A Class in Engineering and Omelets

The one thing of which Milt Daggett was certain was that now he had
managed to crawl into the engineering school, he must get his degree in
mechanical engineering. He was older than most of his classmates. He
must hurry. He must do four years' work in two.

There has never been a Freshman, not the most goggle-eyed and earnest of
them, who has seen less of classmates, thought less about "outside
activities," more grimly centered the universe about his work.

Milt had sold his garage, by mail, to Ben Sittka and Heinie Rauskukle.
He had enough money to get through two years, with economy. His life was
as simple and dull as it had been in Schoenstrom. He studied while he
cooked his scrappy meals; he pinned mathematical formulæ and mechanical
diagrams on the wall, and pored over them while he was dressing--or
while he was trying to break in the new shoes, which were beautiful,
squeaky, and confoundedly tight.

He was taking French and English and "composition-writing" in addition
to engineering, and he made out a schedule of life as humorlessly as a
girl grind who intends to be a Latin teacher. When he was not at work,
or furiously running and yanking chest-weights in the gymnasium, he was
attending concerts, lectures.

Studying the life about him, he had discovered that the best way to save
time was to avoid the lazy friendships of college; the pipe-smoking,
yawning, comfortable, rather heavy, altogether pleasant wondering about
"what'll we do next?" which occupies at least four hours a day for the
average man in college. He would have liked it, as he had liked long
talks about nothing with Bill McGolwey at the Old Home Lunch. But he
couldn't afford it. He had to be ready to---That was the point at which his reflections always came up with a jolt.
He was quite clear about the method of getting ready, but he hadn't the
slightest idea of what he was getting ready for. The moment he had
redecided to marry Claire, he saw that his only possible future would be
celibate machinery-installing in Alaska; and the moment he was content
with the prospect of an engineer's camp in Alaskan wilds, his thoughts
went crazily fluttering after Claire.