Smyrna times., 1904-07-20
WHOLESOME ADVICE GIVEN
BOY TAKING UP ENGINEERING
BOY IN LIMITED CIRCUMSTANCES CAN FIND
ASSISTANCE At DELAWARE COLLEGE.
With the Proper Inclination for Work and
Mastery Of the Elements a Boy Need
Have No Fear of Making a Success.
DELAWARE COLLEGE,
Newark, Del, July 8, 1904.

HdNG Nu ECdl VI Vidhlu8 OuNSNSSs
DELAWARE COLLEGE,
Newark, Del, July 8, 1904.
DEAR NEPHEW:
1 like the snap in your last let
ter. Your questions about an engi- |
neering education are to the point and |
any one can see that you mean busi- |
ness. You have your eyes open, and |
are now looking straight towards some
thing definite in life. Let us face the
matter squarely.
You could not have a more worthy
ambition than to become a good engi-
neer, but no school or college or uni
versity can make you lawyer, a doc
tor or preacher. Don't let that dis
courage you, however, for your two
years work in an architects employ,
where you have more than earned a
| living, and the studies carried on by
lamp-light, show that you have the
right mental stock to make something
of your college training. More than
all else, it will or ought to teach you
sound principles and straight thinking.
You have an advantage over the fellow
who goes more than half through his
college course before he finds out
what he came for. Stand four-square
on a good foundation, either with or
withouta college training, and you are
pretty safe.
But see how you are fixed. 1t will
take at least year of night study to
prepare. You have a good prospect
for steady advance for few years to
come in your present work, and, more
over, the money is not in sight for
your further education. If you get
the technical training so much desired
you may have to plow deep for suffi-
cient gold dust to pay the bills. In
all of this, the strong thing in your
favor is your splendid physical develop
ment. Above all things, whether in
college or out, see to it that you do
nothing to break it down. Keep up
your daily systematic exercise.
inclination Must be Your Guide.
In the selection OF any, engineering
course, your inclinations must be your
guide, but don't let them mislead you.
One may be able to put up electric
bells and yet make a poor Electrical
Engineer or he may build stone wall
and never round out into a clear
headed Civil Engineer. You may
make an excellent tracing, but lack the
most essential qualifications for archi-
tectursl design, and the man who can
merely run an engine and boiler has
no claim to be called Mechanical En-
gineer. Many one fails in getting
ahead because he is not good at mathe-
matics. 1 don't want to discourage
you, but rather to have you think OF
all this before you leap.
If possible, decide on a particular
course, but if that can't be done, let
it rest until after the first year-en.
gineering courses are all the same OF
very nearly so the first year. You
8 have been looking to a college some
! 800 miles away. Suppose you turn to
few of the more economical and
growing ones nearer home, where
there is a chance to work at odd times
and in vacations with some engineer
or builder. Look over, among others
the catalogue from Delaware College
: in which you will find in the mechan
! ical and electrical courses the theory
is supplemented by a thousand hour
, of required applied work. This ma,
= appeal to you as one of the desirable
features.