St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-09-04
The Magician of Hampton.
j. f. RANKIN, D. D., IN THE ADVANCE

IT any mans work looks like magic,
it is the work of Gen. S. c. Armstrong,
of Hampton Institute, Va. Take the
"Jane Moseley" mt FIVE o'clock p. m.
down the yellow Potomac. past Mount
Vernon, where amid old-time patri-
elan glory Our Washington sleeps /;
strike out upon the blue bosom of
Chesapeake bay, till Rip-Raps and For
tress Monroe burst upon your morning
vision. Breathe the fresh air and look
off seaward. This is Hampton Roads,
and here all the navies of the world
might be neighborly together without
crowding, as if nature intended it to
be the one harbor of the western
hemisphere. And three miles away,
along II shell road, though still upon
the green banks of the bay, is situated
Hampton institute, built by the true
Aladdin's lamp, faith in God.
The best friends of the colOred peO-
pie and the Indians are those who
understand them best, not rs they
have been but as God would have
them. The other day, at Harvard uni
versity, distinguished southern sena-
tor, in addressing the students, spoke
of himself rs knowing them better
than others, because i'll his bOyhOod he
was brought up with ''little niggers."
This is the very difference between
the two schemes of treating the ques-
| ton. There are those who look at the
colored man from the little -niggrr
stand dpoint, and those who look at him
from the-image- -of-God standpoint.
Those are the best friends to the Afri-
can and the Indians who most truly
recognize what in them God has made
possible, and who try To develop that
possibility. OF this class, are Gen. S.
| G. Armstrong and the friends of Hamp-
ton institute.
After our three miles ride by the
soldiers home and the sailors ceme-
| terry, here we are in the centre of Il
farm of $50 acres, and amid the hum
and clangor of dozen different Yam
kee industries. Go to the principals
office and report, and perhaps he will
assign you the Rev. Mr.. Thissell, pas
tor of the Bethesda church. Us your es-
cort A few steps bring you to the
printing office, where Il Hoe press is
striking off the Southern Citizen, the
monthly organ of the institute; and
where Indian boys are setting type.
In an adjoining room you hear the
buzz of score of knitting machines
each one of which turns off a new
schoolmitten i'll five minutes. Come
now to the blacksmith shop. vii
you have your horse shod? A new
tire on your wheel? Or will you ordel
Il farm wagon? These African boys
these Indian boys are ready to serv,
you. Oh it is Il harness you want
Well. the harness-shOp is the mex
door. But, orders are so many before
yours, that it will be months before
you can be accommodated. And this
is the shoe making shop. This is con
tract work. That Apache is making {
shoe for the government to furnish his
father as he travels along toward civil
ization another Indian boy is making
shoes for some of his Indian sisters il
Hampton institute. If you are tired o
the mechanical industries, perhaps yOI
will look into that magnificent barn
with its rows of sleek, well-fed cattle
on each side of you; Durhams, ant
Jerseys, and natives. This is where
the great Hygea hotel, at the landing
gets its supply of milk-twenty-tiv
gallons daily, ut twenty-five cents ;
| SdllOH. llOiSCo, WV iOl biiO ittA iii1 biN
carriage and the saddle, are in til,
stables below; the graceful Morgan
and the broad dhaunched Percheron.
And now the recitation rooms are il
full blast. Here is Miss BacOn's clas
in political economy, discOursing ol
the different paper issues of the gov
ernment; explaining banking and ex
change, and all the Intricate law
which govern monetary relations, ant
that to congressman, too! AnOthe
class is reciting i'll physiology, anothe
in geography and here is an Oldfash
ioned Yankee spelling school; ant
there is the primary reading class, un
der colored teacher, the Indian sit
ting mt the feet of the Ethiopian!
And now the sound of martial mu
sic The institute band are playing
"Tramp, tramp, the boys are march
ing" and after the boy cadets hav,
escorted the girl-cadets to Virgini
hall for lunch, the spectators are re
galed with marching and counter
marching on the campus, until at lengt
the sound of arms is exchanged for th
more pacific employment of eatin
sandwiches and drinking lemonade.
Thus ends the first chapter. Th
second chapter is in the new Gymna
stun building, all of whose structur
has been manufactured on the groun
every timber sawed, every bric
baked-a building everywhere grace
full, with Il seating capacity of froI
two to three thousand. One-thir
l within the buildings length stands til
platform behind which, and on as
/ 4 l., L.,
to-day they figure as chorus choir, /
gospel and Old-time Negro melodie
: On the platform are the trustees an
; invited guests. Before you is Il mike
audience, ranging all the way from til
y humblest to the highest ranks of VII
ginia society. And then come essay
short, pithy, practical, hopeful. Son
u of the six hundred graduates are bacl
u telling their experience in teaching al
a industrial work. Hour after hOu
e without wcariness, the great audien,
remains, such is the variety, ingenui
and good sense of the literary and il
tellectual entertainment; and TIN
another years work is crowned.
Is there another such institution
: Virginia Is it not the modelinstit
q ton for the youth of America II
% - body, mind and spirit cultivate t
g gether! Labor, but upon Il plane
dignity; knowledge made practici
# and life sensibly interpreted before
, is inferred upon. This is the true a
ricultural college, the tue scienti
r. school, the true literary institlte, t
-. true Christian family, all in one Su
schools in all the states of the UniO
ia would prevent the need of refOl
;" schools, which do not reform; a
=, penitentiaries, where they are new
1, penitent. For, after all, Satan is b'
r foiled, when you have put good thin
ly ing into his workshop; the brain, "a
ii kept idle hands ont of mischief by q