Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-07-29

the people in it. He devoured them
with the hunger of a harvest hand.
"And out of his feasting grew a
thirst for knowledge, more knowledge
and then some-a knowledge of all
the things in the world!
/ He read more and studied all the
books he could lay his hands on, and
then there grew within him the de-
termination to go to college. His peo-
pie did not discourage his ambition
because the pastor said it was good
but probably it wouldn't have made
any difference if they had.
"The day he started for the little
freshwater college which his people
had chosen he was as unadulterated
home product as ever wore home
spun. His shirt was made from flax
grown on the home place, hatcheled,
spun and woven in the little log
| house; his outer clothes were of wool
from the backs of his fathers sheep;
even his shoes were made in the
| home-cabin, by wandering shoe
maker from the hide of calf which
he had helped to raise. His cap was
the only article Of wear on him that
was store bought But he had IN
ambition bigger than any barn in his
county and brighter than the colors Of
a circus poster-and that was home
grown too!
| There were several articles of col
/ lege equipment which he didn't have,
Ihowever. He was short homegrown
allowance, an automobile, bull dog,
and yearning to break into the most
exclusive fraternities. And all the
thirst he had was for--knowledge!
"Did he make good in college, this
homespun boy? He just ate it up.
They couldn't feed it to him fast
they imbedded themselves in his
mind as deeply and as naturally as a
cows foot in a bog after a spring rain.
He wasn't there because pa and ma
wanted to have him cultivated to meet
the requirements of the social regis
ter next above them He wasn't
serving time and taking a masters
degree in football, and fraternity de-
gree in highballs-not Little Home
spun. He was there because his stom-
ach fairly ached for the solid food of
knowledge; there because learning
things was the most and the biggest
fun he had ever had in his life.
"After college he took to the tall
grass and became county superin-
| tendent Of schools up in Dakota. His
cross country rides were longer than
a tariff debate with the lid off-and
he always carried book and kept on
reading while the wheels turned
round. They couldn't stop him-not
even with a cradle and houseful Of
babies for he married on leaving col
lege); nothing could discourage mis-
delight in learning things.
| "He grew and grew in larger touch
with the world. He wrote a book and
| it made him modestly famous. He be-
gan to lecture and his following never
allowed him to stop. He became a
political power whose influence was
sought by governors and others in
high places. He has travelled the
world over and as an editor, writer
upon current affairs and an interpre-
| ter Of literature, he has a following
as solid as a banner Tammany pre-
cinct
"But best of all, he has inside him
self an intimate letter-and-spirit &C
quaintance with the riches of litera-
ture in five languages that makes him
a delightful companion and a man of
| true learning.
His college education has paid him
| a thousand per centAbecause ne
wanted it for himself and not for it's
top-dressing of sports and frats and
high life; because the want Of it was
within himself, not in the mind of his
folks. And perhaps it has paid him so
richly partly because he got it in a
little freshwater college where they do
not call classes with an auto honker,
or take rank on the fine points of a
prize bull dog"