Dear Robert,
I received your nice note. This is the first time that anyone has ever written to me about love and I am all excited over it. I never thought that you liked me, Bobbie. I always thought that you were making eyes at Kitty Anderson in school. I do like you and think that you are a nice boy.
Yours,
Marie.
When Robert read the last line, he felt his heart jump right up in his throat. His hopes and ambitions soared higher than they had ever before. He began to dream of the future with Marie as his wife. He talked of his plans to Walter, and his hope of being a great inventor some day and making a lot of money so that he could marry a wealthy girl like Marie.
The following Sunday, he went home to the country to see his mother, and told her the story of the new love affair. "Bobbie," said his mother, "you are little over fifteen years old, and this is only puppy love, or what they call school-boy and school-girl love. It will soon pass away, but there is no harm in it. Love is a great thing and some day you will meet the right girl, but there is no use being in any hurry about it."
Bobbie told his mother that Marie was the only girl in the world for him, and that he would live and work for her; that if he couldn't marry Marie he never wanted any other girl. His mother laughed at this and told him that they all thought that way over the first love affair, but that after a while, as the years went by and he met the real one, this would all pass away. However, she did tell Bobbie that she had never forgotten her first love, as there is something different about the first love, even tho it doesn't last.
"Stick to your studies," said she, "and do not let your love for Marie interfere with your progress."
She saw that this love was a great stimulator for Robert and that his ambitions were greater than ever. He told his mother that he was going to Sunday School every Sunday and that he was studying hard, reading the Bible and learning a lot, and that he was preparing to be a great man. His mother said, "Bobbie, I have always had great faith in you, and I know that one day my dream will come true, and you will do something that will make me very proud of you."
In June, 1921, Robert Gordon and Walter Kennelworth were in the graduating class. Altho Walter was one year younger than Robert, his early advantages enabled him to graduate at fourteen, while Robert was graduating at the age of fifteen, and would not have been able to pass all of his examinations except for the help and assistance rendered him by Walter. Marie Stanton, who was then thirteen years of age, graduated the following year.
After Robert graduated, he at first decided to secure a position and go to work, but after consulting with Walter, he decided that it would be best to enter High School and get thru as soon as possible. So in the Fall of 1921, he and Walter began High School. Here is where his greatest work began to show forth. He took a great interest in physics and higher mathematics, studied day and night, making very high marks in these studies. Also took an interest in chemistry, which Walter was specializing in, because he knew that it would be useful to him with his invention, which he was still talking so much about, and his plans.