 at night. But I
was glad to get the place. It was a
start in the world, and the little vii
lage was like a city to my country
eyes," %