I had taken a test for a scholarship, open to all students with at least a B average.   It was an SAT sort of test, a general test in all subjects.   The results are in, and I am one of eight students who made it.

With the results they send me a form to fill out about my finances.   My answers will help them determine the amount of scholarship money I would need.

Now that I know I can earn enough money, as well as having Muriel and Bill’s help in an emergency, for once I want the freedom of deciding what is important for me without worrying about grades.

I fill out the application basically stating that I can manage financially by working part-time and with some help from friends.

They award me a small amount of money anyway.

I use the money to collect books for a library of my own.

There are books I want that I can’t find anywhere.   I start with Simone Weil’s Notebooks.  I write to her publisher in London.   I think they bind them to order.

Months later, the two volumes arrive.   They are so new I have to slice pages apart.   I am amazed that they actually bound them for a single student.    Because I had to hunt them down, I feel triumphant as I add them to my little library.   Today they are old and worn by handling and many moves over more than half a century, but they are still with me like relics of a bygone culture.

Where did I get the idea that I need a library of my own?

Old Student Collection