At Princeton Kenneth started a business auctioning books. He gained a reputation from that and managed to build his library. By the time he graduated he had an excellent theological library.
The College had problems accommodating the growing flow of students, so many stayed off-campus. Kenneth had a roommate, Wesley Ingels, at a house they rented on Main St. Wesley was working at a bakery and had to go to bed early because he would leave…
Kenneth's letters to Margaret in the summer of 1924 were full of news about his mother and father's relationship getting better, in part because of Kenneth's decision to become a minister. He wrote about his desire to go to Princeton. Kenneth talked…
Kenneth's decision to become a minister was rather sudden, as most of his decisions in life. He had subconsciously made that decision before his relationship with Margaret began.
In the summer of 1924 Kenneth and his friends would go swimming. He worked an early morning shift at a restaurant. He would pull ice often. Red Grange, a Wheaton boy, would come up and pick up a 100-pound blocks of ice to load for delivery. Kenneth…
Archie was fun. Evangeline was going with him. He was chosen for the basketball Hall of Fame at Wheaton. He was only about 5'9" or 5'10", but he could just shoot straight up in the air.
Kenneth talks about his summer after graduation from Wheaton and his beginnings at Princeton. He remembers Eddie Love and Ding Darling, two roommates who shared the room next to his.
Darling was an incredible preacher in the use of words and tones. He preached one of his Pittsburgh sermons, and the man who was evaluating had nothing to say but to comment that Darling was going to be one of their most famous preachers.
Kenneth's first semester at Princeton he studied Hebrew and Greek and worked hard to be part of the top ten who entered professor Robert Wilson's advanced Hebrew class after Christmas time.
Kenneth remembers the first time he met professor Robert Wilson. He came to Kenneth's room and made a joke with a huge pipe. He had divided his life in sequences of fifteen years: 15 for study, 15 for writing, and 15 for teaching.
Kenneth recalls professor "Das Machen," a bachelor who would go around singing that nobody loves him. It was a way to invite people to come to his room and enjoy treats and chat.
Kenneth talks about how excellent Princeton was back then, just one brilliant professor after another. The scholarship was excellent before it all began falling apart.
Kenneth recalls and reads from his early letters to Margaret from Princeton. He talks about his classes at Hebrews, his address, and life in Princeton.
Das Machen invited the Checkers Club to his room at 8:30. Some twenty of them packed in the room and enjoyed the food he had put out for them. They played checkers and chess.
Kenneth attended the annual banquet although he was sick. He attended his classes as usual, went to the banquet and ate, sang, and felt better. Princeton didn't have Greek societies but eating clubs with very real social function.
Kenneth recalls being called by "Dick" to parse a whole chapter of Hebrew in the Old Testament, unprepared. One day Dick invited him to tea at 10 o'clock at his home. He would work until 2:00 a.m. helping Dick in his work, and tea would come only at…
Kenneth recalls Robert Dick Wilson as a man in his 80's who had laid his life in sequences of 15 years each (teach, research, writing). He was about Kenneth's size and was very active.
Kenneth recalls Dick Wilson's work on the Old Testament, his reputation worldwide in philology, and how he felt he would be ready to die after he had finished an article he was writing: his work would have been done.
While at Princeton Kenneth received the visit of his father, Brad, and the two traveled to visit Brad's brother, Ed. He was a bachelor living in the old house, and Brad would do anything he asked, at Kenneth's amazement.
Kenneth and Margaret Landon tell of the controversy at Princeton Theological Seminary involving J. Ross Stevenson, Charles Erdman, Robert Dick Wilson and J. Gresham Machen.
Bernie Green was a very old man on faculty at Princeton. Students would imitate his voice and Kenneth learned about it and repeated it while the campus gathered for a photograph with Bernie Green right next to him--Kenneth hadn't met him yet, and so…