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

months, while the ignorance and Ia
competency Of most Of the teacher
was something almost impossible :
describe. Teachers. pupils and parent
had implicit faith IN q vague ide
that all that one had to do was {
learn to read aud write, and especiall,
70 learn something about Latin
Greek, or some foreign language; an
the more foreign and the more useles
the more highly they priced II, an
the future Of the race would be secure
They had no idea Of connecting edu
cation with anything that was to b
done in everyday life.
While there was prevalent almost
worship OF books, II was pathetic q
note thxt In the early days Of the Tus
kegee school before any boarding de
partment was started. there was al
absence of any idea that b0ok-knowl
edge should have connection will
real everyday living with such mat
ters, for example, sU the bath-tub, tn,
propsr cooking and serving Of food
the use Of the toothbrush. or the car,
Of the sleeping-room. Such observa
tions convinced me very early In Tin,
life of the school that to give these stu
dents mere abstract b0ok.traininl
would be time thrown away.
A. often ~ possible would 60 int
the churches on Sunday. In thu
churches, found that with few ex
ceptions there was no attempt made
70 connect the preaching with any
thing that concerned daily tife In thi,
world. As an illustration, I listened
for an hour or more one day to min.
lister preaching most earnestly to a
largo congregation, and the whole
burden Of his sermon was advising
the people ito get rid OF the world "
Instead Of I'D sising the people how to
get hold Of land, homes, and other
property. he was intent upon their
getting rid Of what little earthly pos
sessions they did have. Since, on ex-
animation, foand that only two men
In the congregation owned an acre Of
land, and only four owned the mules
which they were using, and that prac.
ticaliy all were In debt TO the extent
Of several times oil their earthly hold
,nga, the "getting rid Of the world'
doctrine In that community was
useless.
But through all the history and
struggle Of the early years of starting
the Tuskegee institute, there was one
thug thai was Q constant source OF
announcement and led one on irresist-
IDLY to do his very best. This was the
almost pathetic anxiety Of tho students
and parents to improve their condi-
ton. Just how this was to be done
they did not know, but they knew
they wanted something that they did
not have. Another thing that made
me feel very serious was the absolute
faith that they seemed to have In me
and my efforts. The longing Of stu
dents and parents for better things
mot only impressed me, but the south
e7n white people In colored young
men and women was encouraging. 10
many cases this interest was shown
becauae the parent of the stndent, or
the student himself, had been owned
by some member Of the white family.
Here sgain was brought out that Pc
:uliar attachment between master and
slave In the south which Il II hard for
the outside world TO understand. Few
people take moro genuine pride In the
or material advance Of
colored boys and girls, In many cases,
than the white people who once owned
them or their parents.
The information which / gained by
= study Of the condition Of the stu
llents who first came to the school, to-
xether with my close observation Of
Ihe life Of the masses Of the people
and the relations between the races,
xave me the necessary information
for planning a course Of training
which I thought would be effective
in reaching the conditions and needs
Of the members of my race tn the part
VI the country In which I was to
work. Ip making an analysis Of their
found that . very large
of the people lived by sg-
riculture In some form. NOtwithstand-
that they depended upon agriculture,
the soil was cultivated as rule in an
unintelligent unskilled manner. !
lourd that while the soil was capable
of producing In abundance almost any
product at for the use Of man, still the
people raised little aside from cotton,
and this was produced In a very costly
manner, for the reason that the farm
ers were often In debt for II before the
crop was planted. Instead Of raising
pigs, cows, chickens, grain and vege.
tables and producing eggs and butter
.-l ~sLo, Eo.c,. fra,h Ard pou.;ot,toc -
food, they went to town for their sup.
plies, which, - I have stated, consist
ed for the most part Of corn bread and
bacon with little variation during the
twelve months, except that now and
then o little molasses, also bought at
the store, would be used. These facts
led me to conclude, as General Arm
strong had done yeaIs before ut the
Hampton Institute, that whatever
else should be taught at the Tuskegee
Institute, agriculture should occupy
the first place, because 1t was out OF
this industry that the masses Of my
people we're to get their daily living.
I observed, further. that many had
left the rural districts aud were eking
out . miserable existenco in large
cities because farm life was 90 isolated
and unattractive, since most Of the
work on the farm was done In an
ignorrnt, shiftless and costly manner.
To remedy these conditions, we
began to teach agriculture at the Tus-
kegee Institute very soon after the
school was organized. There were
many difficulties in the way. The
Grst was that most Of the students
came to us from the farms, and that
their main object In seeking an educa.
ton was to enable them to escape
farm life. They felt. too. that they
knew about all there was TO be known
concerning agriculture. They were