Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1903-11-06

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Nh sooker 4. Washlaston's Mission.
sry Work Among Negro Mouse
s wives IN the South.
Onehas only to look out OF the win
s dow OF passing train almost any
where from Virginia to Louisiana to
see the delapidated one room cabins
which shelter large proportion OF
the eight million descendants OF slav-
cry In this country today. In Ala
bama one can have an opportunity to
see some successful results OF the
work of an enlightened negro woman
who has devoted years Of her life
to the task Of lettering the miserable
conditions in the homes of our peo-
pc.
The name OF this woman Is Mar
saret Murray Washington. She Is the
third wife of the well known presi-
dent OF Tuskegee Institute. Booker T.
Washington
Any one who has seen the outside
still more the inside, of an Alabama
cabin can appreciate the magnitude
OF the undertaking which confronts
the reformer.
From roOmless, often windOwless,
hut, where light and air are admitted
solely through cracks, In the delapi-
dated four walls OF which i've or six
persons are crowded. under q roof
- u. uhn xsn yvh
a bed with sheets and pillow cases
a-e az unusual as glass window, and
Ike family crawl In between some
old covers without even taking the
trIuble to remove their scant clothing
from such an Adobe to = clean de-
cert. well ventilated house ID long
step, but this is only q part OF what
Mrs. Washington is trying to accom-
plish, and In some cases has already
achieved.
!. IN Childhood, Mrs Washington says,
she ran away from home little bet
ter than the worst Of those she Is
trying to reform. To some strict
bIr kindly Quakers, who took her
TO live with them and subsequently
sent her to university, she owes her
oMn training.
In speaking OF the way she started
her missionary work, Mrs. Washing
ten says that six or seven years ago
she became impressed with the con-
ditions on q plantation about eight
miles from Tuskegee, where a settle
rent OF twenty negro families lived
in some old slave quarters. z When
she first went to them Ave or ten
y nersons we're living In one room
!. houses, and the children were al
lowed to &c around with little Or no
scb.thing On them.
1T was just like Africa, said MRS.
4 Nashinelon. I. Il felt something must
oe done, SO one day went down there
Will good stiff broom. determined
10 see what could do. went TO the
most promising house OF the lot and
proposed to hold meeting. first sug-
costing that we sweep up the place
IN honor Of the occasion. The sweep.
ing gave that room made the woman
who lived lin 1t SO ashamed OF her
own slack work that have never
/ since found 1t in the same condition.
After my first visit ! went periodically
IA the different cabins on the estate,
showing the women how to improve
the most unpr0mising surroundings
and urging them to take an interest
III the decency OF their homes for their
\ own sakes and the sake Of their hus
bands and children.
In the course Of time the planter
Tor whom most Of these people work
gave; the use OF an abandoned cabin
for q excitement house, where q
young woman graduate Of Tuskegee
was sont to carry on the work tnat
tad already been started. Since that
time have raised SUFFICIENT funds TO
provide in Its place q serviceaDle
franz dwelling house on ten acres OF
adjoining land. &
The house is designed not only for
= place for our meetings and classes.
nut ID kept by Miss Davis, who lives
there rs an object lesson In house
kesping for the nefghborhood.
We are doing much good. Among e
me families OF the settlement there
Ia everywhere q marked supriority to
4 VIVA. Il has been. Beds and floors
are well kept Cracked roofs anu
walls were filled with clay. In many
Z cases two or more rooms have Deen
added. Ii fact. there was altoge ether
\ an air OF neatness and order ~ all
OF the homes. !"
This plantation Is only one OF the
many places Mrs. Washington IS car
ry.Ig on her work. /,
In u building near I he market ke
square Of the town OF Tuskegee,
where the negro trainers come every
Saturday, bringing their wives with
them. Mrs. Washington holds mOtb.
ers' meetings. She has . weekly at.
ten;ance OF sixty to one hundred
women.
There are two rooms In the build.
ing. one Of which is fitted up with
i cook stove and bed for practice les
sons. and the other Is used As 2 meet
ing hall. h:
The weekly earnings Of the south
\ ern negro Ii scarcely enough 70 feed
y his family and the women do not nave .v
4 much to keep house with. Here a.
the mothers, meetings supply tner
witt, whatever 1 can. It Is astonisning
how eager they are for sheets and Pill
low cases. FL "a
II The women who gather here are
neatly dress "a. although there Is 2
wide disgimiliarity In their costumes.
ranging from shawls and picturesque
snnbonnetss to straw hats and imita1
I Yi3yn 81 seafskin coats. and although
some 5of them even undertake 20 ia aye
thsir shoes with calico sstrips, there
4 a ayident In every case a regard ZOE 1
anneafances seldom found In q gather
M N negro farmers wives. HUH