The Nickel That Built a Dream
Story★★★★A young girl who lived in asked her brother to give her the money to go to college. He told her he count not afford it, and tossing her a nickel, added, “Unless you can go on that.”
The plucky girl took the five-cent piece and thought some calico [a coarse cotton cloth with a bright printed pattern], from which she made a bonnet that she sold for twenty-five cents. With this she made a bonnet that she sold for twenty-five cents. With this money she bought more calico, and made more bonnets. After she had made several dollars in this way, she determined to raise potatoes. She did all the work in the field except the plowing. The venture was a success, and she had enough money to start to school. She did not stop work, however, and it is not surprising that a girl of so much determination was able to pay her way through school.
She graduated with honor from the state college for women, attended a medical school, still earning all her expenses, got her degree, and is now a successful practicing physician in a large town in the South; and it all began with a nickel!
Hester W. Slater.
The point
A girl turned a single nickel into bonnets, then a potato crop, and worked her way through college and medical school, showing what determination can build from almost nothing.