Amador ledger., 1900-08-17
FROM CAROLINA
Thomas J. Kirk Speaks Of
the South.
NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION SESSION
California's State Superintendent of
Puclic instruction Talks
of the Session.
lATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION SESSION

Cbdbe Oup6tlHJG0ueut Ol 1uDllc IN
struction Thomas ]. Kirk and wife,
who on June 30th, left for Charleston,
S. c., to attend the annual session of
the National Educational Association,
have returned and report having had
an interesting trip.
Mr. and Mrs. Kirk made their first
stop after leaving California, at FL
Paso, Texas. where they attended the
closing days of the session of the Texas
Educational Association. Thence they
went to New Orleans where they spent
a day, and from there to Montgomery,
Ala, which has the reputation of being
the most typical southern city south
of the Mason and Dixon line.
The people of Montgomery, Mr.. Kirk
said, overflow with the hospitality uni
versal in the Southern States before
the war. He and Mrs. Kirk received a
warm welcome, and regardless of the
fact that it was on Sunday, they were
shown the sights. The Capitol build
ing was thrown open to them, and the
watchman ''said his piece" in showing
the several offices, nearly equal to Pat
Carrigan, who officiates at our own
Capitol building, when visitors are
around.
Montgomery was, in the early months
of 1861, the Capital of the Confederate
nd la -,
Mr.. and Mrs. Kirk brass plate in
which marked the place where Jcffer-
son Davis stood when the oath of Office
was administered to him and he took
up the burdens of President of the
Confederacy.
The house where Jefferson Davis
lived while in Montgomery was pointed
out with conscious pride. Mr.. Kirk
noticed that the people. particularly
those past middle age, reverted to the
days of the Old South and war time,
and seemed .olive in the past. They
delighted to recall what had been, and
what they had done, rather than look
into the future and tell what they ex-
pected or intended doing. He was in
formed that there had been scarcely a
change in the old town for over thirty
five years, and that the Montgomery
of to-day is the Montgomery of ante
bellum days.
From Montgomery Mr. and Mrs.
Kirk visited the Tuskagee Normal and
Industrial Institute, founded and pre-
sided over by Booker L. Washington,
the gifted colored man, who is giving
the best days OF his life to the uplifting
and ultimate happiness and advance
ment of the negro race in America.
Next to the meeting at Charleston the
visit to the Tuskagee Institute was the
principal object of Mr.. Kirk s visit.
He found Booker T. Washington to be
a bright, talented and forceful man,
whose hobby was labor. With him
the predominant idea was that employ
ment was necessary to the happiness OF
the colored race, and he worked to the
end that students should, besides re-
ceiving an academic education, be
thoroughly trained in some one of the
mechanic arts trades. Washington,
Mr.. Kirk states, is modest man, and
believes in results.
Mr.. Kirk said ne was agreeably sur
prised to see the institute in SO fpur-
thing a condition. On the grounds
proper are fifty-seven separate houses
including cottages, and of the mum ber
are several dormitories and halls which
compare favorably with those OF the
average university in the North.
The attendance in all departments
is about l, 500, but when he was there
the pupils of the academic and normal
departments were away on vacation.
The mechanical art departments, how
ever, were running at full blast with
over 250 pupils taking instructions.
Among the mechanical arts taught are
woodworking, in which the wood is
laid down in the log and turned out in
fine furniture, wagons, carriages or
farming utensils: blacksmithing, where
furniture, ETC., is irOned: machine shops
and a foundry, at which the ironing of
various farming implements were
made; house and carriage painting,
brick making, tailoring, and others.
The girls, Mr.. Kirk said, are taught
cooking, sewing and general household
duties, along with other studies. So
far as possible the school was intended
to be self-supporting but had it not
received liberal donations from individ-
uals, churches, etc., it would never
have been the educational power it is
to-day.
Mr.. Washington spoke feelingly of
TIE liberal donations made to the insti-
tuition by Coils P. Huntington, Mrs.
Huntington and otheps, and Of the aid
extended by the First Unitarian Church
of Boston.
Mr.. Kirk said the session of the Ed
ucational Association at Charleston was
a disappointment, viewed from any
standpoint. Interest in the matter
seemed Lax, and the members attending
did not exceed 5,oo0, as against Is, 600
who attended the sessions last year at
Los Angeles. Hotel accommodations
we're poor, and-the local end of the
association had expended slight efforts
to secure quarters for visitors. Rec
ord Mon.