MY SECOND YEAR AT NORTHERN MONTANA COLLEGE -
Late in August of 1937, I counted up my money--just $50 on which to start another year of college! I had saved my money as best I could, but I knew that the money I had would not nearly meet my needs for living expenses,books, and tuition. With encouragement from my mother, who had long been an active member of the Methodist Church, of which I was also a member, I applied for a student loan from the Methodist Church headquarters. I received a verbal assurance that I could easily qualify for the $250 loan I asked for, and with that assurance, set off for Havre.
My first task was to find a place to live. I went first to the home of Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Jones, people we had become acquainted with the year before. They kindly arranged to rent me space for a bed, wash stand, a little cupboard and a gas hot plate, in their basement. My "space" wasn't really a room--sheets hung on wires separated it from the rest of the unfinished basement.But it was fine with me, and very, very economical. My only problem was that I had to use their bathroom upstairs, and they had a teenage daughter, Helen, who practically lived in that bathroom. We sometimes came to bitter arguments about that! The location was good for me--I was about half-way between the two campuses of Northern Montana College.
With the living situation taken care of, I made a down payment on the tuition, bought some essential groceries at the near-by little grocery store, and got started with my classes. I ate very simply. I bought only day-old bread or sweet rolls, which could be had for five cents a loaf or package of rolls. My other staples were boiled macaroni, and sweet potatoes (which I boiled and usually ate cold, with a bit of salt), and an occasional wiener. I also had some cold cereals for breakfast, but not having any way to keep milk cold, I ate those cereals softened with hot water. It didn't taste the best, but I could eat it.
Did I still have a job? Oh, yes, I worked again under the National Youth Administration, and earned $15 per month. In this second year I worked as laboratory assistant in the physics laboratory (one of my courses), and also carried the mail for the college. That involved plenty of walking. I went to the post office in downtown Havre about 7:30 each morning, and carried the mail, often in a sizeable sack, back to the campus and business office. There I did a hurried job of sorting, then delivered the mail addressed to the upper campus, and to the residence hall for women. In the afternoon of each school day I picked up the mail at the upper campus, stopped by the lower campus for any outgoing mail there, and took it all down to the post office. It had to be there by 5PM, and often I had to make some fast tracks to get there before the post office closed. Then it was hike back to my room, fix my "one burner" supper, and spend most evenings studying or reading. I also cashiered at many basketball games that winter, as I had the previous year.
My courses were tougher in this second year-- physics, inorganic chemistry, botany, trigonometry, and economics. I especially liked the latter. As I mentioned above, I was also lab assistant in physics, helping Dr. Rassweiler, the professor, set up demonstration "experiments," and other lab equipment. Again, all my courses were very interesting to me. In addition to the class studies, I chose tennis as my physical education assignment. I loved the game, and became roughly skilled at it. The college maintained two crude clay courts, located at the upper campus. I had to walk about a mile to get to the courts! Despite the long walk, when I had any spare time in daylight, and when the weather permitted, I practiced for hours, even if I had no one to play with. I remember investing a few precious dollars, maybe two or three, in a new wooden racket, to help me improve mygame.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Two weeks after classes began, I received word from the Methodist Church that my loan application was denied. Their reason was that my father was only a laborer! I was really shattered and disgusted by that news. I thought I would surely have to leave school, as no one else I knew could offer me any help. But I told my friends, the Joneses, and Mr. Jones gave me cheering news. He said that the Demolay, the youth division of the Masonic Lodge, had an educational loan fund, and he thought I could borrow from there. Within just a couple days I had the money in hand. I knew, of course, that it was Mr. Jones' influence that got me the loan. No one in my family had ever had any connection with the Masons; in fact, my mother sternly objected to such organizations! In the next year, while I was in the Civilian Conservation Corps, I repaid that precious loan.
Apart from my college studies, and my job, I found time that year for a number of other activities. I was a member of the men's glee club, sang second bass in the men's double quartet, became more interested in girls (!), and picked up a few odd jobs to earn extra money. I especially recall two jobs involving putting up storm windows. The first job was to wash the outside windows, and put up the storm windows on one of Havre's largest houses, owned by the founder of Buttrey's stores. I worked like a dog all day, walked home for lunch and back again, and finally finished shortly before dark. The wealthy lady of the house graciously gave me $2 for my efforts! I'm afraid I didn't have very kind thoughts about that!
The other window job was helping the pastor of the Methodist Church put up the storm windows at the parsonage. The Saturday morning I went there was a nippy one, with white frost all over the place. Things went well enough until the time came to put up the second story windows above the front porch. This was on the north side of the house, and the roof was still white with frost. We carried the big storm window upstairs to a bedroom, and I carefully crawled out on the roof. Then the Pastor handed me the big double-frame storm window to put in place. Of course what happened was that I slid down that frosty, sloping roof, did an arc out over the front steps, and landed on the sidewalk about 12 feet below, mostly on my knees, with the window shattered around me. Luckily, I only had bad bruises and aches that bothered me when walking for weeks afterward. I didn't go to a doctor. I was sorry to have broken the window, but, believe me, I didn't go back to finish the job!
Again that winter I was active in the Epworth League at the Methodist Church. Also, that fall Mrs. Jones organized an inter-church youth group, with young people of high school and college age from several churches. I was elected president, for some reason (Mrs. Jones' influence, of course) and that was a good organization. I liked meeting the other young people. We had interesting meetings, and once, I remember, had a big Monopoly party. That new game was all the rage that winter.
My living situation wasn't the best. As cold weather came on, I found the basement was very chilly, and there was no way to get more heat. I often spent evenings under the bed covers, studying. I even ate my cold boiled sweet potatoes in bed! Because of my very tight money situation, I ate less and less.
Every two weeks or so I would send a parcel of dirty clothes home for Mom to wash and return. Sometimes she would put in a pint of home canned beef when returning my laundry, and I could have a feast. By careful planning, I could get two or three nice dishes of boiled macaroni and beef out of a jar of meat! But often I had to eat macaroni without anything else. I was losing weight, though I didn't particularly notice that. What I did notice was that I was cold so much of the time, and had one bad head cold after another.
We had very severe weather that winter. I remember one blizzard that left big snow drifts so high one could walk right up onto the roofs of many houses. This made my mail-carrying job all the more tedious, as the walking became more difficult.
When Christmas vacation came, I felt that I couldn't afford to go home to Glasgow. So I stayed on, and experienced one of the most lonely times of my life. My sister Jean, always generous, had sent me a pair of new shoe skates for my Christmas present. On Christmas eve, a bright moon-lit night, I went to the city skating rink to skate. It was miserably cold, far below zero. When I got to the rink, I found that I was all alone. I should have anticipated that, of course, it being Christmas eve. Alone or not, I strapped on my new skates, and skated perhaps half an hour. It was so cold the skates couldn't get a good grip on the ice, so skating wasn't much fun.I was so lonely I didn't know what to do.
Finally I decided to go back to my room, and then attend the midnight mass service at the Catholic Church. One of my classmates had invited me. So I went there, alone, sat up in the balcony and watched a most interesting service. I had never been in a Catholic church before, and it all seemed pretty strange to me, but somehow beautiful. Though I was still lonely, and left the church alone to go back to my room, I felt encouraged. The local "skidoo," a little passenger-freight train that ran between Havre and Minot, North Dakota, did not run on Christmas day. But the day after Christmas I scraped together all my money, took my laundry and new skates, and took the train to Glasgow. The folks were surprised to see me, as I had told them I wasn't coming home. I truly enjoyed those few days at home, especially eating the good food, and being warm enough.
All good things must end, it seems, and all too soon I was on my way back to Havre and my chilly room. But I was enjoying school, and was willing to put up with a little discomfort. My job with the mail kept my busy, beside the time I spent studying.
About that time, just after Christmas holidays, someone on the faculty noticed that I was looking thin and peaked, and asked me if I needed help. I had been losing weight, and I guess it was pretty noticeable. I told the truth--I wasn't eating much. So a new plan was introduced that was a big help. I was given a new job-- making the breakfast toast for the eighty or so girls in the women's residence hall, in exchange for breakfast each day. What a break! I could eat all I wanted!
Breakfast became my major meal of the day, and I really took advantage of it. I had to hurry with all this, because I still had to go down town, get and sort the mail, and, usually, get to an eight o'clock class. I practically ran all the way, but began to feel much better than I had previously. The good food made all the difference in the world. My course in botany was very interesting, for in it I learned the scientific names of most of the trees and shrubs of northern Montana. We took brief field trips out into the Rocky Boy mountains south of Havre, in the spring, and I really enjoyed those. The mountains, though relatively small ones, fascinated me. Spring came very soon, and with it as fine a gift as any I ever received. Knowing of my intense interest in photography, my older sister, Jean, sent me a graduation present a couple of months before graduation-- a new Argus Model A 35mm camera! I had been reading about the new small cameras, and the Argus, which cost only $12.50, was one I hoped to buy someday. I shot a few good pictures of school friends, particularly on the spring clean up day on the campus. I still have both the prints and the negatives of those pictures! The camera was very simple, but capable of good photos.
In that spring of 1938 I started dating a girl from central Montana, a very nice, strong, girl, born and reared on a ranch. Honestly, there was very little "mushiness" between us; I held her hand sometimes when we went out walking, but that was all. I remember one evening when we went out for a stroll. All over town the lilacs were just coming into bloom, and I picked her a nice big bouquet from shrubs along the sidewalks. I confess that to this day when I smell lilac blossoms in the spring, my mind immediately goes back to that evening!
When we got back to the women's residence hall, where she lived, we were standing by the front door, talking. Secretly, I wanted to kiss her good night, but didn't dare ask her for permission. It was nearly ten o'clock, time for the doors to be locked. We didn't notice the dean of women as she came up behind us, until she said "Oh, kiss her, John, and go on home!" That spoiled the whole thing, and I left without the kiss, very, very embarrassed! I don't know how Florence felt.
So many things happened in those last few weeks of school at Northern Montana College I can't remember them all. One was the trip our men's double quartet took along the "high line" east of Havre, stopping at the high schools in the small towns to sing and try to interest students in attending NMC. We were out several days, and had a good time.
Finally graduation day came, complete with caps and gowns and all that. There were lots of tearful farewells. Altogether it was a sad time. For some reason, I have never kept in touch with any of my classmates except Al Mundhenk. He spent most of his life in India as a missionary doctor, so I haven't seen or heard from him for many years, either.
That spring my brother, Robert, drove out from Baltimore, where he was working for the Social Security Administration. With Robert's coming out, my folks had arranged to come to Havre for my graduation, and then take me with them on a trip to Glacier National Park. The Dixon family, Mrs. Dixon, Doris (she was Robert's girl-friend), and Wayne, Doris' older brother, were to go with us. They were all there for the graduation exercises, and we left the next day for the Park.
That was a great trip. We were in the Park for three or four nights, camping in rented cabins. We stopped first at Two Medicine Lakes, then at Saint Mary's Lake, and the last night on the west side of the park. We saw a large portion of the Park, and I was really delighted with it all. My sister, Jean, had bought a roll of Kodachrome film for my camera, and I had a great time taking scenic pictures. I still have some of those old slides, the first of literally thousands I have shot since then. The weather was very nice, and we had a grand time.
I went back to Glasgow with the folks, looking for work. I had the loan from the Demolays to repay, and needed a job right away. Dad was still working at Fort Peck, but there was very little going on there, and no jobs to be had. I haunted the public employment agency day after day, but there was no work to be had. I was becoming really discouraged. Then one morning I walked down past the county court house As I walked, I noticed a sign "Civilian Conservation Corps" beside an open door. I had heard of the CCC's, so I stopped to see what was going on. It was a recruiting day--they were offering work to unemployed young fellows like me. I went in, learned that the camp where I would be assigned if I signed up was in Glacier National Park! Without consulting my parents I signed up for a year! Then I went home, told Mom what I was going to do, got my things together, and left by train early the next day, with about a dozen other young fellows from Valley County.
My quick choice to join the Civilian Conservation Corps proved to be a major decision. I must drop out of college for a year, at least. Also, my experiences in that organization affected my life for the next several years.