“Me? No, sir. I--I guess I won’t go to college.”
“Can’t afford it, sir,” replied Sam, with a twinkle. “They say it costs money.”
“Oh, that!” said Mr. York carelessly. “You’d like to, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, sir, I’d like to well enough, but----”
“Lots of chaps go through without a cent, or, at least, with almost no money. There were half a dozen chaps in my class at Warner who were a heap--er--who had less to spend than you have.”
Sam looked puzzled. “But how did they do it, sir? You mean scholarships?”
“Partly, in one or two cases. The trouble is with scholarships, Craig, that you usually have to work hard for them and you can’t ever be certain you’ll pull one down. No, the chaps I was thinking of were fellows who were rather prominent in sports--football, baseball, track. They found jobs waiting them. A couple were managers of frat houses, one was a sort of assistant in the Athletic Director’s office and had the programme privilege. There are quite a few jobs like that to be had by wide-awake chaps with--er--athletic ability.”
“It works well both ways,” continued Mr. York. “The college gets the services of, say, a good football man, and the student gets an education. It’s a fair exchange.”
“But isn’t it a good deal like--like paying a fellow to play for the college, sir?”
“Oh, there’s nothing like that to it! Here’s the way it’s done, Craig. Most graduates like to see their college stand high in everything, athletic as well as educational efficiency. Some of them have money and they’re glad to spend a portion of it for their college. When they run across a fellow who--well, a fellow like you, for instance, who has a talent for baseball, they say to themselves, ‘Here’s a chap who could help us win our games. He can’t afford to go to college unless he can find some way to meet his expenses. Let’s find a position for him.’ So they use their influence and the chap gets the managership of one of the fraternity houses, or becomes dining-hall steward, or something of that sort. The work isn’t hard and the salary is sufficient to pay his tuition and ordinary expenses; and he gets his room and board as a part of his remuneration. He has plenty of time for study and plenty of time to perform his part of the--er--bargain, which is to play on the eleven or the nine or whatever the team may be. It’s all honest and fair and--customary.”