His
church promptly voted to pay his widow five hundred dollars a year, for
seven years, but even with this help the family was so poor that in cold
weather it was noticed that Ralph and his brother went to school on
alternate days. The boys divined the reason, and were cruel enough to call
out, "Whose turn is it to wear the coat to-day?" But the mother struggled
heroically with poverty, and gave her sons a good education. Ralph Waldo
entered Harvard in 1817. He saved the cost of his lodging by being
appointed "President's Freshman," as the official message bearer was
called, and earned most of his board by waiting on the table at the college
Commons.
Emerson was descended from such a long line of clergymen that it was
natural for him to decide to be a minister. After graduating at Harvard and
taking a course in theology, he received a call from Cotton Mather's (p.
46) church and preached there for a short time; but he soon resigned
because he could not conscientiously conform to some of the customs of the
church. Although he occasionally occupied pulpits for a few years after
this, the greater part of his time for the rest of his life was spent in
writing and lecturing.
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