Haynes attended public schools through eighth grade and received a basic education. He had not determined a career path for himself and his parents often criticized him for lacking ambition; they insisted that he seek employment. He began by working as a custodian at a local church and later for the railroad, hauling ballast to construction sites. At the church, he joined the choir where he met and began to court Bertha Lanterman. When Portland's first public high school was opened in 1876, Haynes returned to school at age 19 and completed two more years. Bertha and her family moved to Alabama during the spring of 1877, and Haynes began a regular correspondence with her. During the summer of that year, a series of revival meetings were held in Indiana by Francis Murphy, a leader of a national temperance organization known as the Murphy Movement. Haynes attended the meetings, probably at his parents' urging, and became interested in temperance. He took two of Murphy's pledge cards and carried one for most of his life; the other he mailed to Bertha.