 At age 11, he skipped school and got a job at James Bain's bookstore on King Street East.The ensuing years found him sometimes at John Street Public School or Ryerson Public School, sometimes a messenger for the Dominion Telegraph Company and sometimes a cash boy in Timothy Eaton's dry goods store.At age 20, with a spotty school record, he enrolled at Jarvis Collegiate and, with the help of private tuition, graduated in one year.