My wife tells a story of a neighbor lady (I'll call her Jane)who used to come to her house and visit with her mom when she (Mm. Reclus) was a kid. Jane had been through some hard times, she was very poor and had married a worthless man who often abused her and her children, and eventually left her. One day, when Jane was well into late middle age, her mother died and she was tasked with going through her mother's belongings and get them in order.

While going through her mother's papers, Jane found a letter from a Pennsylvania teacher's college addressed to her when she was just a teenager. Apparently, Jane had been such a good student in high school, her teachers had recommended her for a full scholarship to this school, and the college had accepted her. The letter was an acceptance letter, telling Jane she could start classes in the fall term, and the details of her financial assistance, etc.

Jane never saw the letter when she was a teenager. It appears her mother intercepted it, read it, and hid it away. Jane speculated her mother and father did not want her to leave because they had counted on her for support in their old age. They wanted to keep her close by and at home.

Those were hard times.