ndependence. All this he could accomplish while
earning his daily wages as an apprentice or a common laborer.

The class in masonry seemed to be more in line with my present plans
than any of the other subjects. It ought to prove of value, I thought,
to a man in the general contracting business and certainly to a man who
undertook the contracting of building construction. At any rate it was
a trade in which I was told there was a steady demand for good men and
at which many men were earning from three to five dollars a day. I must
admit that at first I didn't understand how brick-laying could be
taught for I thought it merely a matter of practice but a glance at the
outline of the course showed me my error. It looked as complicated as
many of the university courses. The work included first the laying of a
brick to line. A man was given actual practice with bricks and mortar
under an expert mason. From this a man was advanced, when he had
acquired sufficient skill, to the laying out of the American bond; then
the building of square piers of different sizes; then the building of
square and pigeon hole corners, then the laying out of brick footings.
The second year included rowlock and bonded segmental arches; blocking,
toothing, and corbeling; building and bonding of vaulted walls;
polygonal and circular walls, piers and chimneys; fire-places and
flues. The third year advanced a man to the nice points of the trade
such as the foreign bonds--Flemish, Dutch, Roman and Old English;
cutting and turning of arches of all kinds,--straight, cambered,
semi-circular, three centred elliptical, and many forms of Gothic and
Moorish arches; also brick panels and cornices. Finally it gave
practice in the laying out of plans and work from these plans. Whatever
time was left was devoted to speed in all these things as far as it was
consistent with accurate and careful workmanship.

I enrolled at once and also entered a class in architectural drawing
which was given in connection with this.

I came back and told Ruth and though of course she was afraid it might
be too hard work for me she admitted that in the end it might save me
many months of still harder work. If it hadn't been for the boy I
think she would have liked to follow me even in these studies.
Whatever new thing I took up, she wanted to take up too. But as I told
her, it was she who was making the whole business possible and that
was enough for one woman to do.

The school