The Newtown bee., 1901-12-27

AND MANLY WAY TELLS Ot THE WON
DERFUL GROWTH OF TUsKEGEE
THE CONGKEG ATIONAL CHURCH
GIVES WARM WELCOME TO \ REPRE-
SENTATIVE OF THE BEST THAT IS IN
THE COLORED RACE.
1t is Il notable event. does any one
stop to think what it means to have
negro stand upon the platform Of a
COngregat ional church i'm the North
and say, with marked feeling and with
a'deep sense OF the truth of ii: at
does not make any difference what
they say, it does not make any differ
ence about the lynchings and all that;
we are rising, we are rising!" This
marks an era in our growth; it is a
line cut into a tree to blaze the way of
the Nations advance up the heights.
The colored people are rising. If any
one does not believe it, all he has to do
Is to listen for while to such negro
as Mr. Whitaker tell what members
of his own race are accomplishing in
raising the pail of ignorance and su-
perstition and sin that overspreads
the Southland. 1t Is gift to be able
to put case so clearly and so forcibly;
1t Is gift that multitudes Of white
men would earnestly covet. The Con-
gregational church had-for Sunday
EVENING" large audience that drank
in every word which fell from the
speakers lips. The theme interested
them and their faces showed it. We
catch up line here and there in what
Mr. Whitaker said about the work of
Tuskegee Institute, last Sunday even
ing, at a missionary meeting in the
Congregational church. Rev Otis w.
Barker introduced him by referring to
Tuskegee as monument of hard work.
Wherever you see splendid results,
you may be sure that back of them lie
tremendous endeavOr and persistent
struggle. 1t Is the bird on the wing
that brings food back to the nestlings;
it is the stream that is churning it's
waters into foam which turns the mill
wheel. Mr. Washington, so began the
address Of the evening, has met with
opposition all along his course. He
has had to overcome that notion
which is ingrained into the very life of
the South, that labor is dishonorable.
The masters of the former slaves
did nothing; they led a
life Of complete inactivity.
The slaves did all their work. The
aristocracy of the First Families cult
waited idlenesS as virtue. Is it then
to be wondered at that the impression
among the blacks to-day is that to get
an education is to get where one can
fold the hands. l remember when |
was a boy used to sing that in Heaven
there was great river of mOlaSSeS with
hot batter-cakes ready to be grasped on
either bank. We want ministers, good
colored preachers(the are plenty Of
poor ones); but we do not want to turn
out only ministers. We want teachers,
good colored teachers there are plenty
who wander in an ineXtricable maze
when their profession calls them be-
yond common fractons); but there is
not much in teaching in the South to
stimulate the ambition of young
man or woman. Tuskegee trains young
men or women to do common things
we'll. Is the young man to be boot
black? Then let him black boots bet
ter than any body else ON earth. Is the
young woman to be seamstress?
Then let her cultivate admirable deft-
ness in the handling Of the needle.
Tuskegee teaches blacksmithing, car
pentering, brick masonry, butter max
Ing, farming, wheelwrighting, paint
ing, laundrying, housekeeping, dress
making, horticulture, fruit culture
and many other lines. | was looking
up in Savannah last summer, the Tus-
kegee students to see what they were
doing. found one young man who
had not graduated from the school,
had been there one year, long enough
to catch the inspiration to do some
thing useful in the world. He had
set up stall in the City Market and
was doing fine business in selling
poultry. He had begun 10y investing
his capital Of SOC. Another young man
has carried the Tuskegee idea down
into Florida. He had built himself a
plain, neat home. 1t was not long
before others among his neighbors be-
gan to build similar homes, and an al
most model community was estab-
lished. We show the young men how
the big pine trees that grow near their
cabins can be converted into pleasant,
comfortable homes. We never urge
them to attempt the impossible. They
are not going to live in palaces after
nthey leave the school. Most of them
hre going to live very simply; and Iso,
on the grounds at TuSkcgcc, there is a
model three-rOOmed cabin. The senior
class is divided into small divisions:
and each division, by turn. furnish
this cabin and live in it for time.
Thus they learn what decent home
Is, and how it can be made. The great
bar upon the progress Of our people is
that 100000 Of them live in One-room
cabins. When | tell you that the fam
lily which occupies this room consists
anywhere of from two to twelve per-
sons, you will see that it is hard to
cultivate in such surroundings high
moral life. When Booker Washington
was about to set out on his work, he
laid his plans before great denOmina-
tlOnal society; and they told him they
could not help him, his scheme was
chimerical and could not be carried
out. To-day, Tuskegee has 2G69 acres
OF ground, some 3OOof these acres being
under cultivation. 1t has 80 buildings,