The Great Horace Greeley on Funding Education

Horace Greeley on having only the education one's parents can afford:

"The last Summer that we lived in New Hampshire, an offer was made by the leading men of our neighborhood to send me to Phillips Academy at Exeter, and thence to college, — the expense being so defrayed that no part of it should fall on my parents. They listened thoughtfully to the proposal, briefly deliberated, then firmly, though gratefully, declined it; saying that they would give their children the best education they could afford, and there stop. I do not remember that I had then any decided opinion or wish in the premises ; but I now have; and, from the bottom of my heart, I thank my parents for their wise and manly decision. Much as I have needed a fuller, better -education, I rejoice that I am indebted for schooling to none but those of whom I had a right to ask and expect it."

Horace Greeley "Reflections of a Busy Life" 1868, page 47