September 5, 2022
#394
Thank you,
Barbara Schock, for sharing your delightful tales of Sandburg and 19th century
Galesburg & American history.
Carl Sandburg (Middle Row, Right) as a member of the 1900 Lombard
College Basketball Squad
Photo
courtesy of the University of
Illinois Libraries Rare Books & Manuscript Collection.
When Carl Went to College
By Barbara Schock
After “hoboing” to the wheat harvest in Kansas, washing dishes in restaurants
and picking apples in Colorado, Carl Sandburg enlisted in the United States Army
a few months later. While being a hobo, he lost twenty pounds. In the military
during the summer of 1898, he lost twenty pounds again. This time, the food was
meager and of uncertain quality, plus marching over a tropical island.
In the fall of 1898, Sandburg became a student at Lombard College. He was
accepted for one year because of his military service. Since he hadn’t earned a
diploma from high school, it was up to him to show he could perform the work of
a college student.
Carl was also several years older than the other students. He was somewhat shy
and awkward as well. He had some feeling of insecurity because he hadn’t
graduated from high school, but he had read all the books his sister Mary
studied while she was attending Galesburg High School.
Carl had returned to his parents’ home after all the wandering. His brother,
Martin, suggested Carl apply for a job at the city fire department. It was
part-time and provided a salary. He had to sleep at the fire house every night.
He bought a bicycle to travel faster between home, the college and the fire
house or any fires that might occur while he was in class.
The college agreed to let him respond to the fire bell, but required him to ring
the college bell between classes and to clean the gymnasium.
He was most interested in elocution and literature courses. He played football,
basketball and softball. He became very involved in the college newspaper and
the college fiftieth anniversary commemorative book.
Soon, he was one of the best liked and well-known students on campus. He had
some romances with the girls of the college, but he was too busy to pay them
attention for long.
He was stimulated by reading the classics of literature. Professor Frank H.
Fowler, PhD., taught a class in Early English. Carl thought the professor was
weighed down with all his knowledge. Other students made jokes about the subject
of the course. He began to understand that language changes over time among
people. Later, Carl would memorize poems by writers of the nineteenth century.
Those poems were a comfort to him in times of loneliness.
Philip Green Wright became the professor whom Sandburg most admired and came to
know well. Wright taught a course in which a daily theme was required to be
written. He would choose several themes to be read aloud and commented upon. He
encouraged the students to express their opinions and grow in their writing
ability.
Professor Wright and his wife invited a few students interested in writing to
their home on Sunday evening. They would discuss writing and writers, drink hot
chocolate and nibble cookies. It was a sharing and learning time as well as a
social time.
Professor Wright later purchased a printing press on which to print college
posters, his own writing as well as several small books of poetry and prose by
Carl Sandburg. Those small booklets made of thin paper are worth a fortune
today.
It would take Carl Sandburg another decade or so to find his path to writing
poetry of a striking quality and style. And, to write as a newspaper reporter,
and to write a six-volume set of books on Abraham Lincoln, and to write fairy
tales for his children, and to write a book of folk songs he had collected
during his traveling.
Below is one of his early and most famous poems:
"Chicago" from Carl Sandburg's Chicago
Poems published
in 1916.
|
Date
| Title |
September 19, 2022 |
When Carl
Went to College |
September 5, 2022 |
Guitar Friends |
August 22, 2022 |
Colton Park |
August 14, 2022 |
The
Beecher Chapel Marker |
July 25,2022 |
Purington Paving Brick Company |
July 11, 2022 |
George Fitch, A Humorous Writer |
June 27, 2022 |
A First in
Galesburg |
June 13, 2022 |
Singing |
May 30,
2022 |
Decoration Day |
May 16,
2022 |
Philip Green
Wright - Part 2 |
April 25, 2022 |
Philip Green
Wright - Part 1 |
April 11, 2022 |
Firefighter/Student |
March 28, 2022 |
History Preserved |
March 14, 2022 |
Francis Lillian
Taylor |
February
28, 2022 |
Still Hoboing |
February 21, 2022 |
The Santa Fe Depot |
February
14, 2022 |
A Second Railroad |
January 31,
2022 |
A Child's Work |
January 17,
2022 |
Grade School
Teachers |
January 3,
2022 |
January 6th |
December
20, 2021 |
George W. Brown |
December 6,
2021 |
Galesburg's
Monuments |
November
22, 2021 |
Julia Fletcher
Carney |
November 8,
2021 |
The Ferris Wheel |
October 24,
2021 |
Reverend
W. H. Geistweit |
October 11,
2021 |
Earnest Elmo
Calkins |
Sept. 27,
2021 |
The Railroad |
Sept.13, 2021 |
John Philips Sousa |
August 30, 2021 |
The Opera Houses
(cont.) |
August 16, 2021 |
The Opera Houses |
August 2, 2021 |
Leroy
Marsh and the Horse Market |
July 19, 2021 |
A Knight Commander
|
July 5,
2021 |
Travel |
June 21,
2021 |
The Old Timers |
June 7,
2021 |
The
Global Positioning System |
May 24, 2021 |
Memorial Day 1887 |
May 10,
2021 |
Employment |
May 3,
2021 |
World's
Columbian Exhibition |
April 19,
2021 |
Carl Sandburg Laments Missed Reunions |
April 12,
2021 |
Strong Drink |
April 5,
2021 |
Brown's
Business College |
March 22,
2021 |
The Big Store |
March 8, 2021 |
A Life Cover |
February 22, 2021 |
Otto Harbach |
February 8, 2021 |
Uncle Sam's Cats |
February 1, 2021 |
The Poultry Show |
January 25, 2021 |
Old Time Sayings |
January 11, 2021 |
Backhouses |
January 4, 2021 |
Illinois Geology |
December 28, 2020 |
The Bandana |
December 21, 2020 |
The Lullaby |
December 14, 2020 |
"Sweet Betsy from Pike" |
December 7, 2020 |
A Little History |
November 30, 2020 |
Money |
November 23, 2020 |
Martha Farnham Webster |
November 16, 2020 |
The Boll Weevil Song |
October 26, 2020 |
Back in Galesburg |
October 19, 2020 |
Aurora, Illinois |
October 12, 2020 |
Sweet Music |
October 5, 2020 |
The Spelling Bee |
September 28, 2020 |
Women and the Vote |
September 21, 2020 |
Ida Tarbell, Writer |
September 14, 2020 |
Living with Horses |
September 7, 2020 |
Walt Whitman, Poet (continued) |
August 31, 2020 |
Walt Whitman, Poet |
August 24, 2020 |
The Sears Catalog |
August 17, 2020 |
"Red River Valley" |
August 10, 2020 |
The Avery Brothers |
July 20, 2020 |
A New Enterprise |
July 13, 2020 |
"Illinois" (State Song) |
July 6, 2020 |
John Fiske |
June 22, 2020 |
Poems |
June 8, 2020 |
Books |
June 1, 2020 |
The Seventeenth Governor of Illinois |
May 25, 2020 |
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum |
May 18, 2020 |
The Telegraph |
May 11, 2020 |
The American Songbag |
May 4, 2020 |
Recollections of a Pioneer |
April 27, 2020 |
Judge Alfred M. Craig |
April 20, 2020 |
Matches, Again |
April 13, 2020 |
Matches |
March 30, 2020 |
Ever the Winds of Chance |
March 23, 2020 |
The 1918 Influenza Epidemic |
March 16, 2020 |
Women's Rights |
March 2, 2020 |
Knox County Histories & Atlases |
February 24, 2020 |
What's in a Name? |
February 17, 2020 |
The City |
February 10, 2020 |
In Lincoln's Honor |
February 3, 2020 |
The Temperance Movement |
January 27, 2020 |
Noses |
January 20, 2020 |
Osgood, the Photographer |
January 13, 2020 |
The City Directories |
January 6, 2020 |
H.H. Kellogg |
December 23, 2019 |
Christmas in the Churches |
December 16, 2019 |
Happiness |
December 9, 2019 |
The Workingman's Lot |
December 2, 2019 |
Chicago Orchestra |
November 25, 2019 |
Cleanliness |
November 18, 2019 |
I. C. Preston |
November 11, 2019 |
Newton Bateman |
October 14, 2019 |
Lt. Lansing J. Dawdy |
September 30, 2019 |
Whistling |
September 9, 2019 |
Frances M. Hague |
September 2, 2019 |
Prairie |
August 19, 2019 |
The Vest Pocket Library |
August 5, 2019 |
The Union Is His Monument |
July 29, 2019 |
The Post Office |
July 22, 2019 |
Henry Knox |
July 15, 2019 |
The Department Store |
July 8, 2019 |
Burdock |
July 1, 2019 |
The Gold Dust Twins |
June 24, 2019 |
Samuel K. Barlow |
June 17, 2019 |
Vaudeville |
June 10, 2019 |
Daniel Fuqua, A Pioneer |
June 3, 2019 |
Decoration Day, 1899 |
May 27, 2019 |
Porches |
May 13, 2019 |
Richard A. Proctor |
May 6, 2019 |
More Asparagus |
April 29, 2019 |
Lucy Crocker Chase |
April 22, 2019 |
Fences |
April 15, 2019 |
The Ten Commandments |
April 8, 2019 |
The Umbrella |
April 1, 2019 |
"Removal of an Old Landmark" |
March 25, 2019 |
March 26, 1881 |
March 18, 2019 |
"The Song of the Shirt" |
March 4, 2019 |
The Edison Talking Machine (orig. posted Mar 4, 2013) |
February 25, 2019 |
Joe Elser, Civil War Veteran (orig. posted Feb 25, 2013) |
February 18, 2019 |
"Remember the Maine" (orig. posted Feb 18, 2013) |
February 11, 2019 |
Lincoln's Birthday (orig. posted Feb 11, 2013) |
February 4, 2019 |
Curiosity (orig. posted Feb 4, 2013) |
January 21, 2019 |
Cabbage |
January 14, 2019 |
Jesse James |
January 7, 2019 |
John T. Barnett |
December 31, 2018 |
Mortality |
December 24, 2018 |
Christmas Dinner, 1899 |
December 17, 2018 |
Charity |
December 10, 2018 |
Work |
December 3, 2018 |
Church Windows |
November 26, 2018 |
The Almshouse |
November 12, 2018 |
Rachel Peckenpaugh |
November 5, 2018 |
New Skating Rink |
October 29, 2018 |
News from the Colleges |
October 15, 2018 |
Parks & Playgrounds |
October 8, 2018 |
October 12, 1899 |
October 1, 2018 |
William Selden Gale |
September 17, 2018 |
Chow-Chow and Piccalilli |
August 27, 2018 |
William Twohig |
August 20, 2018 |
William C. Hodge |
August 13, 2018 |
Weather |
July 16, 2018 |
The Physical Culture Movement |
July 9, 2018 |
Postcards |
July 2, 2018 |
The Sewing Machine |
June 25, 2018 |
Colonel Francis Marion |
June 11, 2018 |
June 10, 1897 |
June 4, 2018 |
Watermelon |
May 28, 2018 |
Hope Cemetery |
May 21, 2018 |
General O.O. Howard |
May 14, 2018 |
Western Health Institute |
May 7, 2018 |
William L. Steele |
April 30, 2018 |
General Nathanael Greene |
April 23, 2018 |
The Boys of '76 |
April 16, 2018 |
The Eight-Hour Day |
April 9, 2018 |
Handwriting |
April 2, 2018 |
Hello Spring |
March 26, 2018 |
The Post-Simpson House |
March 12, 2018 |
The Why |
February 26, 2018 |
John Van Ness Standish |
February 19, 2018 |
The Sale of Spirits |
February 12, 2018 |
Gershom Martin, part 2 |
February 5, 2018 |
Gershom Martin |
January 29, 2018 |
La Grippe |
January 22, 2018 |
Washday |
January 15, 2018 |
Dice |
January 1, 2018 |
What Is a Deprived Childhood? |
December 18, 2017 |
Stars |
December 11, 2017 |
Andrew Carnegie, Philanthropist |
December 4, 2017 |
Isaac Guliher |
November 27, 2017 |
"Found a Deserted Babe" |
November 20, 2017 |
Thanksgiving Days |
November 13, 2017 |
Wilkins Seacord |
November 6, 2017 |
Lake Washington Sanborn |
October 30, 2017 |
Streetcars |
October 23, 2017 |
Many Pranks Played |
October 16, 2017 |
Season to Open Soon |
October 9, 2017 |
Carl's 17th Birthday Memories |
September 25, 2017 |
General P.S. Post |
September 18, 2017 |
'Tis Apple Time |
September 4, 2017 |
The Union Picnic |
August 28, 2017 |
The Founders' Streets |
August 21, 2017 |
Sarah Bernhardt |
August 7, 2017 |
The Circus |
July 31, 2017 |
A Man of Many Firsts |
July 24, 2017 |
Cuspidors and Spittoons |
July 17, 2017 |
John K. Fowler |
July 3, 2017 |
The Indelible Pencil |
June 19, 2017 |
Fairy Tales |
June 12, 2017 |
Potato Bugs |
May 22, 2017 |
A Pioneer Family |
May 15, 2017 |
The Prairie |
May 8, 2017 |
Henry Hitchcock |
May 1, 2017 |
Callender and Rodine |
April 24, 2017 |
The Mesmerist |
April 10, 2017 |
Street Fair of 1898 (Part 3) - Florence Cooke, Queen of the Street Fair |
April 3, 2017 |
Street Fair of 1898 (Part 2) |
March 20, 2017 |
Street Fair of 1898 (Part 1) |
March 13, 2017 |
Gingerbread |
February 27, 2017 |
Superstitions |
February 6, 2017 |
Sergeant Edwin C. Reed |
January 30, 2017 |
Corporal Andrew P. Tanning |
January 23, 2017 |
The Ferris Wheel |
January 16, 2017 |
The Gibson Girl |
January 9, 2017 |
The Cookstove |
January 2, 2017 |
Sergeant Charles J. Rose |
December 19, 2016 |
Hazelnuts |
December 12, 2016 |
Minstrel Shows |
December 7, 2016 |
Memories of Pearl Harbor |
December 5, 2016 |
The Coffee Mill |
November 28, 2016 |
Robert J. Samuelson |
November 21, 2016 |
The Chrysanthemum Rules |
November 14, 2016 |
Newspapers |
October 31, 2016 |
Frederick Dickinson |
October 24, 2016 |
The Reverend Carl A. Nyblad |
October 17, 2016 |
Talk Not Always Cheap |
October 10, 2016 |
"It Will Live in Bronze" |
September 19, 2016 |
J. Charles "Frenchy" Juneau |
September 12, 2016 |
Oscar F. "Husky" Larson |
September 5, 2016 |
Obituaries |
August 29, 2016 |
Aaron Boyer, Broommaker |
August 22, 2016 |
The Panic of 1873 |
August 15, 2016 |
The Swan Prize |
August 8, 2016 |
Chautauqua |
July 18, 2016 |
Street Lighting |
July 11, 2016 |
Cedar Fork |
July 4, 2016 |
Shelden W. Allen |
June 20, 2016 |
Conrad Byloff |
June 13, 2016 |
Edward W. Rosenberg |
June 6, 2016 |
Lawrence Futhey |
May 30, 2016 |
Memory |
May 23, 2016 |
Decoration Day, 1881 |
May 16, 2016 |
William Cullen Bryant |
May 9, 2016 |
College Days |
May 2, 2016 |
A Military Career Thwarted |
April 25, 2016 |
How to Sweep a Room |
April 18, 2016 |
The Marsh Horse and Mule Market |
April 11, 2016 |
Horses Everywhere |
April 4, 2016 |
Victor A. Thoureen |
March 28, 2016 |
Nicknames |
March 21, 2016 |
Corporal Edward P. Peckenpaugh |
March 14, 2016 |
Hold Still! |
March 7, 2016 |
Capt. T. L. McGirr |
February 29, 2016 |
Sparrow Season |
/tr>
February 22, 2016 |
George W. Erickson |
February 15, 2016 |
George Helgeson Fitch |
February 8, 2016 |
Anna Charlotte Goldquist |
February 1, 2016 |
"Little Boy Blue" |
January 25, 2016 |
Always the Young Strangers |
January 18, 2016 |
George R. Longbrake |
January 11, 2016 |
Fred Cook |
January 4, 2016 |
Domestic Help |
December 14, 2015 |
Justice of the Peace B.F. Holcomb |
November 30, 2015 |
Standardized Time |
November 23, 2015 |
Joseph H. Knutson |
November 16, 2015 |
Wells and Cisterns |
November 2, 2015 |
Willis E. Calkins |
October 26, 2015 |
Galesburg Pottery |
October 19, 2015 |
Private Lewis H. Kay |
October 12, 2015 |
The Klondike Gold Rush |
September 28, 2015 |
Charles L. Bloomgren |
September 21, 2015 |
The Gilded Age |
September 14, 2015 |
Oliver Optic |
August 31, 2015 |
The "Spanish" Cannon |
August 24, 2015 |
The Company C Men |
August 17, 2015 |
Jacob A. Riis |
August 10, 2015 |
Mason Jars |
August 3, 2015 |
October 7, 1896 |
July 27, 2015 |
The Soldier's Monument |
July 20, 2015 |
Ice |
July 13, 2015 |
Moses O. Williamson |
July 6, 2015 |
Sweet Little Alix |
June 29, 2015 |
Sharlie's Shickens |
June 22, 2015 |
Anna Held & John Drew |
June 15, 2015 |
Hartel & Secker Meat Market |
June 8, 2015 |
Girls |
June 1, 2015 |
Old First Church - Part II |
May 25, 2015 |
Old First Church - Part I |
May 18, 2015 |
Marbles |
May 11, 2015 |
Pawnee County, Kansas |
May 4, 2015 |
Detective Stories and the Real Thing |
April 27, 2015 |
Professor Isaac A. Parker |
April 20, 2015 |
Celluloid Collars |
April 13, 2015 |
Asparagus |
April 6, 2015 |
Mayor John C. Stewart |
March 30, 2015 |
Basket Ball |
March 23, 2015 |
The Courthouse of Knox County, IL |
March 16, 2015 |
“Trifles make perfection...” |
March 9, 2015 |
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
March 2, 2015 |
Martha Sandburg Goldstone |
February 23, 2015 |
Devotion |
February 16,2015 |
Gumbiner's Pawn Shop |
February 9, 2015 |
White Bread |
February 2, 2015 |
The Monarch Club |
January 26, 2015 |
The Silver Dollar |
January 19, 2015 |
The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway |
January 12, 2015 |
The Four Corners |
December 22, 2014 |
Swedish Christmas |
December 8, 2014 |
Christmas 1878 |
December 1, 2014 |
BunkerBoots & Shoes |
November 24, 2014 |
Galesburg, Illinois |
November 17, 2014 |
It was Buffalo Bill's Day |
November 10, 2014 |
The Election of 1896 (A follow-up story) |
November 3, 2014 |
The Election of 1896 (continued) |
October 27, 2014 |
The Election of 1896 |
October 24, 2014 |
The Rissywarn |
October 20, 2014 |
The Parlor Stove |
October 13, 2014 |
Ashes to Ashes |
October 6, 2014 |
Jesse James |
Sept. 29, 2014 |
Lester T. Stone, Public Servant |
Sept. 22, 2014 |
It's Who You Know |
Sept 15, 2014 |
Mother of the Illinois Flag |
Sept 8, 2014 |
The Scissors Grinder |
Sept 1, 2014 |
Baseball |
August 25, 2014 |
Howard K. Knowles, Capitalist |
August 18, 2014 |
Alcoholic Beverages |
August 11, 2014 |
Soda Water |
August 4, 2014 |
Sweet Corn |
July 28, 2014 |
Marching Through Georgia |
July 21, 2014 |
The Knox County Fair |
July 14, 2014 |
The Panic of 1893 |
July 7, 2014 |
The Rev. T. N. Hasselquist |
June 30, 2014 |
The Knox County Courthouse |
June 23, 2014 |
The Family Photograph Album |
June 16, 2014 |
Parades |
June 9, 2014 |
Lingonberries |
June 2, 2014 |
Where We Live |
May 26, 2014 |
Old Main |
May 19, 2014 |
Rhythms of the Railroad |
May 12, 2014 |
Spring Tonic |
May 5, 2014 |
The Milkmen |
April 28, 2014 |
Gray's "Elegy..." |
April 21, 2014 |
Off to War |
April 14, 2014 |
Swedish Easter |
April 7, 2014 |
A Father's Face |
March 31, 2014 |
Secret Societies |
March 24, 2014 |
George A. Murdock, Merchant |
March 10, 2014 |
Trade Cards |
March 3, 2014 |
The Demorest Medal |
February 24, 2014 |
Rip Van Winkle |
February 17, 2014 |
Cabbage Soup |
February 10, 2014 |
Lincoln's Birthday |
February 3, 2014 |
The Colonel |
January 27, 2014 |
The Lincoln Penny - A Little History |
January 20, 2014 |
Walking to Work |
January 13,
2014 |
A Small Abode |
January 6, 2014 |
Birth of a Poet |
December 30, 2013 |
Christmas 1880 |
December 23, 2013 |
Swedish Christmas |
December 16, 2013 |
The Reporter
Sees Santa |
December 9, 2013 |
The Coming
of Christmas |
December 2, 2013 |
The Fire Boys Talk |
November 25, 2013 |
Galesburg Will Feast on Turkeys and Cranberries -
Thanksgiving 1893 |
November 18, 2013 |
Mary
Sandburg Johnson |
November 11, 2013 |
Carl
Sandburg's Bicycle |
November 4, 2013 |
Lace Curtains |
October 28, 2013 |
The
Front Room |
October 21, 2013 |
A Warm Breakfast |
October 14, 2013 |
Marion D.
Shutter |
October 7, 2013 |
Cigars and Consumption |
September 30, 2013 |
Forrest F. Cooke & August Sandburg |
September 16, 2013 |
Forrest F.
Cooke, Mayor |
September 9, 2013 |
Dusty
Streets |
September 2, 2013 |
Typhoid
Fever |
August 26, 2013 |
Coffee and Water |
August 19, 2013 |
A
Horse! A Horse! |
August 12, 2013 |
Gaddial Scott |
August 5, 2013 |
The
Racetrack |
July 29, 2013 |
John Peter
Algeld - Part II |
July 22, 2013 |
John Peter
Altgeld - Part I |
July
15, 2013 |
Tramps, Tramps, Tramps |
July 8, 2013 |
Lady
Liberty |
July 1, 2013 |
Galesburg's
Fourth |
June 24, 2013 |
John
H. Finley |
June 17, 2013 |
The
World's Columbian Exhibition |
June
10, 2013 |
Fruit
Short-Cake |
June 3, 2013 |
Horatio Alger,
Author |
May 27, 2013 |
Memorial Day,
1887 |
May 20, 2013 |
Professor
Jon W. Grubb |
May 13, 2013 |
Beginnings of Lombard University |
May 6, 2013 |
Young
Sandburg’s View of Lombard College |
April
29, 2013 |
Thinking |
April
22, 2013 |
Robert
Colville, Master Mechanic |
April 15,
2013 |
The Galesburg Opera House |
April 8, 2013 |
Grocery
Stores and Sample Rooms |
April 1, 2013 |
A
Hearty Breakfast |
March
25, 2013 |
The Lost
Wallpaper Legend |
March 18, 2013 |
Martin G. Sandburg |
March 4, 2013 |
The
Edison Talking Machine |
February 25, 2013 |
Joe Elser, Civil War
Veteran |
February 18, 2013 |
Remember
the Maine... |
February 11, 2013 |
Lincoln's
Birthday |
February 4, 2013 |
Curiosity |
|