MISS AGNES R. WRIGHT, B.A.
The University of Wyoming situated at Laramie, Wyoming, on the broad plains which roll away to the hills and blue mountains capped with snowy peaks, is surrounded by an air of freeness and democracy characteristic of this great equal-suffrage State.
After finishing the preparatory course of the University, I was determined to complete the fours years of college; and, thus in the fall of 1909, I found myself a freshman in the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Wyoming.
My home was on a ranch some twenty-five miles out of Laramie. I therefore accepted gratefully the opportunity of staying with my aunts in town in order that I might go to school.
Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard, Professor of Political Economy and Librarian at the University, made me her assistant in the library. Through the fours years of my college course Dr. Hebard, who is a noble woman, was my guide, philosopher, and friend, helping me in every way possible. I remained assistant librarian through my entire course with a raise in salary each year. Since my salary 190 from this source was not sufficient to meet all my expenses, and believing thoroughly in grasping every opportunity, Dr. Hebard urged me to try for some of the literary prizes in the University.
The first one I tried for was an essay on the “Overland Trail in Wyoming.” I worked on this essay during one of my summer vacations and in the fall received the prize of $50. Other prizes which I was successful enough to win were: “A Place in Wyoming Worthy of a Monument,” $10; “Opportunities Wyoming Offers to Technically Trained Men and Women,” $25, two times, (different years) making $50; “Principles of Free Government,” (two times) making $50; a short story contest at the State Fair, second prize, $50.
This essay work not only gave me experience in writing and some valuable information, but also meant a great deal in a financial way.
It was necessary in connection with the library work that I take typewriting. With the practice gained in the library, together with the work in class, I was able to typewrite fairly well at the end of the first year. Many times I made a little extra money doing typewriting. On one occasion I made $2.50 for four hours of such work. Typewriting has been one of the most useful subjects which I took in college.
In the last half of my freshman year my sister and I economized by keeping house in two rooms rented in a private home. The next three years 191 we were able to live at the girls’ dormitory. My sister, too, is earning her way through college, and we will never regret doing so.
In my sophomore year I decided to take up drafting, and was allowed to elect sixteen hours in the College of Engineering. In the spring of both my junior and senior years I was offered the position as temporary draftsman at $100 a month by the United States Surveyor General in Cheyenne, but I refused, as I wished to graduate. This merely illustrates ho............