Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-11-02
He Was Not
College Bred
By ELINoR MARSH


as she sat ON the piazza a young man
alighted from a depot car and ascend
ed the steps of the hotel. He was met
at the door by his mother, and there
was a fcnd embrace.
During the day the college graduate
was introduced to the newcomer. There
was the usual conversation about moth
ing by way of beginning.
Are you fond of the seashore?' she
asked.
"Not especially. Are your"
mo; ! dislike it. Mother loves it
and brings me to it every year. Thank
heaven, tits is the last season she can
drag me here. Next season shall be
q work
"At a profession?"
II shall teach."
II perceive that you wear a Phi Beta
key"
Eyes; ! have just been honored. /
was given it when I was graduated in
June"
do you approve of the present sys-
tenn Of %educationY"
"Certainly. Don't your"
II can't say that l do"
"What is your objectionT"
"The increase of knowledge during
the last century gives the student too
much to learn-that is, II he tries to
learn 1t all. l believe in ones study
ing from the beginning n subject,
Better a good cobbler than a univer-
sity graduate who knows a little of
everything and is not well educated in
one subject
"A university education is the foun-
dalton. The speciality later"
ssThat takes too much time. I shall
be twenty-six years old before getting
my profession and thirty or ~thirty-fve
before establishing an income on which
to support a family. At t~hirty-1ve /
begin to go downhill physically"
II take It you are not a university
graduate"
mo; / am not"
"And you are fitted for nothingr
ooh, yes. | would make a good jani-
tor. / know how to clean up. l can
make a bed. l can ride a horse to wa
ter and put on his harness"
do you consider such mental duties
of value? Do you expect to represent
your fellow citizens in congress or In
any such ield?'
II am not ambitious to go to con-
gress. ! am a poor debater, and con-
gress seems to me to be not much more
than a debating society"
"But / cannot understand how a per-
son of your breeding, unless you have
q fortune and desire to live an aim
less life, should not wish for a field in
which to>yiso - aminence."
II have no fortune. nor do / desire to
live an aimless life"
81 perceive that we are built on diff
ferent lines. / chose to go to college
and fortunately possessed the means
to pay my way. l propose to teach
that is, If l can find a position. What
that may lead to l don't know. Many
eminent ONE have been teachers"
"Your ambition Is evidently for your
self"
"Whom else should / be ambitious
forY"
"Well. there are the poor-our oun
try"
1.-THE poor should be cared for by the
state. AS for our country. If l were a
man / should fight for 1t. But l admit
I should not care TO sit all day knitting
socks for some wounded soldier"
Suppose every other woman should
decline to do Red Cross work for the
same reason?'
This seemed to puzzle the young lady.
ond fnctaod Of oot+spu ont ~ fba oor-
ner into which she had been forced she
started in a new path
"How much more noble the man
who fights in the trenches than one
knitting socksi He wears a cross or a
medal of honor. He is made a com
mander instead of one to be command
ed. He hears the plaudits of the peo-
pie and his soldiers
zone moment. please" interrupted
back, and yet you are not a man. Are
you on a sidesaddle or astride?"
"How absurdt'
sWil you enlist as a woman in a
mans uniform or in skirts? II in
skirts the recruiting officer won't en-
list you"
The young man brought the argu-
ment to a reductio ad absurdum ter
minarion at the moment his mother
entered the room. and after a few min
utes' conversation with her son he fol
lowed her to the piano.
The girl he had been talking with
bemoaned his want of ambition and
wondered that he did not care to
go to college and prepare himself for
a career 70 a young lady who stood
beside her she said:
"Do you see that young man leaving
the room?'
with the old lady, straight as an
arrow?"
"Yes."
"He has q want of ambition far be-