THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL -1868 -1870 345 



realize that not one man in a thousand was, in these re- 

 spects, his equal. As a result of this " Tribune " letter, a 

 multitude of eager young men pressed forward at the 

 opening of the university and insisted on receiving self- 

 supporting work. Nearly all of those who could offer 

 skilled labor of any sort we were able to employ; and 

 many graduates of whom Cornell University is now proud 

 supported themselves then by working as carpenters, ma- 

 sons, printers, accountants, and shorthand- writers. But 

 besides these were many who had never done any manual 

 labor, and still more who had never done any labor re- 

 quiring skill. AJI attempt was made to employ these in 

 grading roads, laying out paths, helping on the farm, 

 doing janitors' work, and the like. Some of them were 

 successful ; most were not. It was found that it would be 

 cheaper to support many of the applicants at a hotel and to 

 employ day-laborers in their places. Much of their work 

 had to be done over again at a cost greater than the origi- 

 nal outlay should have been. Typical was the husking of 

 Indian corn upon the university farm by student labor : it 

 was found to cost more than the resultant corn could be 

 sold for in the market. The expectations of these youth 

 were none the less exuberant. One of them, who had never 

 done any sort of manual labor, asked whether, while learn- 

 ing to build machinery and supporting himself and his 

 family, he could not lay up something against contingen- 

 cies. Another, a teamster from a Western State, came to 

 offer his services, and, on being asked what he wished to 

 study, said that he wished to learn to read ; on being told 

 that the public school in his own district was the place for 

 that, he was very indignant, and quoted Mr. Cornell's 

 words, i ' I would found an institution where any person can 

 find instruction in any study. ' ' Others, fairly good schol- 

 ars, but of delicate build, having applied for self-support- 

 ing employment, were assigned the lightest possible tasks 

 upon the university grounds; but, finding even this work 

 too severe, wrote bitterly to leading metropolitan journals 

 denouncing Mr. Cornell's bad faith. One came all the way 



