The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-02-18

BEVILLE. 8. c.,
to agricultural work, and not only i
, there q vital enthusiasm In favor OF !
, Mt Tuskegee to the extent that we can
, not supply the opportunities to a!
who want to come, but this spirit ha
spread to every part Of the south.
; We began teaching agriculture II
1882 with one hoe and one blind horse
At the preset; time the school cuiti
Yates by the labor OF the students sew
en- hundred .cres Of land, and grows
large part oi the food consumed D.!
the one thousand four hundred stu
dents, instructors aud families upor
the grounds. At the same time the aca
demic teaching Is dove-iailsd into th'
agricultural teach AZ In a way tt
make the cne help the other. Instead
of student writing an essay abou
something In the air, be writes abou
the growing Of potatoes, or describes
the dairy or poultry yard. In the de
batting societies they discuss such
questions as whether or not the tncu.
6ator or the hen Is the better method
Of raising chickens. Iustead OF the one
hoe that we began with, there are al
present upon our farm scores OF noes
aud numbers Of the latest and most
improved labor saving pieces OF ma
chinery. Instead Of one blind horse
the school owes fifty horses, mules
and colts.
Our first dairy consisted Of one COW
that we used to tie out under . pine
tree. Our present dairy consists Of one
hundred and tifty-eight cows, bulls
and calves, and q large, attractive dai-
ry barn that IL said to be the best In
the south. The dairy house 10 supplied
with all the.apparatus for teaching our
students to make butter and cheese.
The farm work has not only grown
In the directions that have mention
ed, but q number OF girls are now
taking . course In agriculture, inclu-
ding truck growing, gardening, fruit
growing, dairying, bee raising, and
poultry raising. Our large poultry
yard, for example, Is wholly cared for
by girls who are taking practical and
theoretical agriculture iu connection
with simple English branches. How
much better, 10 seems to me, 1t 10 to
teach . girl how to raise poultry in.
telligently and skiIfully, 30 that she
can earn an independent living, than
to have her spend her life as o book
agent or as Q clerk In shop or depart
ment store.
What saw of the houses led me to de-
eide that one Of the great needs Of our
people was decent houses. In order to
heIp supply this demand. I resolved
that next 10 the teaching ofagriculture,
house-building should be the Industry
that we would emphasize most. Since
we were without buildings at the in
stitution 1t seemed to me best to begin
by teaching the students how to erect
their their own school.buildings.
shops and dormitories, aud teachers
cottages, 90 that, having learned prac-
tical and theoretical bouse-buiiding at
Tuskegee, they would be able to 20
out and build for themselves decent
homes, and teach our people how to
do the same thing. confess that |
was almost ashamed Of some Of the
bricks the stuients moulded, and Of
some Of the houses they erected, In
the earlier Sears Of the institute, but
what was lacking IL perfection Of I'm.
ish was more than counter. balanced
in teaching the lesson Of self-help and
moral back bone. AS the visitor drives
through our school-grounds at the
present time, among the fifty and
more buildings built almost wholly
by the students. / think he could not
tell whether In : had been erected by
students or by skilI,d work men. He
would see tie plans being drawn by
students, first class bricks being man
ufactured and lid by them, and he
would zee plumbing and electriclight-
ing being done In the same way. Driv-
ing q few miles out into the country,
In any direction, he would come TO
neat cottages that have been built BY
Tuskegee students. He could scarcely
70 into q city Or town In the south
without fiuding q number OF neat,
comfortable homes owned by Tuske.
gee Institute gradun. 60. What is true
Of the Tuskegee Institute In this re-
spect Ii, In o large degree, true OF 9TH
ar institutions. As an old colored man
put 1t aome time ago, all through the
south evidepces are multiplying that
''we's gwine to quit libin In de ashes"
In further analyzing the condition
OF my people In the south, l found
that next to agriculture the largest
number were engaged In some form
of domestic service. naturally rea-
soned that since this was true, In our
teaching at the Tuskegee Institute we
ought to teacn them to perform such
service In o skilled, INTELLIGENT and
conscientious manuer. This, / confess.
was perhaps our hardest task. We
were confronted with three difficult
ties: one was that every girl, as we'll
"A her parents, felt that she knew all
there was to be known about cooking,
table.servipg, laundering, and house
keeping Ia general. The second was,
that each girl and her parents felt
perfectly sure that as soon ~ she had
mastered Q certain number Of rules in
arithmetic and grammar, and could
remember certain dates In history,
and locate large number OF cities,
rivers and lakes, she would have, no
earthly use for anything that mad any
connection with such ordinary things
as cooking, laundering or sewing. The
last and main difficulty was that q
large proportion of the colored people
throughout the south would become In
famed at the mere suggestion OF teach
ing their children any OF the domestic
or indomestic occupations; they con-
nected such teaching with slavery
and considered 1t badge Of degrade
tion. Aside from the regular text
books, as one mother said to me, the