Don't ever dare to take your college as a matter of course - because, like democracy and freedom, many people you'll never know have broken their hearts to get it for you.

The story concludes as The Second World War commences and Alice Duer Miller worries that her son like his father will be killed fighting for the country he loves. Her great grandfather was William Alexander Duer who was the president of Columbia College 1829–1842. Secretary (1936).