Page:Discipline and the Derelict (1921).pdf/44

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his note with hardly more than enough money to pay the interest. It is the fellow who applies early for his loan, who makes his plans a reasonable time ahead, who usually proves to be the best risk. A man who goes into debt should have in mind at least two reasonable ways for meeting his obligation, so that if one failed the other might prove dependable, just as a boy pursued by an angry bull in a pasture should be able to figure, as he flees to safety, that if he is unable to climb over the fence he may dodge under. He should take into consideration, also, the fact that it is the unexpected usually that happens. The fellow who never had an accident in his life, and who, therefore, considers it unnecessary to carry accident insurance is often the first to slip on the stairway and break a couple of ribs. The man who borrows should take into account the ordinary accidents and unexpected exigencies of life, but it is rarely that he does do so.

The granting of loans from the funds which I have to do with is usually restricted to students of good or excellent scholarship. In presenting to the University the money for establishing one of our, funds, the donor said specifically:

"I do not wish loans to be granted from this fund to-students simply because they are ambitious and needy. I feel that a great University should give special aid only to those men and women who show distinct promise of intellectual power and success." It is true, however, that many an undergraduate while having to work for his living in college seems intellectually commonplace, but if through a loan he is permitted to give all of his time to his work,