the paper carried a Stearns ad for 124 pairs of blankets, marked down to $1.90 owing to imperfections from their usual retail price of $4. By 10:41 the next morning, the company reported: “ALL SOLD.” To console those who came too late, it sold blankets of the next best grade at the same price for the remainder of the day. As proud as Boston was of its commerce, it was also proud of its stock exchange; that year Clarence Barron, a young editor, published an entire volume on the stock market, The Boston Stock Exchange , making the case that when it came to finance, the “hub” truly was one.
Coolidge used some of the material from his debates to enter an essay contest sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution. Coolidge submitted a piece on the concept of liberty as it existed in Great Britain before American independence. His point was a simple one: the American Revolution had not been about moving past Great Britain, it had been about the colonists reminding the corrupt Great Britain under King George III what its own freedoms were about. American liberty was English liberty, an idea popular among English-Americans but not so obvious to the Irish-Americans who were now populating the Bay State. Coolidge singled out important events: the confirmation of the Magna Carta by King Edward I; the Glorious Revolution that had driven out King James II. Of the Revolutionary War, Coolidge wrote, “Nor was it at first so much for gaining new liberties as for preserving the old.”
It would be a long while before he knew the results of the essay contest, but in the meantime came another victory: he won the Grove Orator slot. Taking the job of graduation day speaker seriously, he put effort into the composition of his speech. He was writing more cleanly and less affectedly. In old speeches he had used the word “I” frequently and written long sentences; now he tried to cut himself out and shorten the sentences. Garman’s message of selflessness was already penetrating.
Recognition usually comes when it is no longer necessary, and that was the case in Coolidge’s senior year. It turned out that Phi Gamma Delta, the fraternity that had talked to him years before, might actually establish a chapter at Amherst. This time, Coolidge and Deering were both tapped. Coolidge did not hesitate. In fact, he was proud. “The fraternity, which I joined, rec’d congratulations quite as much as did I,” he wrote to his father. Now he needed a dress suit, which cost $55, as well as a pin: “College men are always proud to wear a society, greek letter pin and are very seldom seen without it.” He promptly leaped into Greek activities, attending dinners.
The fraternity was worth it, just as investing in a suit was; he sensed now that speaking was a great part of his life and that he might eventually earn money through it. Dwight Morrow went to Northampton to see the girls at Smith; Coolidge, however, was drawn there for errands and speeches. Phi Gamma Delta held a regional dinner at the Norwood Hotel there; a Yale senior complimented Coolidge on an impromptu toast he had made. “There is nothing in the world gives me so much pleasure as to feel I have made a good speech and nothing gives me more pain than to feel I have made a poor one,” he wrote, triumphant. “I think I must stand very well in college now.”
So close to graduation, Coolidge sent home letters that were a mix of high and low, private life and politics. One dated February 3, 1895, was typical: Coolidge first made a little joke about his own currency shortage and President Cleveland’s: “I have paid out about $5,00 of the money you sent me before for current expenses so I have some by me though I have lent some which will be returned in a day or so I expect. There! That is my currency bill and I hope you will give it more approval than Congress gives Cleveland’s ideas of currency.” Then he tried out the idea of practicing law: “If I could read and digest
Coolidge used some of the material from his debates to enter an essay contest sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution. Coolidge submitted a piece on the concept of liberty as it existed in Great Britain before American independence. His point was a simple one: the American Revolution had not been about moving past Great Britain, it had been about the colonists reminding the corrupt Great Britain under King George III what its own freedoms were about. American liberty was English liberty, an idea popular among English-Americans but not so obvious to the Irish-Americans who were now populating the Bay State. Coolidge singled out important events: the confirmation of the Magna Carta by King Edward I; the Glorious Revolution that had driven out King James II. Of the Revolutionary War, Coolidge wrote, “Nor was it at first so much for gaining new liberties as for preserving the old.”
It would be a long while before he knew the results of the essay contest, but in the meantime came another victory: he won the Grove Orator slot. Taking the job of graduation day speaker seriously, he put effort into the composition of his speech. He was writing more cleanly and less affectedly. In old speeches he had used the word “I” frequently and written long sentences; now he tried to cut himself out and shorten the sentences. Garman’s message of selflessness was already penetrating.
Recognition usually comes when it is no longer necessary, and that was the case in Coolidge’s senior year. It turned out that Phi Gamma Delta, the fraternity that had talked to him years before, might actually establish a chapter at Amherst. This time, Coolidge and Deering were both tapped. Coolidge did not hesitate. In fact, he was proud. “The fraternity, which I joined, rec’d congratulations quite as much as did I,” he wrote to his father. Now he needed a dress suit, which cost $55, as well as a pin: “College men are always proud to wear a society, greek letter pin and are very seldom seen without it.” He promptly leaped into Greek activities, attending dinners.
The fraternity was worth it, just as investing in a suit was; he sensed now that speaking was a great part of his life and that he might eventually earn money through it. Dwight Morrow went to Northampton to see the girls at Smith; Coolidge, however, was drawn there for errands and speeches. Phi Gamma Delta held a regional dinner at the Norwood Hotel there; a Yale senior complimented Coolidge on an impromptu toast he had made. “There is nothing in the world gives me so much pleasure as to feel I have made a good speech and nothing gives me more pain than to feel I have made a poor one,” he wrote, triumphant. “I think I must stand very well in college now.”
So close to graduation, Coolidge sent home letters that were a mix of high and low, private life and politics. One dated February 3, 1895, was typical: Coolidge first made a little joke about his own currency shortage and President Cleveland’s: “I have paid out about $5,00 of the money you sent me before for current expenses so I have some by me though I have lent some which will be returned in a day or so I expect. There! That is my currency bill and I hope you will give it more approval than Congress gives Cleveland’s ideas of currency.” Then he tried out the idea of practicing law: “If I could read and digest
Similar Books
