The colored American., 1903-05-09


striking ones, perhaps, were Cooking
and Sewing in the Country Schools,
by Miss EValina Davis, THE Shawnees
of the Past" by Pierrepont Afford, and
"A Changed IDEAL, by John E. Smith.
The last-named once imagined he
wanted to be a prize fighter, and while
reading of the glOries of the ring in
The Police Gazette" saw the state
ment that a Negro boy might work
his way through the Hampton school.
He was interested and came here. He
learned shoemaking incidentally, but
especially interested himself in agri-
culture. He expects to take up the lat
.er work and now he says he Will use
1.-The right-hand swing and the left
hand upper cut" not to knock the
senses out of his fellows, but rather to
pound them into them.
The addresses on this occasion were
made by two Hampton alumni, Prof.
Frank Trigg, of the class of '73, now
principal of the industrial school of
Princess Anne, Md, and Hampton's
most distinguished son, Booker T.
Washington. Prof Trigg spoke of
his experiences as a teacher for 80
years in city and country, and gave
mass of interesting information re-
garding his new field in Maryland.
Before Mr.. Washington spoke, Mr..
Richard Watson Glider read his hymn
written for the service in memory of
Dr. ]. l. NJ. Curry. held at Richmond,
April 26. Then Mr. Ogden, speaking
for the trustees, addressed the gradu-
ating class, urged them to hold their
banner high and not to allow them
selves to be disturbed in this period of
confusion and doubt concerning the
Negro. He declared that their friends
are increasing in all sections and that
they are those who believe in the
right.
When Mr.. Washington rose to speak
he addressed himself directly to the
graduating class, after complimentfng
the school upon their singing of the
our parents" he said, Sang them
selves out of slavery" and way back
in the audience an old lady said, Yes,
dat's So He told the class he was
most concerned about the progress of
his race. No law he said, ''can push
forward a race which has not intrinsic
worth, and no law can keep them
back if they have intrinsic worth"
And in answering his own question as
to whether the educated Negro was
idle, he urged the class to help live
down all such charges. He told the
students to make up their minds that
they cannot be insulted; to save mon
ey; to have a bank account; to buy
land; and to build better houses, for
the change from a log cabin to white
mansions above" is too sudden to be
relied upon. He charged the class to
change the accusation of immortality
by living clean. pure lives. and urged
the drawing of lines in social life, that
a premium may be put on virtuous liv-
ing He told the white people to meet
the Negro half way and they would
repay them with the service of their
heads, their hands and their hearts.
He also wished that white men would
actually study the Negro by laying
aside the bugbear of social equality
and going into their homes, schools.
churches, business places, etc, north
and south. He said, too, that the Ne
gro was as proud of his race as the
white man is of his, and finally that
the white man could not afford to be
unjust TO the Negro, for thereby he
was undermining his own race.
DR.. Lyman Abbott followed with
short speech in which he said he be-
heved in the same education for the
Negro as for himself. He also be-
ieyed in manhood suffrage. But he
would put manhood first and suffrage
. afterwards.
Here the thirty-f1fth anniversary of
the Hampton Institute came to a close.