Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-25

now ne went TO Hampton.
OF this turning point in his life let his
own words tell: when found out that
Hampton was a place where a black boy
could study, and at the same time have a
chance to work for his board and that in
addition to study he would be taught how
to work. j made up my mind to go there.
Telling my mother goodbye. I started out
one morning TO find my way to Hampton
although 1 had but a very few cents I'm
money, and did not have even any definite
ldea where Hampton was But | inquired
my way, and by walking, begging rides and
paying for portion of the Journey on the
steam cars with money earned on the road
hnally reached the city OF Richmond.
va L was without friends there and en-
tirely without money. ! found a good, dry
place under plank sidewalk and crawled
in there 10 sleep the first night. The next
DAY found work vessel where /
could earn some money. AS the Job would
last FOR several days / kept at work sleep
ing every night I'm the same place under
the sidewalk. 1t was a comfortable place,
and L was in that way enabled TO save the
most of my wages TO help me to 40 On.
When L reached Hampton / had 30 cents
left
AT Hampton found an opportunity for
class room education and for practical
training in Industrial life. opportunity to
learn thrift, economy and push. Amid
Christian influences ] was surrounded by
an atmosphere of business and a spirtt OF
ulty in me and cause me for the first time
to realize what IL means to be a man in
stead of piece of property.
Beginning His Life Work.
While l was at Hampton resolved that
when had finished my course of training
there I would go into the far south. into
the Black Belt of the south. and give
my life to providing the same kind of on
portunity for self-reliance and self-awak>
ening that l had found provided for me at
Hampton. My work began at Tuskegee
Ala, in 1881, in a small shanty and church
with one teacher and thirty students. with
out dollars worth of property. The spirit
of work and of Industrial thrift with aid
from the state and generosity from the
north, has enabled us to develop the school
to its present proportions"
TuskeEte Institute Is now n school whore
over 1909 young coIored men and women
are taught each year how to make their lives
count for the most possible both for them
selves and for their race. II is an intense
ly practical school, and does not teach
books so much as it does facts. and how To
use them. The school now owns several
thousand acres of land and about forty
buildings The pupils who are STUDYING
farming do all the work upon the land
and of the forty buildings. many of them
three and four-story brick structures, all
except the first three small ones have been
built, beginning with the making of the
bricks and the cutting of the lumber by
the pupils in the mechanical arts classes.
Tuskegee Is the largest school in the world
for colored pupils conducted wholly by coll
ored teachers. Its executive force and in
structors, numbering nearly 100 are all
men and women of the negro race and eN-
cept for the board of trustees, none Of
whom reside at the school, there is no one
connected with the institute who is not OF
the race for the helping of which it's efforts
are directed. One unique feature of Tuske-
gee is its negro conference, held there in
E'llF arEr of Onh
other schools for colored young men and
women in the country. but nowhere else is
there Il school for the fathers and mothers
of these young people. That is what the
conference really is, school. even though
its sessions are for only one day in year
and the most of the pupils who come to il
have gray hair and cannot read or write.
As ] heard a grizzled old negro say. when
he made the prayer which opened one OF
these sessions: 'Oh. Lawd, we wants to
tank de for dis our one day OBJ schoolin'
in de whole year"
Tuskegee now has a fine new brick
church, large enough to seat over two
thousand people. dedicated in the spring Of
1888. This building was designed by one
of the instructors there. and like all the
Others, built by the boys. The growth of
the school and of the conference has been
so rapid during the last five years that until
this building was erected there was no
audience room large enough to accomo-
date the students at chapel or the men and
d
built temporary structure had beensussd.
An Intensely Practical Leader.
Mr.. Washington is genius as a presid-
ing officer over such a gathering and gets
more good out of it than any one else could
get. He is intensely practical and keeps
discussions down TO practical subjects.
Don't let us try to grasp the moon l
have heard him say; then Let us first take
the things at hand and the others will take
care of themselves"
Suppose you are engaged in milking
cows he says, Il think il better To talk
of practical things. with which you are
acquainted, although l know that many of
you boys would much rather have me tell
you how you could reach Congress than 10
prove a successful mixer. But / suspect
that most of US, for a good many years To
come, will have to milk cows instead of
having a chance TO go to Congress. so it
won't hurt, think. to talk Just now of
milking cows; and if the boy who millxs the
COW is a success at that. he may lay that
as a foundation stone for his future con-
gressional career"
Mr.. Washington simply leads and Directs
the discussion. The speakers are the farm
ers and workingmen and their wives They
talk of the need of negroes coming to own
land for themselves. the foolishncss of rails
ing only cotton, the evils of the crop-mort-
gage system, the need and value of schools
lhere is no Guessing over of evil or mis-
management A spade is called a spade
SNSiy liiuN ne NOlDcI take Just active
part as the men, which seems very 1T
ting, since Mr.. Washingtons most efficient
helper at Tuskegee and throughout the
country is his wife. In fact 1 think the
two most impressive utterances at the last
conference came from women. One yolng
unmarried woman, herself a graduate OF
Tuskegee, got the floor, after several at
| tempts, for there are always more ready to
talk than can possibly be heard. Don't be
so shiftless," she cried. ''God won't helm
US unless We help ourselves III tell YOU
what l did. Last year Mr.. Washington
told what could be done with three acres of
land, and | made up my mind I'D try it.
even II am a woman. So / hired three
acres OF land and had Il ploughed. / had il
ploughed deep, too. No lazy Niger half
did the job, for / sat on the ground myself
to see it done. Then l planted 1t. She went
on to give the details of the different crops
and showed how she had cleared nearly $50
from that piece of land.
President Nckfnley's EuIogy
President Mckinley emphasized this fact
when, speaking at Tuskegee he said: ITO
speak to Tuskegee without paying special
tribute to Booker T. Washington's genius